Dark Ages. Early Middle Ages in the chaos of wars. Karl Martell: short biography, reforms and activities. Military reform of Charles Martel

While the Moors were conquering Spain, and the Franks had to face a formidable enemy face to face, majordomo Pepin of Herstal lay dying. This man was a strong majordomo, and his death in itself could be a great loss for the Franks. Worse, after Pepin there was no heir. Therefore, behind his back, despite the approach of the Moors, a merciless struggle for the place of majordomo had already begun.

Pepin himself prophesied his own son Grimwald II as heir. However, there was a tried and tested method for centuries to deprive the rightful heir of the opportunity to become a majordomo. By no means all noble influential people, or, as they were also called, nobles, liked Pipin. Therefore, when it became clear that Pepin was dying, the nobles, taking advantage of their impunity, sent assassins to Grimwald.

Despite this, Pepin, by an inhuman effort of will, delayed his own death for some time. He managed to fight with his offenders and smash them to pieces, after which he died in December 714.

However, the worst thing that could happen has already happened. After the death of Pepin, civil strife began in the Frankish kingdom. She was watched with great interest by the Moors settled in the Pyrenees.

Pepin's sons were dead. Their mother, Pepin's widow, tried to rule the country on behalf of her grandchildren, the children of the murdered Grimwald. The Neustrians did not like this situation: they did not like that a woman ruled them with the help of young children, moreover, this woman was from Austrasia. Therefore, the Neustrians revolted. It must be said that during all these events there was also a legitimate king, Dagobert III, who nominally ruled Austrasia and Neustria. But that didn't bother anyone.

Another person, about whom our story will go, also mattered.

Pepin had an illegitimate son, who was twenty-six years old at the time of his father's death. The young man's name was Karl, and an interesting story can be told about his name. The name Karl comes from an old Teutonic word that denoted the lower class of free people, and later even slaves. The English word "churl" ("commoner") comes from the same roots.

In relation to Pepin's son, it can be said that, most likely, his name was at first a playful nickname, indicating an illegal origin. Be that as it may, Charles was destined to cover himself with such glory that his name, which initially had not the most noble meaning, became very popular in the royal families of Europe. Glory was also awarded to the grandson and namesake of Charles. The kings of Austria, Great Britain, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Sweden were called Charles. But the fact remains: the first Charles was the son of Pepin of Herstal. The Latin transcription of this name sounds like "carolus", so the descendants of Charles began to be called Carolingians.

Since the man we are talking about was destined to accomplish many glorious military deeds, one more was added to his name Karl - Martell, that is, "hammer". Therefore, we will continue to call him Karl Martell.

As soon as Pepin Herstalsky died, his widow immediately imprisoned the young Charles Martel. She was well aware that he was a considerable danger to her grandchildren. However, her dominion came to an end when the Neustrians defeated her forces in battle. At this time, Charles Martel managed to escape. He took over the leadership of the desperate Austrasian soldiers and inflicted two serious defeats on the Neustrians. After that, he forced the legitimate widow of his father to recognize him as the ruler of Austrasia. Then Karl Martell again spoke out against Neustria and again won.

Charles Martel spent more than ten years in battle, uniting the Frankish kingdom under his dominion in the same way as it was under his father. Meanwhile, in neighboring Spain, the Moors were building up their forces.

South of Neustria, between the Loire River and the Pyrenees, there was a country called Aquitaine.

Aquitaine was once part of the Kingdom of Toulouse, the first Germanic kingdom based on former Roman territories.

Two centuries before the events we are describing, Clovis I conquered Aquitaine from the Visigoth king Alaric II. This was the last great conquest of Clovis, but Aquitaine never became truly Frankish territory. She remained almost independent. Aquitaine was ruled by the Dukes of Aquitaine, and the culture of this country was very close to the Roman one. In any case, Aquitaine was a much more civilized country than neighboring Frankish Neustria. We do not take into account Australia.

When the Moors conquered Spain, Aquitaine was ruled by a duke named Jude. When Pepin Herstalsky died, after which war broke out between Austrasia and Neustria, Jude decided to use this situation to make Aquitaine independent. Probably, this could have happened if Jude had not had such a formidable opponent as the Moors at his side.

Therefore, Jude reversed his decision and entered into an alliance with the strong and ready for defense Charles Martel, which secured himself from the raids of the Moors. In 721, he managed to defeat the army of the Moors on the outskirts of his capital, Toulouse. In this way he won several years of peace. Jude did not stop there: he decided to strengthen the peace by sowing discord among the Arab military leaders. It is said that one of the Arab commanders, Otoman, fell in love with Yud's daughter and married her, despite protests from Abd al-Rahman, his immediate superior. Although in the old chronicles sometimes you can’t tell where is the truth and where is fiction.

At some point, Abd er-Rahman realized that he was fed up with the intrigues of Yud, and decided to act tough. In 732, the Moors went on a campaign against Aquitaine. Jude realized that he could not cope with them, and was forced to turn to Karl Martell for help.

Martell was not so blind as not to see the emerging threat. Therefore, he deployed his troops on the Loire River, near the city of Tours, at the northern borders of the Duchy of Aquitaine. In order to fight the Moors, who were famous for their magnificent light cavalry, moving at lightning speed on swift-footed Arabian horses, Karl Martell decided to acquire his own cavalry.

Given the Frankish manner of fighting, this must have been heavy cavalry. So a new military force appeared on the fields of Europe, speaking of which we will remember knights, exploits and tournaments.

To prepare and equip heavy cavalry, Charles needed money. He had no choice but to take them from the church. Over the centuries, the church has increased its land wealth and now owns almost a third of the land of the kingdom. Part of the land belonged to the bishops who fought in the war with Charles on the side of Neustria. Charles reasoned that he could take the lands for himself, explaining that the bishops who fought against him had lost their rights to their possessions.

Charles granted his soldiers enough land so that they had enough funds for good weapons and horses. Since the reason was good - the fight against the Moors, the church had no choice but to agree. And hardly anyone would have dared to argue with Karl Martell himself. However, at a later time, church chroniclers wrote that for sins - the robbery of the church - the devils dragged Charles Martel straight to hell.

The year 732 became decisive for the fate of the heavy cavalry. In this year, at the call of Jude, the cavalry crossed the Loire and advanced a hundred kilometers, stopping at the town of Poitiers. Now we cannot determine the exact place where the momentous battle took place, so it is called the Battle of Tours or, more commonly, the Battle of Poitiers.

The Moorish cavalry tried time after time to break through the defense of the Franks, but Martell's heavy cavalry stood to the death.

The Moors suffered heavy losses. With each attack, they became less and less. When night fell on the battlefield, the Moorish commanders had to decide whether they should continue the battle the next day with such a formidable force as the Frankish cavalry. The Moors preferred to stay alive than die heroically, so when dawn came, the Franks saw that the enemy had disappeared. The Moors retreated during the night, and Charles Martel realized that his heavy cavalry had won their first great victory.

Some historians like to say that the battle of Poitiers was a turning point in history, because then they managed to stop the advance of the Moors into Europe. And this happened exactly one hundred years after the death of Mohammed. If the Franks had lost, historians insist, all of Europe would have been Muslim.

However, the validity of these statements is doubtful. It is unlikely that the Moors were so dangerous. They had enough problems in Spain, which was not going to submit at all. The Spanish partisans constantly annoyed the conquerors, and the invaders themselves did not get along with each other. Therefore, the Moors, whom Martell defeated at Poitiers, were not such a formidable force as they were portrayed. Most likely, it was an ordinary cavalry detachment. If Martell had lost the battle, Europe would hardly have resignedly submitted to the Moors. The gigantic empire of the Arabs was already bursting at the seams.

In fact, if there was a force that held back the Moors, it was Byzantium. In 717-718, when the Arabs were just conquering Spain, Constantinople withstood a long siege by the Moors. The Byzantines organized desperate resistance to the enemy. The defeat of the Arabs in the heart of Christendom was much more important than a small brawl in the wild outskirts of the Frankish kingdom.

Historians often exaggerate. However, modern Western culture originates from Antiquity and the European Middle Ages, and not from Byzantine traditions.

Therefore, from the point of view of a European, the battle of Poitiers looks more impressive than the siege of Constantinople.

Be that as it may, the significance of the battle of Poitiers is different: the victory incredibly raised the prestige of Charles Martel and helped him unite the Frankish kingdom.

Despite this, Charles did not try to exceed the boundaries of his power - he was and remained a majordomo, while on the throne one king of the Merovingian dynasty replaced another. After Dagobert III, who reigned at a time when the great majordomo was just beginning his career, his cousin Chilperic II ascended the throne, and then his son Theoderic IV. In 737 Theoderic dies. The throne is free. And Karl Martell allowed him to remain unoccupied. It is noteworthy that no one noticed that the throne is free. So the Merovingians were far from real power.

But even when the royal throne was empty, Charles Martell made no attempt to take it. He also did not try to put his son on the throne. The legitimacy of the king was still very important to the Franks. Besides, Martell never forgot what happened to his grandmother's brother, Grimwald.

The military leader of the Franks Karl Pepin, a major from the Carolingian family, received his historical nickname "Martell" after his victory over the Arab army. Martell is a hammer that mercilessly strikes the enemy.

By the beginning of his actual reign, the Frankish state consisted of three long-separated parts: Neustria (northwestern Gaul with Paris), Austrasia (northeastern part) and Burgundy. Royal power was purely nominal. This was not slow to take advantage of the enemies of the Franks. The Saxons invaded the Rhine regions, the Avars invaded Bavaria, and the Arab conquerors moved through the Pyrenees to the Loire River.

Karl Martell had to pave his way to power with weapons in his hands. After the death of his father in 714, he was imprisoned by his stepmother Plektruda, from where he was able to escape the following year. By that time, he was already a fairly well-known military leader of the Franks of Austrasia, where he was popular among free peasants and medium landowners. They became his main support in the internecine struggle for power in the Frankish state.

Having established himself in Austrasia, Karl Pepin began to strengthen the position of the Pepin house in the lands of the Franks by force of arms and diplomacy. After a fierce confrontation with his opponents, he became in 715 the major of the Frankish state and ruled it on behalf of the young king Theodoric. Having established himself at the royal throne, Charles began a series of military campaigns outside of Austrasia.

The rise of Charles Martel in the Frankish state began with military victories over those feudal lords who tried to challenge his supreme power. He won victories at the battles of the Amblève River (near the city of Malmedy in present-day Belgium) and at Vincy (near the modern French city of Cambrai).

In 719, Karl Martell won a brilliant victory over the Neustrians, led by one of his opponents, Major Ragenfrid, whose ally was the ruler of Aquitaine, Count Ed (in 721, in the battle of Toulouse, he defeated the Muslim army of the ruler of Spain, Vali As-Samha). At the Battle of Sausson, the Frankish ruler put the enemy army to flight. Having extradited Ragenfried, Count Ed managed to conclude a temporary peace with Karl Martell. Soon the Franks occupied the cities of Paris and Orleans.

Karl Martell did not forget his sworn enemy - his stepmother Plectruda, who had her own and considerable army. He started a war with her and forced her stepmother to surrender to him the rich trading, well-fortified city of Cologne on the banks of the Rhine.

In 725 and 728, Major Karl Pepin made two large military campaigns against the Bavarians and eventually subjugated them. This was followed by campaigns in Alemannia and Aquitaine, in Thuringia and Frisia.

Participation in wars: Unification of the Frankish Empire. Arab wars.
Participation in battles: Poitiers. Burr

(Charles Martel) Frankish majordomo, who went down in history as the savior of Europe from the Arabs at the Battle of Poitiers. Grandfather of Charlemagne

The Frankish leader Karl Pepin, a major from the Carolingian family, received the nickname "Martell" after the victory he won over the Arab army. Martell is a hammer that mercilessly smashes the enemy.

By the beginning of his actual reign, the Frankish State consisted of three long-separated parts: Austrasia, Neustria and Burgundy, where royal power was purely nominal. This was not slow to take advantage of the neighbors. The Avars invaded Bavaria, the Saxons invaded the Rhine regions, and powerful Arabs moved across the Pyrenees to the Laura River.

Karl Martell had to pave his way to power with weapons in his hands. After the death of his father in 714, he was imprisoned by his stepmother Plektruda, from where he was able to escape the following year. By that time, he was already a rather popular leader among the Franks of Austrasia, where he was famous for free peasants and average landowners. They became his main support in the internecine struggle for power in the kingdom.

Having established himself in Austrasia, Charles began to strengthen the position of the House of Pepin in the Frankish lands by force, diplomacy and weapons. His rise to Charles began with military victories over the feudal lords who tried to challenge his supreme power.

In 719 Karl Martell won a brilliant victory over the Neustrians, led by one of his longtime opponents, Major Ragenfried, whose ally was himself Earl Ed(ruler of Aquitinia). At the battle of Sausson, Martell put the enemy army to flight. Count Ed, having given Ragenfried to Martell, concluded a temporary peace with the latter. Soon the Franks occupied the cities of Orleans and Paris.

In European history Karl Martell he became famous, first of all, for the wars with the Arabs, who in 720 crossed the Pyrenees and invaded the territory of modern France. The Arab army took the well-fortified Narbonne by storm and laid siege to Toulouse. Count Ed was defeated and forced to retreat to Austrasia.

Soon the Arab cavalry appeared on the fields of Burgundy and Septimania, reaching the left bank of the Rhone River. Thus, a major clash between the Christian and Muslim worlds ripened on the fields of Western Europe. Arab commanders, crossing the Pyrenees, implemented a plan to conquer Europe.

Martell understood the danger of the Arab invasion, which by that time had managed to conquer almost all Spanish regions. Their troops were constantly replenished with new forces coming through the Strait of Gibraltar from the Maghreb - North. Africa (territories of modern Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria). The Arab commanders were famous for their martial arts, and their warriors were excellent archers, and even more so riders. Since the Arab army was partially staffed by North African Berber nomads, therefore, in Spain, the Arabs were called Moors.

In 732 Karl Martell, interrupting the military campaign in the upper Danube, gathered a large militia of Neustrians, Austrasians and Rhine tribes. The reason for the collection of the general Frankish army was serious - at the beginning of that year, the Arab troops, according to somewhat exaggerated data from European chroniclers, numbering up to 400,000 people (and according to a number of sources, only 50,000 people), crossed the Pyrenees, invaded Gaul, plundered Bordeaux, captured the city -fortress Poitiers and moved to Tours.

The famous Frankish commander resolutely moved towards the Arab army, trying to get ahead of its appearance in front of the fortress walls of Tours. He already knew that the Arabs were commanded by a formidable Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abdallah and that his army greatly outnumbers the Frankish militia, which, according to the same European chroniclers, numbered no more than 30,000 warriors.

The Franks and their allies barred the Arab army from reaching Tours at the point where the old Roman road crossed the river Vienne, over which a bridge had been built. Nearby was the city of Poitiers. The battle, which took place on October 10, 732, lasted several days: according to Christian chronicles - seven, according to Arabic - two days.

Knowing that archers and light cavalry predominate in the enemy army, Major Karl Pepin decided to give the Arabs, who adhered to active offensive tactics, a defensive battle. Moreover, the hilly terrain made it difficult for large masses of cavalry to operate. The Frankish army was built for the battle between the rivers Vienne and Clen, which, with their banks, perfectly covered its flanks. The basis of the battle formation was the infantry, built in a dense phalanx. The cavalry, heavily armed in a knightly manner, was stationed on the flanks. The right flank was led by Count Ed.

Approaching the river Vienne, the Arab army, not immediately getting involved in the battle, spread their camp not far from the Franks. Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abdallah immediately realized that the enemy was in a very strong position and it was impossible to cover him with light cavalry from the flanks. Arabs for several days they did not dare to attack the enemy, waiting for an opportunity to strike. However, Martell did not move, patiently waiting for an enemy attack.

In the end, the Arabs decided to start the battle. Their battle order: horse archers made up the "Morning of the barking dog", then came the "Day of Help", "Evening of Shock", "Al-Ansari" and "Al-Mugadzheri". The reserve of the Arabs, intended for the development of victory, was under the personal command of Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abdallah and was called the "Banner of the Prophet".

It began with shelling of the Frankish phalanx by Arab horse archers, to which the enemy responded with a powerful flurry of crossbows and longbows. After a skirmish, the Arab cavalry attacked the Frankish positions. The Frankish infantry successfully repulsed attack after attack, the enemy light cavalry was never able to make a breach in their dense formation.

A contemporary of the Battle of Poitiers, a Spanish chronicler, wrote that the Franks "stood close together, as far as the eye could see, like an icy wall, and fought fiercely, hitting the Arabs with their swords."

After the infantry of the Franks repulsed all the attacks of the Arabs, Karl Martell immediately ordered the knightly cavalry, which was still inactive, to launch a counterattack in the direction of the enemy camp, located behind the right flank of the combat formation of the Arab army.

The Frankish knights, led by Ed of Aquitaine, launched two ram attacks from the flanks, overturning the light cavalry that opposed them and rushing to the Arab camp, capturing it. The Arabs, demoralized by the news of the death of their leader, could not hold back the onslaught of the enemy and fled from the battlefield. The Franks pursued them, inflicting significant damage on them.

This battle had very important consequences. The victory of Charles Martel put an end to the further advancement of the Arabs in Europe. After the defeat at Poitiers, the Arab army, hiding behind detachments of light cavalry, left French territory and, without further combat losses, went through the mountains to Spain.

But before the Arabs finally left the south of modern France, Karl Martell inflicted another defeat on them - on the river Burre south of the city of Narbonne. True, this battle was insignificant.

In 736 the Frankish army under the command of the mighty Karla Martella made a successful campaign in Burgundy, forcing her to submit by force of arms. The transformation of Burgundy into its vassal was a serious territorial acquisition for Martell.

The Franks then occupied areas in southern France. Martell decisively crushed the rebellion in Provence and established his power further south, as far as Marseilles. The local population was taxed, and many free Franks were settled on their lands, ensuring order and obedience to the royal authority (his mayor).

Martell patronized the spread of Christianity among the pagans. However, the local Catholic clergy did not like the king, because in order to strengthen the country, the Frankish leader confiscated part of the church lands and distributed them to the nobility as beneficiaries - for life use on the terms of mandatory royal military service. So in the country of free Franks, at the suggestion of Charles Martel, feudal lords began to appear.

From Gregory III(Pope), the winner of the Arabs received the honorary title of Roman "patrician" - that is, the guardian of Rome. However, when Gregory III began an armed struggle against the Lombards, the "patrician" Charles Martell did not provide him with any military assistance, since he was busy with "important" state affairs.

Karl Martell ruled over all the surrounding lands for 25 and a half years and died on October 22, 741. He was buried in the church of Saint-Denis (Paris).

Frankish kingdom (715-741).

Charles Martel was the son of Pepin of Geristal, also a major of the Frankish realm. After the death of his father in 714, Charles Martel was imprisoned by his stepmother, Plektruda, who tried to push him out of power and supported her young grandson Theodoald, who was appointed to the post of Majordom of Neustria. However, the reign of Plektrude and Theodoald was overthrown by the Neustrians themselves, who elected a new mayordom, Raganfred.

In 715 Karl Martell was released and went to Austrasia, where he found supporters. In 717 Karl Martel managed to defeat Raganfred, but could not finally deal with him. In 718, Charles Martel elevated King Chlothar IV to the throne. In 719, having gathered new forces, Karl Martel finally defeated Raganfred and united Austrasia and Neustria under his rule.

In 719, Chlothar II died, and Charles Martel installed a new king, Chilperic II, on the throne. In 720, the Duke of Aquitaine, Ed the Great, who had previously been an ally of Raganfred, agreed to the peace proposed by Charles Martell, recognized Charles Martell as the mayor of the entire kingdom of the Franks, but retained significant independence.

In 721, after the death of Chilperic II, Charles Martell proclaimed Theoderic IV (721-737) king. Having pacified the kingdom of the Franks, Charles Martel set about restoring Frankish rule on the periphery of the kingdom. In 725-728 years. he managed to subjugate Bavaria, which again recognized the power of the Franks, and in the 730s. — Alemannia.

An important direction of foreign policy of Charles Martell was the northeast, where the pagan peoples of the Frisians and Saxons opposed the Franks. In 733-734. Karl Martell defeated the Frisians, deprived them of their independence and began the Christianization of the people. Karl Martel undertook many campaigns against the Saxons.

Another threat that Karl Martell faced was the expansion of the Arabs. In 720 they captured Narbonne and laid siege to Toulouse. Despite the fact that they failed to take the city, the Arabs, having seized a bridgehead in Gaul, began to raid the entire southern coast of present-day France, up to the banks of the Rhone. In 732, Charles Martell inflicted a decisive defeat on the Arabs at the Battle of Poitiers, which was able to stop the advance of the Arabs into Gaul. In 737, Theoderic IV died, but Charles Martell did not enthrone a new Merovingian and ruled independently until his death.

Charles Martell significantly increased the influence of secular power on the church, appointing laymen loyal to him to episcopal chairs. It is customary to associate the name of Charles Martel with the distribution of beneficiaries, which were provided in exchange for military service in his army. Charles Martel died in 741 and was buried in the Abbey of Saint-Denis.

Illustrations:

Sarcophagus of Charles Martell in Saint-Denis.

Historical sources:

The Chronicles of Fredegar / trans. from lat., commentary, introductory art. G.A. Schmidt. - St. Petersburg Moscow: Eurasia Clio, 2015. - 461 p.

Erstal Children From 1st marriage:
sons: Carloman, Pepin III the Short
daughter: Hiltrud
From 2nd marriage:
son: Griffin
bastards:
sons: Bernard, Jérôme, Remigius
daughter: Alda

Biography

Origin

Charles Martel belonged to the noble Frankish family of the Pipinids, whose representatives later became known as the Carolingians. He was the son of Pepin of Herstal and his concubine Alpaida. The future Emperor Charlemagne was the grandson of Charles Martell.

Major of Austrasia

After the death of Pepin of Herstal in December 714, his ambitious widow Plektruda took power into her own hands, becoming the guardian of the 15-year-old King Dagobert III and the 6-year-old Majordom Theodoald, her grandson. Karl was put in jail. The Franks, dissatisfied with the rule of a woman, rebelled and on September 26, 715, they fought with her supporters in Foret de Cuis (near Compiègne), winning. Here, on the battlefield, they elected their leader Ragenfred (Ragamfred) as mayor. He entered into an alliance with the king of the Frisians Radbod, and in 716 they jointly attacked Cologne, the residence of Plektruda, from two sides. Plectrude was forced to pay off them by giving away the vast wealth accumulated by Pepin.

Meanwhile, the turmoil allowed Karl to escape from prison. He gathered an army and tried at first to surprise Radbod, who was delayed near Cologne, but was defeated in the first battle. He then attacked Ragenfred, who was busy moving his army and his part of the treasury through the Ardennes. This time, in the battle on the Amblev River near Malmedy, Charles won (716). He reinforced this success in the following year: on March 24, 717, he defeated Chilperic and Ragamfred at the battle of Vincy (in Cambresy). Although both sides suffered heavy losses, in the end Chilperic and Ragamfred were defeated and fled. Without pursuing them, Charles hastened to Paris. Then, not having a sufficiently reliable rear, he chose to retreat to Austrasia in order to better prepare his future. There he took Cologne and succeeded in persuading Plectrude to give him the remnants of Pepin's wealth. Plectrude soon died. Charles elevated Chlothar IV to the throne of Austrasia, probably the son of Theodoric III (718).

Only after this did Charles feel strong enough to settle accounts with the northern peoples who had entered into an alliance with Neustria. He made a campaign to Wieser to expel the Saxons from there and, most importantly, regained the positions once won by his father in the Frisian lands on the left bank of the Rhine. His success was furthered by the death of King Radbod, which followed in 719 and was celebrated with unprecedented pomp throughout the Anglo-Saxon and Frankish world.

Unification of the Frankish Empire

Then it was time to turn the guns on Neustria, where Ragenfred found an ally in Ed the Great, Duke of Aquitaine. Ed crossed the Loire and joined the Neustrians near Paris. His army was manned mainly by Basques, whom Ed credited as "federates". Charles moved towards them, and in the battle that took place near Neri, between Senlis and Soissons, on October 14, 719, he put his opponents to flight. Ragenfred retreated to Angers and there, until his death in 731, he resisted the power of Charles. Ed left for the Loire, taking away in his convoy the treasures of Chilperic II and himself. King Chlothar IV died in 719.

Arab defeat of Aquitaine

As regards Aquitaine, Charles had to wait for an excuse to intervene before