Hammer Charlie, force to block the enemy
Pepin II died in 714, and before his death, his two sons, who shared the thrones of the Frankish kingdoms, had died. The one who then snatched and inherited the throne of his palace was his illegitimate son Charlie Matt.
Charlie. After becoming the heir of Pepin II, Matt faced a complicated and chaotic situation: there were people in Neustria and the Kingdom of Burgundy who opposed him; Part of the Frankish kingdom, the Kingdom of Aquitaine, was in an independent position under the control of Ode, Duke of Aquitaine, and was also a strong enemy of him. And at the border of the kingdom. Several Germanic tribes coveted the kingdom's land and prepared to take advantage of the kingdom's civil strife.
With his own courage in the kingdom of Ostrasia, Charles Matt solved these problems: he defeated his main rivals, the rebels of Neustria and the Duke of Oud, defeated the Saxons and Friesians, forced the Germanic tribes to submit, and even took Frisia and incorporated it into the territory of the Frankish kingdom.
The greater threat, however, comes from the Arabs. Before Charles Matt ascended the throne in the early 8th century, Spain was conquered by the Umayyad general Musa and his Berber general Tariq. After the capture of the Iberian Peninsula, the Arabs did not stop their steps. Instead, it continued its march to southern Gaul, intending to conquer all of Europe.
The first to cross the Pyrenees and attack southern Gaul was Moussa's successor, Zama, but his campaign failed under the combined Frankish and Visigothic forces led by Oud, Duke of Aquitaine, and Zama himself died in Toulouse. Zama's successor, Abdul Rahman, determined to avenge the shame, led an Arab army to the Northern Expedition, conquering Arles all the way, defeating Oud, and soon conquering the entire kingdom of Aquitaine, and his forward forces penetrated deep into Legundy, dealing a heavy blow to these Christian regions.
In this war, Charlie Matt did not intervene at first, he may have been waiting, perhaps hoping to eliminate Ord under the guise of the Arabs, or at least weaken his power. Or maybe he just needs time to prepare, but eventually, he has to act.
Charlie Matt
Charles Matt assembled a large army and began to search for the main force of our Arabs, and the two armies met in a place between Tours and Poitiers in present-day central France. Abdul Rahman probably did not expect to encounter such a large Frankish army and began to be caught off guard. Charlie Matt, on the other hand, came prepared and could quickly enter the battle. So, the two uniforms started a melee.
The battle was fought between the two sides and the Arab cavalry had the upper hand against the Frankish infantry. Their bows and arrows also inflicted great losses on the Franks. However, the Franks never flinched and fought bravely. By the seventh day of the battle, the two sides were locked in hand-to-hand combat. As a result, the Arabs' superiority was lost, and they gradually became unable to resist the tall and strong Frankish attacks, and more and more Arab soldiers fell under the swords and axes of the Franks, even their main general Abdul. Rahman also died in battle. The Arabs finally routed and fled back to the camp. That night, the Arab armies retreated, leaving only an empty camp.
The Battle of Tours ended in a great victory for the Franks, and the Arabs were forced to retreat south of the Pyrenees, never daring to raise troops to the north again, and Charles . Matt also became a hero who guarded Christendom, earning him the title of "Charles the Hammer".
Charles Matt at the Battle of Tours was painted by the famous German painter Charles de Steuben in 1837. In the middle of the painting, it is Charlie Matt who rides a white horse and wields a tomahawk, and on the right is his opponent Abdul Rahman. Charlie Matt showed his might as a victor, while Abdul Rahman had fallen off his horse and fell into a footfight. In front of him, the fallen warhorse may be his mount, heralding his demise.
The background of the painting, most prominently, is the Christian cross symbol, and of course, countless scenes of soldiers fighting on both sides. There also appear to be women with babies in their arms falling under Abdul Rahman's blades, symbolizing Arab brutality. The image of Frankish soldiers rushing to kill the enemy and the terrified expressions on the faces of the Arabs explain the outcome of the war.
Power was monopolized, and the foundation stone of the new dynasty was laid
"Charles the Hammer" won a major victory for the Christians against the Arabs, while also earning himself a high reputation at home and throughout Christendom. His rule was thus more secure, and the Frankish kingdom became stronger.
Over the next few years, Charles Martel continued to strengthen the kingdom's rule and quell rebellions in Provence and Aquitaine. At the same time, he established a cavalry for the kingdom, and in order to maintain a sufficient source of cavalry, he began to implement the quarry system, which was in which the kingdom divided the land to the cavalry who served, and the knighted cavalry could enjoy the land for life, but their children had no inheritance rights, and after their deaths, the land was redistributed by the state.
Charlie Matt strengthened the Frankish army in this way, and he now had a monopoly on power and no more competitors. But he did not claim to be king himself, but still served as the palace chancellor, "holding the Son of Heaven to order the princes." After his death, he divided power between his two sons, Carloman and Pepin, Pepin III, or Pepin the Short, who would start a new dynasty, with Charles Matt as the founder.