The siege of Avignon, in which

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

forces led by

Charles Martel Charles Martel ( – 22 October 741) was a Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death. He was a son of the Frankish statesm ...

beat the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

garrison of Avignon and destroyed the stronghold, was contested in 737.

Contemporary view

Arabs had occupied the city of Avignon in 734, after it had been surrendered to

Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri ( ar, يوسف بن عبد الرحمن الفهري) was an Umayyad governor of Narbonne in Septimania and the governor of al-Andalus from 747 to 756, ruling independently following the collapse of the Umayyad ...

governor of

Narbonne Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the ...

, by Duke

Maurontus Maurontus was the Duke or Patrician of Provence in the early 8th century (720s and 730s). He aspired to independence in the face of Charles Martel, Duke of the Franks, and the Provençal patrician Abbo. Maurontus appeared in the ''Chronicle of ...

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...

. According to the '' Continuations of Fredegar'', Maurontus probably invited Yusuf into the city after forming an alliance with him against Martel. The ''

Chronicle of Moissac The ''Chronicle of Moissac'' (also known as ''Chronicon Moissiacense'') is an anonymous compilation that was discovered in the abbey of Moissac, but is now thought to have been compiled in the Catalan monastery of Ripoll in the end of the tenth c ...

'' confirms that Yusuf's forces moved peacefully from Arab-held Septimania into

and entered Avignon without a fight. In reaction, Martel sent his brother Duke Childebrand south in 736, accompanied by fellow dukes and counts. Childebrand laid siege to Avignon and held the field until his brother was ready to storm the city. Martel's forces used rope ladders and battering rams to attack the walls of Avignon, which was burned to the ground following its capture. The army then crossed the Rhône River into Septimania in order to lay siege to Narbonne. This siege was part of the campaigns of 736-737 during which Charles Martel for the second time engaged Arab armies from

Al-Andalus Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the M ...

beyond the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

. Unlike the invasion of 732-733, the Arabs came this time by sea. Notable at these battles was the use of heavy cavalry in addition to Martel's vaunted veteran Frankish infantry. Though he had some catapults, the city of Avignon was largely taken by a simple, brutal, frontal assault using

rams In engineering, RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety)Dark Ages and

Medieval Europe In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, has argued that these events were as important macrohistorically as Martel's victory at the

Battle of Tours The Battle of Tours, also called the Battle of Poitiers and, by Arab sources, the Battle of tiles of Martyrs ( ar, معركة بلاط الشهداء, Maʿrakat Balāṭ ash-Shuhadā'), was fought on 10 October 732, and was an important battle ...

. The campaigns, which ended with the complete destruction of a large Arab force, attempting to relieve Narbonne, at the

Battle of the River Berre At the Battle of the River Berre in 737 Frankish forces under the command of Charles Martel intercepted a sizeable Arab force sent from Al-Andalus and led by Uqba ibn al-Hayyay to relieve the siege of Narbonne. The battle, which took place at the ...

in 737, crushed any hope of expansion while the

Caliphate was still united, before the Battle of the Zab, at which the Umayyads were defeated by their

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

rivals. In Paul Fouracre's account, however, both the extent and the importance of Martel's victories are said to have been greatly exaggerated by Paul the Deacon and the ''Continuations of Fredegar'' in which Martel came to be depicted as the progenitor of later Frankish success and the Franks as "God's people". Other historians point to Charles' interests in the region, who in 736 had just occupied the Lyonnais and the Middle Rhone, and may have seen his newly conquered Burgundy in danger. At any rate, it seems apparent that the local magnates of Provence, ruling semi-autonomously, saw the impending danger coming from the north, and may have in turn called in the Muslim forces from bordering Septimania.

References

{{coord, 43.9500, N, 4.8167, E, source:wikidata, display=title 737 Avignon 737 Avignon 737 Avignon Islam in France Avignon 8th century in Francia 730s in the Umayyad Caliphate