Charles Martel

Albrecht Classen (University of Arizona)

Ed. by Gerhard P. Knapp, University of Utah
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.01: French Writing and Culture: Old French to the Middle Ages , 500-1400.
Vol. editors: Marianne Ailes (University of Bristol), Matthew Siôn Lampitt (University of Cambridge), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

Born 23 Aug 686
Died 22 Oct 741
Activity 714-741

Places

Born in Belgium
Active in Belgium; France; Germany; Italy; Netherlands

Activities

Primary

Military commander
Monarch/ King/ Queen

Resources

Charlemagne’s grandfather, Charles Martel (Charles the Hammer), practical ruler of the Frankish kingdom, has gained fame through his military skills and leadership qualities which made it possible for him to defeat the Arabic forces that threatened not only his kingdom, but also Western Christendom altogether. In 732 Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, Umayyad ruler of the Iberian Peninsula, crossed the Pyrenees and attacked the country north of it. At first he defeated Duke Eudes (Odo) of Aquitaine, who had already been weakened the year before through a defeat at the hand of Charles Martell. Abdul Rahman reached the Loire, but in October of that year he suddenly, perhaps unexpectedly, encountered the Frankish military ruler between Tours and …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

763 words

Citation: Classen, Albrecht. "Charles Martel". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 February 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11904, accessed 21 November 2024.]

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here