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1 Daniel Hawkins Franks, Umayyads, and the Most Important Early Medieval Battle: Scholarship on the Battle of Tours In the early Middle Ages, the political centralization and military ascendancy of the Franks—first under the Merovingians and then under the Carolingians— made them the largest and most powerful Christian power in Europe. The Umayyad caliphate had spread in the last two centuries from Arabia through North Africa and into Spain, where they created a complex polity with its own strong presence. As the eighth century dawned, these Muslim forces raided and fought their way into Gaul. As an Umayyad force led by the emir Abd al-Rahman reached Poitiers or Tours (both primary sources and scholars differ on the exact location), they clashed with Charles, son of Pippin II. At this battle—which for the sake of clarity I will term the Battle of Tours—Charles earned his historical moniker Charles Martel, or Charles the Hammer, repelling the Umayyads, who never again crossed into Gaul after 732. As the soon-to-be progenitor of the Carolingian dynasty, the Battle of Tours solidified Charles Martel’s authority among the Franks and paved the way for medieval Christian civilization as we know it. In part due to inconsistencies among primary chroniclers, historians at least from Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) onward have debated the significance of the Battle of Tours both in its medieval context and in the context of Western civilization. Gibbon, writing in 1788, stated that without Martel’s victory, “the repetition of an equal space [from Gibraltar to the Loire] would have carried the Saracens to the confines of Poland and to the Highlands of Scotland…Perhaps the 2 interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pupils might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Muhammad.”1 This interpretation of the Battle has since colored the views of historians toward its significance, whether they substantiate or disagree with Gibbon’s claims. I will argue in this paper that although some historians have written on the Battle of Tours’ significance on the scale of Western civilization, it is only recently that historians have evaluated the Battle of Tours’ significance in the context of Carolingian culture with due attentiveness to the primary sources and political/military history. I will also argue that even with the recent scholarship dedicated toward the Battle, the attention given to the Battle of Tours (especially when one considers its assumed historical magnitude by some historians) has been limited when compared to more general histories on the Franks and the early Middle Ages. Academia certainly does not currently suffer from a shortage of general literature on the Carolingians, the Merovingians, the Franks as a whole, or Charlemagne—areas of study which have only flourished in the last few decades.2 Most discussion of early medieval Europe cannot help but include the Carolingian Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (New York, 1974). As appears in William E. Watson, “The Battle of Tours-Poitiers Revisited,” Providence: Studies in Western Civilization 2, no. 1 (1993), as published in “De Re Militari: The Society for Medieval Military History,” September 20, 2013, http://deremilitari.org/2013/09/the-battle-of-tours-poitiers-revisited/. 2 Works on these topics include, but are by no means limited to: Jonathan P. Conant, “Louis the Pious and the Contours of Empire,” Early Medieval Europe 22, no. 3 (August 2014): 336-60; Paul Fouracre, “Merovingian History and Hagiography,” Past and Present 127 (1990): 3-38; Paul Fouracre and Richard A. Gerberding, Late Merovingian France: History and Hagiography, 650-720, Manchester Medieval Series (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996); Rosamond McKitterick, Charlemagne: The Formation of a European Identity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008); Rosamond McKitterick, The Early Middle Ages: Europe 400-1000, Short Oxford History of Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001); Pierre Riché, The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe, Middle Ages Series (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993). 1 3 Franks, and more recent scholarship has also included the prominent (and often complex) role that Muslims influenced medieval society.3 The rise in western scholarship on Umayyad interactions with Christian Europe in the early Middle Ages probably comes as a result of more progressive approaches to history as well as the need for an even-handed evaluation of its history. The political history of the Franks toward the end of the Merovingian dynasty and the beginning of the Carolingian era necessitates at least a mention of the various alliances and rivalries between Christian and Muslim powers in western Europe during this period. Paul Fouracre, in The Age of Charles Martel (2000), Ian Wood, in The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450751 (1994), and William E. Watson, in “The Battle of Tours-Poitiers Revisited” (1993), discuss in detail with close reference to primary sources these political and military relationships, with special attention to the rivalry between Eudo, the Neustrians, different Muslim emirs, and the Pippinids with little to no detectable bias (as may have appeared in the writings of historians like Gibbon).4 Still, despite this scholarship, not as much exists with respect to Charles Martel specifically or to the Battle of Tours itself. Paul Fouracre’s scholarship on Charles Martel dominates the field in terms of monographs devoted specifically to this historical figure. While not exactly a José C. Carvajal, “Islamicization or Islamicizations? Expansion of Islam and Social Practice in the Vega of Granada (south-East Spain),” World Archaeology 45, no. 1 (March 2013) 109-123; Tomaž Mastnak, Crusading Peace: Christendom, the Muslim World, and Western Political Order (Berkley: University of California Press, 2002). 4 Paul Fouracre, The Age of Charles Martel, Medieval World, (New York: Longman, 2000), 82-89; Ian Wood, The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450-751, (London: Longman, 1994), 283-84; William E. Watson, “The Battle of Tours-Poitiers Revisited,” Providence: Studies in Western Civilization 2, no. 1 (1993), as published in “De Re Militari: The Society for Medieval Military History,” September 20, 2013. 3 4 biography in its traditional sense, The Age of Charles Martel (2000) discusses Martel’s place in Frankish (and by extent, European) history in a great deal of detail with extensive use of primary sources. Despite this level of detail with respect to Martel’s life, Fouracre does not dedicate a significant amount of writing to Tours/Poitiers, but where he does address its significance (on one page), he essentially dismisses Abd al-Rahman’s forces as raiders than as a serious army capable of conquering Europe.5 In his exhaustive history of the Merovingian era, Merovingian Kingdoms (1994), Ian Wood dedicates slightly more discussion to Martel’s victory and its significance in his trajectory as ruler of the Franks and patriarch to the Carolingians. Here Wood uses historical context and primary sources (as well as their possible biases) to conclude that the Battle was only significant as a propaganda tool for Martel and his successors.6 Largely in agreement with Wood that Tours has been over-emphasized, Rosamond McKitterick, Matthew Innes, and Hugh Kennedy discuss in a 2014 interview with host Melvyn Bragg on BBC Radio the significance of the Battle of Tours, citing evidence ranging from medieval battle tactics to Muslim primary sources.7 Pierre Riché somewhat takes the middle ground in The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe (1993), interpreting most of the same evidence used by those previously mentioned as Fouracre, The Age of Charles Martel, 88. Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms, 274-75, 286-87. 7 Rosamond McKitterick, Matthew Innes, Hugh Kennedy, interview by Melvyn Bragg, “The Battle of Tours, In Our Time – BBC Radio 4,” BBC, 2014, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pm7dv. 5 6 5 indicative of the Battle having both historical and propagandistic significance for the Carolingians.8 William E. Watson represents the most prominent modern voice in favor of Gibbon’s interpretation of Tours. Although Watson only dedicates an article to the topic instead of an entire book, he nonetheless parses out historical nuances evident from contemporary primary sources, the military capabilities and aspirations of the Umayyads, the political rivalries of Christian Europeans, using this evidence to support his analysis of Martel’s victory as essential to the formation of the Christian medieval world. Watson hesitates to cement the Umayyad’s loss at Tours as the sole obstacle to their Islamicization of Europe; he does, however, conclude that it was not only crucial for the success of the Carolingians, but that “the history of the West would have proceeded along vastly different currents” had Martel lost. Despite more scholarly analysis of the evidence surrounding the Battle of Tours, historians still do not agree on the significance of the Battle of Tours during Charles Martel’s lifetime, let alone its significance as a watershed moment in world history. Some historians have dismissed the validity of presenting battles as “turning points” in macrohistory, while others urge a cautious but valid approach.9 While shorter discussions in the form of articles, chapter subheadings, or interviews have certainly attempted to either dismiss Martel’s victory at Tours as anything but a military “stepping stone” in his career and as a blueprint for further Carolingian Riché, The Carolingians, 14-15, 35, 44. Yuval N. Harari, “The Concept of ‘Decisive Battles’ in World History,” Journal of World History 18, no. 3 (2007): 251-66. Harari uses a different battle as a sort of case study here, but he does include more than one mention of Tours as an example of one of these controversial “turning points” that warrants more study. 8 9 6 expansion, accurately evaluating the battle’s significance among the Carolingians requires further study and discussion of the primary sources available as well as historical events that preceded and followed the Battle. While general histories do mention Martel and the Battle of Tours, only some specialized and limited discussions address the battle’s significance in the early medieval context and in the context of Western history. While I cannot write an entire volume on the Battle of Tours, in my paper I plan on combining analysis of most of the primary sources used by these scholars as well as more secondary sources to conclude that the Battle of Tours held very little significance in and immediately following 732, instead acting mostly as a propaganda tool for the Carolingians during and after Martel’s lifetime, which in turn has strongly influenced Western history, although not for the same reason Gibbon (and his modern counterpart, William E. Watson) concluded. 7 Bibliography Carvajal, José C. “Islamicization or Islamicizations? Expansion of Islam and Social Practice in the Vega of Granada (south-east Spain).” World Archaeology 45, no. 1 (March 2013): 109-123. Conant, Jonathan P. “Louis the Pious and the Contours of Empire.” Early Medieval Europe 22, no. 3 (Aug. 2014): 336-60. Fouracre, Paul. “Merovingian History and Merovingian Hagiography.” Past & Present, no. 127 (1990): 3-38. Fouracre, Paul. The Age of Charles Martel. The Medieval World. New York: Longman, 2000. Fouracre, Paul and Richard A. Gerberding. Late Merovingian France: History and Hagiography, 640-720. Manchester Medieval Sources Series. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996. Harari, Yuval N. “The Concept of ‘Decisive Battles’ in World History.” Journal of World History 18, no. 3 (2007): 251-66. Mastank, Tomaž. Crusading Peace: Christendom, the Muslim World, and Western Political Order. Berkley: University of California Press, 2002. McKitterick, Rosamond. Charlemagne: The Formation of a European Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. McKitterick, Rosamond. The Early Middle Ages: Europe 400-1000. Short Oxford History of Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. McKitterick, Rosamond Matthew Innes, Hugh Kennedy. Interview by Melvyn Bragg. “The Battle of Tours, In Our Time – BBC Radio 4.” BBC, 2014. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pm7dv. Riché, Pierre. The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe. Translated by Michael Idomir Allen. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvaia Press, 1993. Watson, William E. “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/ Wood, Ian. The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450-751. London: Longman, 1994.