The Andalusi outside al-Andalus. Fraxinetum, Jabal al-Qilāl and the Saracens on the Alps

The history of the Andalusian Arab or Berber Muslims establishment, during a limited period in the early Middle Ages (8th-11th centuries), in Provence, is a subject that has been little researched, both due to the absence of specific primary sources and the lack of clarity of those that do exist. The borders and clashes between the Andalusian Muslim world and the Latin world in Septimania (which in Roman times was called Gallia Narbonensis and extended as far as the French Alps) can be considered part of a history of conquest, expansion and defense between the pre-Umayyad Andalusian Iberian world and the Carolingian one among the rise of Charles Martel (d. 741) and Pepin the Short (d. 768) and the crisis that began after the death of Charlemagne (d. 814). This article focuses on the Muslim presence in Provence, one of those communities framed by Andalusian “exiles” who, for reasons yet to be ascertained, left the Iberian Peninsula to found an enclave in the south of France. This story, which deserves greater archaeological attention, remains fascinating, especially in relation to the countless ‘stories’ linked to the Saracen raids in the French- Italian Alps during some decades of the 10 centuries. The reason for these expeditions, the occupation of certain Alpine passes, and the ‘story’ of their expulsion remain very fragmentary, almost legendary and highly instrumental.