The Arab Presence in France and Switzerland in the 10Th Century

Bibliographic Data

ID16645339
AuthorsKees Versteegh (0009-0003-1322-3967, 1University of Nijmegen, corresponding author)
Year1990
Volume37
Issue3
Pages359-388
Publication date1990-01-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueArabica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0570-5398 • E-ISSN: 1570-0585
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/157005890x00041
OpenAlexW2053338949
LanguageEN
Citations received5

DURING the entire 10th century the history of the South of France was dominated by large groups of Arabs, who controlled the whole area of the French and the Swiss Alps from a vantage point at the coast near Saint-Tropez. The sources available for this period-mostly Latin sources-do not call these invaders Arabs, but they speak of Saracenes or Agarenes, sometimes of Moors or even fusci ((Blacks) or pagani ((Heathen))1. The presence of Saracenes in the Provence and in the neighbouring areas is part of the expansion from the South that the Arabs had initiated in 711, when Tariq invaded Spain from North-Africa. From Spain the Arab conquerors tried several times to break through into the empire of the Franks by way of the Pyrenees. The Frankish armies succeeded in repulsing the Arab armies-this is mostly associated with the relatively minor skirmishes of Poitiers and Tours, 732and as a result the conquista North of the Pyrenees came to a standstill. From now on the Arab presence remained restricted to the

Ancient history · Art · CONQUEST · Empire · Geography · Middle Ages · Moors · Period (music · SAINT · History · Medieval History and Crusades

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub