*Charles Martel "the Hammer" Duc de Antrim
born in 23 August
0689 Heristal, near Liege, in Belgium
died 22 October 0741 Quierzy-sur-Oise, Aisne,
France
buried Monastáere De Saint Denis, Saint Denis, France
father:
*Pepin
II "The Great" of Heristal Mayor of the Palace (to King Theurdoric) Duc
de Brabant
born 0634 Herstal, near Liege, in Belgium
died 0714
mother:
*
Elphide (Chalpaida) (Alpais) von Sachsen
born 0654 Of
Heristal, Liege (Belgium)
died Orplegrandmonast, Brabant, Vosges, France
(end
of information)
siblings:
unknown
spouse (1st):
*Rotrude
(Rotrudis)(Chrotude) Duchess Of Austrasia
born Abt 0690 (Moselle), Austrasia
died
Abt 0724
children (from 1st marriage):
*Pepin
(Pippin) III "the Short" King of France born in 714, died in 768
*Aude
(Aldane) Martel of Austrasia born about 0713
Carloman, Mayor
of the Palace
Grifo
spouse (2nd):
*Suanhilde
(Sonichilde) of Bavaria
married bef 0732
children:
*Landrade
*daughter
of Charles Martel
biographical and/or anecdotal:
Charles Martel
- Latin CAROLUS MARTELLUS, German KARL MARTELL (b. c. 688--d. Oct. 22, 741, Quierzy-sur-Oise,
France), mayor of the palace of Austrasia (the eastern part of the Frankish kingdom)
from 715 to 741. He reunited and ruled the entire Frankish realm and stemmed the
Muslim invasion at Poitiers in 732. His byname, Martel, means "the hammer."
Charles was the illegitimate son of Pepin of Herstal, the mayor of the palace
of Austrasia. By this period the Merovingian kings of the Frankish realm were rulers
in name only. The burden of rule lay upon the mayors of the palace, who governed
Austrasia, the eastern part of the Frankish kingdom, and Neustria, its western portion.
Neustria bitterly resented its conquest and annexation in 687 by Pepin, who, acting
in the name of the king, had reorganized and reunified the Frankish realm.
The
assassination of Pepin's only surviving legitimate son in 714 was followed a few
months later by the death of Pepin himself. Pepin left as heirs three grandsons,
and until they came of age, Plectrude, Pepin's widow, was to hold power. As an illegitimate
son, Charles Martel was entirely neglected in the will. But he was young, strong,
and determined, and an intense struggle for power at once broke out in the Frankish
kingdom.
Both Charles and Plectrude faced rebellion throughout the Frankish
kingdom when Pepin's will was made known. The king, Chilperic II, was in the power
of Ragenfrid, mayor of the palace of Neustria, who joined forces with the Frisians
in Holland in order to eliminate Charles. Plectrude imprisoned Charles and tried
to govern in the name of her grandchildren, but Charles escaped, gathered an army,
and defeated the Neustrians in battles at Amblève near Liège (716) and at Vincy near
Cambrai (717). His success made resistance by Plectrude and the Austrasians useless;
they submitted, and by 719 Charles alone governed the Franks as mayor.
Assured
of Austrasia, Charles now attacked Neustria itself, finally subduing it in 724. This
freed Charles to deal with hostile elements elsewhere. He attacked Aquitaine, whose
ruler, Eudes (Odo), had been an ally of Ragenfrid, but Charles did not gain effective
control of southern France until late in his reign. He also conducted long campaigns,
some as late as the 730s, against the Frisians, Saxons, and Bavarians, whose brigandage
endangered the eastern frontiers of his kingdom. In order to consolidate his military
gains, Charles supported St. Boniface and other missionaries in their efforts to
convert the German tribes on the eastern frontier to Christianity.
Ever since
their arrival in Spain from Africa in 711, the Muslims had raided Frankish territory,
threatening Gaul and on one occasion (725) reaching Burgundy and sacking Autun. In
732 'Abd ar-Rahman, the governor of Córdoba, marched into Bordeaux and defeated Eudes.
The Muslims then proceeded north across Aquitaine to the city of Poitiers. Eudes
appealed to Charles for assistance, and Charles' cavalry managed to turn back the
Muslim onslaught at the Battle of Poitiers. The battle itself may have been only
a series of small engagements, but after it there were no more great Muslim invasions
of Frankish territory.
In 733 Charles began his campaigns to force Burgundy to
yield to his rule. In 735 word arrived that Eudes was dead, and Charles marched rapidly
across the Loire River in order to make his power felt around Bordeaux. By 739 he
had completely subdued the petty chieftains of Burgundy, and he continued to fend
off Muslim advances into Gaul during the decade.
Charles' health began to fail
in the late 730s, and in 741 he retired to his palace at Quierzy-sur-Oise, where
he died soon after. Before his death he divided the Merovingian kingdom between his
two legitimate sons, Pepin and Carloman. He continued to maintain the fiction of
Merovingian rule, refraining from transferring the royal title to his own dynasty.
Copyright 1994-1998 Encyclopaedia Britannica
notes or source:
The
Paternal Ancestry of Homer Beers James
http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/f/o/n/Emmett-W-Fontaine/GENE20-0004.html