Susan in NC’s Reviews > The Path of the Martyrs: Charles Martel, The Battle of Tours and the Birth of Europe > Status Update

“ And yet the Franks dominated not just because of their military might, for Charlemagne’s greatest legacy was to gather together intellectuals to spur what became known as the Carolingian Renaissance, the West’s first tenuous steps out of the dark.”

“Hugh Capet, king of the Franks at the turn of the millennium, was the first Frankish monarch to need an interpreter when he crossed the Rhine, and it was around this time that we stop hearing of ‘West Francia’ and begin to talk of France – although it was not until the 13th century, and the reign of the great king Philippe Augustus, that the title ‘King of the Franks’ was abandoned in favour of ‘King of France’.”

“Through his policy of giving out land to his trusted followers, some historians believe that Martel helped to create the European system of feudalism, as it was later called, a giant hierarchy in which everyone was pledged to do homage to a man above him, giving military service in exchange for holding property.”

“…the battle helped lay the foundations of Frankish domination of Europe for the next century and beyond. The political centre of Europe shifted so that, as Carolingian historian Pierre Riche put it, Frankland ‘would be transformed from an outpost of Mediterranean civilization to the centre of a new Christian civilization’ – and that new centre would be Paris, the greatest city of the medieval west.”

“Because of Al-Andalus’s civilizational sophistication it is also argued that, by not being absorbed into the Islamic world, these Europeans missed out on astronomy, algebra, Arabic numerals and Greek philosophy. One historian estimated that Europe had ‘lost’ 267 years because of Tours.”

“ Out of the ruins of the Roman world there emerged a new civilization, mixing Germanic and Latin cultures united by a common Roman Catholic faith – that of the Europeans.[97] As the old Christian world in the east had fallen to domination by another faith, so a new one was born in the barbarian west.”

“…never again would the Arabs seriously threaten western Europe beyond the Pyrenees. Although no one could have foreseen it at the time, it would mark the high point for Islam in this part of the world, and a generation later Muslim forces were largely driven out of Francia altogether.”

“Although some Arabs kept fighting until nightfall, morale was collapsing, and in the dark they buried their dead and made their way south, leaving their tents and much of their booty in the Great Land. The Franks stayed in place over a presumably nerve-wracking night, thinking their enemy’s withdrawal to be a ruse, but at daybreak they realised that they had won a great victory.”

“The finale came on the Friday, October 10, 732. Al-Rahman desperately needed to act and win a decisive victory...On that fateful day, when Europe’s destiny was decided...Al-Rahman called for a frontal assault on the enemy and the infantry units…launched their attack with the chorus Allahu akbar as they heroically charged up the hill into the arrows…yet the sources state that the Frankish infantry was immoveable.”

“The Muslims had a larger and superior cavalry arm, better quality weapons, and also enjoyed the use of the stirrup, which made horses easier to ride, technology beyond the reach of northern Europeans. Conversely the Franks had more experience at siege warfare, and their heavier cavalry armour made them slower but stronger.”