There was an earlier invasion in 721, which focused on the city we now know as Bordeaux, capital of a then-independent Aquitaine. (Aquitaine had seceded from a then-fragmenting Frankish empire). The Duke of Aquitaine, Odo by name, withdrew ahead of the Moors, taking most of the population and especially the assorted treasures of his city with him-- the Moors' main object always being plunder at least as far as the rank and file warriors were concerned. Odo then lured the invaders into an ambush and inflicted a severe defeat on them, and they retreated back across the Pyrenees. Ten years later was when they came back, now led by the son of the ruler Odo had defeated. This time they had a larger army and we were wary of ambushes. Although Odo had serious grudges against Charles Martel (who had also attacked and plundered Aquitaine previously) he retreated northward and offered an alliance and a deal to the Frankish Mayor of the Palace. And again, he stripped every place he could of its treasure to frustrate the invaders. It was the riches of the shrine of St. Martin of Tours that drew the Moors further northward, and Martel and Odo fought them right where they wanted them.
New forms of social unity emerge out of battle all the time. That's probably why there are cave paintings of Mesolithic battles -- they were socially formative events.
The paintings, I think, were used to tell the stories of actual battles. They contain stories: reinforcements arriving, flanks turning, leaders leading, and so on. Here is a contact battle, or perhaps a guide to how you win a contact battle with bows and arrows. People had to use their evolved capacity for language and remember events as narrative. We have immune systems to remember disease for us.
Yes, there's been a virtual revolution in genetic archaeology, the ability to extract fragmentary DNA of pathogens from old remains and identify the microbes. We now know the plague was already becoming a dangerous disease at the dawn of civilization and it may have killed off enough of the inhabitants of northern Europe to enable the migration of the Indoeuropean tribes off the steppe.
Indeed. People are more likely to remember Roman battles and barbarian invaders but very few are aware of the great plagues that did more than anything else to destabilize the empire.
Hi Ed, thanks for this rip-roaring tale. I’d appreciate your recommendations for any English-language histories of France in general and Normandy in particular, if & when you can.
Wow, cool. It gets the old Germanic blood up even in boring old American church ladies.
Re: The Franks spoke a Germanic language but over generations they came to adopt the Latin dialect of northern Gaul
North of the Rhine Franconian survived-- and eventually became modern Dutch/Flemish.
There was an earlier invasion in 721, which focused on the city we now know as Bordeaux, capital of a then-independent Aquitaine. (Aquitaine had seceded from a then-fragmenting Frankish empire). The Duke of Aquitaine, Odo by name, withdrew ahead of the Moors, taking most of the population and especially the assorted treasures of his city with him-- the Moors' main object always being plunder at least as far as the rank and file warriors were concerned. Odo then lured the invaders into an ambush and inflicted a severe defeat on them, and they retreated back across the Pyrenees. Ten years later was when they came back, now led by the son of the ruler Odo had defeated. This time they had a larger army and we were wary of ambushes. Although Odo had serious grudges against Charles Martel (who had also attacked and plundered Aquitaine previously) he retreated northward and offered an alliance and a deal to the Frankish Mayor of the Palace. And again, he stripped every place he could of its treasure to frustrate the invaders. It was the riches of the shrine of St. Martin of Tours that drew the Moors further northward, and Martel and Odo fought them right where they wanted them.
New forms of social unity emerge out of battle all the time. That's probably why there are cave paintings of Mesolithic battles -- they were socially formative events.
everyone remembers wars and forgets plagues.
The paintings, I think, were used to tell the stories of actual battles. They contain stories: reinforcements arriving, flanks turning, leaders leading, and so on. Here is a contact battle, or perhaps a guide to how you win a contact battle with bows and arrows. People had to use their evolved capacity for language and remember events as narrative. We have immune systems to remember disease for us.
yes that is true. With most contagious disease not much you could do anyway.
To be fair, we know a lot more about the plagues of antiquity and post-antiquity than we did in the 1970s and 80s.
Yes, there's been a virtual revolution in genetic archaeology, the ability to extract fragmentary DNA of pathogens from old remains and identify the microbes. We now know the plague was already becoming a dangerous disease at the dawn of civilization and it may have killed off enough of the inhabitants of northern Europe to enable the migration of the Indoeuropean tribes off the steppe.
Indeed. People are more likely to remember Roman battles and barbarian invaders but very few are aware of the great plagues that did more than anything else to destabilize the empire.
Hi Ed, thanks for this rip-roaring tale. I’d appreciate your recommendations for any English-language histories of France in general and Normandy in particular, if & when you can.
Discovery of France would be the obvious starting point.
Marc Morris's book about Normans also v good.
TBH though Ive read far more about medieval than modern. John Julius Norwich book on France a lovely tribute to the country which he loved so much.
Thanks Ed - that gives me a helpful jumping off point.
'That sweet enemy' by Robert Tombs and his wife Isabelle is worth a read.