Episode IX: Getting Medieval on the Battle of Tours. For Unauthorized subscribers only.
Eighteen years ago, at the beginning of the third millennium after the birth of Christ, Muslim jihadists flew planes into the Twin Towers in New York City. Was this a watershed in the clash of civilizations? You would think after eighteen years, we would know, but historians have been arguing for centuries about the meaning of the Frankish encounter with Muslim forces at the Battle of Tours-Poitiers. Spoiler alert: The Franks won! But how was the battle remembered? Do we have Charlemagne to thank for defeating the Saracens? You know very well the story is more complicated than you have heard!