Anguila

Biography

Difficult seizure of power

With died of his/her father, Pip of Herstal known as Pip the Young person (714), Charles of Herstal which is already 29 years old is very indicated to take again the load of Maire of the palate which the late one occupied, his/her two half-brothers Drogon de Champagne and Grimoald II them having also died. But Charles was an illegitimate child, and Plectrude, the woman of Pip, did all to draw aside it from the capacity and to preserve the future of its grandson Théodebald (or Thibaut, Thiaud), the son of Grimoald II, old of six years hardly, and the legitimate heir. It thus made lock up Charles.

But it was without counting on the opinion of the various provinces of the kingdom, which did not agree to see a woman directing the kingdom; the revolts then started to burst, initially in Neustrie in 715, when Rainfroi (Rainfroy or Ragenfred), mayor of the palate of Neustrie, beat the army of Plectrude in Forêt of Cooks, and carried out its troops until the accesses of the Meuse. It was then the people of the North of the Italy which was raised and adopted the Neustrie. Then it was with the turn of Saxon and Austrasiens…
It is at this time that Charles managed to escape (715), and to take the head of revolted of Austrasie. It first of all had to face Neustriens of Chilpéric II and Rainfroi: after two victorious battles (Amblève - 716, Vinchy - March 21st 717), it pushed back them until Paris. Then it moved towards Cologne, that Plectrude had chosen to settle with its grandson. This one had of another option only to recognize its defeat and to deliver the town hall of Austrasie to Charles.

Pacification of the frank kingdom

At once with the capacity, Charles operated great changes in his entourage, installing on the throne of Austrasie Clotaire IV, and repudiating Rigobert, the bishop of Rheims favorable to Plectrude…
Then, gradually, it tried to take again the control of all the frank kingdom, but it again had to face Neustrie. It succeeds in overcoming Rainfroi, the mayor of the palate of Neustrie, which had however been combined with the duke Eudes de Gascogne. The October 14th 719, it gained over them a first victory with Néry, between Senlis and Soissons, then in Orléans.
He also undertook to push back the border of the East of the kingdom: from 720 to 738, it conquered thus, the Austria and the south of the Germany. Thus was restored the frank kingdom such as it was under Pépin of Herstal.

With died of Clotaire IV in 719, it was all the same obliged to give on the throne Chilpéric II. But this one died in 721. Charles called then the son of Dagobert III, Thierry IV, withdrawn with the Abbaye of Chelles, and installed it on the throne.

Stop of the Moslem invasion

In 732, it had to face the Moslem armies of the governor of Spain Abd el Rahman. Indeed, since 711, the Berbères occupied the Iberian peninsula, and slowly continued to advance towards the Northern , beyond the the Pyrenees, so that in 725, they had already conquered the Languedoc and most of the current Burgundy and were going to enter in the middle of the frank territory. Thanks to the Aquitanian intervention of the duke of , Eudes, which stopped them first once at Toulouse, in 721, the first attempts was pushed back. Extremely of his victory, the duke of Aquitaine wanted to prevent the return of the Musulman S of Spain while being combined to Munuza, governor Berber of the Septimanie. Called Munuza, although of Islamic religion, was in revolt against its co-religionists of Spain. Eudes gave him his/her daughter in marriage. But Munuza was killed by facing the governor of Spain Abd el-Rahman which, in the tread, launched a punitive forwarding against the Aquitanian ones. It thus engaged in 732 an important offensive through the franque border, with an aim, inter alia, to go to plunder the sanctuary of Saint Martin's day de Tours.

This time, the duke Eudes could not only stop them, and asked Charles to come to his assistance. The October 19th 732, the armies of Charles and the duke joined together faced the Razzia with Moussais, on the current commune of Vouneuil-on-Vienna, between Tours and Poitiers. Charles made very to avoid the confrontation but encouraged plundering in the neighborhoods, which had for double effect to saturate with spoils the Sarrasins making them less mobile and covetous. After six days of observation, the battle began the October 25th and was rather short. Charles killed their chief Abd el Rahman, which decided the troops sarrasines to take the way of the return. According to other sources, Abd el Rahmane would not have been killed with the battle of Poitiers but would have simply ebbed towards its base camps of Narbonne. Continued by the franques troops of Charles Martel, it would have been killed and its exterminated army with Louchapt with the foot of cliff of Sangou, in the Lot, in 733. The Town hall of the commune of Martel would have been built on the place even of the battle.

According to certain authors, it is following this victory that Charles was called Martel , since it had violently crushed the troops mahométanes , a such hammer - the hammer being also a weapon of combat. According to others, benefitting from the weakening of the duke Eudes, it seizes évêchés the Loire then goes down in the South that it ransacks conscientiously and from where it drives out the Moslem chiefs who had settled there a few years more tôt.
It is only then on this occasion that it would have gained the nickname of Martel. A third source declares that it is with the battle of Loupchat that, carried in triumph with the cry of " Charles Martel! " , it would have gained this nickname. In any event, it is certain that this nickname especially “struck” the spirits what contributed to the creation of the myth of Charles Martel. Thus according to the German historian Karl Ferdinand Werner, Provence if was upset by the exactions of Charles Martel that the nickname " Martel-Marteau" could come from there and not from the victory against the Moslems.

The troops arabo-Moslem women therefore are not beaten on all fronts. They take Avignon and Arles in 735 then attack Burgundy. Many Burgundian lords “make a pact” then with the Berber ones but Charles Martel managed to drive back them in the south of the valley of the Rhone in 736.

In 737, Charles Martel takes again Avignon with his half-brother Childebrand, but is not able to seize Narbonne defended victoriously by the Sarrazins. It gains an important victory close to the Étang of Bages and Sigean, with the mouth of the river Berre in the Aude against the troops arabo-Moslem women of Spain of Omar Ben Chaled (battles of Berre). This victory permetta to stop the incursions of the Moslems in the south of the France and to reduce the Moslem presence to Narbonne and unquestionable fortresses in Provence.
In 739, it is combined with the Lombards to take again the Provence. All those which had then collaborated with Sarrazins are punished and their goods given to the frank warriors. The Berbères then have nothing any more but Narbonne which will be finally released only into 759 by Pépin the Brief. These battles largely contributed to unify the frank kingdom around Charles Martel.
The Moslems will be definitively pushed back out of the frank territories only into 973.

Creation of the Carolingian line

With died on the king Thierry IV (737), Charles, extremely on sound very great capacity, decided not to choose to him of successor, the role of the monarchs mérovingiens having become completely unimportant. It thus seized really the power of the frank kingdom, and thus reigned thus in all illegality until its death.

With its death, its capacity was shared between its two sons:

Carloman obtains the Austrasie, the Alémanie and the Thuringe
Pépin the Brief obtains the Neustrie, the Burgundy and the Provence.

Its body was buried with Saint-Denis.

Although it never obtained the title of king, it had despite everything to be able more that the frank sovereigns of the time, the dynasty mérovingienne was already at this time in full decline. Its capacity marks the first steps of the Carolingian line , confirmed by the sacring of Pépin the Brief the July 28th 754.

Genealogy

He is the son of Pépin of Herstal known as '' the Young person or Pip II '' and Alpaïde de Bruyères.

┌─ Ansegisèle (? - † front 679), mayor of the palate of Austrasie (629 - 639). ┌─ Pip of Herstal known as '' the Young person '' (v. 635 - † 714), │ │ mayor of the palates of Austrasie (v. 680), of Neustrie (687) │ │ and of Burgundy (687), like dux and princeps Francorum │ │ (duke and prince of the Francs). │ └─ Begga (620 - † 693). │ Charles known as Martel │ │ ┌─ X └─ Alpaïde de Bruyères (? -?). └─ X

Charles known as Martel 1) ép. Rotrude of Trier 2) ép. in 725 Swanahilde (cf Agilolfing) 3) Rothilde de Gellone, illegitimate or concubine │ ├─De 1 Carloman (° v. 715 - † August 17th 754 with Dauphine Vienna in , buried with the Abbey of the Mount-Cassin), mayor of the palate of Austrasie (741 - 747). │ ép. X │ ├─De 1 Pip III known as '' the Brief '' (v. 715 - † 768), mayor of the palates of Burgundy (741), │ of Neustrie (741) and of Austrasie (747), king of the Francs (751). │ ép. in 744 Bertrade or Berthe de Laon known as '' with the Large Foot '' (cf Hugobertides) │ ├─De 1 Hiltrude (720 - † 754). │ ép. Odilon of Bavaria (cf Agilolfing) │ ├─De 2 Grifon (726 - 753). │ │ ├─De 3 Aude (732- † after 755?) Helped, Aldana or Adalne. │ ép. Thierry (Théodoric), count d' Autun │ └─ Guillaume de Gellone │ ├─De 3 Bernard (725 - † 787), abbot and count de Saint-Quentin. │ ├─De 3 Jerome (? - † a. 775), abbot of Saint-Quentin. └─De 3 Remi known as '' holy Remi '' (? - † 771), bishop of Rouen.

See also Genealogy of the Carolingians and the Pépinides

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