The siege of Narbonne was fought in 737 between the forces of Yusuf ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri, Umayyad governor of Narbonne, and a Frankish army led by Charles Martel. The city of Narbonne was captured by Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani, governor of Al-Andalus, in 719 or 720. The city was renamed Arbūnah and turned into a military base for future operations. Following his success at the Siege of Avignon in 737 Charles Martel besieged Narbonne, but his forces were unable to take the city. However, when the Arabs sent reinforcements from Spain the Franks intercepted them at the mouth of the River Berre, in what is now the département of

Aude Aude (; ) is a Departments of France, department in Southern France, located in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region and named after the river Aude (river), Aude. The departmental council also calls it "Ca ...

, and achieved a significant victory, after which they marched on Nîmes.

Retreat

Charles may have been able to take Narbonne had he been willing to commit his army and full resources for an indefinite siege, but he was not willing or able to do so. Probably he found that the duke of Aquitaine Hunald was threatening his line of communication with the north. Furthermore,

Maurontius Maurontus was the Duke or Patrician of Provence in the early 8th century (720s and 730s). He aspired to independence in the face of Charles Martel, Duke of the Franks, and the Provençal patrician Abbo. Maurontus appeared in the ''Chronicle of ...

, patrician of Provence, from his unconquered city of Marseille, raised a revolt against him from the rear. The Frankish leader may have considered accomplished his primary goals by destroying the Arab armies, and leaving the remaining Arabs confined to Narbonne. On his way back out of the region of Septimania, his army destroyed a string of cities and strongholds (Avignon, etc.) that failed to support him against the Muslims. A second Frankish expedition was led later in 739 to expel the inconvenient count Maurontius, who couldn't expect this time

Andalusian Andalusia is a region in Spain. Andalusian may also refer to: Animals *Andalusian chicken, a type of chicken *Andalusian donkey, breed of donkey *Andalusian hemipode, a buttonquail, one of a small family of birds *Andalusian horse, a breed of ho ...

relief, from Marseille and regain control of Provence. According to Paul the Deacon's ''Historia gentis Langobardorum'' the Arabs retreated when they learned that Martel had formed an alliance with the Lombards, leaving the Umayyad forces stationed in the area and Maurontius himself too weak to meet in open battle.

References

{{coord, 43.184277, 3.003078, display=title 737 Narbonne 737 Narbonne 737 Islam in France Narbonne History of Narbonne 8th century in Francia 730s in the Umayyad Caliphate