Charles Martel: Ruling Without a Crown (714–741)

When Pepin of Herstal dies in 714, he leaves behind immense power… but a fragile one. The Frankish realm is still officially Merovingian, yet real authority now rests on the Pippinid family and the office of mayor of the palace.

Pepin’s succession immediately triggers a crisis. Several aristocratic factions try to control the government, while Neustria seeks to free itself from Austrasian domination.

In the middle of this storm appears Charles Martel, Pepin’s natural son by Alpaida. An energetic war leader and a skilled political strategist, he gradually transforms uncertain power into durable domination.

Charles never becomes king. Yet for nearly thirty years, he rules the Frankish kingdom as its true master.

His era is decisive: Pippinid power ceases to be a political accident and becomes a dynastic construction, preparing the rise of the Carolingians.

The kingdom of the Franks in 714 — Source: Wikimedia Commons

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🧨 714–717: the succession crisis

After Pepin’s death, succession should have gone to his grandson Theudoald, still a child. The regency is led by Plectrude, Pepin’s widow, who tries to preserve the family inheritance from Cologne.

Charles Martel is sidelined and even imprisoned by Plectrude’s faction.

But the situation deteriorates rapidly.

In Neustria, the mayor of the palace Ragenfrid allies with the Merovingian king Chilperic II and tries to regain control of the realm. Provinces use the confusion to assert autonomy.

Charles escapes in 715 and gathers support among Austrasian aristocrats. He then wins a series of decisive campaigns:

• 716 — battle of Amblève: first major victory over the Neustrians
• 717 — battle of Vinchy: Charles crushes Ragenfrid’s forces
• 717 — capture of Cologne: Plectrude capitulates and hands over the royal treasure

From this moment, Charles becomes the true master of Pippinid power.

🔍 Zoom – Plectrude and Theudoald: how Charles Martel takes over (714–717)

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⏳ Timeline of a strongman

• 714: death of Pepin of Herstal
• 715–719: Charles defeats rivals and consolidates power
• 720s: campaigns against Saxons, Bavarians, and Alamanni
• 732: battle of Tours / Poitiers against an army from al‑Andalus
• 737: death of the Merovingian king Theuderic IV; Charles governs without a king
• 741: death of Charles Martel at Quierzy

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⚔️ 716: Amblève, Charles’s first major victory

Charles’s first great victory comes in 716, at the battle of Amblève.

After escaping captivity, Charles initially suffers a setback at Cologne against the coalition of Merovingian king Chilperic II, Neustrian mayor Ragenfrid, and their ally Radbod I, duke of the Frisians.

Forced to retreat, Charles withdraws into the Eifel mountains to regroup. Many Austrasians, hostile to Neustrian domination, rally to him. To them, Charles appears as the last leader capable of defending Pippinid power.

In spring 716, Charles goes on the offensive. Near the confluence of the Amblève and the Ourthe, he uses a bold tactic: he feigns retreat to draw the enemy out of its position. When the coalition pursues, Charles suddenly turns back. The Austrasians set an ambush and strike the disorganised army.

The surprise is total. According to the Annals of Metz, Neustrian losses are heavy.

Amblève is decisive:

• it restores confidence among Charles’s supporters
• it marks the start of a long series of military successes

Charles’s strategic talent appears here for the first time.

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⚔️ 717: the battle of Vinchy

Amblève restores strength to the Austrasian party, but civil war continues. Chilperic II and Ragenfrid reorganise in Neustria.

Charles knows victory will only last if he breaks the Neustrian coalition decisively. In spring 717, he takes the war into Neustrian territory. The armies meet near Vinchy, close to Cambrai, on 21 March 717.

Charles wins a crushing victory. Chilperic II and Ragenfrid flee, pursued as far as the outskirts of Paris.

After Vinchy, Charles proclaims Chlothar IV king of Austrasia to oppose a rival sovereign to Chilperic II. He also installs loyal men in key positions, notably replacing the archbishop of Reims, Rigobert, with Milo of Trier.

In 719, Charles defeats his enemies again at Néry. Opposition collapses: Ragenfrid withdraws to Angers, while Duke Eudes of Aquitaine eventually hands Chilperic II over to Charles.

Charles then makes a skilful political move: after Chlothar IV dies, he recognises Chilperic II as the sole king of the Franks. The king keeps the crown, but real power now belongs to the mayor of the palace.

Vinchy is therefore a major turning point: Charles becomes the master of the Frankish kingdom.

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🏰 717: the capture of Cologne

After Vinchy, one last obstacle remains: Cologne, where Plectrude has entrenched herself with the royal treasure.

Charles marches on the city. With military pressure and little support left, Plectrude capitulates.

She hands over:

• Pepin’s treasure, essential to finance armies and alliances
• recognition of Charles’s authority in Austrasia

From then on, Charles is no longer a rebel leader: he appears as the real heir of Pippinid power.

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⚖️ A method: army, Church, and networks

Charles understands power no longer rests only on royal legitimacy. He builds authority on three pillars.

🛡️ The army

Charles is above all a military leader. Victories allow him to rally Frankish warriors and impose authority on rebellious regions.

He leads many campaigns:

• against the Saxons
• against the Alamanni
• against the Bavarians
• in southern Gaul

These wars reinforce cohesion and prestige.

🏛️ Aristocracies

Charles relies on alliances with great families. He distributes lands and benefices to loyal men, consolidating a system of personal loyalty that foreshadows later medieval structures.

⛪ The Church

Charles also seeks ecclesiastical support. He maintains close relations with religious reformers and supports the missionary Boniface, who reorganises the Church in Germanic regions.

This alliance between political power and religious authority becomes a key pillar of Carolingian government.

🔍 Zoom – Boniface: reform the Church to stabilise the kingdom

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🛡️ 732: Poitiers/Tours, between history and legend

The most famous episode of Charles Martel’s rule is the battle known as Poitiers (or Tours) in October 732.

After the Muslim conquest of Iberia (from 711), forces from al‑Andalus regularly cross the Pyrenees. These expeditions are often raids and plunder rather than durable conquests. They affect Septimania and southern Gaul.

By the early 8th century, incursions go deeper. Narbonne, conquered around 719–720, becomes a strategic base north of the Pyrenees.

In this context, Duke Eudes (Odo) of Aquitaine resists, winning at Toulouse (721), but pressure remains strong.

Around 732, the governor of al‑Andalus, ʿAbd al‑Rahman al‑Ghafiqi, leads a major expedition that ravages Aquitaine and moves toward the Loire valley, threatening the region of Tours and the wealthy monastery of Saint‑Martin.

Unable to resist alone, Eudes asks Charles Martel for help.

⚔️ The battle

The armies meet somewhere between Tours and Poitiers. Medieval sources describe the Franks as heavy infantry, holding a strong defensive position. During fierce fighting, ʿAbd al‑Rahman is killed, and the Andalusi army withdraws at night.

📜 A symbolic victory

The victory boosts Charles’s prestige, showing his capacity to mobilise and coordinate defence. But modern historians nuance the later narrative:

• raids from al‑Andalus continue after 732
• Narbonne remains under Andalusi control until 759

Poitiers is thus an important strategic victory, but also a battle whose meaning was amplified by later memory.

🔍 Zoom – Poitiers 732: a battle, a symbol

🔍 Zoom – 711–732: al‑Andalus, Narbonne, and raids north of the Pyrenees

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🌍 Southern campaigns (735–739)

After Poitiers (732), southern Gaul remains unstable. Andalusi presence north of the Pyrenees persists in Septimania, especially around Narbonne. The situation is complicated by local political rivalries: some elites in Provence and the Rhône valley seek autonomy and may ally with outside forces.

From 735, Charles intervenes to restore Frankish authority. Objectives include:

• preventing Andalusi forces from moving north
• breaking alliances between local elites and external powers
• securing strategic routes linking the Rhône valley, Burgundy, and Austrasia

Between 736 and 739, Charles leads expeditions in Provence and Septimania, retaking cities and strongholds and weakening hostile networks. He sometimes seeks outside support, notably from the Lombards.

Yet Narbonne remains out of reach and becomes a durable frontier. It will be retaken only in 759, under Charles’s son Pepin the Short.

🔍 Zoom – 735–739: Provence, Septimania, and the Rhône war

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🐎 A new military organisation

To maintain his army, Charles develops a system of land redistribution called beneficium.

These lands are granted to warriors and aristocrats in exchange for military service. The system strengthens elite loyalty and supports a more mobile, better equipped army.

It is not yet the classical feudalism of the central Middle Ages, but it is one of its institutional beginnings.

🔍 Zoom – Benefices, the Church, and mounted warriors: Charles’s “military reform”

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👑 Ruling without a king (737–741)

In 737, after Merovingian king Theuderic IV dies, Charles makes a decisive choice: he does not immediately appoint a new king.

For several years, the Frankish kingdom functions without an official king, proof that real authority now belongs to the mayor of the palace.

🔍 Zoom – 737–743: when the kingdom functions without a king

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🏰 Toward the Carolingian dynasty

When Charles dies in 741, he leaves consolidated power and a political structure ready to become dynastic.

His sons share authority:

• Carloman in Austrasia
• Pepin the Short in Neustria

In 743, they reinstall a Merovingian king, Childeric III, to provide a façade of legitimacy. But the transformation is already underway: in 751, Pepin will be crowned king, officially ending the Merovingians and inaugurating the Carolingian dynasty.

🔍 Zoom – 737–754: from an empty throne to Pepin’s coronation

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🧠 Key takeaways

• Charles Martel rules the Frankish kingdom without being king.
• He stabilises the Pippinid inheritance through victories and aristocratic networks.
• Poitiers (732) boosts his prestige, but the southern frontier remains active.
• Military and ecclesiastical alliances help prepare the Carolingian dynasty.
• His death in 741 opens the way to Pepin the Short.

Image credits

• Francia at the death of Pepin of Heristal, 714 — Paul Vidal de La Blache, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
• Battle of Poitiers — Charles de Steuben, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons