Charlemagnes Iberian Campains.

[stalin006]

i am no expert on this topic, thats why i need help for a school project on charlemagne and details of how he stoped the arab/muslim forces from entering further from spain, any help will be apreciated , i could also use general things of charlemagnes empire.

thanks ;-)

[pawpaw]

Originally posted by stalin006
i am no expert on this topic, thats why i need help for a school project on charlemagne and details of how he stoped the arab/muslim forces from entering further from spain, any help will be apreciated , i could also use general things of charlemagnes empire.

thanks ;-)

not much to tell you,charlemagne only fought 1 campaign against the arabs in spain. it was not very sucessful. the liittle territory he took he formed the "spanish march" out of to protect the border. the arabs were in civil war at the time and had not been a real threat since the time of his grandfather charles martel who defeated them at tours in 732.


general charlemagne stuff: lived 742-814ad

reigned 768-814ad

eldest son of pepin the short,was co-ruler with brother carloman for 3 years till he died in 771ad

conquerored saxony ( 772-804) last not christian area in germany
conquerored lombardy in italy in 773ad--became king of italy

778 campaign in spain

791-795 destroyed avar empire on fringe of german territores and made them subject kingdoms

800ad pope crowns him emperor of rome

sorry about lack of info on spain but it was a minor campaign (execpt for ballad of roland)

[stalin006]

no problem, that helped

[De Lorimier]

I just want to clear one little thing: Charles Martel victory in 732 was in Poitiers, not Tours.

[pawpaw]

no, tours october10,732ad

edit: i see poitiers is near by, are you saying the battlefield is closer to poitiers than tours? it is commanly know as the battle of tours

[De Lorimier]

The batlle took place in Moussais on the Vouneuil-sur-Vienne commune(sp?) between the cities of Poitiers and Tours. It was closer to Poitiers and in every history books I read it's called the battle of Poitiers.

[pawpaw]

i've never seen it called anything but tours

[De Lorimier]

That's weird. I read french books most of the time maybe this has something to do with it. Anyway...it's just a couple of miles!

[LouLong]

It is definitely known in France (and in most countries where I have heard about it) as the battle of Poitiers.

Anyway that is much earlier than Charlemagne.

Charlemagne did go to Spain to flex his muscles in front of Muslim raiders. He made his tour, fought a few skirmishes, installed some counties with their lords to create the march of Spain as a buffer sub-state which is at the origin of the Barcelona county. While going back to France and crossing the Pyrenees, his rearguard leaded by Roland (a famous knight) was ambushed by what seems to be definitely a party of Basques (already fighting in the area to defend their identity and independance). This lead to the famous "courtois" novel called "La Chanson de Roland" (the song of Roland) a real hit played by troubadours along the pilgrimage road to Compostella for a few centuries afterwards.

[pawpaw]

not that it matters but:

15 decisive battles by edward creasy

decisive battles by creasy,davis,lanning and morelock

battles that change history by pratt

the battle 100, stories behind histories most influencial battles by lanning and rosenburgh


all call it the battle of tours

[jpowers]

I think the use of 'Tours' is to differentiate the 732 battle from the 'Battle of Poitiers' that took place in 1356 as part of the 100 Years War.