her two
tribes. The long conflict that followed ended at length in the triumph
of the Franks. These fierce Franks then established themselves firmly as
the ruling race, and in course of time Gaul came to be known as the land
of the Franks, or France.

The kingdom thus established by the Franks under their dreaded chief,
Clovis, flourished for a time; but eventually the kings of his line
became so weak in character and so wicked in conduct as to be unfit to
rule, and the country fell into a state of wretched disorder. At last
these Merovingian princes became so utterly incapable that the kingly
authority fell into the hands of certain state officials called "Mayors
of the Palace."

In the eighth century one of these mayors--a bold and energetic warrior,
by the name of Charles, or Karl--became in reality the ruler of France,
though a weak Merovingian prince still bore the empty title of king.

At that time the Mohammedans who had conquered Spain some years before
were seized with the ambition to conquer all Europe and add it to the
empire of Islam. Under the leadership of Abderrahman, Moorish governor
of Spain, these Saracens crossed the Pyrenees and invaded France. The
Christians of all races, roused by the greatness of the threatened
danger, ceased warring among themselves and rallied as one people to the
defence of their country and their religion. A large army under the
command of Charles, or Karl, ruler of the Franks, met the invaders near
Tours. There, in 732 A. D., was fought the famous battle of Tours, or
Poictiers, in which Charles and his Christian warriors utterly routed
the formidable Mohammedan army. By this great victory, the threatened
advance of the Moslem power was checked, and Europe was saved to the
Christian faith. The victorious general, Charles, because of this great
blow dealt to the _Infidels_, received the surname of Martel, or the
Hammer.

But the fame of Karl Martel, though great and well-deserved, is far
surpassed by the renown of his grandson, Charlemagne, or Charles the
Great. The kingship of France, Charlemagne inherited from his father,
Pepin, who, more ambitious than Karl Martel, dethroned the Merovingian
puppet king and made himself king in name as well as in fact.
Charlemagne, during his reign of forty-five years, added vast
territories to his Frankish kingdom by successful wars waged against
surrounding tribes of heathen Saxons, against the Moors in northern
Spain, the inhabitants