Battle of Narbonne (737) - Retreat

Retreat

Charles may have been able to take Narbonne had he been willing to commit his army and full resources for an indefinite siege, but he was not willing or able to do so. Probably he found that the duke of Aquitaine Hunald was threatening his line of communication with the north. Furthermore, Maurontius, patrician of Provence, from his unconquered city of Marseille, raised a revolt against him from the rear. The Frankish leader may have considered accomplished his primary goals by destroying the Arab armies, and leaving the remaining Arabs confined to Narbonne. On his way back out of the region of Septimania, his army destroyed a string of cities and strongholds (Avignon, etc.) that failed to support him against the Muslims.

A second expedition was needed later that year to regain control of Provence after Arab forces returned. According to Paul the Deacon's Historia gentis Langobardorum the Arabs retreated when they learned that Martel had formed an alliance with the Lombards, leaving the allied forces too strong for the relief force from Al-Andalus to meet in open battle. Martel's remaining years - he had only four to live - were spent setting up and strengthening the administrative structure that became the Carolingian Empire, and the feudal state that would persist through the Dark Ages. His son would return in 752 and finish his father's work by taking Narbonne and driving the Emirate of Córdoba back over the Pyrenees.