![[Media/1920px-Charles_Martel_at_Battle_of_Tours,_Great_Chronicles_of_France_(27686528435)-1.jpg]] By the 720s, forces from Al-Ándalus were raiding southern Gaul, capturing cities like Narbonne and threatening Frankish territory. The Franks had unified under King Clovis, who you will recall had converted to Catholicism; so their defense of what would become France at the Battle of Tours in 732 has been depicted as a victory for European Christendom. The Umayyad attack was led by [Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd_al-Rahman_ibn_Abd_Allah_al-Ghafiqi), the governor of Al-Ándalus. The defending Franks followed Charles Martel (Martel = "The Hammer"), a mayor of the palace, a high court position in the Merovingian Dynasty of Clovis. Martel had unified much of Francia after a series of victories over the Frisians and Saxons. The Umayyad cavalry (which was superior to the Frankish) failed to break through Martel's heavily armored infantry phalanx, and the governor of Al-Ándalus was killed. This halted the Umayyad advance into Europe, although they continued to hold a good part of southern France. Although technically not a king or even a duke, Charles Martel became the effective ruler of Francia until his death in 741. He divided his holdings between two of his sons, leading one of them, Pepin the Short, to become King of the Franks in 751. Pepin's son, Charlemagne, would be proclaimed emperor in 800, but we'll talk about that in the next chapter. ![[Media/Charles_Martel_divise_le_royaume_entre_Pépin_et_Carloman.jpg]] *Charles divides the realm between Pepin and Carloman* ----- Next: [[10.1 - Muslim Revolution]] Back: [[9.13 - An-Ándalus]]