Charles Martel (Charles the Hammer)   686—741   Present-day France   Illegitimate son of Pepin II and his concubine Apaida   Pepin’s infant grandson Theodoald succeeded him supported by Pepin’s widow Plectrude   Charles was Mayor of the Palace of the Kingdom of the Franks   Defeated Nustrian Franks and forces loyal to Plectrude   Gained power by military victories and donations to important clerics   Fought against Bavaria and Alemmannia in the east Aquitaine and Provence in south and Saxons in northeast   Most famous military victory Battle of Tours in 732   Arab armies had conquered southern Asia, northern Africa and Iberian Peninsula   Charles Martel defeated the Arabs at Battle of Tours 732   Halted spread of Islam led to unification of Frankish kingdom   His son Pepin the Short and grandson Charlemagne kept Ummayad kingdom from crossing the Pyrenees

MEMORY TRIGGERS   Charles the Hammer________________   _________________________________   Pepin II__________________________   _________________________________   Theodoald________________________   _________________________________   Plectrude_________________________   _________________________________   Bavaria__________________________   _________________________________   Aquitaine_________________________   _________________________________   Saxons___________________________   _________________________________   Battle of Tours____________________   _________________________________   Arab_____________________________   _________________________________   Iberian Peninsula___________________   _________________________________   Islam____________________________   _________________________________     Copyrighted 2005 by Carl Peterson