Part 1: The Fall of the Hammer
Hey AH.com! This is my first attempt at a timeline, so I'm looking for feedback on pretty much everything.
Part 1: The Hammer Falls
On October 10, 732 a band of Arab and Berber raiders lead by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi clashed with Frankish and Aquitanian troops in western Gaul. The veteran army of Charles Martel, Majordomo of Francia, initially held its ground despite being outnumbered. Repeated cavalry charges however broke the Frankish line, and Charles Martel met his end under the hooves of the Arabs' horses. With their leader dead, the Frankish army broke and retreated. The Aquitanian commander, Odo, managed to escape but would die of natural causes by the year's end.
(So, here's the PoD for the timeline. From what I can gather, it seems that Charles Martel came close to being killed by Umayyad troops during the Battle of Tours. So just changing a few sword swings and arrows alters the battle considerably. Now the fun begins...)
Martel's death had immediate consequences for the Franks. The unstable mass that had been Martel's dominion splintered quickly. In what is known as the Year of Four Rebellions, the Frankish kingdom experienced precisely that. In the north the Frisians, led by Poppo, declared their independence. In the south the Patrician of Provence, Maurontius, did the same. In the west the son of the late Duke Odo, Hunald, attempted to assert Aquitanian independence, while in the east Hugbert of Bavaria made plans to reclaim the territory he had lost to Martel in past decades.
At the same time, the Franks were threatened by outside forces and internal power struggles. Saxon, Avar and Arab raiders pillaged the countryside and pestered the cities, and a civil war was brewing between Pepin and Carloman, Martel's sons. The two young men were also at the center of plots by lesser nobles unhappy with the growing influence of the Pepinids, and on May 5, 733, Carloman died of mysterious circumstances.
The Franks however, did not exist in a vacuum. In the Iberian and Italian peninsulas, events were in motion that would forever change Europe...
Coming up next: The conclusion of the Frankish Civil War and Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi's super happy fun adventure in Gaul!
Part 1: The Hammer Falls
On October 10, 732 a band of Arab and Berber raiders lead by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi clashed with Frankish and Aquitanian troops in western Gaul. The veteran army of Charles Martel, Majordomo of Francia, initially held its ground despite being outnumbered. Repeated cavalry charges however broke the Frankish line, and Charles Martel met his end under the hooves of the Arabs' horses. With their leader dead, the Frankish army broke and retreated. The Aquitanian commander, Odo, managed to escape but would die of natural causes by the year's end.
(So, here's the PoD for the timeline. From what I can gather, it seems that Charles Martel came close to being killed by Umayyad troops during the Battle of Tours. So just changing a few sword swings and arrows alters the battle considerably. Now the fun begins...)
Martel's death had immediate consequences for the Franks. The unstable mass that had been Martel's dominion splintered quickly. In what is known as the Year of Four Rebellions, the Frankish kingdom experienced precisely that. In the north the Frisians, led by Poppo, declared their independence. In the south the Patrician of Provence, Maurontius, did the same. In the west the son of the late Duke Odo, Hunald, attempted to assert Aquitanian independence, while in the east Hugbert of Bavaria made plans to reclaim the territory he had lost to Martel in past decades.
At the same time, the Franks were threatened by outside forces and internal power struggles. Saxon, Avar and Arab raiders pillaged the countryside and pestered the cities, and a civil war was brewing between Pepin and Carloman, Martel's sons. The two young men were also at the center of plots by lesser nobles unhappy with the growing influence of the Pepinids, and on May 5, 733, Carloman died of mysterious circumstances.
The Franks however, did not exist in a vacuum. In the Iberian and Italian peninsulas, events were in motion that would forever change Europe...
Coming up next: The conclusion of the Frankish Civil War and Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi's super happy fun adventure in Gaul!
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