The consequence, as also the condition, of this double
success was the victory of Christianity over paganism and Islamism.
Charles Martel endangered these results by falling back into the groove
of those Merovingian kings whose shadow he had allowed to remain on the
throne. He divided between his two legitimate sons, Pepin, called the
Short, from his small stature, and Carloman, this sole dominion which he
had with so much toil reconstituted and defended. Pepin had Neustria,
Burgundy, Provence, and the suzerainty of Aquitaine; Carloman,
Austrasia, Thuringia, and Alemannia. They both, at their father's death,
took only the title of mayor of the palace, and, perhaps, of duke. The
last but one of the Merovingians, Thierry IV, had died in 737. For four
years there had been no king at all.
But when the works of men are wise and true, that is, in conformity with
the lasting wants of peoples and the natural tendency of social facts,
they get over even the mistakes of their authors. Immediately after the
death of Charles Martel, the consequences of dividing his empire became
manifest.
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