You’ve convinced me, while I knew that France and Catalonia had connections dating back to the Karlings, I was not aware that they were still meaningful by this time period. In addition, I think I vastly overestimated the impact of the mountains on travel, and in turn overestimated the difficulty in communication across them.
Yes, it is quite interesting. In the Parmiers registry of the early 14th century (even after the Treaty of Cordeile) it mentions the lives of bachelor men in the Foix county and of the area of Roselló. Therein, men annually or even more often, travelled to Catalonia or Aragon for business ties, meeting family members, romance, grazing lands, etc.
One man in particular, alongside a dozen men from his area in Foix, took their entire flock into Aragon. From there, they travelled to Zaragoza and sold wares and moved as Far East as Barcelona, selling more wares before making a trip back to Aragon. There, they attended brothels, spoke to locals and return to the Foix county. This was apparently very common this late.
The mountain ranges, though imposing and difficult to pass, possessed all sorts of ancient pathways. Locals in Aragon, Catalonia, Foix, Comminges, Andorra, Toulouse, knew of these pathways. These ways of passage, were compatible for groups of people with flocks of animals or carts of goods; yet the stiff passages, do not permit large armies to move through easily. As such, the mountain ranges, especially near Foix, form effective barriers to certain military incursions, but otherwise, they present modes of transit.
These ancient passages, were lanes of transit utilized for centuries up till 1300. As the Frankish counter to the Umayyad caliphate began and the Frankish and otherwise European lords began pushing back Islamic rule from the borderlands, these mountains began to be crossed. The crossings made by Latino-Germanic peoples under Frankish rule, were sent and went to populate the lands to the south and as such influenced these new lands. Catalonia for instance was created by this trailblazing and colonizing venture by the Frankish lords.
As such, a common identity was developed between the original lands of Occitania and the colonized and new derivatives, the lands of Catalonia, Valencia and Aragon. The nature of this relation was shown in the high medieval Frankish-French rule over Aragon, Catalonia and to a degree, Valencia. These lands were under the greater, ‘March of Gothica’ a military border zone that ideally was utilized as a force of military strikes upon the Islamic realms and for in taking varied migrants and settlers.
This situation began to change during the XII century, when the Aragonese lords began to seek the title of king from the Papacy. The Papacy conferred a true royal title to the Aragon petty lords, effectively breaking it from Frankish rule in terms of titles. Soon after, through inheritance, Aragon acquired the County of Barcelona and as such, Aragon remained in an odd situation. Namely; the Aragon kings, were in titles, kings and equal to France in terms of legal precedence. Yet, they were still ‘Margaves of the Goths’ and vassals of France as counts of Barcelona.
Such a situation became inflamed by the Albigensian crusade. Wherein, the County of Toulouse, turned to Aragon, its close ally, friend and kindred in all ways. All of this to say, the mountain passes were modes for the creation and maintenance of a strong and powerful identity shared between the Lengadoc, Catalan lands and Aragon.
This commonality faced its first erosion with the Treaty of Cordeile, wherein the French kingdom relinquished its claim to the March of Gothica whilst Aragon renounced its claims to Toulouse and Foix. The two set their border at the mountain ranges between Foix and Aragon and for the first time since the 700s, there became a legal border between France and Iberia.
Later, further Franco-Spanish warfare would truly block the transit zones. With the failure to travel to and fro, we can imagine a weakening and atomizing of the greater identity in the region. This is partly what permitted the decline and destruction of Occitan within France. Whilst, in the Catalan lands, Aragon and so forth, Occitan remained strong as its role in society was respected and frankly, beloved.
In this timeline, uniting continuously Catalonia, Aragon and Occitania, is akin to uniting different districts of Poland. Assume, that Russia is attempting to enforce Russian upon Poles in its holdings. Then suppose Russia by some way, annexes Habsburg and Prussian ruled Polish crown lands. Would this not have a revitalization in their identity and strengthen its linguistic and political capital? Surely, it would.
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There are many other examples of this in Europe or other lands. Mountains, are never (aside from a few, such as the Himalayas) objects which block the transmission of peoples. Cultural and political differences are those factors more related to the obstruction of human interaction and transmission (excluding vast seas).
Other examples:
The mountain border zone between Savoy, France, Provence, Switzerland and Liguria. The historic linguistic diversity of this region attests to this. Medieval Savoyard political action also displays this eclectic and diverse situation.
The mountain zone between Aquileia, Venice, Trent, Austria, Istria, Tyrol and the greater Po River Valley.
The transmission, cultural contact and development between England and the Gascon lands, Lengadoc, etc, despite distance by the sea.
The similar cultural links and movements of people to and fro across the Zagros mountains attested in the Assyrian empire. This situation continues into our modern era.
There are other examples, yet I will refrain from mentioning these.
