Although Almanzor mainly fights against León and Castile, he attacks the Hispanic March in 985 and manages to take Barcelona, which is sacked and put to the torch on July 1.

Many citizens are taken prisoner by the Muslim forces.

Borrell II, Count of Barcelona, sends a request for help to Lothair, the current King of the Western Franks, but although documents of Borrell's refer to royal orders that must have come from this embassy, actual military assistance is beyond Lothair's power.

What appears to have been a similar plea to Hugh Capet results in a letter from Hugh to Borrell promising aid if the Count preferred "to obey us rather than the Ishmaelites", but in any event Hugh cannot persuade his nobles to support a southern expedition.

No answer to Hugh's letter is known from Borrell, and the connection between the March and France is effectively broken.

(Catalan historians now consider this the point at which their nation became a sovereign power, and the millennium of their independence was celebrated in 1987 with conferences and numerous publications; however it appears that Catalan counties other than Borrell's retained links with the Frankish crown for a little longer.)

In tenth century Andalusia, unlike Germany, it is common for Jews to own vineyards and other lands.

In the course of Almanzor’s invasion, he has killed a number of Barcelonan Jews, many of them landowners who leave no heirs.

According to the law, all their lands are given over to the Count of Barcelona.