Battle Of Tours (732 AD), The Determination Point for Christianity in Western Europe Against Saracens the Followers of False Prophet

 

                 Charles son of Pepin, with nickname as Martel

The Battle of Tours, also called the Battle of Poitiers and the Battle of the Highway of the Martyrs (Arabic: معركة بلاط الشهداء, romanized: Maʿrakat Balāṭ ash-Shuhadā'), was fought on 10 October 732, and was an important battle during the Umayyad invasion of Gaul. It resulted in victory for the Frankish and Aquitanian forces, led by Charles Martel, over the invading Umayyad forces, led by Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi, governor of al-Andalus.

Notably, the Frankish troops apparently fought without heavy cavalry. The battlefield was located somewhere between the cities of Poitiers and Tours, in northern Aquitaine in western France, near the border of the Frankish realm and the then-independent Duchy of Aquitaine under Odo the Great.

Al-Ghafiqi was killed in combat, and the Umayyad army withdrew after the battle. Charles emerged strengthened and Odo weakened. The battle helped lay the foundations of the Carolingian Empire and Frankish domination of western Europe for the next century. Most historians agree that "the establishment of Frankish power in western Europe shaped the continent's destiny and the Battle of Tours confirmed that power."

After the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate and the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750, internal conflicts within al-Andalus, including revolts and the establishment of the Emirate of Córdoba under Abd al-Rahman I, shifted the focus of Andalusian Saracen leaders towards internal consolidation. In the following centuries, chroniclers of the ninth century, gave Charles the nickname of Martel (the hammer), but without attributing it to a single battle,as he had many victories under his belt.

Background

The Umayyad troops, under Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani, the governor-general of al-Andalus, overran Septimania by 719, following their sweep up the Iberian Peninsula. Al-Samh set up his capital from 720 at Narbonne, which the Moors called Arbūna. With the port of Narbonne secure, the Umayyads swiftly subdued without much resistance the cities of Alet, Béziers, Agde, Lodève, Maguelonne, and Nîmes, still controlled by their Visigothic counts.

The Umayyad campaign into Aquitaine suffered a temporary setback at the Battle of Toulouse. Duke Odo the Great broke the siege of Toulouse, taking Al-Samh ibn Malik's forces by surprise. Al-Samh ibn Malik was mortally wounded. This defeat did not stop incursions into old Roman Gaul, as Moorish forces, soundly based in Narbonne and easily resupplied by sea, struck eastwards in the 720s, penetrating and raiding into Burgundy in 725.

Threatened by both the Umayyads in the south and by the Franks in the north, in 730 Odo allied himself with the Berber commander Uthman ibn Naissa, called "Munuza" by the Franks, the deputy governor of what would later become Catalonia. To seal the alliance, Uthman was given Odo's daughter Lampagie in marriage, and the Moors ceased their raids across the Pyrenees, Odo's southern border. However, the next year, the Berber leader killed the bishop of Urgell Nambaudus and detached himself from his Arab masters in Cordova. Abd Al Raḥman in turn sent an expedition to crush his revolt, and next directed his attention against Uthman's ally Odo.

Odo collected his army at Bordeaux, but was defeated, and Bordeaux was plundered. During the following Battle of the River Garonne, the Chronicle of 754 commented that "God alone knows the number of the slain". The chronicle added that they "pierced through the mountains, trampled over rough and level ground, plundered far into the country of the Franks, and smote all with the sword, insomuch that when Eudo came to battle with them at the River Garonne, he fled."

Odo requested help from Frankish Kingdom

And then, Odo set about reorganizing his troops despite his heavy losses, and gave the Frankish leader notice of the impending danger to the heartland of his realm while appealing to the Franks for assistance, which Charles Martel only granted after Odo agreed to submit to Frankish authority.

It appears that the Umayyads were not aware of the true strength of the Franks. The Umayyad forces were not particularly concerned about any of the Germanic tribes, including the Franks, and the Arab chronicles of that age show that awareness of the Franks as a growing military power only came after the Battle of Tours.

Further, the Umayyads appear not to have scouted northward for potential foes, for if they had, they surely would have noted Charles Martel as a force to be reckoned with on his own, because of his growing domination of much of Europe since 717.

In 732, the Umayyad advance force was proceeding north towards the Loire River, having outpaced their supply wagons and a large part of their army. Having easily destroyed all resistance in that part of Gaul, the invading army had split off into several raiding parties, while the main body advanced more slowly.

The Umayyads delayed their campaign late in the year probably because the army needed to live off the land as they advanced. They had to wait until the area's wheat harvest was ready and then until a reasonable amount of the harvest had been stored.

Odo was defeated so easily at Bordeaux and Garonne, despite winning eleven years earlier at the Battle of Toulouse, because at Toulouse he had managed a surprise attack against an overconfident and unprepared foe: the Umayyad forces were mostly infantry, and what cavalry they did have were never mobilized. As Herman of Carinthia wrote in one of his translations of a history of al-Andalus, Odo managed a highly successful encircling envelopment which took the attackers completely by surprise, resulting in the slaughter of the Saracen forces.

At Bordeaux and again at Garonne, the Umayyad forces were mostly cavalry and had the chance to mobilize, which led to the devastation of Odo's army. Odo's forces, like other European troops of that era, had no stirrups at that time and therefore no heavy cavalry. Most of their troops were infantry. The Umayyad heavy cavalry broke Odo's infantry in their first charge and then slaughtered them as they fled.

The invading force went on to devastate southern Gaul. A possible motive, according to the second continuator of the Chronicle of Fredegar, were the riches of the Abbey of Saint Martin of Tours, the most prestigious and holiest shrine in western Europe at the time. Upon hearing this, Austrasia's Mayor of the Palace, Charles Martel, prepared his army and marched south, avoiding the old Roman roads, hoping to take the Saracens by surprise.

Preparations and manœuvre

By all accounts, the invading forces were caught off guard to discover a large force sitting directly in their path to Tours. Charles achieved the total surprise he had hoped for. He then chose not to attack but rather set up a defensive, phalanx-like formation. According to Arab sources, the Franks drew up in a large square, with hills and trees in their front to impede or break up Saracen cavalry charges.

For one week, the two armies engaged in minor skirmishes while the Umayyads waited for their full strength to arrive. 'Abd-al-Raḥmân, despite being a proven commander, had been outmanœuvred by allowing Charles to concentrate his forces and pick the field of battle. Furthermore, the Umayyads could not judge the size of Charles' army since he had used the forest to conceal his true numbers.

Charles' infantry was his best hope for victory. Seasoned and battle-hardened, most of them had fought under him for years, some as far back as 717. In addition to his army, he also had levies of militia which had not seen significant military use except for gathering food and slaying the Saracen army.

Many source from ancient sources told that Umayyad garrisons with cavalry numbers are higher two folds than Franks, although the Mozarabic Chronicle of 754, contradict that assertion. However, sources from that time in the 8th century, other than the Mozarabic Chronicle, state that the number of Umayyad troops who carried out the invasion was exactly the same as during the attack on Tolouse, where the number was around 50,000 - 80,000 troops, where Abd-al-Raḥmân Al-Ghafiqi deployed all the troops.

Charles correctly assumed that 'Abd-al-Raḥmân would feel compelled to give battle, and move on and try to loot Tours. Neither side wanted to attack. Abd-al-Raḥmân felt he had to sack Tours, which meant he had to go through the Frankish army on the hill in front of him. Charles' decision to stay in the hills proved crucial, as it forced the Umayyad cavalry to charge uphill and through trees, diminishing their effectiveness.

Charles had been preparing for this confrontation since the Battle of Toulouse a decade earlier. Gibbon believes, as do most historians, that Charles had made the best of a bad situation. Though allegedly outnumbered and without any heavy cavalry, he had tough, battle-hardened infantrymen who believed in him implicitly. At a time in the Middle Ages when permanent armies had been non-existent in Europe, Charles even took out a large loan from the Pope of Rome after convincing him of the impending emergency, to properly train and maintain a full-size army largely composed of professional infantry. Moreover, as Davis points out, these infantrymen were heavily armed and improved infantrymen although they're outnumbered than Umayyad Forces with Higher troops.

Formed into a phalanx formation, they were able to withstand a cavalry charge better than might be expected, especially as Charles had secured the high ground – with trees before him to further impede any cavalry charges. Arab intelligence failed to discern the reliability and strength of Charles's men (whom he had trained for a decade), but Charles was well aware of the Caliphate's strengths and weaknesses.

Furthermore, the Franks were dressed for the cold, whereas the Arabs wore very light clothing more suitable for North African winters than European winters.

The battle eventually became a waiting game in which the Saracens did not want to attack an army that could be numerically superior and wanted the Franks to come out into the open. The Franks formed up in a thick defensive formation and waited for them to charge uphill. The battle finally began on the seventh day, as 'Abd-al-Raḥmân did not want to wait any longer, with winter approaching.

'Abd-al-Raḥmân trusted in the tactical superiority of his cavalry and had them charge repeatedly throughout the day. The disciplined Frankish soldiers withstood the assaults, though according to Arab sources, the Arab cavalry broke into the Frankish square several times. Despite this, the Franks did not break. The well-trained Frankish soldiers accomplished what has been considered being impossible at that time: infantry withstanding a heavy cavalry charge. Paul Davis says the core of Charles' army was a professional infantry that was both highly disciplined and well-motivated, "having campaigned with him all over Europe".

Frankish fought the Saracen Invader with his Javelin on Battle of Tours (732 AD) 

On this battle, 'Abd-al-Raḥmân was killed and stabbed at his chest by Improved Frankish Army, and when Al-Ghafiqi was killed, it turns the situation where Franks started to be Aggressive to strike Saracens and chased them out and slaughtered them many until their losses were 12.000 - 30.000 killed. Bodies of Saracens were torn to pieces when Frankish armies struck Saracens with their swords, their axes and their javelines. Saracen Cavalries were running away from Chasing of Franks. Franks always chased Saracens until met them, and struck them non-stop until Saracens retreated to south, to Andalusia. 

The Frankish troops who died were only in the hundreds to thousands, but the Saracen troops consisting of Arabs and Berbers reached tens of thousands, at least 12.000 and at most up to 30.000 killed.

Charles Martel's family composed, for the fourth book of the Continuations of Fredegar's Chronicle, a stylized summary of the battle:

Prince Charles boldly drew up his battle lines against them [the Arabs] and the warrior rushed in against them. With Christ's help, he overturned their tents and hastened to battle to grind them small in slaughter. The king Abdirama having been killed, he destroyed [them], driving forth the army, he fought and won. Thus did the victor triumph over his enemies.

— Fouracre, Continuations of Fredegar, p. 149

This source details further that "he (Charles Martel) came down upon them like a great man of battle". It goes on to say Charles "scattered them like the stubble".

The Latin word used for "warrior", belligerator, "is from the Book of Maccabees, chapters 15 and 16", which describe huge battles.

St. Bede the Venerable

It is thought that Saint Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People (Book V, Chapter XXIV) includes a reference to the Battle of Tours: "... a dreadful plague of Saracens ravaged France with miserable slaughter, but they not long after in that country received the punishment due to their wickedness".

             Frankish armies were slaying Saracens unstoppable on Battle of Yours (732) 

The Umayyad army retreated south over the Pyrenees. Charles continued to expand south in subsequent years. After the death of Odo (c. 735), who had reluctantly acknowledged Charles' suzerainty in 719, Charles wished to unite Odo's duchy to himself and went there to elicit the proper homage of the Aquitanians. But the nobility proclaimed Hunald, Odo's son, as the duke, and Charles recognized his legitimacy when the Umayyads entered Provence as part of an alliance with Duke Maurontus the next year.

Hunald, who originally resisted acknowledging Charles as an overlord, soon had little choice. He acknowledged Charles as his overlord, albeit not for long, and Charles confirmed his duchy.

Umayyad invasion (735–39)

In 735, Uqba ibn al-Hajjaj, the new governor of al-Andalus, invaded Gaul. Antonio Santosuosso and other historians detail how he advanced into France to avenge the defeat at Tours and to spread Mahometanism. According to Santosuosso, Uqba ibn al-Hajjaj converted about 2,000 Christians he had captured over his career. In the last major attempt at an invasion of Gaul through Iberia, a sizable expedition was assembled at Saragossa and entered what is now French territory in 735, crossed the River Rhone, and captured and looted Arles. From there, he struck into the heart of Provence, ending with the capture of Avignon, despite strong resistance.

Uqba ibn al-Hajjaj's forces remained in Septimania and part of Provence for four years, carrying raids to Lyons, Burgundy, and Piedmont. Charles Martel invaded Septimania in two campaigns in 736 and 739, but was forced back again to Frankish territory under his control. Alessandro Santosuosso strongly argues that the second (Umayyad) expedition was probably more dangerous than the first. The second expedition's failure[specify] put an end to any serious Saracen's expedition across the Pyrenees, although raids continued. Plans for further large-scale attempts were hindered by internal turmoil in the Umayyad lands which often made enemies out of their own kind.

Advance to Narbonne

Despite the defeat at Tours, the Umayyads remained in control of parts of Septimania for another 27 years, though they could not expand further. The treaties reached earlier with the local population stood firm and were further consolidated in 734 when the governor of Narbonne, Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, concluded agreements with several towns on common defense arrangements against the encroachments of Charles Martel, who had systematically brought the south to heel as he extended his domains. Charles Martel conquered Umayyad fortresses and destroyed their garrisons at the Siege of Avignon (737) and the Siege of Nîmes.

Siege of Avignon, the Brutalist siege by Charles Martel to eliminate Saracens

This siege was part of the campaigns of 736–737 during which Charles Martel for the second time engaged Arab armies from Al-Andalus beyond the Pyrenees. Unlike the invasion of 732–733, the Arabs came this time by sea. Notable at these battles was the use of heavy cavalry in addition to Martel's vaunted veteran Frankish infantry. Though he had some catapults, the city of Avignon was largely taken by a simple, brutal, frontal assault using rams to smash through the gates, and ladders to scale the walls. Many Arabs were slaughtered and massacred with no mercy by Frankish as Punishment by God. 

The army attempting to relieve Narbonne met Charles in open battle at the Battle of the River Berre and was destroyed. However, Charles failed in his attempt to take Narbonne at the Siege of Narbonne in 737, when the city was jointly defended by its Saracen Arab and Berber, and its Christian Visigothic citizens. With avoid from fight with Christian Visigothics, Charles Martel stopped his invasion. 

Arab and Berber Saracen troops retreating from Narbonne after the Frankish conquest in 759. Illustration by Émile Bayard, 1880.

It was left to Charles' son, Pepin the Short, to force Narbonne's surrender in 759, thus bringing it into the Frankish domains. The Umayyad dynasty was expelled, driven back to Al-Andalus where Abd al-Rahman I established an emirate in Córdoba in opposition to the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad.

During the Early Middle Ages, an Andalusian garrison of Arab and Berber Saracen troops invaded the region of Septimania in 719 and deposed the local Visigothic Kingdom in 720. In 752, after the Carolingian king Pepin the Short obtained the Pope's recognition and the dignity of King of the Franks and deposing the last Merovingian king, Pepin felt free to focus all his might on subduing the Septimania and Provence.

In 759, Narbonne was not receiving reinforcements from al-Andalus, rife as it was with internal fights. Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, wali of al-Andalus, had to quash a rebellion in Zaragoza in 756, and immediately head south to fight Abd ar-Rahman I, who defeated him. Northeastern Iberia and the remainder of Septimania was left without any relevant commander in charge. Finally, the Gothic and Gallo-Roman defenders of Narbonne surrendered to the Frankish forces, Frankish forces continued to eliminate the Andalusian garrisons and continued to massacre the Arab-Berber Saracen troops (who consisted from 7.000 their troops until reduced to little troops), and opening the gates of the stronghold to the investing forces of the Carolingian Catholic king. Previously, the king Pepin had promised to uphold and respect the Gothic laws and probably their own government, so garnering the allegiance of the Gothic nobility of Septimania.

In the northeast of Spain, the Frankish emperors established the Marca Hispanica across the Pyrenees in part of what today is Catalonia, reconquering Girona in 785 and Barcelona in 801. This formed a buffer zone against Saracen lands across the Pyrenees. Historian J.M. Roberts said in 1993 of the Carolingian dynasty:

It produced Charles Martel, the soldier who turned the Arabs back at Tours, and the supporter of Saint Boniface the Evangelizer of Germany. This is a considerable double mark to have left on the history of Europe.

Before the Battle of Tours, stirrups may have been unknown in the west. Lynn Townsend White Jr. argues that the adoption of the stirrup for cavalry was the direct cause of the development of feudalism in the Frankish realm by Charles Martel and his heirs. 

Charles Martel meaning is Charles as Hammer of the Infidels, because Saracens are Infidels who should be hammered with desirable. 

Because it's compatible with what Lord Jesus said, 

" Put up again thy sword into its place: for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword. " (Matthew 26:52) 

(For more know about Saracens and their religion and their enmity to us, please read it :  https://romancatholictraditional.blogspot.com/2025/03/catholic-church-has-fought-against.html?m=1 

and also you can read How the First Spaniards were struggling to fight against Saracens : https://romancatholictraditional.blogspot.com/2025/09/battle-of-covadonga-722-ad-and-our-lady.html?m=1 )