October 10th in History

This Day in History:
A Battle for the Fate of the World, October 10, 732

T

he Muslims had numbers on their side -- three times the force of the Franks. Even with all the fighting men of both Neustria and Austrasia, and the allies from Burgundy and the survivors of Aquitaine, Karl had at his command no more than 30,000 men. Armed peasants and freemen were on foot, and Frankish nobles and their house cavalry were mounted but ready to dismount

and form a shield wall with their foot soldiers when needed. The Franks looked on the forest of Andalusian spears and flags across the field; but the Andalusians looked on the grim lines of Frankish spear men, forming the iron-mailed shield walls that had been the Germanic battle formation from the time of the migrations. Were the Franks so far from their Germanic roots that they no longer remembered the Theory of Courage, the necessity of holding the line even in the face of expected defeat? The Andalusian emir hoped so...."

Finish the exciting story here.

(This is an excerpt from a high school history text the Catholic Textbook Project currently has in production. The text was written by our founding general editor, the late Dr. Rollin A. Lasseter.)

Historical Trivia: Karl Martellus (Charles Martel) was Charlemagne's grandfather.

Other Resources:
Charles Martel coloring page.
"Charles Martel" from European Hero Stories by Eva March Tappan
"Tours" from the Boys Book of Battles by Eric Wood
The Hammer of Gaul: The Story of Charles Martel by Shane Miller (out-of-print, check library)