Carlos Martel
Carlos Martel (Latin: Carolus Martellus; German: Karl Martell) (Herstal, present-day Belgium, August 23, 686 - Quierzy-sur-Oise, present-day France, October 22, 741) was mayordomo of the palace of the kingdom of Austrasia from 715 until his death. One of his sons, and his first wife, Rotrudis of Trier, was Pepin the Short (called & # 34; the Short & # 34; or Pepin III). According to the medieval manuscript Chronicle of Saint Denis, Carlos Martel owes his nickname to the fact that "as the hammer (martel) breaks and crushes iron, steel and other metals, so he broke and crushed his enemies".
On the death of his father Pipino de Heristal (714), Carlos, who was already 28 years old, went on to occupy the post of mayordomo of the palace. But since he was a bastard, Plectruda, Pepin's wife, instigated to throw him out of power so that her son Thiaud could occupy it, who was then 6 years old and was her legitimate heir. Carlos was jailed.
However, various provinces of the kingdom did not accept that a woman governed them, and revolts began to break out, first in Neustria in 715, when Rainfroi —butler of the Neustrian palace— defeated Thiaud in the forest of Cuise and led his troops to the banks of the Meuse. Northern Italy later rose in revolt and adhered to Neustria; Saxony and Austrasia followed.
At that moment Carlos escaped from prison (715) and took charge of the revolts in Austrasia. First he has to face the Neustrians and will be victorious in two battles: Amblève (716) and Vichy (March 21, 717). Then he goes to Cologne, where Plectruda resides with her son, who has no choice but to admit defeat and leave the power of Austrasia in the hands of Carlos.
In 732, Charles Martel defeated the Arab forces of the Umayyad Caliphate at the Battle of Poitiers.
Pacification of the Frankish kingdom
Once in power, Carlos installs Clotario IV on the throne, dethroning Chilperico II, and repudiates the Bishop of Reims, Rigoberto, who favors Plectruda. Little by little he regains control of the entire Frankish kingdom, first defeating Rainfroi, the mayor of the palace of Neustria, then Eudes, Duke of Aquitaine. In order to reunify the Frankish kingdom, he will have to fight again with Neustria until he definitively submits it after the defeat in the battle of Soissons. He also wants to reconquer the eastern border of the kingdom; from 720 to 738 he conquers Austria and southern Germany. In this way the Frankish kingdom will be restored as it was under the government of Pepin of Heristal.
After the death of Clotario IV, he was forced to replace Chilperico II on the throne. When he died in 721, Carlos then went to the Chilles monastery to look for the son of Dagobert III, Theodoric IV, with whom he had an extremely affectionate relationship, and installed him on the throne.
Stop the Arab invasion
In 732 Martel had to face the Muslim armies of the governor of al-Andalus, Abderramán. The Iberian Peninsula was occupied by the Arabs and their allies the Berbers from 711, who continued their advance north across the Pyrenees. In 725 they had already conquered Languedoc and a large part of present-day Burgundy and were trying to reach the center of Frankish territory. The intervention of the Duke of Aquitaine, Eudes, was able to stop the first attack on Toulouse in 721 and, allying himself with the Berber governor of Septimania, Munuza, managed to get the Muslims to withdraw to the peninsula. Eudes offers his daughter in marriage to Munuza, but he dies in a confrontation with the governor of al-Andalus, Abderramán, who, enraged, launches a punitive expedition against Aquitaine. In 732 he began an important offensive across the border, in order, among other things, to take the sanctuary of Saint Martin of Tours.
Duke Eudes is unable to face this onslaught alone and enlists the help of Martel. On October 19, 732, both forces met at Moussais (present-day department of Vienne), between Tours and Poitiers. The Frankish army commanded by Carlos Martel had a veteran infantry of 15,000 to 75,000 men. In response to the Muslim invasion, the Franks had avoided the old Roman roads, hoping to catch the invaders off guard. According to Muslim accounts of the battle, the Arabs were surprised to find such large forces opposing the planned sack of Tours and waited six days while keeping watch on the enemy. On the seventh day, the Muslim army of 60,000 to 400,000 men, led by Abder-Rahman, launched the attack. The Franks defeated the Islamic army and the emir was killed.
After the death of Abderramán, conflicts arose between the surviving generals and the Muslims abandoned the battlefield the next day, making their way back. According to some authors, Carlos was nicknamed Carlos Martillo after this victory, since he had crushed the Mohammedan troops like a hammer (the hammer was a combat weapon). According to other authors, taking advantage of the weakness of Duke Eudes, he took refuge in the bishoprics of the Loire and descended to the Midi, conscientiously looting it and killing all the Muslim leaders who had resided there for a long time. It is assumed that this is when he is given the nickname Hammer. In any case, it is a name that gives him prestige and tempers possible enemies, and that contributed, to a great extent, to the creation of the myth of Carlos Martel.
Muslim troops are not defeated on all fronts. They take Avignon and Arles and in 735 they attack Burgundy. Many Burgundian lords agree with the Arabs. Carlos Martel forces them to retire to the Rhône Valley in 736, conquers Avignon in 737 with his brother Childebrando, but does not get Narbonne. He allies with the Lombards to reconquer Provence. All the lords who had collaborated with the Arabs are punished and their goods distributed among the Frankish warriors. The Arabs now only have Narbonne left. These battles helped unify the Frankish kingdom around Carlos Martel.
Relationship with the Church
To win the support and affection of the Frankish aristocrats who had helped him and continue to help him, Carlos Martel delivered large sums of money and land, some from the recently annexed territories, from confiscations and also those without an owner, but when they were not enough He ordered the secularization of a good part of the patrimony of the Church, which was the largest landowner in the Frankish kingdom. He also began to intervene in the appointment of bishops and abbots in favor of people who lacked the minimum moral conditions to hold office.
As a result, the Church fostered the image of Carlos as a plunderer of the ecclesiastical patrimony and infringer of the prerogatives and liberties by appointing positions that, in theory, did not concern his person. Needless to say, the spur was that he was a bastard son, despite the fact that he had been the "savior of Christianity"; after the Battle of Poitiers.
Carlos Martel did not go down very well with the Papal States, but Pope Gregory III did nothing about it because he did not want to break relations with the Frankish kingdom since the coming of Lombards represented a serious threat. The Lombard king Liutprando, an ally of Charles Martel, attacked Rome in revenge for the papal support for the Duchy of Spoleto. Pope Gregory III asked Carlos Martel for help with an embassy that arrived before the majordomo of Austrasia, so Carlos just sent a legation to Rome to guarantee a non-aggression pact to the Papal States in exchange for the Lombard king being able to occupy Ravenna; Thus, a company that endangered the integrity of the papacy was settled.
The only thing left for Charles was to mitigate the hostilities of a large part of the Frankish clergy.
Creation of the Carolingian line
On the death of Theodoric IV (737), Carlos, entrenched in his great power, decides not to choose any successor, assumes all the power of the Frankish kingdom and reigns, illegally, until his death.
Ansegisel (?-†679), Austrasia Palace Mayordome (629-639) “Pypino de Heristal called the young man (635-†714), Austrasia Palace butler (680), Neustria (687) and Burgundy (687), as well as dux et princeps francorum (duke and prince of francs) ”. Begga (620-†693) . Carlos Martel. X Alpaïde de Bruyères (?-??) ─ X
Carlos Martel1) house with Rotrudis de Tréveris 2) house in 725 with Swanahilde of Bavaria (Agilolfinga)3) house with Ruodhaid 4) a concubine . “From 1 Carloman (707-17† of August 754 to Rome), Austrasia Palace Butler (741-747). Casó with X. Then he was a monk of Montecassino. . “From 1 Pipino el Breve (715-†768), Mayordomo de Palacio de Borgoña (741), de Neustria (741) and Austrasia (747), King of the Franks (751). House in 744 with Bertrade or Berthe de Laon called the big foot (Family of the Hugobértidas). . “From 1 Hiltrude (720-†754). House with Odilon I of Bavaria (Agilolfinga). . “From 1 Aldana or Aude (732-†755). House with Théodoric, Count of Autun. . “From 2 Grief (726-†753). . From 3 Bernard (725-†787), Abbot de Saint-Quentin and Count of Saint-Quentin. House with X. . “From 4 Jérôme (?-† approx. 775), Abad de Saint-Quentin. . 4 Remigio (?-†771), bishop of Ruan.
Upon his death, his power is divided between his two sons:
- Carloman, who gets Austrasia, Germany and Turingia (not to confuse with Charlemagne)
- Pipino el Breve, who inherits Neustria, Burgundy and Provence
Charles Martel died on October 22, 741 at Quierzy. He was buried in the Basilica of Saint-Denis at his request: in fact, he had had his son Carloman educated there.
Although he never obtained the title of king, despite having more power than the Frankish sovereigns of the time, the Merovingian dynasty was in full decline at that time. His power marked the first foundations of the Carolingian line, confirmed by the consecration of Pepin the Short on July 28, 754. Until then, it was called the Pipiate line.
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