Umayyad invasion of Gaul

The Umayyads invaded Gaul, which is modern-day France, after they had taken control of the Iberian peninsula from 711 to 718. The invasion happened in two main times, starting in the year 719 and then again in 732. The Umayyads managed to control a place called Septimania in the south, but their tries to go further north into areas like the Loire and Rhône valleys did not succeed. By the year 759, the Christian Frankish Empire took back Septimania, and the Muslim forces went back to the Iberian Peninsula, which they called al-Andalus.

The invasion in 719 was part of the Umayyads' taking over the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania. Septimania was the last part of the Visigothic Kingdom that had not been taken. Muslim armies, made up of Arabs and Berbers, started campaigns in Septimania in 719. After they took Narbonne, the main city of the remaining Visigothic area, in 720, they moved north towards Aquitaine. Their advance was stopped at the Battle of Toulouse in 721, but they still did raids in the southern half of Gaul, reaching as far as Avignon and Lyon.

A big raid by the Umayyads towards Tours was defeated in the Battle of Tours in 732. After this battle, the Franks started to control Aquitaine and Burgundy, but it was not until 759 that they took the southern area of Septimania. This happened because the Muslim leaders were not paying much attention and people in the Visigothic area were not happy.

After the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate and the start of the Abbasid Caliphate in 750, there were inner problems in al-Andalus, such as uprisings and the making of the Emirate of Córdoba by Abd al-Rahman I. Because of this, the Muslim leaders focused more on fixing their own areas. Still, they did send out some soldiers to go into Gaul from time to time. Some of these raids led to small Muslim places being set up in far-off areas, but these were not part of the emirate's control and soon disappeared from history.

In the ninth century, a Muslim attack on Gaul led to the building of a place called Fraxinetum in Provence. This fortress stayed there for almost 100 years.

Umayyad conquest of Septimania

By 716, the Kingdom of the Visigoths had shrunk to just the area around Narbonensis, which is now part of Languedoc-Roussillon. In 717, leaders from a faraway place called the Umayyad Caliphate crossed the mountains into this area for the first time. Over the next few years, they worked to take control of the land.

The new leader from the Umayyad Caliphate, al-Samh, entered the area in 719 and took over the city of Narbonne in 720. Even though they faced some battles, like the Battle of Toulouse (721), they kept a strong hold on Narbonne and other cities. They made agreements with local leaders, offering them some freedom if they paid taxes and recognized the Umayyad rulers. Many local leaders agreed to these terms, hoping it was better than fighting or being taken over by other nearby groups.

Raid into Aquitaine and Poitou

Uthman ibn Naissa's revolt

By 725, all of Septimania was under Umayyad rule. Uthman ibn Naissa, the ruler of the eastern Pyrenees, broke away from Cordova and created his own small kingdom. He allied with the Aquitanian duke Odo, who wanted to secure his borders, and married Odo's daughter. Uthman then killed Nambaudus, the bishop of Urgell, an official acting on the orders of the Church of Toledo.

The new Umayyad governor in Cordova, Abd al-Rahman al-Ghafiqi, led an expedition to stop Uthman's actions. Uthman was surrounded and killed in Cerdanya.

Umayyad expedition over Aquitaine

Encouraged by his success, Al-Ghafiqi attacked Uthman's ally, Duke Odo of Aquitaine. Odo had recently faced a big attack from Charles Martel on Bourges and northern Aquitaine. Despite this, Odo gathered soldiers and fought Al-Ghafiqi's forces as they moved north through the western Pyrenees. Odo was defeated at the Battle of the River Garonne in 732. The Umayyad force then moved north to invade Poitou and tried to take the Basilica of Saint-Martin-de-Tours.

Battle of Tours (732)

Odo warned the Frankish commander Charles Martel about the danger to the important Frankish city of Tours. Umayyad forces were defeated in the Battle of Tours in 732, which many consider a key moment that stopped further expansion into Gaul. After Odo died in 735 and Charles Martel dealt with other areas like Burgundy and the Mediterranean south of Gaul, the Umayyad threats in this region ended.

Expansion to Provence and Charles Martel

In 734, forces led by Abd el-Malik el Fihri, who followed Abd al-Rahman, took control of cities such as Avignon, Arles, and likely Marseille. These cities were ruled by a local leader named Maurontus, who asked for help from these forces to protect against Charles Martel's strong army.

Charles Martel faced challenges from local leaders who did not support him. He worked with the Lombard King Liutprand to fight back against these forces and local nobles. In 737, Charles destroyed Avignon and a fleet, but his brother Childebrand could not capture Narbonne. Charles also attacked and destroyed walls in cities like Beziers, Agde, Maguelone, Montpellier, and Nîmes that had worked with the invaders. Before leaving, Charles defeated all opposition in the area, and Count Maurontus of Marseille fled to the Alps.

Muslim loss of Septimania

The Muslim leaders kept control of Septimania for about 15 years. However, they began to focus more on problems within their own lands after their main government fell in 750. In 752, the new Frankish king Pepin, the son of Charles, decided to attack Septimania. He took advantage of the Muslim leaders’ problems and the unhappiness of local nobles. That year, Pepin captured Nimes and moved to take most of Septimania, reaching the gates of Narbonne.

Pepin faced opposition from Waiffer, the Duke of Aquitaine. Waiffer attacked Pepin’s troops with Basque soldiers during the siege of Narbonne. Eventually, Pepin succeeded in taking Narbonne in 759 by promising to follow local laws and gaining support from the nobles. This ended Muslim control in southern Gaul. Pepin then turned his attention to the Duchy of Aquitaine.

Later, Pepin’s son, Charlemagne, worked to expand the Frankish Empire beyond Septimania and the Pyrenees. He created a protected area called the Spanish March as a buffer between the Frankish lands and the Muslim rulers. Over time, this area, together with the Kingdom of Asturias, helped support the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula.

Controversial Issues

Some historians have talked about the damage done during the time when Muslim forces moved through parts of France. They said that many important Christian places like monasteries and churches were destroyed. But others disagree. They point out that this was a time of much conflict, with Christian groups also fighting among themselves and causing damage. Even leaders like Clovis, a famous Frankish king, destroyed churches and monasteries in fights.

There are also different ideas about how the local people reacted to the Muslim forces. Some say the people did not welcome them, except for a few who had no strong beliefs or ties to a homeland. Others argue that many people in these areas were not yet strong Christians and did not feel a deep connection to the land. Some even suggest that Roman people in the area saw the Muslim forces as protection from the Franks, whom they did not trust or respect.

Legacy

Some words in French today come from Arabic. For example, the word tordjman, meaning translator, changed into drogoman in the old language of Provence. Another word, charaha, meaning to discuss, turned into "charabia." Certain place names also have Arabic origins, like Ramatuelle and Saint-Pierre de l'Almanarre, which was named after a lighthouse called al-manar.