Battle of Toulouse (721) - Aftermath: The Battle of Tours

Aftermath: The Battle of Tours

After the defeat, some Muslim officials and soldiers managed to escape, among them Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi. However, the clash halted indefinitely the Umayyad expansion northwards. Al-Andalus was at the time rife with inter-Ethnic disputes for power and reorganising into a new after-Gothic order. The Muslims kept the military initiative raiding several times the south of Gaul (up to Autun in 725). In 730, Odo decided to strike a deal with the lord of Berber-stock Uthman ibn Naissa, established in Cerretanya (maybe Catalonia), and gave his daughter Lampegia in marriage to him in order to secure the southern border of the duchy from further attacks and focus on the northern borders.

When Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi became governor of Al-Andalus in 730 he rebuilt the army, again raising levies from North Africa, Yemen, and Syria, and attacked and killed Uthman ibn Naissa. Reinforced, the new governor decided to invade Gaul in strength in 732. This time Odo tried to stop him in a bloody massacre at Bordeaux, but was defeated, and Bordeaux was plundered. The slaughter of the Aquitanian troops at the Battle of the River Garonne was evidently horrific; Isidorus Pacensis commented that "solus Deus numerum morientium vel pereuntium recognoscat", 'God alone knows the number of the slain' (Chronicon). The Muslim horsemen then utterly devastated that portion of Gaul, their own histories saying the "faithful pierced through the mountains, tramples over rough and level ground, plunders far into the country of the Franks, and smites all with the sword, insomuch that when Odo came to battle with them at the River Garonne, and fled." Odo appealed to the Franks for assistance, which Charles Martel only granted after he agreed to submit to Frankish authority.

Some historians believe that the Battle of Toulouse halted the Muslim conquest of Europe even more than the later—and more celebrated—Battle of Tours (October 10, 732, between Tours and Poitiers), but this is highly problematic: for even had the Arabs won at Toulouse, they still would have had to conquer the Franks to retain control of the region. However, nearly all historians agree that the Christian victory at Toulouse was important in a macrohistorical sense: it gave Charles Martel badly needed time to strengthen his grip on power and build the veteran army which stood him in such good stead eleven years later at Tours. Edward Gibbon and other historians believe that Charles Martel was well aware of the growing storm from Muslim Spain and his primary focus in the decade between the battles of Toulouse and Tours was to prepare for the latter.

Charles Martel's controversial seizure of church property to buy supporters, secure power, and settle his northern frontier by any means necessary (including bribery in some cases) allowed him to fund his army and, according to some historians, prepare for the coming danger. This earned great enmity from the Church at the time, but after Tours, Rome swiftly saw the necessity of the Frankish Army. The eleven years between Toulouse and Tours without question gave him time to fully secure power, inspire the loyalty of his troops, and, most importantly, drill the core of veterans who stood so stoutly in 732.

While Odo faded into history after his horrific defeat at Bordeaux, the Battle of Toulouse carries macrohistorical importance as it bought time for Martel to prepare for the greater invasion mounted by Abd al Rahman in 732. However, others (e.g. Archibald Lewis, etc.) assume that Muslim attacks were raids or razzias, like the one reaching as far north as Autun in 725 and not real attempts to conquer Francia. Charles Martel was according to the Fredegar engaged in the consolidation of power north of the Loire and fighting the Frisians. Ironically, while Odo is forgotten, Martel became in later times hailed as the savior of Europe, and of the Church itself. While both are debatable, these events and Martel's later campaigns against the Muslims in 736-7 almost certainly assured the development of Europe and of the Roman Catholic Church as we know them today.