ماركة (كيان إقليمي)
A march or mark was, in broad terms, a medieval European term for any kind of borderland, as opposed to a notional "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between realms, and/or a neutral/buffer zone under joint control of two states, in which different laws might apply. In both of these senses, marches served a political purpose, such as providing warning of military incursions, or regulating cross-border trade, or both.
Just as counties were traditionally ruled by counts, marches gave rise to titles such as: marquess (masculine) or marchioness (feminine) in England, marquis (masc.) or marquise (fem.) in France and Scotland, margrave (Markgraf i.e. "march count"; masc.) or margravine (Markgräfin i.e. "march countess", fem.) in Germany, and corresponding titles in other European states.
Etymology
The word "march" derives ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European root *mereg-, meaning "edge, boundary". The root *mereg- produced Latin margo ("margin"), Old Irish mruig ("borderland"), and Persian and Armenian marz ("borderland"). The Proto-Germanic *marko gave rise to the Old English word mearc and Frankish marka, as well as Old Norse mörk meaning "borderland, forest", and derived form merki "boundary, sign", denoting a borderland between two centres of power.
It seems that in Old English "mark" meant "boundary" or "sign of a boundary", and the meaning only later evolved to encompass "sign" in general, "impression" and "trace".
The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia took its name from West Saxon mearc "marches", which in this instance referred explicitly to the territory's position on the Anglo-Saxon frontier with the Romano-British to the west.
Related concepts
نطقب:Off topic
Abbasid Caliphate
Armenia
The specific subdivisions of Armenia are each called marz, մարզ (pl. "marzer, մարզեր"), a loanword from Persian.
The Balkans
See Krajina and Military Frontier.
Byzantine Empire
China
Persia (Sassanid Empire)
See also مرزبان Marzban.
Roman Empire
See Limes Romanus
Ukraine
Ukraine, from the Moscow-centric Russian viewpoint, functioned as a "borderland" or "march" and gained its current name, which is derived from a Slavic term of the same meaning (see above for similar in Slovenia, etc.), ultimately from this function. This, though, was merely a continuation of a semi-formal arrangement with the Poles, before escalating feuds, political infighting in Poland, and religious differences (mainly Eastern Orthodox vs. Roman Catholic) saw a loose coalition of Ukrainian lords and independent landowners collectively known as the Cossacks shift allegiance to the Russian Empire.
The Cossacks became a significant part of Russian military history in their role as military border/buffer-troops in the Wild Fields of Ukraine. As settlement advanced and the borders moved, the Tsars transferred or formed Cossack units to perform similar functions on other borderlands/marches further south and east in (for example) the Kuban and in Siberia, forming (for example) the Black Sea Cossack Host, the Kuban Cossack Host and the Amur Cossack Host.
See also
- List of marches
- Buffer state
- No man's land
- Marz (territorial entity)
- American Frontier
Notes
- ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com.
- ^ "Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com.
References
- Gwyn, Stephen. The History of Ireland. []
- Lewis, Archibald R. (1965). "Chapter 5:Southern French and Catalan Society (778-828)". (Prin ed.). University of Texas Press.
- Lydon, James F. (1998). The Making of Ireland: from ancient times to the present. p. 81.
- Moore, Thomas. The History of Ireland from the Earliest Kings. []
- Neville, Cynthia J. Violence, custom and law: the Anglo-Scottish border lands in the later Middle Ages. []
- Otway-Ruthven, J.A. A History of Medieval Ireland. []
Attribution:
Endnote:
- A. Thomas, Les États provinciaux de la France centrale (1879).
للاستزادة
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Marche". دائرة المعارف البريطانية. 17 (eleventh ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 688–689.. See sections 2 and 3.
