21

'LII.

the Sara

cens by Charles Martel.

CHAP. Charles, the illegitimate son of the elder Pepin, was content with the titles of mayor or duke of Defeat of the Franks, but he deserved to become the father of a line of kings... In a laborious administration of twenty-four years, he restored and A. D. 732. supported the dignity of the throne, and the rebels of Germany and Gaul were successively crushed by the activity of a warrior, who, in the same campaign, could display his banner on the Elbe, the Rhone, and the shores of the ocean. In the public danger, he was summoned by the voice of his country; and his rival, the duke of Aquitain, was reduced to appear among the fugitives and suppliants."Alas!" exclaimed the Franks, "what a mis"fortune! what an indignity! We have long "heard of the name and conquests of the "Arabs: we were apprehensive of their attack "from the East; they have now conquered Spain, and invade our country, on the side "of the West. Yet their numbers, and (since they have no buckler) their arms, are inferior "to our own." "If you follow my advice,” replied the prudent mayor of the palace, you "will not interrupt their march, nor precipi"tate your attack. They are like a torrent, "which it is dangerous to stem in its career, "The thirst of riches, and the consciousness of • success, redouble their valour, and valour is "of more avail than arms or numbers. Be pa"tient till they have loaded themselves with "the incumbrance of wealth. The possession of wealth will divide their counsels, and assure your victory." This subtle policy is

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perhaps a refinement of the Arabian writers; CHAP. and the situation of Charles will suggest a more LII. narrow and selfish motive of procrastination; the secret desire of humbling the pride, and wasting the provinces, of the rebel duke of Aquitain. It is yet more probable, that the delays of Charles were inevitable and reluctant. A standing army was unknown under the first and second race: more than half the kingdom was now in the hands of the Saracens : according to their respective situation, the Franks of Neustria and Austrasia were too conscious or too careless of the impending danger; and the voluntary aids of the Gepida and Germans were separated by a long interval from the standard of the christian general. No sooner had he collected his forces, than he sought and found the enemy in the centre of France, between Tours and Poitiers. His well-conducted march was covered by a range of hills, and Abderame appears to have been surprised by his unexpected presence. The nations of Asia, Africa, and Europe, advanced with equal ardour, to an encounter which would change the history of the world. In the six first days of desultory combat, the horsemen and archers of the East maintained their advantage: but in the closer onset of the seventh day, the orientals were oppressed by the strength and stature of the Germans, who, with stout hearts and iron hands," asserted the civil and religious

* Gens Anstriæ membrorum pre-eminentiâ valida, et gens Gerinana, corde et corpore præstantissima, quasi in ietû occuli manú ferieâ et pectore arduo Arabes extinxerunt (Roderic. Toletan. c. xiv.)

LII.

CHAP. freedom of their posterity. The epithet of Martel, the Hammer, which has been added to the name of Charles, is expressive of his weigh ty and irresistible strokes: the valour of Eudes was excited by resentment and emulation; and their companions, in the eye of history, are the true peers and paladins of French chivalry.After a bloody field, in which Abderame was slain, the Saracens, in the close of the evening, retired to their camp. In the disorder and despair of the night, the various tribes of Yemen and Damascus, of Africa and Spain, were provoked to turn their arms against each other: the remains of their host were suddenly dissolved, and each emir consulted his safety by an hasty and separate retreat. At the dawn of day, the stillness of an hostile camp was sus pected by the victorious christians: on the report of their spies, they ventured to explore the riches of the vacant tents; but, if we except some celebrated relics, a small portion of the spoil was restored to the innocent and law ful owners. The joyful tidings were soon diffused over the catholic world, and the monks of Italy could affirm and believe that three hundred and fifty, or three hundred and seventy-five thousand of the Mahometans had been crushed by the hammer of Charles; while no

These numbers are stated by Paul Warnefrid, the deacon of Aquileia (de Gestis Langobard, 1. vi, p. 321, edit. Grot.) and Anastasius, the librarian of the Roman church (in Vit. Gregorii II,) who tells a miraculous story of three consecrated spunges, which rendered invulnerable the French soldiers among whom they had been shared. It should seem, that in his letters to the pope, Eudes usurped the honour of the victory, for which he was chastised by the French annalists, who, with equal falsehood, accuse him of inviting the Saracens.

CHAP

LII.

fore the

more than fifteen hundred christians were slain in the field of Tours. But this incredible tale is sufficiently disproved by the caution of the French general, who apprehended the snares and accidents of a pursuit, and dismissed his German allies to their native forests. The inactivity of a conqueror betrays the loss of strength and blood, and the most cruel execution is inflicted, not in the ranks of battle, but on the backs of a flying enemy. Yet the vic- They retory of the Franks was complete and final; treat beAquitain was recovered by the arms of Eudes; Franks the Arabs never resumed the conquest of Gaul, and they were soon driven beyond the Pyrenees by Charles Martel and his valiant race.* It might have been expected that the saviour of Christendom would have been canonised, or at least applauded, by the gratitude of the clergy, who are indebted to his sword for their present existence. But in the public distress, the mayor of the palace had been compelled to apply the riches, or at least the revenues, of the bishops and abbots, to the relief of the state and the reward of the soldiers. His merits were forgotten, his sacrilege alone was remembered, and, in an epistle to a Carlovingian prince, at Gallic synod presumes to declare that his ancestor was damned; that on the opening of his tomb, the spectators were affrighted by a smell

* Narbonne, and the rest of Septimania, was recovered by Pepin, the son of Charles Martel, A. D. 755 (Pagi Critica, tom. iii, p. 300.)Thirty-seven years afterwards it was pillaged by a sudden inroad of the Arabs, who employed the captives in the construction of the mosch of Cordova (de Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. i, p. 354).

LII.

CHAP. of fire and the aspect of an horrid dragon; and that a saint of the times was indulged with a pleasant vision of the soul and body of Charles Martel, burning to all eternity, in the abyss of hell.'

of the Ab

A. D. 746-750.

Elevation The loss of an army, or a province, in the bassides, Western world, was less painful to the court of Damascus, than the rise and progress of a domestic competitor. Except among the Syrians, the caliphs of the house of Ommiyah had never been the objects of the public favour.— The life of Mahomet recorded their perseverance in idolatry and rebellion; their conversion had been reluctant, their elevation irregu‹ lar and factious, and their throne was cemented with the most holy and noble blood of Ara bia. The best of their race, the pious Omar, was dissatisfied with his own title: their personal virtues were insufficient to justify a departure from the order of succession; and the eyes and wishes of the faithful were turned towards the line of Hashem and the kindred of the apostle of God. Of these the Fatimites were either rash or pusillanimous; but the descendants of Abbas cherished, with courage and discretion, the hopes of their rising fortunes. From an obscure residence in Syria,

This pastoral letter, addressed to Lewis the Germanic, the grandson of Charlemagne, and most probably composed by the pen of the artful Hincmar, is dated in the year 858, and signed by the bishops of the provinces of Rheims and Rouen (Baronius, Annal. Eccles. A. D. 741. Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. x, p. 514-516.) Yet Baronius himself, and the French critics, reject with contempt this episcopal fiction.