65 2 
FRA 
Franks ; but from this moment, (lie adminiftration was 
abfo'utely veiled in the mayors- of the palace; and the 
obfcure names of fucce'fli-ve Merovingian princes, whole 
treble characters are defcribed by the epithet faineants, 
lazy, have almoft eluded the refeatches of the hiftorian. 
One competitor ttill rejected the authority, and oppofed 
the arms of Charles; and Rainfroy, who had been ap¬ 
pointed by Dagobert the mayor of the palace, obtained 
from his vigorous defence an advantageous treaty with 
the peaceable enjoftanent of the country of Anjou. The 
indefatigable efforts of Charles had no foOner triumphed 
over domettic foes than.he prepared to encounter the fo¬ 
reign enemies of the ttate. His life was fuccefsfully and 
incelFantly exercifed in the cabinet and the field ; the 
Suevians and Fiifons were vanquilhed ; the haughty fpi- 
l'it of the Alemanni was broken by reiterated victories; 
twice Ire baffled the perfidious enterprifes of Elides, and 
by the invalionof Aquitain, in 731, taught him in future 
to obferve the faith lie had pledged. The dittrels of 
that prince foon fumrr.oned Charles to his relief; and the 
duke of ihe Franks, in the defence of the Chriftian faith, 
prepared to ereCt a noble monument to his own glory. 
In the rapid growth of little more than a century, the 
religion of Mahomet had over-fhadowed the provinces of 
the eaft ; the victorious Saracens had penetrated into Eu¬ 
rope, occupied Spain, patted the Pyrenees, and appeared 
under the walls of Thouloufe. Near that city, in an ob- 
ttinate engagement with Eudes, the lieutenant of the ca¬ 
liph loft his life and army : but the faithful were not dif- 
mayed by adverlity ; the barrier of the Pyrenees was once 
more burft; the foufh of France fubmitted to the reli¬ 
gion of Arabia; and Eudes, defeated by Abderame, the 
leader of the Saracens, was reduced to folicit the protec-- 
tion and afiifiance of the duke of the Franks. The forces 
of the confederates were commanded by Charles and 
Eudes, between Tours and Poitiers. During fix days of 
defultory combat, tiie archers and horfemen of the eaft 
maintained their wonted fuperiority ; but on the feventh, 
the hoft of the Saracens was oppreffed by the robuft ftature 
and nervous courage of the warriors of the weft. On that 
memorable occafion, A. D. 732, the weighty ftrokes of 
Charles firft acquired him the furname of Martel, the 
Hammer; the bloody field was ftrewed with Abderame 
himfelf; and, if we credit the monkilh writers, three 
hundred and feventy-five thoufand Mahometans. But 
though this number is, doubtlefs, exaggerated, the vic¬ 
tory was complete; the chiefs of the Saracens, amidft the 
terror of the night, provided each for his feparate lafety; 
and Aquitain was recovered by the arms of Eudes. 
A fecond irruption of the Saracens into Provence foon 
revived the laurels of the invincible Martel, who, in a 
decifive battle, htimbied the Frifons, and flew their duke 
with his own hand. On the death of Eudes, Charles 
granted Aquitain to Hunalde, the fon of that prince, re- 
lerving to himfelf the claim of homage without mention¬ 
ing Thieri, who had fucceeded to Chilperic as titular mo¬ 
narch, and who expired foon after. The ambitious mayor 
of the palace no longer deigned to conceal his authority 
beneath the function of the Merovingian name, and with¬ 
out appointing any fucceftor to Thieri, rilled the empire 
of France with abfolute power. His weighty mediation 
with the Lombards engaged the gratitude of pope Gre¬ 
gory the Third ; and the Roman pontiff' fent him the 
keys of the tomb of St. Peter, offered to fhake off his de¬ 
pendence on the emperor, and to proclaim Charles con- 
lul of Rome; but while the duke of the Franks favour¬ 
ably regarded and encouraged this negociation, the per- 
fons mod interefted in it, pope Gregory the Third, Leo 
the Third emperor of the eaft, and Charles Martel him¬ 
felf, within a few fucceffive months, expired. On the 
twenty-fecond of October, 741, after an uninterrupted 
career of profperity, during an adminiftration of twenty- 
two years from the battle of Cambray, Charles Martel 
breathed his laft, in the fiftieth year of his age. 
In an affembly of the nobles, a fliort time previous to 
N C E. 
his death, Charles aftigned to his eldeft fon, Carloman,, 
Auftrafia ; and to his fecond fon, Pepin, furnamed the- 
Short, Neuftria and Burgundy ; to a third fon, the ilfue of 
a fecond marriage, he only allotted fome lands in France 3 
wherefore the refentment of Grippon foon difturbed the 
tranquillity of his brothers. With the aid of his mother 
Sonnechilde he occupied the city of Laon, and furrendered 
not till he had endured aclofeand vigorous fiege. Sonne¬ 
childe was by the vicLors difmiffed to a convent ; and 
Grippon was confined in a caftle in the foreft of Arden. 
The prejudice which might have attended the divifion 
of the empire, was averted by the entire harmony which 
prevailed between Carloman and Pepin. To reftrain the 
turbulent difpofition of the nobles, Pepin, in 742, re- 
flored Childeric, the fon of Thieri,’ to the regal title ; 
but Carloman, though he affented to the propriety of 
this meafure in Neuftria and Burgundy, ruled Auftrafia,. 
which he confidered as hereditary in his family, with in¬ 
dependent authority : the intrigues of their mother-in- 
law foon compelled the two brothers to vindicate their 
different titles by arms: that enterprifmg woman had ne- 
gociated a marriage between Hiltrude, the filter of Carlo- 
man and Pepin, and Odilon the duke of Bavaria. The 
Bavarian, inftigated by Sonnechilde, and alarmed at the 
growing power of the fons of Martel, formed a confede¬ 
racy with Theodebald duke of the Alemanni, and Theo- 
doric duke of the Saxons ; a formidable army was alfem- 
bled, and the allies, to cover their country and protetl 
their camp, cautiouffy polled themfelves with the river 
Lech in their front. Carloman and Pepin were not igno¬ 
rant of their danger, nor unacquainted with the deligns 
of tiie confederates at the head of the Franks they ad- 
vanced towards tl>e enemy, paffed the river at different 
fords in the filent hour of night, and at the fame moment 
attacked the camp of the allies, A. D. 743. During five 
hours the action was maintained with perlevering valour; 
but at length the entrenchments were forced on every 
fide ; the dominions of the Bavarians and Saxons were 
delivered up to the plunder of the victorious foldiers 3 
and the dukes gladly embraced the offer of pardon, on 
the renewal of their homage, and a folemn promife of 
future fidelity. 
During the abfence of the two brothers, Hunalde duke 
of Aquitain, in confequence of his engagements with Odi¬ 
lon, paffed the Loire, ravaged the open country, and con- 
fumed with fire the town and magnificent cathedral of 
Chartres. On the approach of the Franks, however, he 
haftily retreated; and in the enfuing year the infult was 
avenged by Pepin, at the head of a numerous army. 
Aquitain was doomed to expiate by the calamities of war 
the crime of her fovereign ; and Hunalde, tormented with 
the pangs of difappointed ambition, religned his domi¬ 
nions to his fon, and retired to a convent. Far different 
were the motives which influenced Carloman to embrace 
a life of religious folitude ; even in the moments of tri¬ 
umph, in the midft of fucceffive victories, he conceived 
the defign of fecluding himfelf from the follies and vices 
of the world, in the filent gloom of a cloifter. In vain 
did Pepin, at lealt with the appearance of fincerity, labour 
to diffuade him from a ftep fo grateful to his own ambi¬ 
tion : firm in his refolution, after humbling the rebellious 
nations of Germany, in 746, Carloman alliimed the mo¬ 
nadic habit, and fixed his final refidence in a BenediCtine 
abbey on Mount Caffin. 
The undivided adminiftration of the empire of France 
was, by the abdication of Carloman, vefted in the hands 
of Pepin ; and we are pleafed to difeover in the treatment 
of his younger brother, a proof of the regret with which 
he acquiefced in the feceflion of his elder. Grippon was 
immediately releafed from his tedious confinement, en- 
trufled with the jurifdiCtion of a large domain, and the 
expenditure of a confiderable revenue. Adverlity might 
have damped, but it had not extinguifhed, the latent flame 
of ambition ; he once more incited the duke of the Saxons 
to fupport his claims by the terror of a foreign invafion. 
