Septimania | historical region, France

Septimania , French Septicemia , ancient area in present-day Southwest France , between the rivers Garonne and Rhône and between the mountains of the Pyrenees and the Cevennes. During the reign of Roman Emperor Augustus, it was settled by a colony of veterans of the Seventh Legion (Septimani); hence probably the name that lasted until the early Middle Ages. Septimania was the last Gaulish possession of the Visigoths of Spain after Clovis drove them out of most of the Frankish kingdom. it then included seven cities or dioceses (hence sometimes a different etymology): Narbonne , Nîmes , Beziers , Maguelonne, Lodêve, Agde and Uzès (later Elne and Carcassonne) - this is much of the area that later from the province Languedoc was occupied . Defending the invading Moors by Charles Martel in 732 the country opened up to Frankish occupation, which was completed in 768. Under the Carolingians, Septimania became part of the kingdom Aquitaine , but became a separate duchy in 817. It faded from history as a distinct entity in the 9th century, when the area in the hands of the Counts of Toulouse overridden .