CHARLES Martel, "The Hammer"
676-741
Born: Heristal, Liege, Belgium
Died: Quierzy-sur-Oise, Picardie, France
676-741
Born: Heristal, Liege, Belgium
Died: Quierzy-sur-Oise, Picardie, France
<div style="font-size: 0.8em; : relative; width: 1125px; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: sans-serif;"> <div style="display: inline; font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-size: small;">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</span></div> <div style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1.4em 1em; color: #7d7d7d; width: auto;"> </div> <div style="overflow: hidden; height: 0px; zoom: 1; margin-: -1.4em; margin-bottom: 1.4em;"> </div> <div style="direction: ltr;"> <div style="font-style: italic; padding-: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div> <span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"><br>The illegitimate son of Frankish strongman,</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span>Pepin of Heristal<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">, and a noblewoman named</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span>Alpaida<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">, Martel</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span>successfully asserted his claims to power as successor<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">to his father as the</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span>power behind the throne<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">in Frankish politics. Continuing and building on his father's work, he restored centralized government in</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span>Francia<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">and</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span>began the series of military campaigns that re–established the Franks as the undisputed masters<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">of all</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span>Gaul<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">. In foreign wars, Martel subjugated</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span>Bavaria<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">,</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span>Alemannia<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">,</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span>Frisia<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">, vanquished the pagan</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span>Saxons<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">, and halted the</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span>Islamic advance into Western Europe<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">at the</span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span>Battle of Tours<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">.</span><sup style="line-height: 1em;">[6]</sup> <tbody> <tr> <td style="padding: 2px;"> </td> </tr> </tbody> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">Martel is considered to be the founding figure of the European Middle Ages. Skilled as an administrator and warrior, he is often credited with a seminal role in the development of feudalism and knighthood. Martel was a great patron of Saint Boniface and made the first attempt at reconciliation between the Papacy and the Franks. The Pope wished him to become the defender of the Holy See and offered him the Roman consulship. Martel refused the offer, but it was a sign of the things to come.<sup style="line-height: 1em;">[7]</sup><sup style="line-height: 1em;">[8]</sup></p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">Although Martel never assumed the title of king, he divided Francia, like a king, between his sons Carloman and Pepin. The latter became the first of the Carolingians, the family of Charles Martel, to become king. Martel's grandson, Charlemagne, extended the Frankish realms to include much of the West, and became the first Emperor since the fall of Rome. Therefore, on the basis of his achievements, Martel is seen as laying the groundwork for the Carolingian Empire.<sup style="line-height: 1em;">[9]</sup><sup style="line-height: 1em;">[10]</sup> In summing up the man, Gibbon has written, Martel was "the hero of the age," whereas Guerard describes him as being the "champion of the Cross against the Crescent</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">In December 714, Pepin of Herstal died. Prior to his death, he had, at his wife Plectrude's urging, designated Theudoald, his grandson by their son Grimoald, his heir in the entire realm. This was immediately opposed by the nobles because Theudoald was a child of only eight years of age. To prevent Charles using this unrest to his own advantage, Plectrude had him imprisoned in Cologne, the city which was destined to be her capital. This prevented an uprising on his behalf in Austrasia, but not in Neustria.</p> <span class="editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; float: right; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 5px;">[<a style="text-decoration: initial; color: #0b0080; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" title="Edit section: Civil war of 715-718" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Martel&action=edit&section=3">edit</a>]</span><span id="Civil_war_of_715-718" class="mw-headline">Civil war of 715-718</span> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">In 715, the Neustrian noblesse proclaimed Ragenfrid mayor of their palace on behalf of, and apparently with the support of, Dagobert III, who in theory had the legal authority to select a mayor, though by this time the Merovingian dynasty had lost most such powers.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">The Austrasians were not to be left supporting a woman and her young son for long. Before the end of the year, Charles Martel had escaped from prison and been acclaimed mayor by the nobles of that kingdom. The Neustrians had been attacking Austrasia and the nobles were waiting for a strong man to lead them against their invading countrymen. That year, Dagobert died and the Neustrians proclaimed Chilperic II king without the support of the rest of the Frankish people.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">In 716, Chilperic and Ragenfrid together led an army into Austrasia. The Neustrians allied with another invading force under Radbod, King of the Frisians and met Charles in battle near Cologne, which was still held by Plectrude. Charles had little time to gather men, or prepare, and the result was the only defeat of his life. According to Strauss and Gustave, Martel fought a brilliant battle, but realized he could not prevail because he was outnumbered so badly, and retreated.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">He fled the field as soon as he realized he did not have the time or the men to prevail, retreating to the mountains of the Eifel to gather men, and train them. The king and his mayor then turned to besiege their other rival in the city and took it and the treasury, and received the recognition of both Chilperic as king and Ragenfrid as mayor. Plectrude surrendered on Theudoald's behalf.</p> <span class="editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; float: right; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 5px;">[<a style="text-decoration: initial; color: #0b0080; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" title="Edit section: Military genius" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Martel&action=edit&section=4">edit</a>]</span><span id="Military_genius" class="mw-headline">Military genius</span> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">At this juncture, however, events turned in favour of Charles. Having made the proper preparations, he fell upon the triumphant army nearMalmedy as it was returning to its own province, and, in the ensuing Battle of Amblève, routed it. The few troops who were not killed or captured, fled. Several things were notable about this battle, in which Charles set the pattern for the remainder of his military career: first, he appeared <em>where</em> his enemies least expected him, while they were marching triumphantly home and far outnumbered him.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">He also attacked <em>when</em> least expected, at midday, when armies of that era traditionally were resting. Finally, he attacked them <em>how</em> they least expected it, by feigning a retreat to draw his opponents into a trap. The feigned retreat, next to unknown in Western Europe at that time — it was a traditionally eastern tactic — required both extraordinary discipline on the part of the troops and exact timing on the part of their commander. Charles, in this battle, had begun demonstrating the military genius that would mark his rule. The result was an unbroken victory streak that lasted until his death.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">In Spring 717, Charles returned to Neustria with an army and confirmed his supremacy with a victory at the Battle of Vincy, near Cambrai. He chased the fleeing king and mayor to Paris, before turning back to deal with Plectrude and Cologne. He took her city and dispersed her adherents. He allowed both Plectrude and the young Theudoald to live and treated them with kindness—unusual for those times, when mercy to a former gaoler, or a potential rival, was rare.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">On this success, he proclaimed Chlotar IV king of Austrasia in opposition to Chilperic and deposed the archbishop of Reims, Rigobert, replacing him with Milo, a lifelong supporter.</p> <span class="editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; float: right; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 5px;">[<a style="text-decoration: initial; color: #0b0080; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" title="Edit section: Consolidation of power" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Martel&action=edit&section=5">edit</a>]</span><span id="Consolidation_of_power" class="mw-headline">Consolidation of power</span> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">After subjugating all Austrasia, he marched against Radbod and pushed him back into his territory, even forcing the concession ofWest Frisia (later Holland). He also sent the Saxons back over the Weser and thus secured his borders—in the name of the new king Clotaire, of course. In 718, Chilperic responded to Charles' new ascendancy by making an alliance with Odo the Great (or Eudes, as he is sometimes known), the duke of Aquitaine, who had made himself independent during the civil war in 715, but was again defeated, at the Battle of Soissons, by Charles.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">The king fled with his ducal ally to the land south of the Loire and Ragenfrid fled to Angers. Soon Clotaire IV died and Odo gave up on Chilperic and, in exchange for recognising his dukedom, surrendered the king to Charles, who recognised his kingship over all the Franks in return for legitimate royal affirmation of his mayoralty, likewise over all the kingdoms (718).</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p> <span id="Foreign_wars_from_718-732" class="mw-headline">Foreign wars from 718-732</span> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">The ensuing years were full of strife. Between 718 and 723, Charles secured his power through a series of victories: he won the loyalty of several important bishops and abbots (by donating lands and money for the foundation of abbeys such as Echternach), he subjugated Bavaria and Alemannia, and he defeated the pagan Saxons.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">Having unified the Franks under his banner, Charles was determined to punish the Saxons who had invaded Austrasia. Therefore, late in 718, he laid waste their country to the banks of the Weser, the Lippe, and the Ruhr. He defeated them in the Teutoburg Forest. In 719, Charles seized West Frisia without any great resistance on the part of the Frisians, who had been subjects of the Franks but had seized control upon the death of Pippin. Although Charles did not trust the pagans, their ruler, Aldegisel, accepted Christianity, and Charles sent Willibrord, bishop of Utrecht, the famous "Apostle to the Frisians" to convert the people. Charles also did much to support Winfrid, later Saint Boniface, the "Apostle of the Germans."</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">When Chilperic II died the following year (720), Charles appointed as his successor the son of Dagobert III, Theuderic IV, who was still a minor, and who occupied the throne from 720 to 737. Charles was now appointing the kings whom he supposedly served,<em>rois fainéants</em> who were mere puppets in his hands; by the end of his reign they were so useless that he didn't even bother appointing one. At this time, Charles again marched against the Saxons. Then the Neustrians rebelled under Ragenfrid, who had left the county of Anjou. They were easily defeated (724), but Ragenfrid gave up his sons as hostages in turn for keeping his county. This ended the civil wars of Charles' reign.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">The next six years were devoted in their entirety to assuring Frankish authority over the dependent Germanic tribes. Between 720 and 723, Charles was fighting in Bavaria, where the Agilolfing dukes had gradually evolved into independent rulers, recently in alliance with Liutprand the Lombard. He forced the Alemanni to accompany him, and Duke Hugbert submitted to Frankish suzerainty.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">In 725 and 728, he again entered Bavaria and the ties of lordship seemed strong. From his first campaign, he brought back the Agilolfing princess Swanachild, who apparently became his concubine. In 730, he marched against Lantfrid, duke of Alemannia, who had also become independent, and killed him in battle. He forced the Alemanni capitulation to Frankish suzerainty and did not appoint a successor to Lantfrid. Thus, southern Germany once more became part of the Frankish kingdom, as had northern Germany during the first years of the reign.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">But by 731, his own realm secure, Charles began to prepare exclusively for the coming storm from the south and west.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">In 721, the emir of Córdoba had built up a strong army from Morocco, Yemen, and Syria to conquer Aquitaine, the large duchy in the southwest of Gaul, nominally under Frankish sovereignty, but in practice almost independent in the hands of the Odo the Great, the Duke of Aquitaine, since the Merovingian kings had lost power. The invading Muslims besieged the city of Toulouse, then Aquitaine's most important city, and Odo (also called Eudes, or Eudo) immediately left to find help.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">He returned three months later just before the city was about to surrender and defeated the Muslim invaders on June 9, 721, at what is now known as the Battle of Toulouse. This critical defeat was essentially the result of a classic enveloping movement by Odo's forces. (After Odo originally fled, the Muslims became overconfident and failed to maintain strong outer defenses and continuous scouting.) Thus, when Odo returned, he was able to launch a near complete surprise attack on the besieging force, scattering it at the first attack, and slaughtering units caught resting or that fled without weapons or armour.</p> <span class="editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; float: right; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 5px;">[<a style="text-decoration: initial; color: #0b0080; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" title="Edit section: Raising an army" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Martel&action=edit&section=7">edit</a>]</span><span id="Raising_an_army" class="mw-headline">Raising an army</span> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">Due to the situation in Iberia, Martel believed he needed a virtually full-time army—one he could train intensely—as a core of veteran Franks who would be augmented with the usual conscripts called up in time of war. (During the Early Middle Ages, troops were only available after the crops had been planted and before harvesting time.) To train the kind of infantry that could withstand the Muslim heavy cavalry, Charles needed them year-round, and he needed to pay them so their families could buy the food they would have otherwise grown.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">To obtain money he seized church lands and property, and used the funds to pay his soldiers. The same Charles who had secured the support of the <em>ecclesia</em> by donating land, seized some of it back between 724 and 732. Of course, Church officials were enraged, and, for a time, it looked as though Charles might even be excommunicated for his actions. But then came a significant invasion.</p> <span class="editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; float: right; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 5px;">[<a style="text-decoration: initial; color: #0b0080; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" title="Edit section: Eve of the Battle of Tours" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Martel&action=edit&section=8">edit</a>]</span><span id="Eve_of_the_Battle_of_Tours" class="mw-headline">Eve of the Battle of Tours</span> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">Historian Paul K. Davis wrote, "Having defeated Eudes, he turned to the Rhine to strengthen his northeastern borders - but in 725 was diverted south with the activity of the Muslims in Acquitane."<sup style="line-height: 1em;">[16]</sup> Martel then concentrated his attention to the Umayyads, virtually for the remainder of his life. Indeed, 12 years later, when he had thrice rescued Gaul from Umayyad invasions, Antonio Santosuosso noted when he destroyed an Umayyad army sent to reinforce the invasion forces of the 735 campaigns, "Charles Martel again came to the rescue."<sup style="line-height: 1em;">[17]</sup> Charles Martel could have pursued the wars against the Saxons—but he was determined to prepare for what he thought was a greater danger.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">The Muslims were not aware, at that time, of the true strength of the Franks, or the fact that they were building a disciplined army instead of the typical barbarian hordes that had dominated Europe after Rome's fall. The Arab Chronicles, the history of that age, show that Arab awareness of the Franks as a growing military power came only after the Battle of Tours when the Caliph expressed shock at his army's catastrophic defeat.</p> <span class="editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; float: right; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 5px;">[<a style="text-decoration: initial; color: #0b0080; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" title="Edit section: Battle of Tours" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Martel&action=edit&section=9">edit</a>]</span><span id="Battle_of_Tours" class="mw-headline">Battle of Tours</span> <div style="font-style: italic; padding-: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">Main article: Battle of Tours</div> <span class="editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; float: right; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 5px;">[<a style="text-decoration: initial; color: #0b0080; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" title="Edit section: Lead-up and importance" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Martel&action=edit&section=10">edit</a>]</span><span id="Lead-up_and_importance" class="mw-headline">Lead-up and importance</span> <blockquote style="margin-: 0px; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> <div>It was under one of their ablest and most renowned commanders, with a veteran army, and with every apparent advantage of time, place, and circumstance, that the Arabs made their great effort at the conquest of Europe north of the Pyrenees.<sup style="line-height: 1em;">[18]</sup></div> <div style="line-height: 1em; padding-: 2em; margin-: 0px;">—Edward Shepherd Creasy, <em><a style="text-decoration: initial; color: #0b0080; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" title="The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifteen_Decisive_Battles_of_the_World">The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World</a></em></div> </blockquote> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">The Cordoban emirate had previously invaded Gaul and had been stopped in its northward sweep at the Battle of Toulouse, in 721. The hero of that less celebrated event had been Odo the Great, Duke of Aquitaine, who was not the progenitor of a race of kings and patron of chroniclers. It has previously been explained how Odo defeated the invading Muslims, but when they returned, things were far different. The arrival in the interim of a new emir of Cordoba, Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, who brought with him a huge force of Arabs and Berber horsemen, triggered a far greater invasion.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi had been at Toulouse, and the Arab Chronicles make clear he had strongly opposed the Emir's decision not to secure outer defenses against a relief force, which allowed Odo and his relief force to attack with impunity before the Islamic cavalry could assemble or mount. Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi had no intention of permitting such a disaster again. This time the Umayyad horsemen were ready for battle, and the results were horrific for the Aquitanians.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">Odo, hero of Toulouse, was badly defeated in the Muslim invasion of 732 at the battle prior to the Muslim sacking of Bordeaux, and when he gathered a second army, at the Battle of the River Garonne—Western chroniclers state, "God alone knows the number of the slain"— and the city of Bordeaux was sacked and looted. Odo fled to Charles, seeking help. Charles agreed to come to Odo's rescue, provided Odo acknowledged Charles and his house as his overlords, which Odo did formally at once. Charles was pragmatic; while most commanders would never use their enemies in battle, Odo and his remaining Aquitanian nobles formed the right flank of Charles's forces at Tours.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">The Battle of Tours earned Charles the cognomen "Martel" ('Hammer') for the merciless way he hammered his enemies. Many historians, including Sir Edward Creasy, believe that had he failed at Tours, Islam would probably have overrun Gaul, and perhaps the remainder of Western Europe. Gibbon made clear his belief that the Umayyad armies would have conquered from Japan to the Rhine, and even England, having the English Channel for protection, with ease, had Martel not prevailed. Creasy said "the great victory won by Charles Martel ... gave a decisive check to the career of Arab conquest in Western Europe, rescued Christendom from Islam, [and] preserved the relics of ancient and the germs of modern civilization."</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">Gibbon's belief that the fate of Christianity hinged on this battle is echoed by other historians including John B. Bury, and was very popular for most of modern historiography. It fell somewhat out of style in the 20th century, when historians such as Bernard Lewis contended that Arabs had little intention of occupying northern France. More recently, however, many historians have tended once again to view the Battle of Tours as a very significant event in the history of Europe and Christianity. Equally, many, such as William Watson, still believe this battle was one of macrohistorical world-changing importance, if they do not go so far as Gibbon does rhetorically.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;"><span><span><span> </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">AFTER Tours</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">n the subsequent decade, Charles led the Frankish army against the eastern duchies, Bavaria and Alemannia, and the southern duchies, Aquitaine and Provence. He dealt with the ongoing conflict with the Frisians and Saxons to his northeast with some success, but full conquest of the Saxons and their incorporation into the Frankish empire would wait for his grandson Charlemagne, primarily because Martel concentrated the bulk of his efforts against Muslim expansion.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">So instead of concentrating on conquest to his east, he continued expanding Frankish authority in the west, and denying the Emirate of Córdoba a foothold in Europe beyond Al-Andalus. After his victory at Tours, Martel continued on in campaigns in 736 and 737 to drive other Muslim armies from bases in Gaul after they again attempted to expand beyond Al-Andalus.</p> <span class="editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; float: right; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 5px;">[<a style="text-decoration: initial; color: #0b0080; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" title="Edit section: Wars from 732-737" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Martel&action=edit&section=13">edit</a>]</span><span id="Wars_from_732-737" class="mw-headline">Wars from 732-737</span> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">Between his victory of 732 and 735, Charles reorganized the kingdom of Burgundy, replacing the counts and dukes with his loyal supporters, thus strengthening his hold on power. He was forced, by the ventures of Radbod, duke of the Frisians (719-734), son of the Duke Aldegisel who had accepted the missionaries Willibrord and Boniface, to invade independence-minded Frisia again in 734. In that year, he slew the duke, who had expelled the Christian missionaries, in the battle of the Boarn and so wholly subjugated the populace (he destroyed every pagan shrine) that the people were peaceful for twenty years after.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">The dynamic changed in 735 because of the death of Odo the Great, who had been forced to acknowledge, albeit reservedly, the suzerainty of Charles in 719. Though Charles wished to unite the duchy directly to himself and went there to elicit the proper homage of the Aquitainians, the nobility proclaimed Odo's son, Hunald of Aquitaine, whose dukedom Charles recognised when the Umayyads invaded Provence the next year, and who equally was forced to acknowledge Charles as overlord as he had no hope of holding off the Muslims alone.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">This naval Arab invasion was headed by Abdul Rahman's son. It landed in Narbonne in 736 and moved at once to reinforce Arles and move inland. Charles temporarily put the conflict with Hunold on hold, and descended on the Provençal strongholds of the Umayyads. In 736, he retook Montfrinand Avignon, and Arles and Aix-en-Provence with the help of Liutprand, King of the Lombards. Nîmes, Agde, and Béziers, held by Islam since 725, fell to him and their fortresses were destroyed.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">He crushed one Umayyad army at Arles, as that force sallied out of the city, and then took the city itself by a direct and brutal frontal attack, and burned it to the ground to prevent its use again as a stronghold for Umayyad expansion. He then moved swiftly and defeated a mighty host outside of Narbonnea at the River Berre, but failed to take the city. Military historians believe he could have taken it, had he chosen to tie up all his resources to do so—but he believed his life was coming to a close, and he had much work to do to prepare for his sons to take control of the Frankish realm.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">A direct frontal assault, such as took Arles, using rope ladders and rams, plus a few catapults, simply was not sufficient to take Narbonne without horrific loss of life for the Franks, troops Martel felt he could not lose. Nor could he spare years to starve the city into submission, years he needed to set up the administration of an empire his heirs would reign over. In addition, he faced strong opposition from regional lords such as the patrician Maurentius, from Marseille, who revolted against the Frankish leader. Moreover, the Aquitanian duke Hunald threatened his lines of communication with the north, so deciding him to withdraw from Septimania and destroy several strongholds (Béziers, Agde, etc.).<sup style="line-height: 1em;">[24]</sup> He left Narbonne therefore, isolated and surrounded, and his son would return to conquer it for the Franks.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">Notable about these campaigns was Charles' incorporation, for the first time, of heavy cavalry with stirrups to augment his phalanx. His ability to coordinate infantry and cavalry veterans was unequaled in that era and enabled him to face superior numbers of invaders, and to decisively defeat them again and again. Some historians believe the Battle against the main Muslim force at the River Berre, near Narbonne, in particular was as important a victory for Christian Europe as Tours.<sup style="line-height: 1em;">[25]</sup></p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">Further, unlike his father at Tours, Rahman's son in 736-737 knew that the Franks were a real power, and that Martel personally was a force to be reckoned with. He had no intention of allowing Martel to catch him unaware and dictate the time and place of battle, as his father had. He concentrated instead on seizing a substantial portion of the coastal plains around Narbonne in 736 and heavily reinforced Arles as he advanced inland.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">Abdul Rahman's son planned from there to move from city to city, fortifying as they went, and if Martel wished to stop them from making a permanent enclave for expansion of the Caliphate, he would have to come to them, in the open, where, he, unlike his father, would dictate the place of battle. All worked as he had planned, until Martel arrived, albeit more swiftly than the Moors believed he could call up his entire army. Unfortunately for Rahman's son, however, he had overestimated the time it would take Martel to develop heavy cavalry equal to that of the Muslims.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">The Caliphate believed it would take a generation, but Martel managed it in five years. Prepared to face the Frankish phalanx, the Muslims were totally unprepared to face a mixed force of heavy cavalry and infantry in a phalanx. Thus, Charles again championed Christianity and halted Muslim expansion into Europe. These defeats, plus those at the hands of Leo in Anatolia, were the last great attempt at expansion by the Umayyad Caliphate before the destruction of the dynasty at the Battle of the Zab, and the rending of the Caliphate forever, especially the utter destruction of the Umayyad army at River Berre near Narbonne in 737.</p> <span class="editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; float: right; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 5px;">[<a style="text-decoration: initial; color: #0b0080; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" title="Edit section: Interregnum" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Martel&action=edit&section=14">edit</a>]</span><span id="Interregnum" class="mw-headline">Interregnum</span> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">In 737, at the tail end of his campaigning in Provence and Septimania, the king, Theuderic IV, died. Martel, titling himself <em>maior domus</em> and <em>princeps et dux Francorum</em>, did not appoint a new king and nobody acclaimed one. The throne lay vacant until Martel's death. As the historian Charles Oman says (<em>The Dark Ages</em>, pg 297), "he cared not for name or style so long as the real power was in his hands."</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">Gibbon has said Martel was "content with the titles of Mayor or Duke of the Franks, but he deserved to become the father of a line of kings," which he did. Gibbon also says of him, "in the public danger, he was summoned by the voice of his country."</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">The interregnum, the final four years of Charles' life, was more peaceful than most of it had been and much of his time was now spent on administrative and organisational plans to create a more efficient state. Though, in 738, he compelled the Saxons of Westphalia to do him homage and pay tribute, and in 739 checked an uprising in Provence, the rebels being under the leadership of Maurontus. Charles set about integrating the outlying realms of his empire into the Frankish church.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">He erected four dioceses in Bavaria (Salzburg, Regensburg, Freising, and Passau) and gave them Boniface as archbishop and metropolitan over all Germany east of the Rhine, with his seat atMainz. Boniface had been under his protection from 723 on; indeed the saint himself explained to his old friend, Daniel of Winchester, that without it he could neither administer his church, defend his clergy, nor prevent idolatry. It was Boniface who had defended Charles most stoutly for his deeds in seizing ecclesiastical lands to pay his army in the days leading to Tours, as one doing what he must to defend Christianity.</p> <p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.1875px; font-size: 13px;">In 739, Pope Gregory III begged Charles for his aid against Liutprand, but Charles was loath to fight his onetime ally and ignored the Papal plea. Nonetheless, the Papal applications for Frankish protection showed how far Martel had come from the days he was tottering on excommunication, and set the stage for his son and grandson to rearrange Italian political boundaries to suit the Papacy, and protect it.</p> <span class="editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; float: right; font-size: 13px; margin-left: 5px;">[<a style="text-decoration: initial; color: #0b0080; background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" title="Edit section: Death (741)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Martel&action=edit&section=15">edit</a>]</span><span id="Death_.28741.29" class="mw-headline">Death (741)</span> <p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">Charles Martel died on October 22, 741, at </span>Quierzy-sur-Oise<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> in what is today the </span>Aisne<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><em style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">département</em><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> in the </span>Picardy<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> region of France. He was buried at </span>Saint Denis Basilica<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> in </span>Paris<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;">. His territories were divided among his adult sons a year earlier: to </span>Carloman<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> he gave Austrasia and Alemannia (with Bavaria as a vassal), to </span>Pippin the Younger<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> Neustria and Burgundy (with Aquitaine as a vassal), and to </span>Grifo<span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> nothing, though some sources indicate he intended to give him a strip of land between Neustria and Austrasia.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> </div> </div>