fer. Some like blondes,
others brunettes; they are all fire for the one, and all ice for the
other. And so my preference is for war against the Frisians, Saxons and
Arabs."

"I have no such predilections. As true as I have been surnamed Martel,
so long as I can strike and crush what stands in my way, all enemies are
equally to my taste.... I believed that those Arabian dogs who had been
so roughly hammered would recross the Pyrenees in a hurry after their
rout at Poitiers. I was mistaken. They still hold their ground firmly in
Languedoc. Despite the success of our last battle we have not been able
to seize Narbonne, the place of refuge of those heathens. I am now
called back to the north of Gaul to resist the Saxons who are returning
with more threatening forces. I regret to have to leave Narbonne in the
hands of the Saracens. But we have at least ravaged the neighborhood of
that large town, made an immense booty, carried away a large number of
slaves, and devastated in our retreat the countries of Nimes, of
Toulouse and of Beziers. It will be a good lesson for the populations
who took the side of the Arabs. They will long remember what is to be
gained by leaving the Gospels for the Koran, or rather, because, after
all, I care as little for the Pope as I do for Mahomet, what is to be
gained by an alliance with the Arabs against the Franks. For the rest,
although they remain masters of Narbonne, these pagans worry me little.
Travelers from Spain have informed me that civil war has broken out
between the Caliphs of Granada and of Cordova. Busy with their own
internal strifes, they will not send fresh troops into Gaul, and the
accursed Saracens will not dare to advance beyond Languedoc, whence I
shall drive them away later. At rest about the south, I now return
north. But before doing so I wish to provide, to their own taste and
mine, for a large number of soldiers, who, like yourself, have served
me valiantly, and turn them into fat abbots, rich bishops or other large
beneficiaries."

"Charles, would you make out of me an abbot or a bishop? You are surely
joking."

"Why not? It is the abbey and the bishopric that make the abbot and the
bishop, whoever be the incumbent."

"Please explain yourself more clearly."

"I have been able to sustain my great wars in the north and south only
by constantly recruiting my forces from the German tribes on the other
side of the Rhine. The descendants of the seigneurs who were the