Battle of Nîmes

736 CE.

Shown on the map at 43.837°, 4.360°.

The siege of Nîmes took place shortly after the capture and destruction of Avignon in 737. Charles Martel failed to capture the Umayyad city of Narbonne but devastated most of the other principal settlements of Septimania, including Nîmes, Agde, Béziers and Maguelonne, which he viewed as potential strongholds of the Saracens. The city of Nîmes (Chronicle of Fredegar) and the Roman amphitheatre (turned into a fortress by the Visigoths) were destroyed under the orders of Charles Martel. The Arabs were temporarily contained to the city of Narbonne, though a second expedition was needed later that year to regain control of Provence after Arab forces returned. According to Paul the Deacon's Historia Langobardorum the Arabs retreated when they learned that Martel had formed an alliance with the Lombards. Martel's remaining years - he had only four to live - were spent setting up and strengthening the administrative structure that became the Carolingian Empire, and the feudal state that would persist through the Dark Ages. His son would return in 759 and finish his father's work by taking Narbonne.

Text from the Wikipedia article Siege of Nîmes, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Everything else in 736 CE

HistoryLayer draws the world as it was in any year from 123,000 BCE to 2026. Move the slider and the borders redraw for that year; the map carries 23,890 events, 12,790 people, 837 wars and 13,183 cities, each one readable in place. Signing in is optional and lets you keep what you find.

HistoryLayer
1914CE
World Wars
123,000 BCE2026 CE
54 stops — one per surviving map on file, evenly spaced drag the pin · ←→ steps one stop the same 54 stops by true elapsed time ↑
Map & filters
Show on the map
Filter
Colour by
Polity Empire