Middle Ages - Battle of Tours

The Battle of Tours 732 was fought in an area between the cities of Poitiers and Tours, in north-central France. The battle pitted Frankish and Burgundian forces under the Mayor of the Palace Charles Martel, against an army of the Umayyad Caliphate. The Franks were victorious. Ninth-century chroniclers, who interpreted the battle as divine judgment in his favour, gave Charles the nickname Martellus ("The Hammer"). Later Christian chroniclers and pre-20th century historians praised Charles Martel as the champion of Christianity, characterizing the battle as the decisive turning point in the struggle against Islam, a struggle which preserved Christianity as the religion of Europe. Modern historians, by contrast, are divided over the battle's importance for saving Christianity and halting the conquest of Europe by Islam. However, there is little dispute that it lay the foundations of the Carolingian Empire and Frankish domination of Europe for the next century and beyond.