's son Hunald, who paid homage
to him. Besides establishing a certain unity in Gaul, Charles saved it
from a very great peril. In 711 the Arabs had conquered Spain. In 720
they crossed the Pyrenees, seized Narbonensis, a dependency of the
kingdom of the Visigoths, and advanced on Gaul. By his able policy Odo
succeeded in arresting their progress for some years; but a new vali,
Abdur Rahman, a member of an extremely fanatical sect, resumed the
attack, reached Poitiers, and advanced on Tours, the holy town of Gaul.
In October 732--just 100 years after the death of Mahomet--Charles
gained a brilliant victory over Abdur Rahman, who was called back to
Africa by the revolts of the Berbers and had to give up the struggle.
This was the last of the great Arab invasions of Europe. After his
victory Charles took the offensive, and endeavoured to wrest Narbonensis
from the Mussulmans. Although he was not successful in his attempt to
recover Narbonne (737), he destroyed the fortresses of Agde, Beziers and
Maguelonne, and set fire to the amphitheatre at Nimes. He subdued also
the Germanic tribes; annexed Frisia, where Christianity was beginning to
make progress; put an end to the duchy of Alemannia; intervened in the
internal affairs of the dukes of Bavaria; made expeditions into Saxony;
and in 738 compelled some of the Saxon tribes to pay him tribute. He
also gave St Boniface a safe conduct for his missions in Thuringia,
Alemannia and Bavaria.

During the government of Charles Martel important changes appear to have
been made in the internal administration. Under him began the great
assemblies of nobles known as the _champs de Mars_. To attach his
_leudes_ Charles had to give them church lands as _precarium_, and this
had a very great influence in the development of the feudal system. It
was from the _precarium_, or ecclesiastical benefice, that the feudal
fief originated. Vassalage, too, acquired a greater consistency at this
period, and its rules began to crystallize. Under Charles occurred the
first attempt at reconciliation between the papacy and the Franks. Pope
Gregory III., menaced by the Lombards, invoked the aid of Charles (739),
sent him a deputation with the keys of the Holy Sepulchre and the chains
of St Peter, and offered to break with the emperor and Constantinople,
and to give Charles the Roman consulate (_ut a partibus imperatoris
recederet et Romanum consulatum Carolo sanciret_). This proposal, though
unsuccessful,