Charles Martell years of life. Charles Martell: biography, activities and interesting facts

Around 688-741

The actual ruler of the Frankish state (since 715), majordomo from the Carolingian family. Frankish commander.

The military leader of the Franks, Charles Pepin, majordomo from the Carolingian family, received his historical nickname “Martell” after his victory over the Arab army. Martell is a hammer that mercilessly strikes the enemy.

By the beginning of his actual reign, the Frankish state consisted of three long-separated parts: Neustria (northwestern Gaul with Paris), Austrasia (northeastern part) and Burgundy. Royal power was purely nominal. The enemies of the Franks were not slow to take advantage of this. The Saxons invaded the Rhineland regions, the Avars invaded Bavaria, and Arab conquerors moved across the Pyrenees to the Loire River.

Charles Martel had to pave his way to power with arms in hand. After his father's death in 714, he was imprisoned by his stepmother Plectrude, from where he was able to escape the following year. By that time, he was already a fairly well-known military leader of the Franks of Austrasia, where he was popular among free peasants and middle landowners. They became his main support in the internecine struggle for power in the Frankish state.

Having established himself in Austrasia, Charles Pepin began to strengthen the position of the House of Pepin in the lands of the Franks by force of arms and diplomacy. After a fierce confrontation with his opponents, he became the mayor of the Frankish state in 715 and ruled it on behalf of the young king Theodoric. Having established himself on the royal throne, Charles began a series of military campaigns outside of Austrasia.

The rise of Charles Martel in the Frankish state began with military victories over those feudal lords who tried to challenge his supreme power. He won victories in the battles on the Ambleve River (near the city of Malmedy in modern Belgium) and at Vency (near the modern French city of Cambrai).

In 719, Charles Martell won a brilliant victory over the Neustrians, led by one of his opponents, Major Ragenfried, whose ally was the ruler of Aquitaine, Count Ed (in 721, he defeated the Muslim army of the ruler of Spain, Wali As-Samha, in the battle of Toulouse). At the Battle of Saussons, the Frankish ruler put the enemy army to flight. By handing over Ragenfried, Count Ed managed to conclude a temporary peace with Charles Martell. Soon the Franks occupied the cities of Paris and Orleans.

Charles Martell did not forget his sworn enemy - his stepmother Plectrude, who had her own and considerable army. He started a war with her and forced her stepmother to surrender to him the rich trading, well-fortified city of Cologne on the banks of the Rhine.

In 725 and 728, Major Charles Pepin carried out two large military campaigns against the Bavarians and eventually subjugated them. This was followed by campaigns in Alemannia and Aquitaine, in Thuringia and Frisia.

In European history ancient world commander Charles Martell became famous primarily for his wars against the Arab conquerors, who in 720 crossed the Pyrenees Mountains and invaded the territory of modern France. The Arab army took the well-fortified Narbonne by storm and besieged the large city of Toulouse. Count Ed was defeated, and he had to seek refuge in Austrasia with the remnants of his army.

Soon the Arab cavalry appeared on the fields of Septimania and Burgundy and even reached the left bank of the Rhone River, entering the lands of the Franks themselves. So in the fields Western Europe a major clash has ripened between the Muslim and Christian world. Arab commanders, having crossed the Pyrenees, had big plans of conquest in Europe.

Karl Pepin understood the danger of an invasion from the Pyrenees by the Moorish Arabs, who by that time had managed to conquer almost all Spanish regions. Their troops were constantly replenished with new forces coming through the Strait of Gibraltar from the Maghreb - North Africa (the territory of modern Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia). Arab commanders were famous for their military skill, and their warriors were excellent horsemen and archers. The Arab army was partially staffed by North African Berber nomads, so in Spain the Arabs were called Moors.

In 732, Charles Pepin, interrupting a military campaign in the upper Danube, gathered a large militia of Austrasians, Neustrians and Rhine tribes. The reason for the gathering of the all-Frankish army was serious - at the beginning of that year, an army of Arabs, according to the excessively exaggerated data of European chroniclers, numbering 400 thousand people (according to some sources, only 50 thousand people), crossed the Pyrenees, invaded Gaul, plundered the city of Bordeaux, captured the city of the fortress of Poitiers and moved towards the city of Tours.

The Frankish commander decisively moved towards the Arab army, trying to forestall its appearance in front of the fortress walls of Tours. He already knew that the Arabs were commanded by the experienced Abderrahman ibn Abdillah and that his army was significantly superior to the Frankish militia, which, according to the same European chroniclers, numbered only 30 thousand soldiers.

The Franks and their allies blocked the Arab army's path to Tours at the point where the old Roman road crossed the Viene River, over which a bridge had been built. Nearby was the city of Poitiers, after which the battle that took place on October 10, 732 was named. The battle lasted several days: according to Arab chronicles - two, according to Christian - seven days.

Knowing that the enemy army was dominated by light cavalry and many archers, Major General Karl Pepin decided to give the Arabs, who adhered to active offensive tactics on the fields of Europe, a defensive battle. Moreover, the hilly terrain made it difficult for large masses of cavalry to operate. The Frankish army was built for the battle between the rivers Klen and Vienne, which well covered its flanks with their banks. The basis of the battle formation was infantry, formed in a dense phalanx. On the flanks were heavily armed cavalry in a knightly manner. The right flank was commanded by Count Ed.
Approaching the Vienne River, the Arab army, without immediately getting involved in a battle, set up its camp camp not far from the Franks. Abderrahman ibn Abdillah immediately realized that the enemy occupied a very strong position and could not be surrounded by light cavalry from the flanks. The Arabs did not dare to attack the enemy for several days, waiting for an opportunity to strike. However, Karl Pepin did not move, patiently awaiting the enemy attack.

In the end, the Arab leader decided to start a battle and formed his army in a battle dismembered order. It consisted of the battle lines familiar to the Arabs: horse archers formed the “Morning of the Barking of Dogs,” followed by “Day of Relief,” “Evening of Shock,” “Al-Ansari,” and “Al-Mughajeri.” The Arab reserve, intended to develop the victory, was under the personal command of Abderrahman ibn Abdillah and was called the “Banner of the Prophet.”

The Battle of Poitiers began with shelling of the Frankish phalanx by Arab horse archers, to whom the enemy responded with crossbows and longbows. After this, the Arab cavalry attacked the Frankish positions. The Frankish infantry successfully repelled attack after attack; the enemy light cavalry could not make a hole in their dense formation.

A Spanish chronicler, a contemporary of the Battle of Poitiers, wrote that the Franks “stood closely with each other, as far as the eye could see, like a motionless and icy wall, and fought fiercely, hitting the Arabs with swords.”

After the Frankish infantry repelled all the attacks of the Arabs, who, line by line, rolled back to their original positions in some frustration, Karl Pepin immediately ordered the knightly cavalry, which was still inactive, to launch a counterattack in the direction of the enemy camp, located behind the right flank of the battle formation of the Arab army .

The Frankish knights, led by Ed of Aquitaine, launched two ramming attacks from the flanks, overturning the light cavalry opposing them, rushed to the Arab camp and captured it. The Arabs, demoralized by the news of the death of their leader, were unable to withstand the onslaught of the enemy and fled from the battlefield. The Franks pursued them and inflicted considerable damage on them. This concluded the battle near Poitiers.

The classic description of this battle belongs to the pen of Isidore Pacensius, given by Bouquet in the Anthology of Works of Historians of Gaul and France. In a loose and dramatic translation it reads as follows:

“The northerners froze like a wall, like frozen figures sculpted from ice, and this ice was not able to melt, even when they struck the Arabs with their swords. The iron-armed Austrasian giants boldly plunged into the thick of the battle, and it was they who found and defeated the king of the Saracens.”

This battle had very important consequences. The victory of the majordomo Charles Martell put an end to the further advance of the Arabs in Europe. After the defeat at Poitiers, the Arab army, covered by detachments of light cavalry, left French territory and, without further combat losses, went through the mountains to Spain.

But before the Arabs finally left the south of modern France, Charles Pepin inflicted another defeat on them - on the Berre River south of the city of Narbonne. True, this battle was not one of the decisive ones.

The victory over the Arabs glorified the Frankish commander. From then on he began to be called Charles Martell. The Battle of Poitiers is also known for the fact that it was one of the first when numerous heavy knightly cavalry entered the battlefield. It was she who, with her blow, ensured the Franks complete victory over the Arabs. Now not only riders, but also horses were covered with metal armor.

The victory at the Battle of Poitiers was the most significant in the military biography of Charles Martel. After her, he won several more big victories. In 736, an army of Franks under his command made a successful campaign in Burgundy and forced it by force of arms to recognize the power of the Frankish kingdom over itself. The transformation of Burgundy into a vassal became a serious territorial acquisition of the majordomo from the Carolingian family.

Charles Martel then conquered areas in southern France. He decisively suppressed the uprising against Frankish rule in Provence. After this, he established his power further to the south, all the way to the city of Marseille. The local population was subject to tribute, and many free Franks were settled on their lands, who, by force of their weapons, ensured order and obedience to the authority of the king, or, more precisely, the mayordomo.

Charles Martel patronized the spread of Christianity among pagan tribes. However, the Catholic clergy in his state did not like the king, since in order to strengthen the country, Charles Martel confiscated part of the church lands and distributed them to the Frankish nobility as benefices - for lifelong use under the conditions of mandatory royal military service. So in the country of the Free Franks, with the “light hand” of Charles Martel, feudal lords began to appear.

From Pope Gregory III, the winner of the Arabs received the honorary rank of Roman “patrician” - that is, guardian of Rome. However, when the Pope began an armed struggle against the Lombards, the “patrician” Charles Martell did not provide him with military assistance, since he was busy with other state affairs.
Under Charles Pepin Martel, the military art of the Franks received further development. This was primarily due to the appearance of heavily armed cavalry of the Frankish nobility - which in the near future became knightly cavalry. However, under him, the infantry, consisting of free peasants, continued to be the basis of the army’s combat power. At a time when all men in the kingdom who were capable of bearing arms were liable for military service.

Organizationally, the Frankish army was divided into hundreds, or, in other words, into such a number of peasant households that in wartime they could field a hundred foot soldiers in the militia. Peasant communities themselves regulated military service. Each Frankish warrior armed and equipped himself at his own expense. The quality of weapons was checked at inspections conducted by the king or, on his instructions, military commanders-counts. If a warrior's weapon was in unsatisfactory condition, he was punished. There is a known case when the king killed a warrior during one of these reviews for poor maintenance of his personal weapons.

The national weapon of the Franks was the francisca - an ax with one or two blades, to which a rope was tied. The Franks deftly threw axes at the enemy at close range. They used swords for close hand-to-hand combat. In addition to Francis and swords, the Franks also armed themselves with short spears - angons with teeth on a long and sharp tip. The teeth of the angon had the opposite direction and therefore it was very difficult to remove it from the wound. In battle, the warrior first threw an angon, which pierced the enemy’s shield (mostly wooden), and then stepped on the shaft of the spear, thereby pulling back the shield and hitting the enemy with a heavy sword. Many warriors had bows and arrows, which were sometimes laced with poison.

The only defensive weapon of a Frankish warrior during the time of Charles Martell was a round or oval shield. Only rich warriors had helmets and chain mail, since metal products cost big money. Some of the weapons of the Frankish army were spoils of war.

Charles Martel significantly strengthened the military power of the Frankish kingdom. However, he stood only on the threshold of the true historical greatness of the Frankish state. His grandson Charlemagne achieved his greatest power, becoming Holy Roman Emperor.

[lat. Carolus (Karolus) Martellus] (c. 688 - 22.10. 741, Kariziak (now Kjerzy)), majordom of Austrasia (from 717) and Neustria (from 718/9), ruler of the kingdom of the Franks from the Pipinid (Carolingian) family under kings from the dynasty Merovingian. Illegitimate son of Pepin II of Geristhal († 714), majordomo of Austrasia. Children of K.M.: Carloman († 754) and Pepin the Short (king of the Franks in 751-768) and several daughters from the 1st marriage with Hrotrude († 725), son Griffin († 753) from the 2nd marriage with Sunnihilda (Svanachilda), as well as illegitimate sons - Bernard, Jerome and St. Remigius, ep. Rotomagsky (Rouen) (755-771).

In con. 80s VII century Major Pepin II of Geristal, the head of a noble family in Austrasia, became the de facto ruler of Austrasia and Neustria. After his death, there were no direct heirs left, and his widow Plectrude ordered K.M. to be taken into custody to ensure the transfer of power to Pepin's grandson Theodoald. The nobility of Neustria rejected Theodoald and elected a certain Ragamfred as mayor, who enthroned Cor. Chilperic II (715/6-721). He removed supporters of Pepin of Gueristal from among church and secular officials, including the abbots of the large monasteries of Fontanelle (Saint-Vendrille-de-Fontenelle) and Corbeil (see Corby). In alliance with the Frisians and Saxons, the troops of Chilperic II invaded Austrasia, besieged Colonia (now Cologne), where Plectrude had taken refuge, and forced her to hand over the royal treasury. Resistance to the king and mayor of Neustria was provided by K.M., who escaped from prison and assembled a military detachment. In 717, he defeated the Neustrians at Vinciak (Venchy, near Cambrai), entered the Colony and elevated cor. Chlothar IV (717-719). The support provided to K.M. by the church hierarchs of Austrasia is evidenced by the fact that St. Willibrord, who had previously enjoyed the patronage of Plectrude, baptized one of the sons of the mayor - Pepin the Short (Alcuinus. Vita Willibrordi. 23 // MGH. Scr. Mer. T. 7. P. 133). Probably, with the participation of K.M., the veneration of St. was established. Lambert, bishop Mosa-Traect (Maastricht) († c. 705), who once opposed the connection of Pepin II with Alpaida, mother of K.M., and was killed by her supporters (Vita Landiberti episcopi Traiectensis vetustissima. 25-27 // Ibid. T. 6. P. 378-382; see: Gerberding. 1987. P. 129; Wood 1994. P. 271).

Having established control over Austrasia, K.M. moved against Neustria and defeated Ragamfred and his ally Odon, dux (duke) of Aquitaine. Under the terms of the agreement, Odon gave the winner a box. Chilperic II, after which K.M. became majordomo of both Franks. kingdoms, Austrasia and Neustria (719). But his powers as ruler of the united Frankish kingdom largely remained nominal. The influence of the king and the mayor was weak, local power was in the hands of the secular and ecclesiastical nobility, and they independently governed cities and entire regions. At the head of the peripheral regions of the Frankish state - Aquitaine, Alemannia, Bavaria - were virtually independent rulers with the title of dux. Recognizing the power of the legitimate king from the Merovingian dynasty (Theodoric IV (721-737) became the successor of Chilperic II), the Dux opposed the Pipinids, whom they considered usurpers. K.M. almost without interruption conducted military operations in the north and south. and east areas of the Frankish state in order to establish control over the outlying lands, eliminate external threat and unite the kingdom under his rule. In 724 he fought with the Saxons, and the following year with the Alemanni, Suevi and Bavarians. He captured the widow of the Bavarian dux Grimoald and her niece Sunnihilda, who later. married him.

Events in Aquitaine were important, where Dux Odon opposed the expansion of the Arabs who conquered the Visigothic kingdom in Spain. In 721 he defeated the Arab army. the governor of Spain, al-Samaha al-Haulani, besieged Tolosa (now Toulouse). The successor of the governor who died in the battle, Abd ar-Rahman ibn Abdallah, invaded Aquitaine. According to the “Continuation of the Chronicle of Fredegarii”, the Arabs were called to Aquitaine by Odon, who wanted to take revenge on the Franks (Chronicarum qui dicuntur Fredegarii continuationes. 13). However, in Spanish. "Mozarab Chronicle 754" It is said that Dux Odon was an enemy of the Arabs and faced the threat of the Muslims. invasion, turned to K.M. for help. Pursuing Odon, the Arabs met with the army of K.M. In the battle, the Franks gained the upper hand, but the surviving Arabs fled to Spain (Chronica Muzarabica // CSMA. T. 1. P. 41-43). It is believed that the battle took place in 732 near the city of Pictavius (now Poitiers), but it is possible that it took place in 733 or 734, possibly in the vicinity of Tours (Levillain, Samaran. 1938; Bachrach B. S. Merovingian Military Organization, 481 -751. Minneapolis, 1972. P. 101-104; Nonn. 1994. P. 283-284). The victory over the Arabs was perceived as a sign of God's mercy to the Franks and significantly strengthened the authority of K.M. The nickname Martell (late Latin martellus - hammer), attested by sources from the 9th century, is also connected with this. After the death of the dux Odon (735), K. M. re-entered Aquitaine, occupied the city of Burdigala (now Bordeaux) and accepted the oath of allegiance from the dux Hunoald, Odon's successor.

In Burgundy, K.M. forced the local nobility to obey, confiscated land holdings from large lords and distributed them among his vassals. Having occupied the city of Lugdun (now Lyon), the majordomo suppressed the uprising of the nobility and appointed officials to all the cities of the South. Gaul to Arelate (now Arles) and Massilia (now Marseille). The nobility of Provence resisted K.M. The rebel leader Mauront, associated with the rivals of the Pipinids in Neustria, enlisted the support of the Arabs. K.M. sent his brother, Comite Hildebrand, against the rebels, who besieged the city of Avenion (now Avignon). He himself defeated the Arabs; they managed to take refuge in the city of Narbona (now Narbonne), the siege of the city ended in failure. The Franks devastated Septimania and the West. Provence, having destroyed the fortresses of Nemavs (now Nimes), Agat (now Agde) and Beterra (now Beziers), and established the so-called. strong control over the South. Gaul, but as a result of prolonged military operations these lands were devastated. Among those who supported K.M. was Abbo, probably a native of the Burgundian aristocracy, the ruler (rector) of a mountainous region on the border of Savoy and Piedmont. From the act of founding the monastery of Novalaise by Abbon (726) and the will of Abbon (739) it is known that the Provençal rebels actually enjoyed the support of the Arabs, and the lands confiscated from them were transferred to the vassals and supporters of the mayordomo (Geary. 1985; Wood. 1994. P. 280-281).

K.M. established friendly relations with Liutprand, cor. Lombards (712-744). According to the testimony of Paul the Deacon, he sent his son Pepin to Liutprand so that the king would cut his hair (after which Pepin was considered an adult) and adopt him. During the war in Provence, the mayor turned to Liutprand with a request for help. The news of the approach of the Lombard army led the Arabs into confusion, and the Franks won (Paul. Diac. Hist. Langobard. VI 53-54). The alliance with Liutprand was the reason that K.M. refused to help Pope Gregory III (731-741) in the war against the Lombards. At this time, the Papal throne broke relations with the iconoclastic Byzantium, while the Lombards threatened Rome. Thanks to St. Boniface, the Pope was aware of the events in the Frankish state and the military successes of the majordomo. In 739, Gregory III turned to K.M. with a complaint about oppression by the Lombards, but the mayor, having received the papal envoys with honors, refused to help (Codex Carolinus. 1-2 // MGH. Epp. T. 3. P. 476-479; see: Noble 1984. P. 44-49). According to the Elder Metz Annals, at this time K.M. was seriously ill and, preparing for death, divided the Frankish state between his sons (Annales Mettenses Priores. 1905. P. 30-31).

It is assumed that during the reign of K.M., vassalage relations intensively developed. In the Bavarian and Alemannic truths (1st half of the 8th century), the term “vassal” (vassus; in other sources - fidelis) appears, denoting a personally free person who entrusted himself to the protection and patronage of his lord (senior) and gave the obligation to provide him with assistance and support, especially in the event of hostilities. Influential representatives of the nobility assembled armed detachments of vassals and established control over cities and regions. K.M. acted in a similar way, relying on the strength of his supporters and henchmen. The loyalty of the vassals was ensured by rewards, primarily land grants. The decrease in the influence of the kings of the Merovingian dynasty was explained, among other things, by the impoverishment of the royal land fund (fiscus), while the Pipinids had significant possessions and used them to attract supporters. In plural regions of the Frankish kingdom, the largest landowner was the Church - episcopal sees and mon-ri. The boundaries between ecclesiastical and secular property were not clear, since bishops often came from the local aristocracy and became influential magnates, and noble laymen held ecclesiastical positions. The founding of Mont Rey could have been in an efficient way strengthening political influence. Thus, the Pipinids endowed the monasteries they founded with land holdings, but these mon-ri remained under their control, and donors could appoint persons they pleased to the position of abbot, for example. as a reward for merit. K.M. was especially active in using the church hierarchy to strengthen his power.

Since the 8th century. The sources record information about the church policy of K.M.: the mayor oppressed the Church, took away its property and handed it over to the soldiers. One of the most important sources of this kind is the Life of St. Eucherius, bishop Aurelian (BHL, N 2660), most likely compiled in the mid-2nd half. VIII century According to the Life, K.M., who initially favored Eucherius († 738), at the instigation of evil people, sent the bishop and his relatives into exile. But a comparison of information from the Life of St. Eucherius with data from the “Acts of the Auxerre Bishops” (9th century) shows that the removal of the Aurelian bishop was not associated with “persecution” of the Church, but with K.M.’s policy of suppressing the independence of the local nobility. Uncle Eucherius, Bishop Savarik (Suavarikh), since the 90s. VII century occupied the See of Autissiodur and established control not only over Autissiodur (now Auxerre), but also over the neighboring cities of Aurelian (now Orleans), Nivern (Nevirn; now Nevers), Tornodur (now Tonnerre), Avallon and Tricasse (now Troyes). The bishop attempted to capture Lugdunum, but died during the campaign (Gesta pontificum Autissiodorensium. 26). Savaric's heirs were Eucherius and Ainmar (Hainmar), who occupied the Aurelian and Autissiodur departments, respectively. In the "Acts of the Bishops of Auxerre" Ainmar is described as a powerful ruler who conquered almost all of Burgundy. Perhaps he was a layman (vocatus episcopus - Ibid. 27; Duchesne. Fastes. T. 2. P. 448-449). The desire of Savarik and his successors to create in the North. Burgundy is an independent state. education (in the “Acts of the Auxerre Bishops” it is called the Burgundian Ducat - usque ad ducatum pene totius Burgundie perveniret) contradicted the policy of K.M., aimed at unifying the Frankish state. The mayor approved the election of Eucherius and, probably, Ainmar, but intended to force their submission. Victory over the Arabs and military successes in Aquitaine and other south. regions allowed K.M. to remove Eucherius. Ainmar provided the mayor with military assistance during the campaign against the Arabs, but later. was accused of conspiring with Odon of Aquitaine, taken into custody and killed while trying to escape (Gesta pontificum Autissiodorensium. 27).

About the displacement of K.M. St. Rigoberta, bishop Remsky, known from his Life (BHL, N 7253; 2nd half of the 9th century). During the war between K.M. and the nobility of Neustria, the bishop refused to let his soldiers into the city of Remy (now Reims), for which he later. was deprived of his chair and exiled to Vasconia (southwestern part of Aquitaine). The Life of Rigobert, the compiler of which was hostile to K.M., includes details testifying to the cruelty and injustice of the mayor, called “not a king, but a tyrant” (Vita Rigoberti. 12). St. Eucherius allegedly saw the soul of K.M. in the underworld, tormented by demons for the oppression and insults that the mayor inflicted on the Church. According to the Life, St. Boniface and Abbot Fulrad, on the advice of Eucherius, opened the tomb of K.M. and discovered that his body had been taken by a fiery serpent (Ibid. 13). Following this, the Life contains a forged letter from Pope Adrian I (772-795) to the Bishop of Rem. Tilpin with condemnation of the lawlessness committed by K.M. (Ibid. 14).

On the appointment and removal of church officials during political struggle under K. M. is known from the “Acts of the Abbots of Fontenelles” (compiled in the 1st half of the 9th century). In 716, Ragamfred, majordom of Neustria, dismissed Abbot Benign and appointed Vandon in his place, who participated in the battle with K.M. on the side of Neustria. After the victory, K. M. Vandon was removed and sent into exile, and Benign again became the abbot of the monastery. After his death, K.M. entrusted the management of the monastery to his nephew Hugon († c. 730), who occupied the episcopal sees in Rotomag (now Rouen), Parisia (now Paris) and Bayocasse (now Bayeux), as well as the position of abbot of the monastery of Gemmetic (see Jumièges). Hugon's successors, appointed by K.M., are described in the “Acts of the Abbots of Fontenelles” as uneducated and unworthy people who indulged in worldly entertainment and plundered monastic property. In the end, at the request of the monks, Pepin the Short, the son and successor of K.M., returned Abbot Vandon from exile.

When appointing his supporters to important church positions, K.M. was guided by Ch. arr. political considerations. The mayordomo needed loyal people who could provide him with military and material support. Dr. qualities, apparently, were not always taken into account. Many of K.M.’s henchmen are described in sources as uneducated and immoral people who despised church discipline and were inclined towards worldly pursuits, for example. to war and hunting. Combining positions was widely practiced. The indignation of St. Boniface was summoned by Geviliob, bishop. Moguntius (Mainz) († 758), and Milo († 761/2), who occupied the Rems and Trevers departments (Die Briefe des heiligen Bonifatius und Lullus / Hrsg. M. Tangl. B., 1916. N 60, 87 . (MGH. EpSel; 1)). Afterwards at the insistence of Boniface, Gevilio was deprived of the see for blood feud, and Milo was deprived of the bishopric of Rema.

In sources of the VIII-IX centuries. K.M. was also accused of plundering church property. Thus, in the “Acts of the Auxerre Bishops” it is stated that under bishop. Aidulf K.M. took away a significant part of the possessions from the Autissiodor see and distributed them among the vassals (Gesta pontificum Autissiodorensium. 32). According to I. Wood, these events date back to the time when K.M. began to conquer Burgundy. According to the “Continuation of the Chronicle of Fredegarius”, the mayor scattered the rebels and distributed the lands of Lugdunian Gaul among the vassals (Lugdono Gallia suis fidelibus tradidit - Chronicarum qui dicuntur Fredegarii continuationes. 14). Having encountered resistance from the nobility in Burgundy, the mayor confiscated a significant part of their possessions, including church lands (Wood. 1994. P. 280). Dr. the method of alienation of church property was transfer into possession. In the monastery of Fontanella, the “bad” abbot Teutsind transferred almost 1/3 of the monastery lands as a precarity to the relatives and “people of the king” (regiis hominibus - Gesta abbatum Fontanellensium. 10). The “Acts of the Abbots of Fontenelles” speaks in detail about the precaria, which was held by a certain committee Ratharius. At first, the committee paid the monks an annual qualification of 60 solidi, but under Abbot Vitlaik (754-787) he stopped doing this. Thus, the monastery actually lost these lands (see: Wood. 1995).

The appointment of K.M. to church positions of his supporters and the use of church property for the state. needs were condemned by Carolingian authors. However, only in the letter of St. Boniface to Ethelbald, cor. Mercia (716-757), the majordomo was openly accused of causing damage to the Church. The letter speaks of the painful death of K.M., who “ruined many monasteries and appropriated church property for his own needs” (Die Briefe des heiligen Bonifatius und Lullus. 1916. N 73). But this phrase is not contained in all manuscripts and, as researchers believe, is most likely a late insertion (Wood. 1994. P. 280). Afterwards St. Boniface admitted that the mayor, in the interests of protecting the state, could exercise control over church property. This was stated in the resolutions of the Council held by Boniface and Major Carloman in 743 or 744 in Liftiny (now Estin, Belgium) (MGH. Capit. T. 1. P. 28).

Thanks to successful military operations against non-Christian peoples - Arabs, Saxons and Frisians - K.M. gained fame as a defender of Christ. faith. The mayordomo provided patronage to those church hierarchs whose activities he considered useful in this regard. interests of the Frankish kingdom, especially St. Willibrord and St. Boniface. St. Willibrord, who preached among the Frisians, founded the monastery of Echternach and restored the episcopal see in Ultraekt (now Utrecht, the Netherlands). In 734, the uprising of the Dux Bubo served as a pretext for the invasion of the Franks, who plundered Frisia and destroyed pagan sanctuaries. St. Boniface went to Rome in 719 and received instructions from Pope Gregory II to preach Christianity to the Germans and inform the pontiff about the situation in the Frankish state. Boniface acted mainly in Thuringia and Hesse, the border regions that separated Austrasia from the lands inhabited by the Saxons. Soon after returning from Rome under the protection of the Franks, St. Boniface founded mon-ri in Ameneburg and Fritzlar. During his 2nd visit to Rome, Boniface was ordained bishop, after which K.M., at the request of the pope, accepted him under special protection and ordered all spiritual and secular officials to support him (Die Briefe des heiligen Bonifatius und Lullus. 1916. N 22). Mn. Church hierarchs, including the proteges of the mayor, did not share the intentions of the saint. Boniface carried out church reform and strengthened the discipline of the Franks. clergy, but the missionary received significant support and assistance from the Anglo-Saxons. England. Pope Gregory II granted St. Boniface received the archbishop's pallium, which meant not only the Papal Throne's approval of the saint's activities, but also emphasized his primacy among the Franks. church hierarchs (Ibid. N 28). However, in a letter to the Bishop of Winchester. Daniel to St. Boniface admitted that without the support of K.M. he would have been completely helpless (Ibid. N 63).

The mayordomo was patronized by St. Pirminu, who in 724 founded the monastery of Augeas on Lake Constance (see Reichenau), but later. was expelled by the Alemannic dux Lantfried, who considered him a supporter of the Franks. From Alemannia, Pirmin retired to Alsace, where representatives of the noble Etichonid family gave him the monastery of Murbach, and later. with the support of Siegebald, bishop. Mettis (now Metz) (716-741), a supporter of K.M., he restored several. Mont Rey in Lorraine.

In Bavaria, K.M. tried to act through St. Boniface, but local rulers from the Agilolfing family insisted on creating an independent church organization. Having secured the consent of the Pope, St. Boniface founded episcopal sees in Salzburg, Freising, Regensburg and Passau, to which proteges of the Bavarian dux Odilon (736-748) were appointed.

In the middle regions of the Frankish kingdom, K.M. patronized large monasteries, primarily the Abbey of St. Dionysius (see Saint-Denis), where the abbot was Godobald, a devoted supporter of the Pipinids (see: Werner M. Der Lütticher Raum in frühkarolingischer Zeit. Gött., 1980. S. 126-127). Shortly before his death, K.M. gave the Abbey of St. Dionysius, the royal estate of Klippiak (now Clichy), once one of the main residences of the Merovingians (MGH. Dipl. Kar. T. 1. N 14. P. 101-102). From the reign of K.M., 10 charters have been preserved, mainly in favor of the large monasteries of Neustria - St. Dionysius, Fontanella, Corbei, etc.

Having become mortally ill, the mayor divided the Frankish state between his sons: Carloman got Austrasia and the lands east of the Rhine, Pepin the Short received Neustria, Burgundy and Provence. In order for Pepin to be able to inherit part of the Pipinid family possessions in Austrasia, K.M. allocated the so-called. Moselle ducat, which included the Trevers and Mettis. At the insistence of his wife Sunnihilda, the mayor allocated certain lands in the central part of the state to his youngest son Griffin. According to the Elder Metz Annals, K.M., sensing the approach of death, made a pilgrimage to the monastery of St. Dionysius and generously endowed the monastery. Buried in the Abbey of St. Dionysius, among the kings of the Merovingian dynasty (Annales Mettenses Priores. 1905. P. 31-32).

In Carolingian historiography, K. M. was described as a great warrior who restored the state of the Franks, which had fallen into decay under the “insignificant” kings of the Merovingian dynasty. Sources are biased and often distort facts. OK. 727, most likely in Suession (now Soissons), the “History of the Franks” (Liber Historiae Francorum) was created, in which, from the perspective of the Neustrian nobility, the events before K.M.’s victory over the mayor Ragamfred and the enthronement of Cor. Theodoric IV (721). The History of the Franks served as the basis for additions to the Chronicle of Fredegar, compiled c. 751 at the direction of Hildebrand, brother and comrade-in-arms of K.M. These additions are actually “ family chronicle» Pipinids. The authors of both works praised K.M. for the firmness and courage with which he united the state, despite the resistance of enemies and traitors who settled on the outskirts of the Frankish kingdom. In later Carolingian sources, among which highest value have the Senior Metz Annals (compiled in 805/6), the activities of K.M. are described in the context of the gradual transfer of power into the hands of the Pipinids (Carolingians). In the historiography of the 9th century. An ambivalent attitude towards K.M. prevailed. On the one hand, he was represented as a great warrior and a strong ruler who returned the state to its former glory and power. On the other hand, he oppressed the Church, deprived it of property and appointed his supporters to church positions, some of whom were laymen, while others led an immoral lifestyle. The archbishop repeatedly turned to the image of K.M. Ginkmar of Reims in his speeches against the attempts of the Frank. rulers and nobles used church resources to repel Viking attacks. Attributing to K.M. the beginning of this vicious practice, in his opinion, Ginkmar considered him a bad ruler and a grave sinner (see: Wallace-Hadrill. 1983. P. 134). The afterlife torment of K.M. is described in the legend of the vision of St. Eucheria, who entered the Life of St. Rigobert and in the capitulary issued by the synod of Chierzi (858). The capitulary states that the major was “damned forever” (MGH. Conc. T. 3. P. 414-416).

According to researchers, the activities of K.M. played a decisive role in establishing the autocracy of the Pipinids and caused the final decline of the influence of the Merovingians, but because of his church policies, his father, the mayor Pepin II of Geristal, was usually portrayed as the founder of the Carolingian dynasty (Fouracre. 2005).

Source: Chronicarum qui dicuntur Fredegarii continuationes // MGH. Scr. Mer. T. 2. P. 168-193; Liber Historiae Francorum // Ibid. P. 215-328; Annales Mettenses Priores/Ed. B. de Simson. Hanover; Lpz., 1905. (MGH. Script. Rer. Germ.; ); Vita Eucherii episcopi Aurelianensis // MGH. Scr. Mer. T. 7. P. 41-53; Vita Rigoberti episcopi Remensis // Ibid. P. 58-78; Gesta abbatum Fontanellensium/Ed. S. Loewenfeld. Hannover, 1886. (MGH. Script. Rer. Germ.;); Gesta pontificum Autissiodorensium // Bibliothèque historique de l'Yonne / Éd. L.-M. Duru. Auxerre, 1850. T. 1. P. 309-509.

Lit.: Levillain L., Samaran Ch. Sur le lieu et la date de la bataille dite de Poitiers de 732 // Bibliothèque de l"École des chartes. P., 1938. Vol. 99. P. 243-267; Mikoletzky H. L. Karl Martell und Grifo // FS E. E. Stengel . Münster, 1952. S. 130-156; n U . Das Bild Karls Martells in der lateinischen vornehmlich des 8. und 9. Jh. // Frühmittelalterliche Studien., 1970. Bd. 70-137; / Beiträge zur Geschichte des Regnum Francorum / Hrsg. R. Schieffer, 1990. S. 37-56; Semmler J. Zur pippinidisch-karolingischen Sukzessionskrise 714-723 // DA 1977. Bd. ; Schieffer Th. Winfrid-Bonifatius und die christliche Grundlegung Europas. Darmstadt, 1980r; Wallace-Hadrill J. M. The Frankish Church Oxf., 1983. P. 123-161; Regnum Francorum" after the Battle of Tertry (687-715) // Medieval Prosopography. Kalamazoo (Mich.), 1984. Vol. 5. N 2. P. 1-31; idem. The Age of Charles Martel. Harlow; N. Y., 2000; idem. The Long Shadow of the Merovingians // Charlemagne: Empire and Society / Ed. J. Story. Manchester; N.Y., 2005. P. 5-21; Noble T. F. X. The Republic of St. Peter: The Birth of the Papal State, 680-825. Phil., 1984; Geary P. J. Aristocracy in Provence: The Rhône Basin at the Dawn of the Carolingian Age. Stuttg., 1985; Gerberding R. A. The Rise of the Carolingians and the Liber Historiae Francorum. Oxf.; N.Y., 1987; Rich é P. The Carolingians: A Family Who Forged Europe / Transl. M. I. Allen. Phil., 1993. P. 34-50; Karl Martel in seiner Zeit / Hrsg. J. Jarnut et al. Sigmaringen, 1994. (Beihefte der Francia; 37); Wood I. N. The Merovingian Kingdoms, 450-751. L.; N.Y., 1994; idem. Teutsind, Witlaic and the History of Merovingian Precaria // Property and Power in the Early Middle Ages / Ed. W. Davies, P. Fouracre. Camb., 1995. P. 31-52; Fouracre P., Gerberding R. A. Late Merovingian France: History and Hagiography, 640-720. Manchester; N.Y., 1996; Joch W. Legitimität und Integration: Untersuchungen zu den Anfängen Karl Martells. Husum, 1999; Becher M. Eine verschleierte Krise: Die Nachfolge Karl Martells 741 und die Anfänge der karolingischen Hofgeschichtsschreibung // Von Fakten und Fiktionen: Mittelalterliche Geschichtsdarstellungen und ihre kritische Aufarbeitung / Hrsg. J. Laudage. Köln, 2003. S. 95-133; Fischer A. Karl Martell: Der Beginn karolingischer Herrschaft. Stuttg., 2012.

A. A. Korolev

Charles Martel actually concentrated supreme power in his hands under the last kings of the Merovingian dynasty. To strengthen state centralization and strengthen the military power of the kingdom, he put an end to the previous procedure for kings donating land holdings as full ownership and began to widely practice granting lands for conditional holding - benefices; the land fund for the distribution of benefices was created through the confiscation of the possessions of rebellious magnates and the widespread secularization of church lands. The transformations of Charles Martell were an important phase in the development of feudal relations in the Frankish state.

At the head of the royal military retinue was a special dignitary - the major domus (senior in the house), whose importance increased with the increase in the king's house and his retinue, as well as with the increase in the importance of the royal house in the governance of the entire country. This place could only be offered to a trusted person, and therefore the major was elected, or at least presented to the king, by the most eminent of the nobles and the noble class. And among the Austrasian nobility there was a family related to the royal house, which owned extensive estates between the Meuse, Moselle and the Rhine. Of its representatives, the most ancient, Carloman is known (lived about 600); his son Pepin of Landen was majordomo in Austrasia under Dagobert I (622-638). He was followed by another major representative of the same house, Grimoald, who aroused the envy of other nobles against himself and fell victim to it. Only Pepin of Geristal, Pepin the Middle, managed to gain fame: in one of the strife that raged between the nobles of Neustria and Austrasia due to the dominance of the Franks in the land, he defeated Bercher, the mayor of Neustria, at Tertry (687). After this, Pepin forced the insignificant king of Neustria, Theodoric III, to appoint him majordom of Austrasia, Neustria and Burgundy, therefore, the entire Frankish kingdom, reunited by the victory at Tertry. At the same time, he was given a title indicating that Pepin was not a simple subject of the king: he was titled prince and duke of the Franks (dux et princeps Francorum).

His son Charles, later nicknamed Charles Martel (i.e., war hammer), after a long struggle in 719, took his father’s place as major of the three constituent parts of the state, managed to maintain the unity of these parts and glorified his family with a heroic feat, which is the meaning of the ancient royal the family was completely undermined.

The power of the caliphate under Walid I and his successor Suleiman was more formidable than ever. On the banks of the Indus and on the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, the troops of the caliphate triumphed over their enemies. In 717, a new attack on Constantinople was repelled with great difficulty, and from 720 the Spanish Arabs were already making campaigns beyond the Pyrenees. The Duke of Aquitaine - the southwestern part of Gaul, freed from Frankish rule, with the greatest efforts repelled their attacks. In 732, a strong Arab army crossed the Pyrenees for the second time, inflicted a heavy defeat on the Duke of Aquitaine and forced him to flee. Then he turned for help to the powerful and formidable mayor of the Franks. Apparently, the looming formidable danger temporarily stopped numerous strife and strife both among the Franks themselves and between the Franks and other Germanic tribes. Charles managed to gather a large army, which included, in addition to the Franks, other Germanic tribes: Alamanni, Bavarians, Saxons, Frisians. The decisive battle took place in October 732 on the plain between Tours and Poitiers. The day of this battle was one of the important turning points in the history of mankind: here, as at Salamis or on the Catalaunian fields, the fate of many nations depended on the outcome of the struggle between two armies. The details of the battle are unknown, although one can clearly imagine what motives and passionate impulses excited the warriors who were part of the troops. The army of Abd ar-Rahman was animated by the flame of faith in Allah and his prophet, who had already handed over kingdoms and peoples to the power of the faithful, and by the pride of the victors and that greed of booty, for which all the victories and conquests already won served only as steps to further successes, conquests and enrichment. Religious enthusiasm was also great in the Christian army, although there is no information about the special zeal of the clergy, it is only known that a fairly significant part of Charles’s army consisted of pagans. But the Franks knew what they were fighting for: they had already become accustomed to the beautiful country that they had acquired with their courage and the courage of their ancestors, and were preparing to ardently stand up for it. The main strength of the Arabs was manifested in their rapid onslaught, which terrified their enemies; The main strength of the northerners is in a calm defense: “They stood like a motionless wall, like an ice belt.” Karl, obviously, took care to first acquaint his soldiers with Arab tactics; they were given some confidence by the consciousness of their superiority over the Arabs in physical strength. The skillful outflanking movement of the Duke of Aquitaine contributed to the complete victory - the next day the tents of the Arab camp were empty, and very significant booty could be safely taken.

The unanimity to which this victory was due was short-lived. Subsequently, Charles again had to fight with the Frisians, and with the Saxons, and with the Duke of Aquitaine, and with the Neustrian nobles, who did not even disdain a treacherous connection with the Muslims, as a result of which they invaded the Frankish state many times, devastating its entire southeast to Lyon itself. Only in 739 did Charles, in alliance with the Lombard king Liutprand, manage to finally cope with both the Arabs and his own internal strife. During this struggle, the formidable warrior broke his ties with the church or, more precisely, with the highest clergy of the Frankish state, who were mired in gross immorality and led a wasteful life. He, without hesitation, drew from church property in those cases when it came to the fight against Islam and especially about rewarding figures who provided significant services to the state in this fight. The clergy, spoiled by the kings and arrogant, tried in every possible way to harm and hinder him, and even launched a legend about the vision of a certain confessor: the conqueror of the Arabs was tormented in the flames of the underworld for his bad attitude towards the clergy. Despite this, Charles’s importance was so great that after the death of Theodoric IV, for a long time he could not replace the orphaned throne with anyone.

He ruled the Frankish state for 27 years and died in 714. Royal House Merovingian By then he had almost ceased to play a role, but civil strife began in the house of Pepin himself. The chronicle speaks of a quarrel between his children. Pepin left a grandson from his wife and a son, Charles, from his concubine. Another legitimate son, Grimoald, was killed by a soldier in the church shortly before the death of his father. Pepin loved his grandson more than his illegitimate son, as a result of which he bypassed Charles, who later received the loud nickname Martell (hammer) for his happy and important victories for Christianity. But Karl, thanks to his enterprise and military abilities, made his own way.

Statue of Charles Martell at the Palace of Versailles

After the death of Pepin, the state threatened to divide. In 716, Charles escaped from prison, where he was kept after the death of his father. He recruited a squad of Austrasians and defeated the Frisians. Being proclaimed ward mayor Austrasia, Karl rushed at Neustria and insisted on recognition of his dominance in this part of Gaul. In 720 he reunited Gaul and after the Battle of Soissons took the title dux Francorum("leader of the Franks") . The Merovingian who lived at that time formally continued to call himself king, but was content with only an empty title.

Karl often had to fight external enemies. In order to fight, a squad was needed, and in order to have a squad, it had to be given lands, which, unfortunately, had already been distributed by Pepin and even his predecessors. Now only church property remained. Due to extreme necessity, it was necessary to distribute not only church estates, but also episcopal sees. Subsequently, the highest clergy were elected from Pepin's relatives. For example, the archbishoprics of Reims and Trier received one antrustion (high-ranking warrior). It was interesting to see the service of this illiterate antrustion, with a ring on his finger and a bishop's staff in his hand. All antrustions were illiterate; they were all better at wielding a sword than a cross; so the new archbishop soon became famous as an excellent warrior. German leaders with their wives and concubines occupied the episcopal palaces, wearing clerical attire over their armor. This circumstance even prompted the Bishop of Reims to complain that the true Christian religion was completely destroyed in Gaul and Germany. The impression which these warlike bishops caused was disadvantageous to the authority of the church.

But the same Charles, who was the involuntary cause of this, became a heroic defender of the church and European civilization from new enemies who were more terrible than the Germans. They were Arabs who occupied all of Spain and now they threatened Gaul. In the fight against them, it was not for nothing that Karl received the name of the hammer, Martell.

A few years earlier, the Arabs, under the green banners of Muhammad, had crossed Gibraltar. The Saracens, as they began to be called in Europe from the corrupted Arabic word “sharqiyun,” which means “eastern,” appeared in Gaul back in 721, devastating Aquitaine. The Duke of Aquitaine was on hostile terms with Charles, who wanted to make him his vassal. While the Saracens were breaking in from the south, the king was marching towards Aquitaine from the north. Eudon, Duke of Aquitaine, was between two fires, but he did not want to submit to Charles and preferred to fight him rather than the Muslims. When the Spanish Arabs besieged Toulouse, then the Duke came to his senses; Karl forgot his personal scores. Both of them appeared in Toulouse, which was already dying, surrounded the Arabs and drove them away. But four years later the Arabs came in greater numbers under the leadership of the commander Abd ar-Rahman. They took possession of southern Gaul and firmly established themselves in Narbonne, which they made the base of their military operations. From Narbonne they could make long-distance raids, burst into the very heart of Gaul and burn Christian churches here.

Frankish state. Map. The regions of Neustria, Austrasia and Aquitaine are marked

In 732, the Saracens took action in Aquitaine even more decisively. Abd ar-Rahman took and burned Bordeaux. Previously, the proud Duke did not allow himself to ask Charles for help. Finally, he realized his powerlessness. Seeing the glow of the fire that incinerated Bordeaux, seeing the temples collapsing with a crash, Evdon rushed to Karl with a request for help. He recognized himself as his antrustion, and the Franks, under the banner of Charles, moved to Aquitaine. The Arabs stood at Poitiers, and the Franks went against them. In the ranks of the Franks there were probably Gallo-Roman warriors in significant numbers; Muslims had a terrible diversity of languages.

The first battle in which Christianity fought against Islam took place in October 732 at Poitiers. Two hostile armies fought for six days. The battle was desperate. Both sides knew what they were fighting for. The cross won, blocking, as it were, forever the further invasion of Muslims into Gaul. The Arabs fled. Not only Gaul was saved, but also the whole of Europe, which Islam threatened with enslavement.

Battle of Poitiers 732. Painting by C. Steuben in the Museum of French History, Versailles, 1830s

For this heroic victory, Charles received the nickname “Martella” (Hammer). Thanks to her, he strengthened his influence not only in Gaul, but throughout Europe. Pope GregoryIII begged Martell for help against Lombards, promising to throw off his nominal dependence on the Byzantine emperor, who supported the heresy of the iconoclasts. But Charles Martell did not have time or did not want to intervene in the broad interests of Western politics. Dying (741), he gave Paris to one of his sons, Carloman, to another, Pepin the Short, Neustria, Burgundy, Aquitaine and Provence, and to the third, young Griffin, small inheritances. Pepin's son was Charlemagne, to whom Martell was thus the grandfather.

CHARLES THE ELDER, OR MARTELL

A). CARL MARTELL
For the victory over the Arabs at the Battle of Poitiers (732), he received the nickname Martell (from the Latin Martellus, hammer) - a Frankish mayor, the illegitimate son of Pepin of Geristal and Alpeida, b. around 688. After the death of Pepin (714), he was imprisoned by his stepmother Plectrude, who saw in Charles a dangerous rival for her grandchildren and tried especially to protect the interests of one of them, Theodoald (Theudald), appointed by Pepin, despite his early age, as mayor of Neustria .

The Neustrians, dissatisfied with the appointment of a minor mayor, rebelled against him in 715 and elected the Neustrian Raganfred to the mayor; Around the same time, the Merovingian Chilperic II was chosen king of Neustria. Meanwhile, Charles escaped from prison in August 715. Having found many followers in Austrasia, Charles began to energetically and continuously pursue two goals:

1) break the resistance of tribal rulers (like the Dukes of Fries, Bavaria, Aquitaine) and secular and spiritual landowners-aristocrats, who took advantage of the unrest in the Pepin family to strengthen their power; unite power over Austrasia, Neustria and Burgundy and thereby strengthen the position of the house of Pipinids in the Frankish state;

2) protect the state and the church from the pagan Saxons who threatened from the northeast, and from the Mohammedan Arabs who attacked from the southwest. In 717 he won a brilliant victory over the Neustrians; then he forced Plectrude to surrender Cologne to him, elevated the Merovingian Chlothar to the throne of Austrasia, and two years later defeated Raganfred, occupied Paris and Orleans and became the de facto ruler of Austrasia and Neustria. At this time, King Chlothar died, and Charles did not hesitate to recognize Chilperic as the nominal king of the entire state. The Duke of Aquitaine Eudon, who until then had stood on the side of Charles’s enemies, entered into an agreement with him and recognized him as majordomo, however, maintaining his independence. In 720 Chilperic died, and the seven-year-old Theoderic (son of Dagobert the Younger) was elevated to his place, in whose name Charles ruled until his death in 737.

In 725 and 728 Charles made two campaigns in Bavaria, which submitted to him, but retained its duke. In the early 730s. Allemania also obeyed. In 733-734. Charles undertook campaigns against the pagan Frisians who lived near the shores of the North Sea. The result of these campaigns was the loss of independence by the Frisians and the spread of Christianity among them. K. undertook successful campaigns against the pagan Saxons in 718, 720, 724 and 738, thanks to which their destructive pressure was somewhat restrained.

He defended the state even more persistently from the Arabs, who in 720 crossed the Pyrenees, took Narbonne and besieged Toulouse; Eudon managed to repel them from Toulouse in 721, but after that new masses of Mohammedans appeared from behind the Pyrenees; they penetrated into Septimania and Burgundy and even reached the left bank of the Rhone. Evdon became close to Othman, the head of the Arab troops, and violated the agreement with Charles. As a result, Charles crossed the Loire twice in 731 (sending his brother Hildebrand against the Saracens) and devastated Aquitaine; Evdon was forced to join Karl again. In 732, with a militia of Austrasians, Neustrians and Rhine tribes, Charles moved towards the Arabs, who plundered Poitiers and Tours. In October 732, south of Tours, a mile from old Poitiers, near the present town of Senon, a famous battle, which lasted the whole day with considerable success for the Franks, but without a decisive outcome; however, the next night the Arabs fled. Thanks to the resistance of the Christian population of the Pyrenees, encouraged by this success, their further movement to the north was stopped.

In 735, the Burgundians, reluctant to submit to Charles, entered into relations with the Arabs and gave them the city of Arles. After a campaign in Aquitaine, where, after the death of Eudon, Charles managed, by agreement with his son, Gunold, to establish the same relations as in Bavaria, Charles moved to Burgundy (736), forced the Burgundians to take the vassal oath and appointed new counts in Arles. In 737, after the death of King Theoderic, Charles began to rule without a king. Following this, the Arabs suffered a severe defeat from Karal at the river. Burr, south of Narbonne; he suppressed the uprising in Provence and brought the entire country to Marseille under his rule.

Oct 21 741 Charles died and was buried in the Abbey of Saint-Denis. Before his death, he divided his possessions between his legitimate sons (by Hroshruda), Carloman and Pepin. From his concubine Svanagilda he had a son, Griffin. Charles diligently patronized the spread of Christianity among the pagans (especially the Frisians), provided active support to Boniface and was on good terms with Pope Gregory III; the latter turned to Charles, who received from the Pope the rank of “patrician” (i.e., guardian of Rome), for help against the Lombards and thought about subjugating Rome, on certain conditions.

This idea was abandoned, since Charles did not consider it possible to give the pope help against the Lombards, who were on friendly terms with Charles. Among the clergy of the Frankish state, Charles was not loved; trying to break the opposition of the aristocracy, in whose ranks there were also the highest clergy, he removed some clergy from their departments, putting in their place secular people loyal to him; contrary to church regulations, several departments and land holdings were united in one hand; Church lands were also given directly to secular persons for long-term use. The arbitrary measures of Charles, which did not remain without a significant influence on the development in the Frankish state of such feudal forms as the distribution of land for use, found different interpretations among the newest researchers: some, stipulating that it is hardly possible to talk about the formal secularization of church lands under Charles, admit that however, providing them in large quantities to secular persons; others deny the validity of Caral's accusation of seizing church lands. For representatives of the first view, the church measures of the sons of Caral appear to be an ordering of the father’s activities, for the second, these measures represent real secularization.

Material used " Encyclopedic Dictionary"Brockhaus and Efron.

b). THE ACTS OF CHARLES MARTELL
How (Charles) beat and defeated the Saxons, the Duke of Aquitaine and Abdiraman, King of the Saracens. After a year, Charles gathered an innumerable army, crossed the Rhine, passed the country of the Alamanni and Suevi and reached the Danube; he crossed it and conquered the country of the Bulgarians. Having conquered these lands, he set off on the return journey with many treasures, a certain woman and her daughter Sonnehilde; At this time, Duke Ed no longer complied with the terms of the treaty. Having received news of this, Charles gathered an army, crossed the Loire, put Edd himself to flight, captured large booty (the enemies plundered the country twice), and returned to his land.

Ed, who found himself defeated, began to seek help from Princeps Charles and the Frankish people from the treacherous Saracen people. Setting out with their king Abdiraman, they crossed the Garonne and reached Bordeaux. Burning churches and beating up residents, they reached Poitiers, where they set fire to the Basilica of St. Hilary. What a shame to talk about this! And they set out to destroy the monastery of Blessed Martin. The princeps boldly and militantly led his army and attacked them. With the help of Christ, he overturned their tents and fell on them to end the battle with a beating. He killed their king, defeated and destroyed their army, fought and gained the upper hand. This is how he celebrated the victory over his enemies.

At the beginning next year Charles, a brilliant warrior, used a trick to invade the lands of the Burgundians. His glory, tested in battle, and the ability of his warriors to pacify rebellious and infidel peoples, allowed him to establish the borders of his country; when peace was concluded, he gave Lyon to his faithful. He approved the treaties that fixed the taxes, and confidently returned with victory.

Meanwhile, Duke Ed died. Having received this news, the already named Princeps Charles consulted with his people and crossed the Loire a second time; he approached the Garonne, took Bordeaux and occupied the castle of Bligh; he conquered this area, conquering the cities and lands adjacent to this castle. He returned victorious in peace, thanks to the help of Christ, the King of kings. Amen.

Anonymous chronicler (at the behest of Hildebrand, brother of Charles Martell).

V). CHARLES AT POITIERS
“The approaching formidable danger temporarily stopped numerous strife and strife both among the Franks themselves and between the Franks and other Germanic tribes. Charles managed to gather a large army, which included, in addition to the Franks, other Germanic tribes: Alamanni, Bavarians, Saxons, Frisians. The decisive battle took place in October 732 on the plain between Tours and Poitiers. The day of this battle was one of the important turning points in the history of mankind: here, as at Salamis or on the Catalaunian fields, the fate of many nations depended on the outcome of the struggle between two armies. The details of the battle are unknown, although one can clearly imagine what motives and passionate impulses excited the warriors who were part of the troops. The army of Abd ar-Rahman was animated by the flame of faith in Allah and his prophet, who had already handed over kingdoms and peoples to the power of the faithful, and by the pride of the victors and that greed of booty, for which all the victories and conquests already won served only as steps to further successes, conquests and enrichment. Religious enthusiasm was also great in the Christian army, although there is no information about the special zeal of the clergy, it is only known that a fairly significant part of Charles’s army consisted of pagans. But the Franks knew what they were fighting for: they had already become accustomed to the beautiful country that they had acquired with their courage and the courage of their ancestors, and were preparing to ardently stand up for it.

The main strength of the Arabs was manifested in their rapid onslaught, which terrified their enemies; The main strength of the northerners is in a calm defense: “They stood like a motionless wall, like an ice belt.” Karl, obviously, took care to first acquaint his soldiers with Arab tactics; they were given some confidence by the consciousness of their superiority over the Arabs in physical strength. The skillful outflanking movement of the Duke of Aquitaine contributed to achieving complete victory - the next day the tents of the Arab camp were empty and it was possible to calmly take very significant booty.

Only in 739 did Charles, in alliance with the Lombard king Liutprand, manage to finally cope with both the Arabs and his own internal strife. During this struggle, the formidable warrior broke his ties with the church or, more precisely, with the highest clergy of the Frankish state, who were mired in gross immorality and led a wasteful life. He, without hesitation, drew from church property in those cases when it came to the fight against Islam and especially about rewarding figures who provided significant services to the state in this fight. The clergy, spoiled by the kings and arrogant, tried in every possible way to harm and hinder him, and even launched a legend about the vision of a certain confessor: the conqueror of the Arabs was tormented in the flames of the underworld for his bad attitude towards the clergy. Despite this, Charles’s importance was so great that after the death of Theodoric IV, for a long time he could not replace the orphaned throne with anyone.

Majordomo Charles died in 741. Of his two sons Pepin and Carloman, who succeeded him, the latter in 747 retired to the famous monastery, founded in 529 in Campania in Montecassino on the site of the former temple of Apollo. (The founder of this monastery was Benedict of Nursia, who gave the monks of his monastery the rules of community life). From then on, Pepin ruled alone, albeit on behalf of the completely insignificant Merovingian king Childeric III, until in 751 he decided to take a long-thought-out step. He sent two clergy to Pope Zechariah (741-752) and proposed to him the following: wouldn’t it be better for the Frankish church if the one who holds power in his hands also bears the royal title. It was significant event in the history of the Frankish state, as well as in the history of the papacy."

O. Yeger “World History in four volumes.”