Charles Martel

This article is about the Frankish ruler. For other uses, see Charles Martel (disambiguation).

Charles Martel
1839 sculpture of Charles by Jean Baptiste Joseph De Bay père, located in the Palace of Versailles[1]
Duke and Prince of the Franks
Reign718 – 22 October 741
PredecessorPepin of Herstal
Successor
Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia
Reign715 – 22 October 741
PredecessorTheudoald
SuccessorCarloman
Mayor of the Palace of Neustria
Reign718 – 22 October 741
PredecessorRaganfrid
SuccessorPepin the Younger
Born23 August c. 686 or 688[2]
Herstal, Austrasia
Died22 October 741 (aged 51–53)
Quierzy, Frankish Empire
Burial
Basilica of St Denis
Spouse
Issue
HouseArnulfings
Carolingian (founder)
FatherPepin of Herstal
MotherAlpaida

Charles Martel (/mɑːrˈtɛl/; c. 688 – 22 October 741),[3] Martel being a sobriquet in Old French for "The Hammer", was a Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of the Franks from 718 until his death.[4][5][6] He was a son of the Frankish statesman Pepin of Herstal and a noblewoman named Alpaida. Charles successfully asserted his claims to power as successor to his father as the power behind the throne in Frankish politics. Continuing and building on his father's work, he restored centralized government in Francia and began the series of military campaigns that re-established the Franks as the undisputed masters of all Gaul. According to a near-contemporary source, the Liber Historiae Francorum, Charles was "a warrior who was uncommonly ... effective in battle".[7]

Charles gained a very consequential victory against an Umayyad invasion of Aquitaine at the Battle of Tours, at a time when the Umayyad Caliphate controlled most of the Iberian Peninsula. Alongside his military endeavours, Charles has been traditionally credited with an influential role in the development of the Frankish system of feudalism.[8][9]

At the end of his reign, Charles divided Francia between his sons, Carloman and Pepin. The latter became the first king of the Carolingian dynasty. Pepin's son Charlemagne, grandson of Charles, extended the Frankish realms and became the first emperor in the West since the Fall of the Western Roman Empire.[10]

  1. ^ "Les collections – Château de Versailles". collections.chateauversailles.fr. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
  2. ^ Fouracre, Paul (2000). The Age of Charles Martel. Harlow, England: Longman. pp. 1, 55. ISBN 0582064759. OCLC 43634337.
  3. ^ Pfister, Christian (1911). "Charles Martel" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 942–943.
  4. ^ Schulman, Jana K. (2002). The Rise of the Medieval World, 500–1300: A Biographical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 101. ISBN 0-313-30817-9.
  5. ^ Cawthorne, Nigel (2004). Military Commanders: The 100 Greatest Throughout History. Enchanted Lion Books. pp. 52–53. ISBN 1-59270-029-2.
  6. ^ Kibler, William W.; Zinn, Grover A. (1995). Medieval France: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. pp. 205–206. ISBN 0-8240-4444-4.
  7. ^ Fouracre, Paul; Gerberding, Richard A., eds. (1996). Late Merovingian France: history and hagiography, 640–720. Translated by Paul Fouracre and Richard A. Gerberding. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 93. ISBN 0719047900. OCLC 32699266.
  8. ^ White, Jr., Lynn (1962). Medieval technology and social change. London, England: Oxford University Press. pp. 2–14.
  9. ^ Mclaughlin, William, "732 Battle of Tours: Charles Martel the 'Hammer' preserves Western Christianity", War History Online.
  10. ^ Fouracre, Paul (2000). The Age of Charles Martel. London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-06475-9. Accessed 2 August 2015.[page needed]