THE BATTLE OF TOURS,
A.D. 732.
"The events that rescued our ancestors of Britain and our neighbours of Gaul
from the civil and religious yoke of the Koran."
GIBBON.
Tours
The broad tract of campaign country which intervenes between the cities of Poictiers and Tours is principally composed of a
succession of rich pasture lands, which are traversed and fertilized by the Cher, the Creuse, the Vienne, the Claine, the Indre, and other
tributaries of the River Loire.
Here and there the ground swells into picturesque eminences, and occasionally a
belt of forest land, a brown heath, or a clustering series of vineyards breaks the monotony of the widespread meadows; but the general character
of the land is that of a grassy plain, and it seems, naturally adapted for the evolutions of numerous armies, especially of those vast bodies of
cavalry which principally decided the fate of nations during the centuries that followed the downfall of Home, and preceded the consolidation of
the modern European powers.
Charles Martel 732 A.D.
This region of Tours has been signalized by more than one memorable conflict; but it is principally interesting to the
historian by having been the scene of the great victory won by Charles Martel over the Saracens, A.D. 732, which gave a decisive check to
the career of Arab conquest in Western Europe, rescued Christendom from Islam, preserved the relics of ancient and the germs of modern
civilization, and re-established the old superiority of Indo-European over the Semitic family of mankind.
Sismondi and Michelet have underrated the enduring interest of this great Appeal of Battle between the Charles Martel and
champions of the Crescent and the Cross. But, if French writers have slighted the exploits of their national hero, the Saracenic trophies
of Charles Martel have had full justice done to them by English and German historians.
Gibbon devotes several pages of his great work to the narrative of the battle of
Tours, and the consideration of the consequences which probably would have resulted if Abderrahman's enterprise had not been crushed by the
Frankish chief, Charles Martel . Schlegelf speaks of this "mighty victory" in terms of fervent gratitude, and tells how "the arm of
Charles Martel saved and delivered the Christian nations of the West from the deadly grasp of all-destroying Islam;" and Ranke points out,
as ''one of the most important epochs in the history of the world, the commencement of the eighth century, when on one side Mohammedanism
threatened to overspread Italy and Gaul, and on the other the ancient idolatry of Saxony and Friesland once more forced its way across the Rhine.
In this peril of Christian institutions, a youthful prince of Germanic race, Karl Martell, arose as their champion, maintained them with all the
energy which the necessity for self-defense calls forth, and finally extended them into new regions."
Vol. vii., p. 17, et seq. Gibbon's sneering remark, that: "If the Saracen conquests had not then been checked,
perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught In the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a
circumcised people the sancity and truth of the revelation of Mohammed", has almost an air of regret.
Arnold ranks the victory of Charles Martel even higher than the victory of
Arminius, "among those signal deliverances which have affected for centuries the happiness of mankind." In fact, the more we test its importance,
the higher we shall be led to estimate it; and, though all authentic details
which we possess of its circumstances and its heroes are but meager, we can trace enough of its general character to make us watch with deep
interest this encounter between the rival conquerors of the decaying Roman empire. That old classic world, the history of which occupies so large
a portion of our early studies, lay, in the eighth century of our era, utterly inanimate and overthrown.
On the north the German, on the south the Arab, was rending away
its provinces. At last the spoilers encountered one another, each striving for
the full mastery of the prey.
Tours
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