This was immediately opposed by the Austrasian nobles because Theudoald was a child of only eight years of age. A few months before his death and shortly after the murder of his son Grimoald the Younger, he had, at his wife Plectrude's urging, designated Theudoald, his grandson by their late son Grimoald, his heir in the entire realm. The German duchies to the east of the Rhine were de facto outside of Frankish suzerainty at this time. Only Austrasia (green) supported an Arnulfing mayor, first Theudoald then Charles. Aquitaine (yellow) was outside Arnulfing authority and Neustria and Burgundy (pink) were united in opposition to further Arnulfing dominance of the highest offices. The Frankish kingdoms at the time of the death of Pepin of Heristal (714). Pepin was the first to call himself Duke and Prince of the Franks, a title later taken up by Charles. Charles' father, Pepin of Herstal, was able to unite the Frankish realm by conquering Neustria and Burgundy. They controlled the royal treasury, dispensed patronage, and granted land and privileges in the name of the figurehead king. Īfter the reign of Dagobert I (629–639) the Merovingians effectively ceded power to the Pippinid Mayors of the Palace, who ruled the Frankish realm of Austrasia in all but name. But the dividing line between wives and concubines was not clear-cut in eighth-century Francia, and it is likely that the accusation of "illegitimacy" derives from the desire of Pepin's first wife Plectrude to see her progeny as heirs to Pepin's power. In older historiography, it was common to describe Charles as "illegitimate". He had a brother named Childebrand, who later became the Frankish dux (that is, duke) of Burgundy. 4 Aquitaine and the Battle of Tours in 732Ĭharles, nicknamed "Martel", or "Charles the Hammer" in later chronicles, was the illegitimate son of Pepin of Herstal and his mistress, possible second wife, Alpaida.Pepin's son Charlemagne extended the Frankish realms and became the first emperor in the West since the fall of Rome. The latter became the first king of the Carolingian dynasty. Īt the end of his reign, Charles divided Francia between his sons, Carloman and Pepin. Alongside his military endeavours, Charles has been traditionally credited with a seminal role in the development of the Frankish system of feudalism. Martel gained a very consequential victory against an Umayyad invasion of Aquitaine at the Battle of Tours, at a time when the Umayyad Caliphate controlled most of the Iberian Peninsula. According to a near-contemporary source, the Liber Historiae Francorum, Charles was "a warrior who was uncommonly effective in battle".
#THE HAMMER SERIES#
Continuing and building on his father's work, he restored centralized government in Francia and began the series of military campaigns that re-established the Franks as the undisputed masters of all Gaul.
Charles, also known as "The Hammer" (in Old French, Martel), successfully asserted his claims to power as successor to his father as the power behind the throne in Frankish politics. He was a son of the Frankish statesman Pepin of Herstal and Pepin's mistress, a noblewoman named Alpaida.
688 – 22 October 741) was a Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death.
0 kommentar(er)
