Yazid, the successor of Omar, replaced Al-Haur by As-Sama ben Malik [or Assan], 721 A.D. At the head of a considerable force, he passed the Pyrenees, took Carcassonne, reduced Narbonne, and laid siege to Toulouse, which made a noble resistance until Eudes, duke of Aquitaine, hastened to its relief. A bloody battle was fought under the walls of that city, fatal to the hopes of the Moslems. Their emir, their sheikhs, and many thousands of their number, were left on the field; perhaps few would have escaped, but for the courageous address of Abd ar-Rahman, the lieutenant of the deceased chief, who rallied the remains of the troops, and safely effected a retreat to Narbonne.
The grateful remnant immediately invested Abd ar-Rahman ben Abdallah with the government of Spain; and the election was confirmed by the emir of Africa. But Ambasa succeeded, by criminal intrigues, in procuring the deposition of this favourite chief and his own nomination. Carcassonne and Nîmes vainly attempted to resist him. In the midst of his success, however, death surprised him; and, at his own request, Odsra ben Abdallah was permitted to succeed him, but was speedily replaced by Yahya ben Salma. So loud, however, were the complaints that the African emir was obliged to depose him, and to nominate in his room Othman ben Abi Neza, better known to the readers both of history and romance as Manuza. But in a very few months this emir was replaced by another; and the latter was as summarily removed to make way for the Syrian Al-Haitam ben Obaid. At the end of two months, Abd ar-Rahman, the predecessor of Ambasa, was again invested with the viceregal dignity—an appointment which gave the highest satisfaction to the country.
THE INVASION OF FRANCE
[722-732 A.D.]
This celebrated emir commenced his second administration by distributing justice so impartially, that the professors of neither faith could find reason to complain. But these cares could not long divert him from the great design he had formed—that of invading the whole of Gaul. Though the Arabic historians conceal the extent of the preparations, for the natural purpose of palliating the disgrace of failure, there can be no doubt that those preparations were on an immense scale; that the true believers flocked to the white standard[39] from the farthest parts of the caliph’s dominions; and that the whole Mohammedan world contemplated the expedition with intense anxiety.
Just before the Mussulman army commenced its march, Othman, who still continued at his station in Gothic Gaul, very near to the Pyrenees, received orders to lay waste the province of Aquitaine. But Othman, or Manuza, was in no disposition to execute the order; he had seen with envy Abd ar-Rahman preferred to himself; and his marriage with one of the daughters of Eudes, duke of Aquitaine, whom he passionately loved, rendered him more eager to cultivate the friendship than to incur the hostility of the Franks. In this perplexity, Othman acquainted Eudes with the meditated assault, and thereby enabled that chief to meet it. Abd ar-Rahman instantly despatched a select body of troops under one of his confidential generals, to watch the movements, and, if necessary, to punish the treason, of Othman, who, with his beautiful princess, sought for safety in flight. He was overtaken in the Pyrenees, while resting during the heat of the day beside a fountain. His head was sent to the emir, and his bride to end her days in the harem of Damascus.
Abd ar-Rahman now commenced his momentous march, in the hope of carrying the banner of the prophet to the very shores of the Baltic. His progress spread dismay throughout Europe; and well it might, for so formidable and destructive an armament Europe had not seen since the days of Attila. Conflagrations, ruins, the shrieks of violated chastity, and the groans of the dying, rendered this memorable invasion more like the work of a demon than of a man. The flourishing towns of southern and central France, from Gascony to Burgundy, and from the Garonne to the Loire, were soon transformed into smoking heaps. In vain did Eudes strive to arrest the overpowering torrent, by disputing the passage of the Dordogne; his army was swept before it, and he himself was compelled to become a suppliant to his enemy the mayor of the Franks. That celebrated hero, Charles Martel, whose actions, administration, and numerous victories commanded the just admiration of the times, was no less anxious to become the saviour of Christendom; but he knew too well the magnitude of the danger to meet it by premature efforts; and he silently collected in Belgium and in Germany the elements of resistance to the dreaded inundation. When his measures were taken, he boldly advanced at the head of his combined Franks, Belgians, Germans, etc., towards the enemy, who had just reduced Tours, and who was soon drawn up to receive him in the extended plain between that city and Poitiers. After six days’ skirmishing, both advanced to the shock. The contest was long and bloody; the utmost valour was displayed by the two armies, and the utmost ability by the two captains; but in the end, the impenetrable ranks, robust frames, and iron hands of the Germans turned the fortune of the day. When darkness arrived, an immense number of Saracen bodies, among which was that of Abd ar-Rahman himself, covered the plain. Still the misbelievers were formidable alike from their numbers and from their possible despair; and the victors remained in their tents, under arms, during the night. At break of day they prepared to renew the struggle; the white tents of the Arabs, extending as far as the eye could reach, appeared before them, but not a living creature came out to meet them. It was at length discovered that the enemy had abandoned their camp, their own wealth, and the immense plunder they had amassed; and had silently, though precipitately, withdrawn from the field. Christendom was saved; pope and monk, prince and peasant, in an ecstasy of grateful devotion, hastened to the churches, to thank heaven for a victory which, however dearly it had been purchased by the true servants of God, had inflicted so signal a blow on the misbelievers, that their return was no longer dreaded.
A French Soldier of the Eighth Century
This far-famed victory, which was obtained in the year 732, spread consternation throughout the whole Mohammedan world. Fortunately for Christendom, the domestic quarrels of the Mussulmans themselves, the fierce struggles of their chiefs for the seat of the prophet, prevented them from universally arming to vindicate their faith and their martial reputation. Abdul-Malik ben Khotan was nominated by the African emir to succeed Abd ar-Rahman and to revenge the late disasters. The emir passed the Pyrenees; but a complete panic seemed to have seized on his followers, who soon retreated, but were pursued and destroyed. He was superseded by Okba ben al-Hajjaj. Feeling his mind and body alike exhausted by his harassing duties, he applied to the caliph for the restoration of Abdul-Malik.