Battle for the West: Poitiers/Tours 25 October, AD 732

Although he had been busy planning another campaign against the Frisians, it was probably with a sense of smug satisfaction that Charles, Mayor of the Palace, received the entreaty of his ally, Eudo, Duke of Aquitaine, in early AD 732. Eudo had been among those who had actively opposed Charles’ consolidation of power in the previous decade and, although Charles had been able to force Eudo to accept an alliance and recognize his claim to the Frankish Mayoralty, Aquitaine remained independent of Frankish rule. Now, however, Eudo was begging Charles for help.

Eudo had meddled in Iberian politics by marrying his daughter to the Berber rebel leader Munusa, who was attempting carve out an independent realm based around Llivia, a small town in the Pyrenees that sits on the modern border between Spain and France. Munusa, however, was defeated in AD 730 by the army of Spain’s Arab Amir (governor), al-Haytham, and committed suicide (Eudo’s daughter and Munusa’s head were sent as prizes to Damascus, the capital of the vast Islamic Caliphate).

Despite this victory, there remained considerable unrest, probably fueled in part by the active aid of Eudo. Thus, in AD 732 Spain’s new Arab Amir (there were six Amirs of Spain between AD 725 and AD 733 giving an indication of the degree of internal unrest and the inability of the local authorities to quell it), Abd ar-Rahman, mounted a punitive expedition across the Pyrenees. Turning the tables, Abd ar-Rahman smashed the Aquatinian army and sent Eudo running to Charles for aid.