The Historians' History of the World 07 [The History of the Later Roman Empire]

[732-768 A.D.]

Though an effective check had been given to the progress of the Saracens’ arms, and they themselves had been deprived of that chief support of fanatic valour, the belief in their own invincibility, yet their power was by no means broken, nor was Charles in a condition to improve his victory. The Neustrians and Burgundians were far from being reconciled to the supremacy which the German Franks had acquired over themselves under the mighty Carlovingian mayors. Their jealousy of Charles Martel’s success and their hatred of his person, were so much stronger than their zeal in the cause of Christendom, that even while he was engaged in his desperate conflict with the Saracens, they were raising a rebellion in his rear. But the indefatigable warrior was not sleeping on the fresh laurels he had won. No sooner had he received intelligence of their treacherous designs, than he led his troops, fresh from the slaughter of the infidels, into the very heart of Burgundy, and inflicted a terrible retribution on his domestic foes. He then removed all whom he had reason to suspect from their posts of emolument and honour, and bestowed them upon men on whom he could depend in the hour of danger.

In the following year, 734 A.D., he made considerable progress in the subjugation and, what was even more difficult, the conversion of the Frisians, who hated Christianity the more because it was connected in their minds with a foreign yoke. The preaching of Boniface was powerfully seconded by the sword of Charles, who attacked them by land and sea, defeated their duke, Poppo, destroyed their heathen altars, and, like Alfred in the case of the Danes, gave them the alternative of Christianity or death.

[735-737 A.D.]

After the victory of Poitiers, Charles had entrusted the defence of the Pyrenean borders to Duke Eudes, whom he left in peaceable though dependent possession of his territories. Eudes had received a rough lesson from his former misfortunes, and passed the remainder of his life in friendly relations with his Frankish liege lord. At the death of Eudes, in 735 A.D., a dispute arose between his sons, Hunold and Hatto, respecting the succession; and it seems that in the course of their contest they had forgotten their common dependence upon Charles Martel. A feud of this nature at such a period, and in the immediate neighbourhood of the Saracens, was highly dangerous to Aquitaine and the whole Frankish Empire. Charles therefore lost no time in leading an army into the distracted province, to settle the disputes of the contending parties, and bring the population into a more complete state of subjection. Having advanced to the Garonne and taken the city of Bordeaux, he entered into negotiations with Hunold; and, “with his accustomed piety,c” conferred the duchy upon him, on condition of his renewing his father’s oath of fealty to himself and his two sons, whom he thus distinctly pointed out to the Franks as their hereditary rulers.

THE SARACENS AGAIN REPELLED

[737-739 A.D.]

In 737 A.D., the infidels were once more introduced into the south of Gaul by the treachery of Christians. A man of influence in Provence, called Maurontus, who probably aimed at an independent dukedom, formed a strong party among the Neustrian seigneurs against the detested German mayor. As the Arabian alliance was the only one which could sustain them in a conflict with Charles, they made no scruple of inviting Ibn Yusuf, the new viceroy of Septimania (Languedoc), into their country and giving him the city of Avignon as a pledge of their sincerity. The Saracens, instructed by their strange allies, passed into Burgundy, where the party opposed to Charles was strongest; having taken Vienne, they covered the country as far as Lyons with their wild and rapid cavalry, which everywhere left its traces of fire and blood.

The advance of the Saracens was so sudden, and their progress so rapid, that Charles Martel was not immediately prepared to meet them. He therefore despatched his brother Childebrand and his principal seigneurs, with such forces as were ready, to keep the enemy in check; determining himself to follow with a numerous and well-appointed army. When the advanced guard of the Franks arrived near Avignon, the Saracens retreated into that place, and prepared to stand a siege. On the arrival of Charles the town, which had resisted Childebrand, was taken by storm, and the Arabian garrison put to the sword. The Franks then crossed the Rhone, and marched through Septimania to Narbonne—a place of great importance to the Saracens, who had made it a magazine for their arms. It was defended at this time by Athima, viceroy of the caliph in Septimania, with a considerable force. The Saracens of Spain, fearing that the garrison might be insufficient to withstand the assault of the Franks (who had invested the town on every side), fitted out a fleet, and transported a body of troops to the mouth of the river Berre, near Narbonne, in hopes of raising the siege. This movement did not escape the quick eye of Charles; who, leaving his brother with a division of the besiegers, fell with the remainder on the newly landed force of the enemy, and routed them with dreadful slaughter. He failed, however, in his attempts upon Narbonne, which remained in the hands of the Saracens; while Bérziers, Agde, Megalone, and Nîmes, together with all the territory on the north side of the river Aude (subsequently known as Languedoc), were reunited to the Frankish Empire.