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Daniel Hawkins
The Battle of Tours: Watershed Moment or Propaganda Piece?
In the early eighth century, two major powers vied for control of Western Europe: the
Franks and the Umayyads. Neither side was politically united, and internal machinations
played into the clash between the two strongest Christian and Muslim forces in continental
Europe. After the Umayyad caliphate expanded into the Iberian Peninsula and toppled the
Visigothic polity, raiding forces began striking across the Pyrenees Mountains, into
Aquitaine and Frankish Gaul. After a failed alliance between a breakaway Umayyad force
and the Franco-Aquitanian Prince Odo, Charles of Austrasia—the Frankish “Mayor of the
Palace” and a preeminent warrior with noble pedigree—confronted the Arabs and Berbers
at Tours in 732.1 Through his victory with the Franks at Tours, Charles earned his moniker,
Martel, meaning “the hammer.” In turn, this victory led to Frankish unification under
Charles’s dynasty, the Carolingians, and from that point on, the Umayyads were confined to
Iberia, never again to cross into the Frankish realm.2 In light of the rapid Umayyad
expansion in the century leading up to the battle, historians like Edward Gibbon have
framed the battle as a turning point in history, marking the moment when Christian
civilization triumphed over its Islamic counterpart. More contemporary historians have
drastically revised this position, mitigating its significance to little more than a medieval
Considerable debate exists over the location of the battle. Some historians contend that the
battle was actually at Poitiers, leading some historians to term it the Battle of Poitiers, or—perhaps
as a show of unity—the Battle of Tours-Poitiers. William E. Watson, “The Battle of Tours-Poitiers
Revisited,” De Re Militari: The Society for Medieval Military History, September 20, 2013,
http://deremilitari.org/2013/09/the-battle-of-tours-poitiers-revisited/, originally published in
Providence: Studies in Western Civilization 2, no. 1 (1993).
2 “Carolingian” derives from Charles’s Latinate spelling, Carolus.
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border skirmish, further clouding the true significance of the battle.3 My research question
for this paper will be: What was the significance of the Battle of Tours in over the course of
the eighth and early ninth centuries? In this paper, I will examine the battle’s contemporary
significance, examining the various reactions to the battle soon after 732 and over the
course of the next century. Although it will not be the focus of this paper, by evaluating
these responses in the context of Carolingian ascendancy and Umayyad decline, the
significance of the battle in the wider context of religious history and western civilization
will naturally unfold.
The primary sources I will use to support my hypothesis include the chronicles of
Iberian writers recording Umayyad politics (both in Iberia and their center of power in the
Middle East), Frankish writers chronicling politics in their homelands (Gaul, Aquitaine, and
Germany), as well as chroniclers like Bede, who focused on Christianity, mention the battle
with varying degrees of detail, scope, and significance.4 By examining how writers in Iberia,
Francia, and other parts of Europe took note of the battle (if they did at all), I first plan to
Ibid.
Bede relegates the battle to a vague, short entry, while the Mozarabic Chronicle
goes into detail about the preparations for battle and the Umayyad decampment. Bede,
Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book V, Fordham Medieval History Sourcebook,
http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book5.asp; “Medieval Sourcebooks: Arabs, Franks,
and the Battle of Tours, 732: Three Accounts,” Fordham Medieval History Sourcebook,
originally published in Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources, Vol.
II: Rome and the West, Vol. II: Rome and the West (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13): 362364. http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/source/732tours.asp; The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of
Fredegar, with its continuations, trans. with intro. and notes by J.M. Wallace-Hadrill, Medieval
Classics (London: Nelson, 1960); “The Chronicle of 754/Mozarabic Chronicle,” as published in
Conquerors and Chroniclers of Early Medieval Spain, 2nd ed., by Kenneth B. Wolf (Liverpool:
Liverpool University Press, 1999).
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assess how important the battle seemed to the literate public in the early eighth century. 5
With secondary sources on the history of the Franks, Umayyads, and war in general for
context and analysis, I also plan on using primary sources from the next century or so—
whose authors saw the Frankish polity under the Carolingians coalesce and expand and the
Iberian Umayyads turn toward internal political struggles—to evaluate why the battle
came to prominence among the military history of the Franks and whether or not some
people saw the battle as a victory for Christian civilization over a possible Islamic conquest.
My hypothesis in answer to my research question is that the Battle of Tours, while not
initially noteworthy in scope, gained social, political, and relative religious significance over
the course of the eighth and early ninth centuries as a way to lend legitimacy to the
Carolingian dynasty over the Franks and other Germanic tribes whom they absorbed into
their empire.
While the average historical audience may not currently be aware of the Battle of Tours,
the topic has captivated historians of medieval Europe, at the very least as an exercise in
alternative paths for what may have happened to Europe in the event of a Frankish defeat
at Tours. By examining Umayyad sources, I also plan to answer, using extant evaluations by
modern historians, whether the Umayyads had the capability or desire to conquer Europe.
Although the battle took place over 1,200 years ago, the significance (or, perhaps, the
insignificance) that some historians have given the battle has influenced, whether directly
or indirectly, socio-religious tensions between Islam and Christianity. An objective
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I will also analyze why Abbasid historian al-Tabari (839-923 AD) did not include the
Battle of Tours in his comprehensive history of the Umayyad Caliphate. See al-Tabari,
The History of Al-Tabari Volume 25: The End of Expansion, trans. Khalid Yahya
Blankeship, SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies (Albany: SUNY Press, 1989): 95-98.
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clarification on the topic from the view of multiple parties may in fact serve to dispel myths
surrounding what happened in 732.
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Bibliography
Primary Sources:
Al-Tabari. The History of al-Tabari Volume 25: The End of Expansion. Translated by Khalid
Yahya Blankeship. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies. Albany: SUNY Press, 1989.
Bede. Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book V. Fordham Medieval History
Sourcebook. http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book5.asp
“The Chronicle of 754/Mozarabic Chronicle.” Published in Conquerors and Chroniclers of Early
Medieval Spain, 2nd ed. by Kenneth B. Wolf. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1999.
The Fourth Book of the Chronicle of Fredegar, with its continuations. Translated with intro. and
notes by J.M. Wallace-Hadrill. Medieval Classics. London: Nelson, 1960.
Liber Historiae Francorum. Edited by Bernard S. Bachrach. Coronado Press, 1973.
“Medieval Sourcebooks: Arabs, Franks, and the Battle of Tours, 732: Three Accounts.” Fordham
Medieval History Sourcebook. Originally published in Readings in Ancient History:
Illustrative Extracts from the Sources, Vol. II: Rome and the West, Vol. II: Rome and the
West (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13): 362-364.
http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/source/732tours.asp
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