[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 21, Ed. 1, Tree #1186, Date of Import: Apr 26, 1999]
Charles Martel, son of Pepin of Heristal and Carolingian ruler of the
Frankish kingdom of Austrasia(in present notrheastern France and
southwestern Germany). Charles whose surname means "the hammer" was the
grandfather of Charlemagne. When Pepin of Heristal died in 714, and
Charles, an illegitimate son, was imprisoned by his father's widow, but
he escaped in 715 and was proclaimed mayor of the palace by the
Austrasians. A war between Austrasia and the Frankish kingdom of
Neustria(now part of France) followed, and at the end of it Charles
became the undisputed ruler of all the Franks. Althrough he was engaged
in wars against the Alamanni, Bavarians, and Saxons, his greatest
achievements were against the Muslims from Spain, who invaded France in
732. Charles defeated them near Poitiers in a great battle in which the
Muslim leader, Abd-ar-Rahman, the emir of Spain, was killed. The
progress of Islam, which had filled all Christiandom with alarm, was thus
checked for a time. Charles drove the Muslims out of the Rhone valley in
739, when they had again advanced into France as far as Lyon, leaving
them nothing of their possessions north of the Pyrenees beyond the Aude
River. Charles cultivated the support of the warrior aristocracy. With
their military assistance and the help he gave Christian missionaries,
Charles began to extend Christianity and Frankish domination over the
Germanic tribes settled beyond the Rhine River. Martel defeated Arabian
forces at the battle of Tours in 732, after Islamic forces had seized
Byzantine provinces of Palestine and Syria, overran Persia, and conquered
Egypt over the last 100 years. The battle at Tours, one hundred years
after the death of Muhammad, marked the extent of the western advance and
stabilized the frontier of Islam for the next several centuries. Charles
died in Quierzy, on the Oise River, leaving hte kingdom divided between
his two sons, Carloman and Pepin the Short.