The Battle of Tours

In 732 CE, a battle in southern Europe, now largely forgotten outside of Europe and university courses, started a titanic shift in the power balance between Christian and Muslim forces in Europe - the Battle of Tours. In what is today France, Umayyad Muslim forces invaded Gaul (France) from Iberia (Spain) but were checked by the grandfather of the future Frankish emperor Charlemagne. This grandfather of Charlemagne, Charles Martel, probably has one of the coolest nicknames known to history, Charles “the Hammer.” Why was this battle so pivotal and what was the impact? Well read on and you’ll find out.

We are going to start this article with helping you understand who the primary figures are, first with factions, then with people. Our first faction, the Umayyads, were a large caliphate or empire and were the second caliphate created after the death of Muhammad. The Umayyad Caliphate spread from the borders of modern-day India to Spain. They had their main capital in Damascus but had regional hubs in North Africa and Spain, with their main Spanish city being modern day Cordoba. They were overthrown by the Abbasids in 750, but due to the sheer size of the Umayyad empire, they survived in part with their new capital being Cordoba, eventually becoming known to Christian sources as the Moors. The next major faction is the Franks/Gauls – a name for a collection of tribes (the name first popped up in the 3rd century CE), becoming a centralized people, that gives us the modern-day English name for France. The Franks, originally from Germania, settled in Roman Gaul during the empire. They became a powerhouse in the wake of the collapse of Roman direct rule, eventually founding both the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire. There are some minor factions at play here too, such as the Visigoths and the Aquitanians who were regional powers but were eventually swallowed by their neighbors or transformed into different entities entirely. The Visigoths were a tribe originally from Germania that were part of the wider “Goth” ethnic group that led the toppling of the Western Roman Empire, settling in regions such as France, Spain, the Balkans, and Italy. As for the Aquitanians, we aren’t sure their ethnicity (probably Frankish or Goth) but they were led by a man named Odo the Great. Odo has been speculated to be of Roman, Frankish, or Gothic origin but scholars aren’t sure exactly.

Now, on to our people, first we have Abd al-Rahman ibn Abd Allah Al-Ghafiqi who was the leader of the Umayyad expedition into Southern France, and the governor of Cordoba. Abd Al-Rahman participated in several battles against Aquitanian forces, facing Duke Odo the Great at the 721 CE Battle of Toulouse (Umayyad defeat) and the 732 CE Battle of the River Garonne (Umayyad victory). Now, we have Charles Martel – Martel is s sobriquet for Hammer, so we are just going to call him Charles the Hammer because that is more fun. Charles the Hammer rose to lead the Franks, the foremost power in Western Europe following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, in 714. He spent the first 15 years of his rule campaigning, consolidating his realm against rivals, and expanding Frankish territory and power. Last, we have Duke Odo of Aquitaine, whom we discussed briefly in the preceding paragraph. Odo spent the majority of his leadership of southern France facing off against Umayyad incursions from Spain but also resented Charles’ influence, attempting to assert his independence at different times.

But how did we get to where Spain became a Muslim Umayyad powerbase? Spain, after the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire, found itself primarily ruled by Visigoth immigrants from Germania. But at the start of the 8th century, the Visigoths themselves were beset by Umayyad Muslim invaders from North Africa, pushing the Christian Visigoths nearly to extinction. The Christian forces were able to survive in the very north of the Iberian Peninsula but could barely defend themselves effectively by this point, they were significantly assisted by the mountainous geography of northern Spain and were able to hold up in defensive positions to outlast the invasion. With the sequestering of the Spanish Christians, the Umayyads could bypass the Christian forces in the north, and penetrate into the Pyrenes mountains, spilling into what is now southern France. They did just that in 719, taking control of small parts of Aquitania and the town of Narbonne. Raiding parties started roving deeper in Burgundy, causing chaos amongst the Aquitanians, leading Odo to fight continuously to defend his realm. Although an early victory against the Umayyads bought Odo and his forces time, the war started to swing against them with their defeat at the Battle of Garonne.

At the following Battle of Bordeaux, Odo was soundly defeated, suffering heavy casualties, forcing him to flee into the territory of Charles. Odo, desperate for assistance, turned to his rival, Charles the Hammer. This was a curious decision as Charles the Hammer raided Aquitaine, breaking a treaty with Odo, forcing Odo to have to retake the city of Bourges from the northern Franks in 731, in response to Odo asserting his independence from Charles. It has been speculated by scholars that the Umayyads severely underestimated the power of the Franks, considering them to be just another Christian tribe to be dealt with. Charles, answering the call from Odo for assistance, mobilized his forces, dispatching a contingent of his calvary to defend the town of Poitiers from Umayyad raids. The rest of his forces met the Umayyad army somewhere between Tours and Poitiers. An estimated 35,000 to 40,000 men participated in the battle, with the Umayyad forces suffering around 12,000 casualties to the Frank’s 1,000. Sources are not reliable for the exact nature of the battle, but due to what scholars know about early medieval warfare, make up of the Frankish forces, and tactics, it’s been pieced together to fill in gaps caused by the unreliable sources. The belief is that the Umayyad army found themselves broken by massed Frankish heavy infantry, coupled with a surprise calvary attack led by Odo on the Umayyad camp, attacking the camp inhabitants (non-combatants such as soldiers' wives and children, merchants, and support personnel). Abd al-Rahman was killed in the fighting, sowing further chaos. This attack on the soldier’s families combined with heavy casualties against the Frankish heavy infantry, forced an Umayyad tactical withdrawal to defend the remains of the camp, then fully retreating from the region during that night.

This victory did not end raids or incursions into Gaul, but did land a significant blow against Umayyad forces and provided a morale victory for Christian Europe. Odo was forced to swear allegiance to Charles, bringing Aquitaine temporarily under Charles’ purview. It would not be until Charles’ grandson, Charlemagne, that Muslim raids and capture of territory in Gaul would end, 60 years later, establishing northern Spain as the frontline of the Christian wars to retake Spain that would become known as the Reconquista. The legacy of the Battle of Tours is not the immediate ceasing of raids against Gaul, nor the consolidation of Frankish territory, but it is the effect it had on the mindset of Christians. Christian forces in Europe had been suffering a string of defeats for the last century against Muslim forces and the Battle of Tours marked a milestone in the Christian desire to check the advance of Islam and the recapture of lost territory.