Today is Charles Martel Day

Infidel Bloggers Alliance ^ | October 25, 2011 | Pastorius

[CharlesMartelsGhost]

October 25, 732, Charles Martel beat back an invading Muslim army at the Battle of Tours, also known as the Battle of Poitiers.

A Muslim army, in a crusading search for land and the end of Christianity, after the conquest of Syria, Egypt, and North Africa, began to invade Western Europe under the leadership of Abd-er Rahman, governor of Spain. Abd-er Rahman led an infantry of 60,000 to 400,000 soldiers across the Western Pyrenees and toward the Loire River, but they were met just outside the city of Tours by Charles Martel, known as the Hammer, and the Frankish Army.

...

The French army displayed great ardency in withstanding the ferocious attack. It was one of the rare times in the Middle Ages when infantry held its ground against a mounted attack. The exact length of the battle is undetermined; Arab sources claim that it was a two day battle whereas Christian sources hold that the fighting clamored on for seven days. In either case, the battle ended when the French captured and killed Abd-er Rahman. The Moslem army withdrew peacefully overnight and even though Martel expected a surprise retaliation, there was none. For the Moslems, the death of their leader caused a sharp setback and they had no choice but to retreat back across the Pyrenees, never to return again.

[Bigg Red]

Thanks for posting this.

May the spirit of those brave Christians infuse us and help us to defeat the savages.

[Rinnwald]

I see they’re doing some “Texas Heart Shots” on the horses. LOL.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

“Greetings, Distant Cousin(s)
I have him on both sides of the family tree.
Not sure whether to be proud or to cringe. LOL”

Hey, cousin,

I was just about to send you greetings too.

The Hammer and we are related only on one side of the family. My family goes down through Pepin the Short and Charlemagne.

Don’t cringe. I am extremely proud to be descendent of such a wonder fearless, noble, intelligent warrior who to this day is known worldwide.

We did it. Our grandfather cleaned out Europe.

My love to you, cousin.

[SES1066]

FYI - Charles Martel’s hammer was almost certainly not a 12oz one!

As for being a descendant of Charles Martel, the most famous linkage is to his even more famous grandson, Charles the Great aka Charlemange. Given a computation of a generation every 30 years, back to 800 is 40 generations or 2^40 which basically translates to if you have a single ancestry linkage to western Europe and you can get a noticeable sunburn, say hi to g-g-g-g-g-g-g-...grandpappy.

[jmaroneps37]

The original HAMMER! He slaughter the bastards and saved Europe from being completely overrun by Islamists pigs.

[driftless2]

My step-daughter did some genealogy research and found out one my ancestors came over with William the Conqueror in 1066. I expect to leave for Britain in a few days and claim half the country.

[combat_boots]

Good job! Tell your Step-daughter she gets an “attagirl”

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

Dont forget to apply for your Social Security before you leave !!
No bother ,... it’s in the mail now !

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

I am not sure there are enough Welsh long-bow archers right now ,
but we can use all the help that they can spare !

[CARDINALRULES]

So does mine. Wonder how far down the line it is the same.

*
Thanks to other lines of the family that did the work and posted online, I know more about my dad’s side than my mom’s.

[driftless2]

I’m going to give her a castle in Scotland. And my Jimmy hat.

[Cap'n Crunch]

A toast to the great Charles Martel! We could sure use him today.

[kitchen]

Hey, if you're buying, I'll have a bit of the Martell Cordon Bleu for a toast!

[Viennacon]

Martel watches over us as we rid our land of a certain Muslim usurper.

[Charles Martel]

Oh, that’s good stuff. In fact, I have a bottle of it tucked away. I may have good reason to uncork it in early November.

[LonePalm]

I hope you have very good records because there were several genealogical breaks in the line of the French kings.

The big one was the break between Louis V and Hugh Capet which marked the break between the Carolingian and Capetian Dynasties.

There were also breaks between Charles III and Robert and between Rudolf and Louis IV.

Hugh Capet is as far as I have been able to take any of my family's French lines. My connection in is through Catherine, the daughter of Charles VI who married Henry V after Agincourt. I am descended through her second marriage to Owen Tudor. It is likely I had family on both sides of that battle.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[MrsEmmaPeel]

Since the Julian calendar was in use at the time, the anniversary is actually November 1.

I disagree. This is a case where we remember the date, not the translated version of the date. For example, Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March, (March 15) which was also the 15th day into the Roman Spring. Julius recalibrated the calendar so that spring occurred on March 1. Due to calendar drift, we see spring now as March 21, but we don't remember the Ides as a date 15 days past March 21, we remember it as March 15.

[ops33]

Charlemagne had 18 children. I read somewhere that half the population of western Europe is descended from him.

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks CharlesMartelsGhost. From yesterday, October 25. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.