Charles Martel

This article is about the Frankish ruler. For other uses, considered to be part of their fathers paternal family, the
see Charles Martel (disambiguation).
Pippinids, who since the early seventh century had dominated the politics of Francia.
Charles Martel (c. 688 or 686, 680 22 October
741) was a Frankish statesman and military leader who,
as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the
Palace, was de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his
death.[2][3][4][5][6]

After the reign of Dagobert I (629639) the Merovingians eectively ceded power to the Pippinids, who ruled
the Frankish realm of Austrasia in all but name as Mayors of the Palace. They controlled the royal treasury,
dispensed patronage, and granted land and privileges in
the name of the gurehead king. Martels father, Pepin,
was the second member of the family to rule the Franks.
Pepin was able to unite all the Frankish realms by conquering Neustria and Burgundy. He was the rst to call
himself Duke and Prince of the Franks, a title later taken
up by Charles.

The illegitimate son of the Frankish statesman Pepin

of Herstal and a noblewoman named Alpaida, Martel
successfully asserted his claims to power as successor to
his father as the power behind the throne in Frankish
politics. Continuing and building on his fathers work,
he restored centralized government in Francia and began
the series of military campaigns that re-established the
Franks as the undisputed masters of all Gaul. In foreign
wars, Martel subjugated Bavaria, Alemannia, and Frisia,
defeated the Saxons, and halted the Islamic advance into
Western Europe at the Battle of Tours in 732.[7][8]

2 Contesting for power

Martel is considered to be the founding gure 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 rst attempt
at reconciliation between the Papacy and the Franks. The
Pope wished him to become the defender of the Holy See
and oered him the Roman consulship. Martel refused
the oer.[9][10]
Although Martel never assumed the title of king, he divided Francia, like a king, between his sons Carloman
and Pepin. The latter became the rst of the Carolingians,
the family of Charles Martel, to become king. Martels
grandson, Charlemagne, extended the Frankish realms to
include much of the West, and became the rst Emperor
since the fall of Rome. Therefore, on the basis of his
achievements, Martel is seen as laying the groundwork
for the Carolingian Empire.[11] In summing up the man,
Gibbon wrote that Martel was the hero of the age,
whereas Guerard describes him as being the champion
of the Cross against the Crescent.[12][13]

The Frankish kingdoms at the time of the death of Pepin of

Heristal. Aquitaine (yellow) was outside Arnulng authority and
Neustria and Burgundy (pink) were united in opposition to further Arnulng dominance of the highest oces. Only Austrasia (green) supported an Arnulng mayor, rst Theudoald then
Charles. The German duchies to the east of the Rhine were de
facto outside of Frankish suzerainty at this time.

Background

In December 714, Pepin of Herstal died.[15] Prior to his

death, he had, at his wife Plectrudes urging, designated
Theudoald, his grandson by their late 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

Martel was born as the illegitimate son of Pepin of Herstal and his concubine Alpaida.[14][15] He had a brother
named Childebrand, who later became the Frankish dux
of Burgundy. The brothers, being illegitimate, were not
1

CONSOLIDATION OF POWER

to his own advantage, Plectrude had him imprisoned in 2.1.3 Battle of Vincy
Cologne, the city which was destined to be her capital.
This prevented an uprising on his behalf in Austrasia, but After the victory at Amblve, Martel took time to rally
more men and prepare. By the following spring, Marnot in Neustria.
tel had attracted enough support to descend in full force
on the Neustrians.[17] He chose the time and location.
Charles eventually followed them and dealt them a se2.1 Civil war of 715718
rious blow at Vincy on 21 March 717. He pursued the
eeing
king and mayor to Paris, before turning back
In 715, the Neustrian nobles proclaimed Ragenfrid mayor
to
deal
with Plectrude and Cologne. He took her city
[16]
of their palace
on behalf of, and apparently with
and
dispersed
her adherents, but allowed both Plectrude
the support of, Dagobert III, who in theory had the leand
the
young
Theudoald to live and treated them with
gal authority to select a mayor, though by this time the
kindnessunusual
for those times, when mercy to a forMerovingian dynasty had lost most such powers.
mer gaoler, or a potential rival, was rare.
The Austrasians were not to be left supporting a woman
success, he proclaimed Chlotar IV king of
and a young child. Before the end of the year, Charles On this [16]
Austrasia
in opposition to Chilperic and deposed the
Martel had escaped from prison and been acclaimed
archbishop
of
Reims, Rigobert, replacing him with Milo,
[15]
mayor by the nobles of that kingdom.
That year,
a
lifelong
supporter.
Dagobert died and the Neustrians proclaimed Chilperic
II, the cloistered son of Childeric II, king.

3 Consolidation of power
2.1.1

Battle of Cologne

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. The king and his
mayor besieged Plectrude at Cologne, where she bought
them o with a substantial portion of Pepins treasure.
Then they withdrew.[17]

2.1.2

Battle of Amblve

Martel retreated to the mountains of the Eifel to gather

men, and train them. Having made the proper preparations, he fell upon the triumphant army near Malmedy as
it was returning to its own province, and, in the ensuing
Battle of Amblve, routed it.[17] The few troops who were
not killed or captured ed.
In this battle Charles set a pattern for the remainder of
his military career. He appeared where his enemies least
expected him, while they were marching triumphantly
home and far outnumbered him. He also attacked when
least expected, at midday, when armies of that era traditionally were resting. Finally, he attacked them how 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 timeit was a traditionally eastern tacticrequired 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 brilliance that would mark his rule.
The result was an unbroken victory streak that lasted until
his death.

After subjugating all Austrasia, he marched against

Radbod and pushed him back into his territory, even forcing the concession of West Frisia (later part of the county
of Holland). He also sent the Saxons back over the Weser
and thus secured his bordersin 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.[16]
Chilperic ed with his ducal ally to the land south of
the Loire and Ragenfrid ed 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 armation of his mayoralty,
likewise over all the kingdoms (718).

3.1 Foreign wars of 718732

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.
Having unied 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

3
In 725 and 728, he again entered Bavaria. 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 rst years
of the reign.
By 731, the realm secure, Charles began to prepare exclusively for the coming crises from the south and west.

4 Prelude to Tours
4.1 Lead-up

The Saracen Army outside Paris, 730-32, in an early nineteenthcentury depiction by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

By 721, the emir of Crdoba had built up a strong army

from Morocco, Yemen, and Syria to conquer Aquitaine.
The large duchy in southwest Gaul was nominally under
Frankish sovereignty, but in fact almost independent under Odo the Great, Duke of Aquitaine, since the Merovingian kings had lost power. The invading Muslims besieged Toulouse, then Aquitaines most important city,
and Odo (also called Eudes, or Eudo) immediately left
to nd help.

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.
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, rois fainants 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.
The next six years were devoted in their entirety to assuring Frankish authority over the dependent Germanic
tribes. Between 720 and 723, Charles was ghting
in Bavaria, where the Agilolng 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. He brought back the Agilolng princess
Swanachild, who apparently became his concubine.

Age of the Caliphs:" Umayyad dominance stretches from the

Middle East to Iberia to include Narbonne's port, c. 720

Returning three months later, Odo was in time to prevent

the citys surrender and defeated the Muslim invaders on
June 9, 721, at the Battle of Toulouse (721). After Odos
escape the Muslims had become overcondent, failing to
maintain defenses or scout patrols. In a near classic enveloping movement Odos forces launched a surprise attack on the besiegers, scattering them at the rst attack
and slaughtering units at rest or eeing without weapons
or armour.
By 730 Abdul Rahman Al Ghaqi, who had been at
Toulouse, was the emir of Cordoba. The Arab Chronicles make clear he had strongly opposed his predecesspors decision not to secure outer defenses against a relief
force, which allowed Odos force to attack with impunity
before the Islamic cavalry could assemble or mount.
This time the Umayyad horsemen were ready for battle,
and the results were horric for the Aquitanians.

4.2

Raising an army

Historian Paul K. Davis wrote, Having defeated Eudes,

he turned to the Rhine to strengthen his northeastern
bordersbut in 725 was diverted south with the activity of the Muslims in Acquitane.[18] Martel then concentrated his attention to the Umayyads, virtually for the
remainder of his life. Due to the situation in Iberia, Martel believed he needed a virtually full-time armyone he
could train intenselyas 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.
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 ecclesia by donating land,
seized some of it back between 724 and 732. Of course,
Church ocials were enraged, and, for a time, it looked
as though Charles might even be excommunicated for his
actions. But then came a signicant invasion.
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 Romes 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 armys catastrophic defeat.

Battle of Tours in 732

Main article: Battle of Tours

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 eort at the conquest of Europe
north of the Pyrenees.[19]
Edward Shepherd Creasy, The Fifteen
Decisive Battles of the World

5.1

Importance

Odo, hero of Toulouse, was badly defeated in the Muslim

invasion of 732 at the battle prior to the Muslim sacking
of Bordeaux, and again at the Battle of the River Garonne
after he had gathered a second armyChristian chroni-

BATTLE OF TOURS IN 732

clers state, God alone knows the number of the slain

and the city of Bordeaux was sacked and looted. Odo
ed to Charles, seeking help. Charles agreed to come to
Odos rescue, provided Odo acknowledged Charles and
his house as his overlords, which Odo did formally at
once. Odo and his remaining Aquitanian nobles formed
the right ank of Charless forces at Tours. Charles defeated the Moors commanded by Abderame; while the
former and the latter squared o in battle, Odo set re to
the encampment of the latter.[20]
The Battle of Tours earned Charles the cognomen Martel, meaning the hammer in French, by later, 9th century chronicles for the merciless way he hammered his
enemies.[21]
Many historians, including Sir Edward Creasy, believe
that had he failed at Poitiers, 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.
Gibbons 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 Poitiers as a very signicant event in the history of Europe and Christianity.
Equally, many, such as William E. Watson, still believe
this battle was one of macrohistorical world-changing importance, if they do not go so far as Gibbon does rhetorically.
Indeed, 12 years later, when Martel 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.[22]
5.1.1 Contemporary historians
In the modern era, Matthew Bennett and his co-authors
of Fighting Techniques of the Medieval World, published
in 2005, argue that few battles are remembered 1,000
years after they are fought ... but the Battle of Poitiers,
(Tours) is an exception ... Charles Martel turned back a
Muslim raid that, had it been allowed to continue, might
have conquered Gaul. Michael Grant, author of History
of Rome, grants the Battle of Tours such importance that
he lists it in the macrohistorical dates of the Roman era.

5.1

Importance

Bataille de Poitiers, en octobre 732, by Charles de Steuben from

1834 to 1837.[23]

5
all the way to Morocco in the seventh century
resulted in the permanent imposition by force
of Islamic culture onto a previously Christian
and largely non-Arab base. The Visigothic
kingdom fell to Muslim conquerors in a single
battle at the Battle of Guadalete on the Rio Barbate in 711, and the Hispanic Christian population took seven long centuries to regain control
of the Iberian Peninsula. The Reconquista, of
course, was completed in 1492, only months
before Columbus received ocial backing for
his fateful voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.
Had Charles Martel suered at Tours-Poitiers
the fate of King Roderick at the Rio Barbate, it
is doubtful that a do-nothing sovereign of the
Merovingian realm could have later succeeded
where his talented major domus had failed. Indeed, as Charles was the progenitor of the Carolingian line of Frankish rulers and grandfather of Charlemagne, one can even say with
a degree of certainty that the subsequent history of the West would have proceeded along
vastly dierent currents had Abd ar-Rahman
been victorious at Tours-Poitiers in 732.[25]

It is important to note however that modern Western historians, military historians, and writers, essentially fall
into three camps. The rst, those who believe Gibbon
was right in his assessment that Martel saved Christianity and Western civilization by this battle are typied by
Bennett, Paul Davis, Robert Martin, and educationalist
Dexter B. Wakeeld who writes in An Islamic Europe:
The nal camp of Western historians believe that the importance of the battle is dramatically overstated. This
A Muslim France? Historically, it nearly
view is typied by Alessandro Barbero, who writes, Tohappened. But as a result of Martels erce
day, historians tend to play down the signicance of the
opposition, which ended Muslim advances and
battle of Poitiers, pointing out that the purpose of the
set the stage for centuries of war thereafter, IsArab force defeated by Charles Martel was not to conquer
lam moved no farther into Europe. European
the Frankish kingdom, but simply to pillage the wealthy
schoolchildren learn about the Battle of Tours
monastery of St-Martin of Tours.[26] Similarly, Toma
in much the same way that American students
Mastnak writes:
learn about Valley Forge and Gettysburg.[24]
The second camp of contemporary historians believe that
a failure by Martel at Tours could have been a disaster,
destroying what would become Western civilization after the Renaissance. Certainly all historians agree that no
power would have remained in Europe able to halt Islamic
expansion had the Franks failed. William E. Watson, one
of the most respected historians of this era, strongly supports Tours as a macrohistorical event, but distances himself from the rhetoric of Gibbon and Drubeck, writing,
for example, of the battles importance in Frankish and
world history in 1993:
There is clearly some justication for ranking Tours-Poitiers among the most signicant
events in Frankish history when one considers the result of the battle in light of the remarkable record of the successful establishment by Muslims of Islamic political and cultural dominance along the entire eastern and
southern rim of the former Christian, Roman
world. The rapid Muslim conquest of Palestine, Syria, Egypt and the North African coast

Modern historians have constructed a myth

presenting this victory as having saved Christian Europe from the Muslims. Edward Gibbon, for example, called Charles Martel the
savior of Christendom and the battle near
Poitiers an encounter that changed the history
of the world... This myth has survived well into
our own times... Contemporaries of the battle, however, did not overstate its signicance.
The continuators of Fredegars chronicle, who
probably wrote in the mid-eighth century, pictured the battle as just one of many military
encounters between Christians and Saracens
moreover, as only one in a series of wars
fought by Frankish princes for booty and territory... One of Fredegars continuators presented the battle of Poitiers as what it really
was: an episode in the struggle between Christian princes as the Carolingians strove to bring
Aquitaine under their rule.[27]
However, it is vital to note, when assessing Charles Martels life, that even those historians who dispute the sig-

6 AFTER TOURS

nicance of this one battle as the event that saved Christianity, do not dispute that Martel himself had a huge effect on Western European history. Modern military historian Victor Davis Hanson acknowledges the debate on
this battle, citing historians both for and against its macrohistorical placement:
Recent scholars have suggested Poitiers, so
poorly recorded in contemporary sources, was
a mere raid and thus a construct of western
myth-making or that a Muslim victory might
have been preferable to continued Frankish
dominance. What is clear is that Poitiers
marked a general continuance of the successful
defense of Europe (from the Muslims). Flush
from the victory at Tours, Charles Martel went
on to clear southern France from Islamic attackers for decades, unify the warring kingdoms into the foundations of the Carolingian
Empire, and ensure ready and reliable troops
from local estates.[28]

Charles Martel depicted in the French book Promptuarii

Iconum Insigniorum by Guillaume Rouille, published in 1553.

After Tours

In 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 conict 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 eorts against
Muslim expansion.
So instead of concentrating on conquest to his east, he
continued expanding Frankish authority in the west, and
denying the Emirate of Crdoba a foothold in Europe Charles Martels military campaigns in Aquitaine, Septimania
beyond Al-Andalus. After his victory at Tours, Martel and Provence after the Battle of Tour-Poitiers (734742)
continued on in campaigns in 736 and 737 to drive other
Muslim armies from bases in Gaul after they again atThe dynamic changed in 735 because of the death
tempted to expand beyond Al-Andalus.
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 him6.1 Wars of 732737
self and went there to elicit the proper homage of the
Between his victory of 732 and 735, Charles reorganized Aquitainians, the nobility proclaimed Odos son, Hunald
the kingdom of Burgundy, replacing the counts and dukes of Aquitaine, whose dukedom Charles recognised when
with his loyal supporters, thus strengthening his hold on the Umayyads invaded Provence the next year, and who
power. He was forced, by the ventures of Radbod, duke equally was forced to acknowledge Charles as overlord as
of the Frisians (719734), son of the Duke Aldegisel he had no hope of holding o the Muslims alone.
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.

This naval Arab invasion was headed by Abdul Rahmans

son. It landed in Narbonne in 736 and moved at once
to reinforce Arles and move inland. Charles temporarily put the conict with Hunald on hold, and descended
on the Provenal strongholds of the Umayyads. In 736,
he retook Montfrin and Avignon, and Arles and Aix-enProvence with the help of Liutprand, King of the Lom-

6.2

Interregnum

bards. Nmes, Agde, and Bziers, held by Islam since The Caliphate believed it would take a generation, but
725, fell to him and their fortresses were destroyed.
Martel managed it in ve years. Prepared to face the
He crushed one Umayyad army at Arles, as that force sal- Frankish phalanx, the Muslims were totally unprepared
lied out of the city, and then took the city itself by a direct to face a mixed force of heavy cavalry and infantry in
and brutal frontal attack, and burned it to the ground to a phalanx. Thus, Charles again championed Christianity
prevent its use again as a stronghold for Umayyad expan- and halted Muslim expansion into Europe. These defeats,
sion. He then moved swiftly and defeated a mighty host plus those at the hands of Leo III of the Byzantine Emoutside of Narbonnea at the River Berre, but failed to take pire in Anatolia, were the last great attempt at expansion
by the Umayyad Caliphate before the destruction of the
the city. Military historians believe he could have taken
it, had he chosen to tie up all his resources to do sobut dynasty at the Battle of the Zab, and the rending of the
Caliphate forever, especially the utter destruction of the
he believed his life was coming to a close, and he had
much work to do to prepare for his sons to take control Umayyad army at River Berre near Narbonne in 737.
of the Frankish realm.
A direct frontal assault, such as took Arles, using rope
ladders and rams, plus a few catapults, simply was not
sucient to take Narbonne without horric 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 (Bziers, Agde, etc.).[29] He left Narbonne
therefore, isolated and surrounded, and his son would return to conquer it for the Franks.
Notable about these campaigns was Charles incorporation, for the rst 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.[30]
Further, unlike his father at Tours, Rahmans 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.
Abdul Rahmans 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 Rahmans
son, however, he had overestimated the time it would take
Martel to develop heavy cavalry equal to that of the Muslims.

6.2 Interregnum
In 737, at the tail end of his campaigning in Provence and
Septimania, the king, Theuderic IV, died. Martel, titling
himself maior domus and princeps et dux Francorum, did
not appoint a new king and nobody acclaimed one. The
throne lay vacant until Martels death. As the historian
Charles Oman says (The Dark Ages, pg 297), he cared
not for name or style so long as the real power was in his
hands.
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.
The interregnum, the nal 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 ecient 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.
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 at Mainz. 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.
In 739, Pope Gregory III begged Charles for his aid
against Liutprand, but Charles was loath to ght 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

LEGACY

Papacy, and protect it.

Death (741)

Charles Martel divides the realm between Pepin and Carloman.

Grandes Chroniques de France. Bibliothque Nationale.

14th-century depiction of the death of Charles Martel.

Though he never cared about titles, his son Pippin did,

and nally asked the Pope who should be King, he who
has the title, or he who has the power?" The Pope, highly
dependent on Frankish armies for his independence from
Lombard and Byzantine power (the Byzantine Emperor
still considered himself to be the only legitimate "Roman
Emperor", and thus, ruler of all of the provinces of the
ancient empire, whether recognised or not), declared for
he who had the power and immediately crowned Pippin.

Charles Martel died on October 22, 741, at Quierzy-surOise in what is today the Aisne dpartement in the Picardy
region of France. He was buried at Saint Denis Basilica in
Paris. His territories were divided among his adult sons
a year earlier: to Carloman he gave Austrasia and Alemannia (with Bavaria as a vassal), to Pippin the Younger
Neustria and Burgundy (with Aquitaine as a vassal), and
to Grifo nothing, though some sources indicate he intended to give him a strip of land between Neustria and
Austrasia.

Decades later, in 800, Pippins son Charlemagne was

crowned emperor by the Pope, further extending the
principle by delegitimising the nominal authority of the
Byzantine Emperor in the Italian peninsula (which had,
by then, shrunk to encompass little more than Apulia
and Calabria at best) and ancient Roman Gaul, including the Iberian outposts Charlemagne had established in
the Marca Hispanica across the Pyrenees, what today
forms Catalonia. In short, though the Byzantine Emperor
claimed authority over all the old Roman Empire, as the
Gibbon called him the hero of the age and declared legitimate Roman Emperor, it was simply not reality.
Christendom ... delivered ... by the genius and good The bulk of the Western Roman Empire had come unfortune of one man, Charles Martel.
der Carolingian rule, the Byzantine Emperor having had

Legacy

At the beginning of Charles Martels career, he had many

internal opponents and felt the need to appoint his own
kingly claimant, Clotaire IV. By his end, however, the dynamics of rulership in Francia had changed, no hallowed
Meroving was needed, neither for defence nor legitimacy:
Charles divided his realm between his sons without opposition (though he ignored his young son Bernard). In
between, he strengthened the Frankish state by consistently defeating, through superior generalship, the host of
hostile foreign nations which beset it on all sides, including the non-Christian Saxons, whom his grandson Charlemagne would fully subdue, and Moors, whom he halted
on a path of continental domination.

almost no authority in the West since the sixth century,

though Charlemagne, a consummate politician, preferred
to avoid an open breach with Constantinople. An institution unique in history was being born: the Holy Roman Empire. Though the sardonic Voltaire ridiculed its
nomenclature, saying that the Holy Roman Empire was
neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire, it constituted
an enormous political power for a time, especially under
the Saxon and Salian dynasties and, to a lesser, extent, the
Hohenstaufen. It lasted until 1806, by which time it was a
nonentity. Though his grandson became its rst emperor,
the empire such as it was, was largely born during the
reign of Charles Martel.
Charles was that rarest of commodities in the Middle
Ages: a brilliant strategic general, who also was a tactical commander par excellence, able in the heat of battle
to adapt his plans to his foes forces and movement and

9
amazingly, to defeat them repeatedly, especially when, as
at Tours, they were far superior in men and weaponry, and
at Berre and Narbonne, when they were superior in numbers of ghting men. Charles had the last quality which
denes genuine greatness in a military commander: he
foresaw the dangers of his foes, and prepared for them
with care; he used ground, time, place, and erce loyalty
of his troops to oset his foes superior weaponry and tactics; third, he adapted, again and again, to the enemy on
the battleeld, shifting to compensate for the unforeseen
and unforeseeable.
Gibbon, whose tribute to Martel has been noted, was
not alone among the great mid era historians in fervently
praising Martel; Thomas Arnold ranks the victory of
Charles Martel even higher than the victory of Arminius
in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in its impact on all
of modern history:
Charles Martels victory at Tours was
among those signal deliverances which
have aected for centuries the happiness of
mankind.
History of the later Roman Commonwealth,
vol ii. p. 317.

13th-century tomb of Charles Martel, Basilique Saint-Denis[31]

Tomb of Charles Martel, Basilique Saint-Denis (detail).

for driving back the ferocious Saxon barbarians on his

borders. Schlegel speaks of this mighty victory in terms
of fervent gratitude, and tells how the arm of Charles
Martel saved and delivered the Christian nations of the
West from the deadly grasp of all-destroying Islam, and
Ranke points out,
as one of the most important epochs in the
history of the world, the commencement of
the eighth century, when on the one side Mohammedanism threatened to overspread Italy
and Gaul, and on the other the ancient idolatry of Saxony and Friesland once more forced
its way across the Rhine. In this peril of Christian institutions, a youthful prince of Germanic
race, Karl Martell, arose as their champion,
maintained them with all the energy which the
necessity for self-defence calls forth, and nally extended them into new regions.
In 1922 and 1923, Belgian historian Henri Pirenne published a series of papers, known collectively as the
Pirenne Thesis, which remain inuential to this day.
Pirenne held that the Roman Empire continued, in the
Frankish realms, up until the time of the Arab conquests
in the 7th century. These conquests disrupted Mediterranean trade routes leading to a decline in the European
economy. Such continued disruption would have meant
complete disaster except for Charles Martels halting of
Islamic expansion into Europe from 732 on. What he
managed to preserve led to the Carolingian Renaissance,
named after him.
Professor Santosuosso[22] perhaps sums up Martel best
when he talks about his coming to the rescue of his Christian allies in Provence, and driving the Muslims back into
the Iberian Peninsula forever in the mid and late 730s:
After assembling forces at Saragossa the
Muslims entered French territory in 735,
crossed the River Rhone and captured and
looted Arles. From there they struck into the
heart of Provence, ending with the capture of
Avignon, despite strong resistance. Islamic
forces remained in French territory for about
four years, carrying raids to Lyon, Burgundy,
and Piedmont. Again Charles Martel came to
the rescue, reconquering most of the lost territories in two campaigns in 736 and 739, except for the city of Narbonne, which nally
fell in 759. The second (Muslim) expedition
was probably more dangerous than the rst to
Poitiers. Yet its failure (at Martels hands) put
an end to any serious Muslim expedition across
the Pyrenees (forever).

German historians are especially ardent in their praise of

Martel and in their belief that he saved Europe and Chris- Skilled as an administrator and ruler, Martel organized
tianity from then all-conquering Islam, praising him also what would become the medieval European government:

10

MILITARY LEGACY

a system of efdoms, loyal to barons, counts, dukes and

ultimately the King, or in his case, simply maior domus
and princeps et dux Francorum. ("Mayor of the Palace,
Duke of the Franks") His close coordination of church
with state began the medieval pattern for such government. He created what would become the rst western
standing army since the fall of Rome by his maintaining a core of loyal veterans around which he organized
the normal feudal levies. In essence, he changed Europe
from a horde of barbarians ghting with one another, to
an organized state.

8.1

Beginning of the Reconquista

Further information: Reconquista

Although it took another two decades for the Franks to
drive all the Arab garrisons out of Septimania and across
the Pyrenees, Charles Martels halt of the invasion of
French soil turned the tide of Islamic advances, and the
unication of the Frankish kingdoms under Martel, his
son Pippin the Younger, and his grandson Charlemagne
created a western power which prevented the Emirate of
Crdoba from expanding over the Pyrenees. Martel, who
in 732 was on the verge of excommunication, instead
was recognised by the Church as its paramount defender.
Pope Gregory II wrote to him more than once, asking his
protection and aid,[32] and he remained, till his death, xated on stopping the Muslims.

Stained glass window depicting Charles Martel at Strasbourg

Cathedral.

forces were light infantry. It was not till Abdul Rahman Al Ghaqi brought a huge force of Arab and Berber
cavalry with him when he assumed the emirate of AlAndulus that the Muslim forces became primarily cavalry.

Martels army was the rst standing permanent army since

the fall of Rome in 476.[34] At its core was a body of
tough, seasoned heavy infantry who displayed exceptional
resolution at Tours. The Frankish infantry wore as much
as 70 pounds of armour, including their heavy wooden
shields with an iron boss. Standing close together, and
well disciplined, they were unbreakable at Tours.[35] MarMartels son Pippin the Younger (Pepin II, The Short) tel had taken the money and property he had seized from
kept his fathers promise and returned and took Narbonne the church and paid local nobles to supply trained ready
by siege in 759. His grandson, Charlemagne, actually es- infantry year round.
tablished the Marca Hispanica across the Pyrenees in part This was the core of veterans who served with him on a
of what today is Catalonia, reconquering Girona in 785 permanent basis, and as Hanson says, provided a steady
and Barcelona in 801. Carolingians called this region of supply of dependable troops year around. While other
modern-day Spain The Moorish Marches, and saw it as Germanic cultures, such as the Visigoths or Vandals, had
more than a simple check on the Muslims in Hispania. a proud martial tradition, and the Franks themselves had
It formed a permanent buer zone against Islam and be- an annual muster of military aged men, such tribes were
came the basis, along with the eorts of Pelayo (Latin: only able to eld armies around planting and harvest. It
Pelagius) and his descendants, for the Reconquista.
was Martels creation of a system whereby he could call

9
9.1

Military legacy
Heavy infantry and permanent army

Victor Davis Hanson argues that Charles Martel launched

the thousand year struggle between European heavy infantry and Muslim cavalry.[33] Of course, Martel is also
the father of heavy cavalry in Europe, as he integrated
heavy armoured cavalry into his forces. This creation of
a real army would continue all through his reign, and that
of his son, Pepin the Short, until his Grandson, Charlemagne, would possess the worlds largest and nest army
since the peak of Rome.[34] Equally, the Muslims used
infantryindeed, at the Battle of Toulouse most of their

on troops year round that gave the Carolingians the rst

standing and permanent army since Romes fall in the
west.
Charles Martels most important military achievement
was the victory at Tours. Creasy argues that the Martel victory preserved the relics of ancient and the gems
of modern civilizations. Gibbon called those eight days
in 732, the week leading up to Tours, and the battle itself, the events that rescued our ancestors of Britain, and
our neighbours of Gaul [France], from the civil and religious yoke of the Koran. Paul Akers, in his editorial on
Charles Martel, says for those who value life and freedom you might spare a minute sometime today, and every October, to say a silent 'thank you' to a gang of halfsavage Germans and especially to their leader, Charles
'The Hammer' Martel.[36]

11
Martel analysed what would be necessary for him to withstand a larger force and superior technology (the Muslim horsemen had adopted the armour and accoutrements
of heavy cavalry from the Sassanid warrior class, which
made the armored mounted knight possible). Not daring to send his few horsemen against the Islamic cavalry,
he had his army ght in a formation used by the ancient
Greeks to withstand superior numbers and weapons by
discipline, courage, and a willingness to die for their
cause: a phalanx. He had trained a core of his men year
round, using mostly Church funds, and some had been
with him since his earliest days after his fathers death.
It was this hard core of disciplined veterans that won the
day for him at Tours.
Hanson emphasizes that Martels greatest accomplishment as a general may have been his ability to keep his
troops under control. Iron discipline saved his infantry
from the fate of so many infantrymensuch as the Saxons at Hastingswho broke formation and were slaughtered piecemeal. After using this infantry force by itself
at Tours, he studied the foes forces and further adapted to
them, initially using stirrups and saddles recovered from
the foes dead horses, and armour from the dead horsemen.

The battle of Tours, or Poitiers, as it should

be called, is regarded as one of the decisive battles of the world. It decided that Christians,
and not Moslems, should be the ruling power
in Europe. Charles Martel is especially celebrated as the hero of this battle.
Just as his grandson, Charlemagne, would become famous for his swift and unexpected movements in his campaigns, Charles was renowned for never doing what his
enemies forecast he would do, and for moving far faster
than his opponents believed he could.
It is notable that the Northmen did not begin their European raids until after the death of Martels grandson,
Charlemagne. They had the naval capacity to begin those
raids at least three generations earlier, and constructed
defenses against counterattacks by land, but chose not to
challenge Martel, his son Pippin, or his grandson, Charlemagne.

10 Conclusion

J.M. Roberts says of Charles Martel in his note on the

The defeats Martel inicted on the Muslims were vital
Carolingians on page 315 of his 1993 History of the
in that the split in the Islamic world left the Caliphate
World:
unable to mount an all-out attack on Europe via its Iberian
stronghold after 750. His ability to meet this challenge,
It (the Carolingian line) produced
until the fragmentation of authority within the Muslims,
Charles Martel, the soldier who
is considered by most historians to be of macrohistorical
turned the Arabs back at Tours, and
importance, and is why Dante writes of him in Heaven as
the supporter of Saint Boniface, the
one of the Defenders of the Faith.
Evangelizer of Germany. This is a
H. G. Wells says of Charles Martels decisive defeat of
considerable double mark to have
the Muslims in his Short History of the World:
left on the history of Europe.
The Muslim when they crossed the Pyrenees in 720 found this Frankish kingdom under
the practical rule of Charles Martel, the Mayor
of the Palace of a degenerate descendant of
Clovis, and experienced the decisive defeat of
Poitiers (732) at his hands. This Charles Martel was practically overlord of Europe north of
the Alps from the Pyrenees to Hungary.[37]

Gibbon perhaps summarized Charles Martels legacy

most eloquently: in a laborious administration of 24
years he had restored and supported the dignity of the
throne... by the activity of a warrior who in the same campaign could display his banner on the Elbe, the Rhone,
and shores of the ocean.

11 Family and children

However, when the Muslim rst crossed the Pyrenees,
Aquitaine was actually an independent realm under duke
Odos leadership and the Gothic Septimania remained out
of Frankish rule. Odo, who was Charless southern rival,
had struck a peace treaty after the Frankish civil wars
in Neustria and Austrasia, and garnered much popularity and the Popes favour for his victory on the 721 Battle
of Toulouse against the Moors. On the eve of the Muslim
expedition north (731), Charles Martel crossed the Loire
and captured the Aquitanian city of Bourges, while Odo
re-captured it briey after.
John H. Haaren says in Famous Men of the Middle Ages

Charles Martel married twice:

His rst wife was Rotrude of Treves, daughter of
Leudwinus, Count of Treves (died 724). They had the
following children:
Hiltrud (d. 754), married Odilo I, Duke of Bavaria
Carloman
Landrade (Landres), married Sigrand, Count of
Hesbania.

12

12 NOTES

Auda, Aldana, or Alane, married Thierry IV, Count [10] The Frankish Kingdom. 2001. The Encyclopedia of
World History
of Autun and Toulouse.
Pepin the Short

[11] Fouracre, Paul. The Age of Charles Martel

His second wife was Swanhild. They had the following [12] Edward Gibbon, The history of the decline and fall of the
Roman empire, Volume 6, p. 197.
child:
[13] Albert Guerard, France: A Modern History.

Grifo
Charles Martel also had a mistress, Ruodhaid. They had
the following children:
Bernard (b. before 732787)
Hieronymus
Remigius, archbishop of Rouen (d. 771)[38]

12

Notes

[1] Sculpted in marble by Debaye, pere in 1839, and rst displayed at the Salon in 1839. Height 2.09m. (E. Soulie,
Notice des peintures..., 1855)
[2] Schulman, Jana K. (2002). The Rise of the Medieval World, 5001300: A Biographical Dictionary.
Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 101. ISBN 0-31330817-9.

[14] Mark Grossman (2007). World military leaders: a biographical dictionary. Facts on File. p. 63. ISBN 978-08160-4732-1. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
[15] Kurth, Godefroid. Charles Martel. The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company,
1908. 20 Jul. 2014
[16] Strauss, Gustave Louis M., Moslem and Frank; or, Charles
Martel and the rescue of Europe, Oxford University, 1854
[17] Costambeys, Marios, Innes, Matthew, and MacLean, Simon. The Carolingian World, Cambridge University
Press, 2011
[18] Davis, P. K. (1999). Tours (Poitiers)". 100 Decisive Battles: From Ancient Times to the Present. Oxford University Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-19-514366-9. OCLC
442348155.
[19] Pokes Fifteen Decisive Battles

[3] Littlewood, Ian (2002). France. Rough Guides. p. 34.

ISBN 1-85828-826-6.

[20] Eudore Soulie: Notice des peintures et sculptures

composant le muse imprial de Versailles, p.281
(Montalant-Bougleux, 1855)

[4] Cawthorne, Nigel (2004). Military Commanders: The 100

Greatest Throughout History. Enchanted Lion Books. pp.
5253. ISBN 1-59270-029-2.

[21] Riche, Paul (2002). The Carolingians: A Family Who

Forged Europe. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 44.
ISBN 0-8122-1342-4.

[5] Fouracre, Paul (2000). The Age of Charles Martel.

Longman. p. 55. ISBN 0-582-06475-9.

[22] Santosuosso, A. (2004). Barbarians, marauders, and indels : the ways of medieval warfare. Westview Press.
ISBN 978-0-8133-9153-3. OCLC 433381450.

[6] Kibler, William W.; Zinn, Grover A. (1995). Medieval

France: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. pp. 205206.
ISBN 0-8240-4444-4.
[7] Charless victory has often been regarded as decisive for
world history, since it preserved western Europe from
Muslim conquest and Islamization. Battle of Tours Britannica Online Encyclopedia

[23] Located in the Palace of Versailles; height 4.65m, width

5.42m, rst displayed at the Salon of 1838. (E. Soulie,
Notice des peintures... 1855)
[24] An Islamic Europe?, Tomorrows World, Volume 8, No 3.
; An Islamic Europe?

[8] Durant, Will. The Age of Faith. New York: Simon and
Schuster, 1950. OCLC 225699907. Page 461. Originally
published 1939, ISBN 978-0-671-41800-7.

[25] Watson, William, E. (1993). The Battle of Tours-Poitiers

Revisited. Providence: Studies in Western Civilization v.2
n.1.

[9] Pope Gregory III, menaced by the Lombards, invoked

the aid of Charles in 739, sent him a deputation with the
keys of the Holy Sepulchre and the chains of St. Peter,
and oered to break with the emperor and Constantinople, and to give Charles the Roman consulate (ut a partibus imperatoris recederet et Romanum consulatum Carolo sanciret). This proposal, though unsuccessful, was the
starting point of a new papal policy. Charles Martel
NNDB

[26] Barbero, 2004, p. 10.

[27] Mastnak, 2002, pp. 99100.
[28] Hanson, Victor Davis, 2001, p. 167.
[29] Lewis, Archibald R (1965). The Development of Southern
French and Catalan Society, 7181050. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-72941-4.

13

[30] In Barbarians, Marauders, and Indels, Antonio Santosuosso, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of
Western Ontario, and considered an expert historian in the
era in dispute, puts forth an interesting modern opinion
on Martel, Tours, and the subsequent campaigns against
Rahmans son in 736737. Santosuosso presents a compelling case that these later defeats of invading Muslim
armies were at least as important as Tours in their defence
of Western Christendom and the preservation of Western
monasticism, the monasteries of which were the centers
of learning which ultimately led Europe out of her Middle
Ages. He also makes a compelling argument, after studying the Arab histories of the period, that these were clearly
armies of invasion, sent by the Caliph not just to avenge
Tours, but to begin the conquest of Christian Europe and
bring it into the Caliphate.
[31] Created under Louis IX; cf. R.E. Giesey, The royal funeral ceremony in Renaissance France (1960), p. 31 n.
13; E.A.R. Brown, The Oxford collection of the drawings
of Roger de Gaignires and the royal tombs of Saint-Denis
(1988), p. 11 n. 15.

Edward Gibbon, The Battle of Tours, Decline and

Fall of the Roman Empire
Michael Grant "History of Rome"

14 External links
Ian Meadows, The Arabs in Occitania: A sketch
giving the context of the conict from the Arab point
of view.
http://www.standin.se/fifteen07a.htm Pokes edition of Creasys 15 Most Important Battles Ever
Fought According to Edward Shepherd Creasy
Chapter VII. The Battle of Tours, A.D. 732.
Richard Hooker, Civil War and the Umayyads
Tours, Poiters, from "Leaders and Battles Database"
online.

[32] Medieval Sourcebook: Pope Gregory II Appeal to

Charles Martel

Robert W. Martin, The Battle of Tours is still felt

today, from about.com

[33] Hanson, 2001, p. 141-166.

Medieval Sourcebook: Arabs, Franks, and the Battle of Tours, 732

[34] Bennett, Michael. Fighting Techniques of the Medieval

World
[35] Hanson, 2001, p. 154.
[36] Fredericksburg.com Why Islam didn't conquer the world
I vs. From the plains of medieval France to the modern
Mideast, militant Muslims test Christians and Jews
[37] 45. The Development of Latin Christendom. Wells, H.G.
1922. A Short History of the World
[38] Pierre Riche, The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe, transl. Michael Idomir Allen, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993), 76-77.

13

References

Durant, Will. The Age of Faith. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1950. OCLC 225699907. Page
461. Originally published 1939, ISBN 978-0-67141800-7.
Watson, William E., The Battle of Tours-Poitiers
Revisited, Providence: Studies in Western Civilization, 2 (1993)
Poke,The Battle of Tours, from Sir Edward Creasy,
MA, Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World From
Marathon to Waterloo
Riche, Paul (1993). The Carolingians: A Family
Who Forged Europe. University of Pennsylvania
Press. ISBN 0-8122-1342-4

Arabs, Franks, and the Battle of Tours, 732: Three

Accounts from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook
Medieval Sourcebook: Gregory II to Charles Martel, 739
Medieval Lands Project
"Charles Martel". Encyclopdia Britannica (11th
ed.). 1911.

14

15

15
15.1

TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

Text

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Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, TomTheHand, Schzmo, GregorB, SDC, Wayward, Alan Canon, Henrysh, Graham87, Cuchullain, Tokle,
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