During the Merovingian dynasty in France, the rulers became weak, lazy, and incompetent. They were like puppets, but not the actual rulers. The actual ruler was called “The Mayor of the Palace”. The mayor basically was the king with a different name, they did everything, including: Raising money, waging war, leading armies and carrying out government decisions.
Charles Martel was the son of one such “Mayor”. This mayor was called Pepin. When Pepin died in 714 A.D his wife took his place by force. She even went as far as to throw her own son in jail. However, this didn’t stop Charles. Charles soon escaped prison and started gaining support of the nobles.
Charles first taste of battle was when a band of outlandish franks invaded. Charles was chosen to lead a battle to defeat them. However, the very number of franks caused Charles to wisely disengage from the battle and regroup (he later came back and crushed them in a different battle). This was the only time Charles Martel let any enemy force beat him on the battle field. Charles was clearly an excellent leader.
Charles was best known for his tactics, this is what made him such an extraordinary and unpredictable leader. He had three such tactics: Attacking when, where and how they least expected. He would attack them in broad daylight when no one would think anyone would be so insane to do so. He would fake retreats to make them think they were winning, then he would turn around and catch them like a pack of wolves on their prey.
However, Charles Martel did not stop at just the military. Charles soon took over the government from his mother. Charles did something that I did not expect when he first became the leader of France, he forgave the people who imprisoned him. This goes to show how unpredictable he was. Charles never called himself a king during his reign.
Charles, through his politics and his military prowess, was able to gain the loyalty of the surrounding country’s and expand his territory to include some of Southern Germany.
One noticeable enemy was the Islamic Muslims. They spread across the globe like wildfire on a stack of hay. They had recently conquered Iberia, but were still left wanting more, so they invaded France. This is one mistake that they would never forget.
As they chipped away at the borders of France, Charles moved out with his armies. He waited for them with a carefully planned out surprise attack. After springing the attack, there were several skirmishes before Charles proved once again that he could not be beaten by any invading force. It was this, battering and pure destruction in battle of the Muslims that gave Charles his nick-name Charles Martel or Charles The Hammer.
This battle was called the battle that saved Christianity from the Muslims. However, as you know, Christianity would live on even if the Muslims won. It was also this battle that stemmed the tide of the Muslim advance.
During Charles Martel reign there was no king, or better put, no puppet head ruler. He did appoint a king, but this king did soon die. Charles did not appoint a new king after this.
Sadly, as all things die in this world, Charles Martel, the unpredictable amazing general who never lost a second battle, did die in 741. But his sons continued his legacy in France for some time. His son, Pepin was also a fantastic general, just like his father. He did lose more battles than his father, but nevertheless, he was an amazing general.
Charles Martel is by far my favorite, and I believe will continue to be my favorite character in history. He was merciful to those who threw him cruelly in jail, he was his enemies worst nightmare, and his people’s leader. Charles The Hammer, let neither him nor his tactics and military prowess be ever forgotten.
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