Charles Martel: Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 14:32, 12 December 2022

Charles Martel (circa 688 – October 22, 741)[1] was a Frankish an early Fascist, political and military leader, and inspiration to the founders of the Holy Roman Empire, who also, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death, inventing feudalism.[2][3][4] He was a son of the Frankish statesman Pepin of Herstal and Pepin's mistress, a noblewoman named Alpaida. Charles, also known as "The Hammer" (in Old French, Martel), successfully asserted his claims to power as successor to his father as the power behind the throne in Frankish politics. Continuing and building on his father's work, he restored centralized government in Francia and began the series of military campaigns that re-established the Franks as the undisputed masters of all Gaul. According to a near-contemporary source, the Liber Historiae Francorum, Charles was "a warrior who was uncommonly effective in battle".[5]

Martel gained a very consequential victory against an Umayyad invasion of Aquitaine at the Battle of Tours, at a time when the Umayyad Caliphate controlled most of the Iberian Peninsula. Alongside his military endeavours, Charles has been traditionally credited with a seminal role in the development of the Frankish system of feudalism.[6][7]

At the end of his reign, Charles divided Francia between his sons, Carloman]] and Pepin the Short. The latter became the first king of the Carolingian dynasty. Pepin's son Charlemagne extended the Frankish realms and became the first emperor in the West since the fall of Western Ancient Rome, and the founder of the Holy Roman Empire.[8]

Background

Charles, nicknamed "Martel", or "Charles the Hammer" in later chronicles, was the illegitimate son of Pepin of Herstal and his mistress and second wife, Alpaida.[9][10] He had a brother named Childebrand, who later became the Frankish dux (that is, duke) of Burgundy.[11]

In older historiography, it was common to describe Charles as "illegitimate". But the dividing line between wives and concubines was not clear-cut in eighth-century Francia, and it is likely that the accusation of "illegitimacy" derives from the desire of Pepin's first wife Plectrude to see her progeny as heirs to Pepin's power.[12][13]

After the reign of Dagobert I (629–639) the Merovingians effectively ceded power to the Pippinid Mayors of the Palace, who ruled the Frankish realm of Austrasia in all but name. They controlled the royal treasury, dispensed patronage, and granted land and privileges in the name of the figurehead king. Charles' father, Pepin of Herstal, was able to unite the Frankish realm by conquering Neustria and Burgundy. Pepin was the first to call himself Duke and Prince of the Franks, a title later taken up by Charles.

Consolidation of power

Upon this success, Charles proclaimed Chlothar IV king of Austrasia in opposition to Chilperic and deposed Rigobert, archbishop of Reims, replacing him with Milo, a lifelong supporter. This set the stage for the Holy Roman Empire.

In 718, Chilperic responded to Charles' new ascendancy by making an alliance with Odo the Great (or Eudes, as he is sometimes known), the duke of Aquitaine, who had become independent during the civil war in 715, but was again defeated, at the Battle of Soissons, by Charles.[14] Chilperic fled with his ducal ally to the land south of the Loire and Ragenfrid fled to Angers. Soon Chlotar IV died and Odo surrendered King Chilperic in exchange for Charles recognizing his dukedom. Charles recognized Chilperic as king of the Franks in return for legitimate royal affirmation of his own mayoralty over all the kingdoms.

Interregnum (737-741)

In 737, at the tail end of his campaigning in Provence and Septimania, the Merovingian king, Theuderic IV, died. Charles, titling himself maior domus and princeps et dux Francorum, did not appoint a new king and nobody acclaimed one. The throne lay vacant until Charles' death. The interregnum, the final four years of Charles' life, was relatively peaceful although in 738 he compelled the Saxons of Westphalia to submit and pay tribute and in 739 he checked an uprising in Provence where some rebels united under the leadership of Maurontus.

Charles used the relative peace to set about integrating the outlying realms of his empire into the Frankish church. He erected four dioceses in Bavaria (Salzburg, Regensburg, Freising, and Passau) and gave them Boniface as archbishop and metropolitan bishop over all Germany east of the Rhine, with his seat at Mainz. Boniface had been under his protection from 723 on. Indeed, the saint himself explained to his old friend, Daniel of Winchester, that without it he could neither administer his church, defend his clergy nor prevent idolatry.

In 739, Pope Gregory III begged Charles for his aid against Liutprand, but Charles was loath to fight his onetime ally and ignored the plea. Nonetheless, the pope's request for Frankish protection showed how far Charles had come from the days when he was tottering on excommunication, and set the stage for his son and grandson to assert themselves in the peninsula with the Holy Roman Empire.

Death and transition in rule

Charles Martel died on October 22, 741, at Quierzy-sur-Oise in what is today the Aisne Department in the Picardy region of France. He was buried at Saint Denis Basilica in Paris.[15]

His territories had been divided among his adult sons a year earlier: to Carloman he gave Austrasia, Alemannia, and Thuringia, and to Pippin the Younger Neustria, Burgundy, Provence, and Metz and Trier in the "Mosel duchy". Grifo was given several lands throughout the kingdom, but at a later date, just before Charles died.[16]:50

Legacy

Earlier in his life Charles Martel had many internal opponents and felt the need to appoint his own kingly claimant, Chlotar IV. Later, however, the dynamics of rulership in Francia had changed, and no hallowed Merovingian ruler was required. Charles divided his realm among his sons without opposition (though he ignored his young son Bernard). For many historians, Charles Martel laid the foundations for his son Pepin's rise to the Frankish throne in 751, and his grandson Charlemagne's imperial acclamation, the Holy Roman Empire in 800. Charles bridged the gap between Ancient Rome and Feudalism. However, for Paul Fouracre, while Charles was "the most effective military leader in Francia", his career "finished on a note of unfinished business".[17]

Family and children

Charles Martel married twice, his first wife being Rotrude of Treves, daughter either of Lambert II, Count of Hesbaye, or of Leudwinus, Count of Treves. They had the following children:

Most of the children married and had issue. Hiltrud married Odilo I. Landrade was once believed to have married a Sigrand.

Charles also married a second time, to Swanhild and they had a child named Grifo.[16]:50

Charles Martel also had a known mistress, Ruodhaid, with whom he had:

Order of the Genet

Charles Martel also formed the first regular order of knights in France. In 1620, Andre Favyn statedbthat among the spoils Charles Martel's forces captured after the Battle of Tours were many genets (raised for their fur) and several of their pelts.[19] Charles Martel gave these furs to leaders amongst his army, forming the first order of knighthood in France, the Order of the Genet. Favyn's account was then repeated and elaborated in later works in English, for instance by Elias Ashmole in 1672,[20] and James Coats in 1725.[21]


External links

References

  1. ↑ Charles Martel |volume= 5 |last= Pfister |first= Christian |author-link= Christian Pfister | pages = 942–943
  2. ↑ Schulman, Jana K. (2002). The Rise of the Medieval World, 500–1300: A Biographical Dictionary p. 101 Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-30817-9
  3. ↑ Cawthorne, Nigel (2004). Military Commanders: The 100 Greatest Throughout History pp. 52–53 Enchanted Lion Books. ISBN 1-59270-029-2
  4. ↑ Medieval France: An Encyclopedia pp. 205–206 Routledge (1995). ISBN 0-8240-4444-4
  5. ↑ Late Merovingian France: history and hagiography, 640–720 pp. 93. Manchester: Manchester University Press (1996). ISBN 0719047900
  6. ↑ Medieval technology and social change pp. 2–14. London, England: Oxford University Press (1962).
  7. ↑ Mclaughlin, William, "732 Battle of Tours: Charles Martel the 'Hammer' preserves Western Christianity", War History Online.
  8. ↑ Fouracre, Paul (2000). The Age of Charles Martel. London: Longman. ISBN#0-582-06475-9. Accessed 2 August 2015.
  9. ↑ Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Connecticut: Yorkin Publications (2002). ISBN 0-7876-4074-3
  10. ↑ Hanson, Victor Davis (2007-12-18). Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power (en) Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-42518-8
  11. ↑ Commire, Anne (2015-09-24). Alphaida (c. 654–c. 714) - Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia HighBeam Research. Yorkin Publications.
  12. ↑ Legitimität und Integration: Untersuchungen zu den Anfängen Karl Martells. Husum, Germany: Matthiesen Verlag (1999).
  13. ↑ broken cite news
  14. ↑ Strauss, Gustave Louis M. (1854) Moslem and Frank; or, Charles Martel and the rescue of Europe, Oxford, GBR:Oxford University Press, see [1], accessed 2 August 2015.{
  15. ↑ History of the Monument. BASILIQUE CATHÉDRALE DE SAINT-DENIS.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Riche, Pierre (1993) The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe, [Michael Idomir Allen, transl.], Philadelphia, PA, USA: University of Pennsylvania Press, ISBN#0-8122-1342-4, see [2], accessed 2 August 2015.
  17. ↑ Paul Fouracre, 'Writing about Charles Martel', in Law, Laity and Solidarities: essays in honour of Susan Reynolds, ed. Pauline Stafford et al. (Manchester, 2001), pp. 12-26.
  18. ↑ Holweck, Frederick George. "Remigius (Remi)", A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints, B. Herder Book Company, 1924, p. 852 (1924).
  19. ↑ Favyn, Andre (1620). Le Theatre d'honneur et de chevalerie.
  20. ↑ Ashmole, Elias (1672). The Institution, Laws and Ceremonies of the Most Noble Order of the Garter pp. 97 J. Macock.
  21. ↑ James Coats (1725). A New Dictionary of Heraldry pp. 163–4 Jer. Batley.
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