Battle of Amblve

3 References

The Battle of Amblve took place in 716 near Amel.

The mayor of the palace of Austrasia, Charles Martel,
defeated his Neustrian and Frisian rivals who were led
by King Chilperic II, his mayor Ragenfrid, and Radbod,
Duke of the Frisians. It was the rst major victory of
Martel in a long career of victories. In this battle Martel began demonstrating the military genius which would
mark the remainder of his life.

Bachrach, Bernard S. (2000). Early Carolingian

Warfare: Prelude to Empire. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-3533-9
Bennett, Bradsbury, Devries, Dickie and Jestice,
Fighting Techniques of the Medieval World
Davies, Wendy and Fouracre, Paul (2002). Property
and Power in the Early Middle Ages. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-52225-0

History

Halsall, Guy (2003). Warfare and Society in the

Barbarian West 450-900. London: Routledge.
ISBN 0-415-23939-7

Following his defeat at Cologne, Martel rallied his supporters in the mountains of the Eifel. Many Austrasians,
under attack by Neustrians, Frisians, and Saxons in the
northeast likely rallied behind Martel because he was the
only surviving adult male of the Pippinnid family.[1] His
forces then attacked the army of Chilperic II and his allies
at the Battle of Amblve near Ameland as they returned
triumphantly from Cologne. Martel used a feigned retreat, falling on his foes as they rested at midday, and
feigning falling back to draw them fully out of a defensive position, where he defeated them. According to the
Annals of Metz the casualties he inicted on his foes were
substantial. Martel remained undefeated until his death
25 years later.
Subsequently Martel recovered much of the ransom paid
by Plectrude to the king and Ragenfrid for Cologne.
A feigned retreat, which became famous as one of the
Mongols three favorite tactics, is one of the most dicult to perform during a battle, requiring discipline on
the part of the troops and good timing on the part of
the commander. The tactic involves getting troops to appear to ee only to reverse and stand once they have lured
an opponent out of a stronger position, and have usually
strung them out in pursuit, where they are easily picked
o. Martel was the only general known to use it during
the Dark Ages.

Notes

[1] Costambeys, Marios, Innes, Matthew, and MacLean, Simon. The Carolingian World, Cambridge University
Press, 2011

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4.1

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Battle of Amblve Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ambl%C3%A8ve?oldid=669625180 Contributors: Pseudonym,

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