Battle of the River Garonne
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The Battle of the River Garonne was fought in 732 between an Umayyad army led by Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi, governor of Al-Andalus, and Frankish forces led by Duke Odo of Aquitaine.
At the beginning of his governorship of Al-Andalus in 730 Abdul Rahman was opposed by a local Berber commander called Manuza (aka Uthman ibn Naissa; Othman Ibn Abi Nes'ah Manuza; Othman-ben-Abou-Nessa) whose stronghold was the town of Cerritania (Cerdanya) in the Pyrenees. Manuza, hearing of the oppression of Berbers in North Africa, had made a truce with Odo. Some accounts claim that Odo promised his daughter Lampade to Manusa in a marriage alliance.[1][2] Manusa's death immediately preceded Abdul Rahman's expedition, which crossed the Pyrenees at their west end, through Navarre and advanced with great speed through Aquitaine to Bordeaux. The city was captured by storm, the commander of the garrison being killed in the battle. In his march northward, following the victory at Bordeaux, Abdul Rahman engaged Odo's forces on the Garonne River, or possibly at the Dordogne River. Odo was defeated comprehensively and most of his forces were wiped out, after which the Arabs looted the rich monasteries of northern Aquitaine before resuming their march northward. The Arab armies were finally defeated by forces led by Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours on 10 October, 732.
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[edit] References
- Blankinship, Khalid Yahya (1994). The End of the Jihad State: The Reign of Hisham Ibn 'Abd Al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads. SUNY Press. ISBN 0-7914-1827-8
- Coppée, Henry (2002) [1881]. History of the Conquest of Spain by the Arab Moors. Gorgias Press LLC. ISBN 1931956936
- Ellis, Edward Sylvester (1913). The Story of the Greatest Nations: A Comprehensive History, Extending from the Earliest Times to the Present, Founded on the Most Modern Authorities Including A Complete Chronology of the World and a Pronouncing Vocabulary Of Each Nation. New York, NY: F.R. Niglutsch.
