1268 years ago today, a Frankish and Burgundian army under Charles Martel “the Hammer”, Mayor of the the Palace of Austrasia, defeated and turned back an Islamic army from Spain. The battle was decisive in that it stemmed the tide of Islamic conquest in the West that had conquered virtually all of Spain in less than a decade. Tours demonstrated that if the rest of Europe was to be conquered, it would take unending war against Christians who would never stop fighting against the followers of the prophet. Europe would remain under siege from Islam for almost a thousand years, but Charles Martel and his men had scored the first decisive Christian victory in the long war which would ultimately turn back the first Islamic attempt to conquer Europe.
Tuesday, May 14, AD 2024 5:20pm
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That account seems similar to the shield wall of house carls Harold deployed at Hastings in 1066. Harold was early on killed and he was not there to hold back the carls from opening up and following the Norman cavalry that appeared to be routed. But the Norman was able to turn and “deal” with the disunited, leaderless Saxon infantry. NB: those Saxons same had, within a week, defeated a large Danish army led by a third claimant to the English throne.
Te Deum . . .
Plato, “Mortui solum finem belli viderunt.”
The Franks traditionally fought on foot, throwing axes, franciscas, at their enemies. Charles Martel was the father of European heavy cavalry, using cavalry with stirrups to supplement the Frankish infantry.
The army defeated by Harold Godwinson was Norwegian. It was led by one of the most colorful characters of the Middle Ages, King Harald Hardrada, an ancestor of my wife’s, who took the side of Tostig, a brother of Harold Gowdwinson, in hopes of taking as much of England as he could. Instead, all he got was defeat and death at Stamford Bridge. If the Saxon army hadn’t been exhausted by the Stamford Bridge campaign, I think they might have defeated the Normans at Hastings.
My ancestors came with William the conqueror part of the mobile livery infantry.
All this whining about being exhausted counts for absolutely zero when it comes to fighting for life or death.
The Normans did more for England in one day than the thin-blooded interlopers from eastern Sweden would have done in a lifetime.
🙂
Down with the Norman oppressors! 🙂
The family of St. Thomas a Becket came to England with the Normans, and St. Thomas was born in London.
My father’s ancestors – Beckett – came from London( my paternal grandfather was born there). A young Englishman worked for me back in the 70’s; he and his father were builders in London before he came to NZ, and they purchased bricks from Beckett’s Brickworks in London. I like to think I’m a descendant of St.Thomas’ family, but without a jot of evidence to back it up 😉
Then the Saxons? My paternal grandmother was of Saxon stock – her ancestors has migrated to England – around Norwich – in the 17th. century, and she was brought to NZ in the 1870’s – so on my father’s side, I am Anglo(Norman?)- Saxon.
My mother’s family were of Celtic(Irish & Scottish) descent…..but that’s a whole other story 🙂
(Dunno what that’s got to do with Charles Martel though 😉
Will Europe need to find another Charles Martel, or will it simply be overtaking by being outbred? That is the way now that Islam intends to conquer Europe, as the europeans discard their Christianity and continue to decimate their own populations through abortion and contraception – ethnic and cultural suicide. So sad to be witnessing.
Don it is interesting to read the subject on this blog. Sometime back I received an email on statistics showing how Europe will be islamised by 2050. Looking at the current trend, I will not be surprised though I may not live untill then.
[…] Recently two momentous events in Western and Church History passed with hardly a mention. Actually, these events may be better known in the Muslim world than the Christian world; the Islamic army’s desecration of St. Peter’s in Rome, along with St John Lateran and other churches in 846, and the stunning defeat of the Islamic military onslaught by Charles the Hammer Martel at Tours, France in 732. Though these two events occurred over 100 years apart, they do point out that until the Ottoman-Turkish Islamic defeat in 1683 at the gates of Vienna; Europe was facing a never ending threat from radical Islam. Yet how is it that according to the mainstream media it was the fault of Christians, and specifically Catholics? In my last article, I wrote of the naval Battle of Lepanto in 1571 and the land at the Gates of Vienna in 1683. Some wondered why I didn’t right about Charles the Hammer Martel and some of the earlier Islamic incursions into Europe. Now is a good time to delve into that subject. (For more on Charles the Hammer Martel and the Battle of Tours please read this excellent article by my colleague….) […]
[…] Recently two momentous events in Western and Church History passed with hardly a mention. Actually, these events may be better known in the Muslim world than the Christian world; the Islamic army’s desecration of St. Peter’s in Rome, along with St John Lateran and other churches in 846, and the stunning defeat of the Islamic military onslaught by Charles the Hammer Martel at Tours, France in 732. Though these two events occurred over 100 years apart, they do point out that until the Ottoman-Turkish Islamic defeat in 1683 at the gates of Vienna; Europe was facing a never ending threat from radical Islam. Yet how is it that according to the mainstream media it was the fault of Christians, and specifically Catholics? In my last article, I wrote of the naval Battle of Lepanto in 1571 and the land at the Gates of Vienna in 1683. Some wondered why I didn’t right about Charles the Hammer Martel and some of the earlier Islamic incursions into Europe. Now is a good time to delve into that subject. (For more on Charles the Hammer Martel and the Battle of Tours please read this excellent article by my colleague….) […]