Charles Martel

Charles Martel (c. 688 or 686, 680 – 22 October 741) was a Frankish statesman and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was de facto ruler of Francia from 718 until his death.

The son of the Frankish statesman Pepin of Herstal and a noblewoman named Alpaida, Charles successfully asserted his claims to power as successor to his father as the power behind the throne in Frankish politics. Continuing and building on his father's work, he restored centralized government in Francia and began the series of military campaigns that re-established the Franks as the undisputed masters of all Gaul.

After work to establish a unity in Gaul, Charles' attention was called to foreign conflicts, and dealing with the Islamic advance into Western Europe was a foremost concern. Arab and Berber Islamic forces had conquered Spain (711), crossed the Pyrenees (720), seized a major dependency of the Visigoths (721–725), and after intermittent challenges, under Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, Governor-General of al-Andalus, advanced toward Gaul and on Tours, "the holy town of Gaul"; in October 732, the army of the Umayyad Caliphate led by Al Ghafiqi met Frankish and Burgundian forces under Charles in an area between the cities of Tours and Poitiers (modern north-central France), leading to a decisive, historically important Frankish victory known as the Battle of Tours (or ma'arakat Balâṭ ash-Shuhadâ, Battle of the Palace of Martyrs), ending the "last of the great Arab invasions of France," a military victory termed "brilliant" on the part of Charles.

Charles Martel (disambiguation)

Charles Martel (c. 688–741) was a Frankish military and political leader.

Charles Martel may also refer to:

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Charles Martel (librarian)

Charles Martel (born Karl David Hanke, March 5, 1860, in Zurich, Switzerland – May 15, 1945) was an American librarian responsible for the creation of the Library of Congress Cataloging System; he is often considered to be one of the most influential librarians in American library history.

Early life

During Martel's childhood he was surrounded by books, as his father, Franz Hanke, was an antiquarian book dealer in Zurich. By 1872, Martel was studying at the Zurich Gymnasium, where he would continue his studies until 1876. Around the time he ended his studies at the gymnasium, his brother took him on a trip to America to attend the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. That same year the American Library Association held its first annual conference, also in the City of Brotherly Love, and it has been speculated that Martel may have had his first encounter with the American library system through this conference.

After returning to Switzerland, Martel helped take care of his ailing father, who died in 1878. Following his father’s death that same year, Karl moved to the US and that was the last anyone in his family heard of him. By 1887, he had moved to Dent County, Missouri, where, in April, he became a citizen of the US under the name Charles Martel. Following his citizenship, the newly minted Charles Martel moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he worked as an estate manager as well as an assistant to a lawyer.