Charles Martel: The Man Who Stopped the Islamic Conquest of Europe

In the year 714, the Moors from North Africa, Muslim invaders, attacked Spain. By 724 they occupied three-fourths of the country. By 724 to 726 they had made invasions in the southern France in the province known as Aquitaine. By 728 the danger to Christian Europe was so acute that one man stood up, a young nobleman who would become a future king of France, Charles of Herstal. He created a coalition of allies that would later defeat a much larger Muslim force in the year 732 to save Christian Europe, preserve Christianity, and establish Europe and the world as we know it today. My name is Colin Heaton. I'm a former history professor. I'm a book author and a military historian, and today we will examine the history and the significance of Charles Martel, known as Now, on Forgotten History. Charles Martel was born around 686 to 688 AD, son of Pepin II and his mistress Alpeda. Charles was the oldest son, although illegitimate in the eyes of the church. He later would become significant because he would be the unifying factor in helping defeat the greatest danger towards Christianity in the history of the religion. One thing about Charles that must be understood is that he did not have a major support mechanism behind him. He did not have the support of the church until Pope Constantine blessed his ambitions to fight the Muslim incursions in the southern France. Charles was able, through diplomacy, tactical genius, and an application of logic, and using his belief in his God and in his religion, to create a coalition of former enemies that was unheard of and unparalleled, and the first time in European history that such an alliance had been created. Charles was approached by the former enemy of his father, Duke Odo of Aquitaine. Odo had been fighting the Muslim incursions for almost 10 years. Realizing that he could not fight them on his own, he came to Charles and offered a peace treaty. Charles accepted, but he realized that the force was greater than either of the two armies of the Aquitainians and Charles's force could even hope to contain. Charles then branched out and reached out to his father's former enemies. He managed to get the alliances of the Saxons, the Burgundians, the Bavarians, the Alamanni, the Aquitainians under Odo, and the Frisians, as well as the Lombards. This was done with the blessing of Pope Constantine, but then Pope Constantine died. The next pope, his successor Pope Gregory, hated Charles and his father, hated the Franks, believed them to be pagans in Christian in name only, and therefore Charles and his alliance were all alone with no support other than what they could devise themselves. This became crucial, as in 730, the magnitude of the incursions of the Muslims became so bad that the monasteries, the convents, and the churches were being destroyed. Charles's brother-in-law, Archbishop Milo, was able to give him a lot of support. He needed it because his stepmother, Plectruda, wanted to kill him, but she could not just assassinate him without creating a major problem with the church. Pepin died. That left him vulnerable. Milo saw the critical need to have this alliance galvanized under a single banner. The flag of the pope, the papal banner of Constantine, was given to the alliance. Milo summoned Charles to Aachen, and he told him, this will give you speed in victory. This will give you the alliance galvanization you need. This will give you the spirit and will to win your great battle. This is the spear of destiny. Legend has it that Milo had the spear of destiny, the original spear that pierced the side of Christ on Golgotha, and therefore whoever held the spear would always be victorious in battle. Charles, according to legend, took this spear, showed it to the alliance leaders, including his new father-in-law. After his wife, Rotruda, died, he married Svonhilde, who was the daughter of Theodiber, the Duke of Bavaria, who brought the largest force in the coalition into the plan. Showing the spear of destiny, having the papal banner, gave the Christians and even the pagans, the Frisian Danes, that came on board under the leadership of Bobo, son of Redbad. They all saw that Charles had something special, and they saw that Charles had a chance to really change the face of Europe to benefit them all. Charles had only one major problem. He didn't have anything resembling the size of a force necessary to combat the 40,000 Muslims that already occupied southern France. Charles was now the leader of a six-nation coalition. His adversary was the Muslim leader, Abdul al-Rahman, who was the governor-general of the Spanish-acquired territories under the Islamic State of Spain, as it was at that time, the Caliphate. What Charles needed to do was deceive al-Rahman as to the size of his force. He knew that al-Rahman had 40,000 men and growing, more were coming. Charles, on a good day, had 20,000 to 25,000 men in total. So what he needed to do was use his tactical genius and his ability to deceive to accomplish three things. The first thing he had to do was choose the battleground that he knew he could win on. The second thing he had to do was devise a tactic that would lure his enemy into the kill zone and make it a complete victory without having to go back and do the job all over again. The third thing that Charles had to do was make sure that it was a victory so complete that even his alliance members, who were former enemies, would think twice before they betrayed the alliance and attacked him again. So he had many things going on in order to assure that he could create a nation-state of France as we know it today. Al-Rahman had his spies always probing and peering and observing what the Franks were doing. Martel and Odo only allowed the spies of the Muslims to see about 5,000 of their soldiers. They only saw 5,000 men. They never saw what was hiding in the woods. They never saw what was behind the hills. They didn't even see any major cavalry. So over a period of a month, the Muslims firmly believed that even though it was October and the winter weather was coming and there was a 12-day rain that had been prophesied by Swan Hilda through the visions of Charles and her, she was considered a seer, someone who could see the future, who could prophesize. She was considered a witch by some and a clairvoyant by others. Everything that she believed and everything she dreamed and what Charles dreamed came true. During the 12 days of rain, one beam of light shined on one part of the valley. That was where Charles decided that was God telling him that was where his battlefield had to be. It turned out to be the most perfect place in the entire region for a battle. He had the river on one side, which prevented a flanking maneuver. He had the forest on the other side, which prevented a flanking maneuver by his enemy, but it held 5,000 of his archers. His cavalry was hidden behind the hills. His infantry was dug in and also hidden with only the minimal number observed by the Muslims. Charles decided to allow the Moors to attack. They attacked standard procedure with their cavalry first. They attacked with but they were bogged down in the mud. His archers on the flanks and the front cut them down. The story in the chronicles of the Arab scholars estimate that 5,000 of his cavalry, horse and man, died in the first 25 to 30 minutes of that battle. Al-Rahman believed that he would push again with more cavalry. He pushed again. He kept sending wave after wave after wave of cavalry that kept getting cut down by the archers. Then he followed with his infantry. The infantry similarly, bogged down in the mud, cut down by the archers. By the end of the battle, Charles decided to release his infantry to engage and his cavalry to attack on the flank along the wood line. They encircled the Muslims and totally destroyed them on all sides. So complete was the destruction that Muslim scholars called it the Road of the Martyrs or the Highway of the Martyrs because the dead strung all the way from south of Tours, the Battle of Tours at Poitiers, all the way to the Spanish border that very few survived. And those who did survive were allowed to survive to spread the word of the Christian victory. Therefore, taking the warning back to Spain, do not attack Christian Europe. You will not be successful. God is on our side. End of story. So decisive was the victory that Charles Martel had managed to secure Western Europe and secure Christianity for all time. The legacy was the creation of nation states, later the creation of colonial powers, and today's legacy of Martel's victory is seen in over 100 countries that have been created as an example of post-colonial Europe. If you've enjoyed this segment on Forgotten History, please subscribe and stay tuned for more in the future. Thank you.