as-Samh ibn Mālik al-Chaulānī

as-Samh ibn Mālik al-Chaulānī ( Arabic السمح بن مالك الخولاني, DMG as-Samḥ b. Mālik al-Ḫawlānī ; † 721 ) was governor of the Muslim-occupied Iberian Peninsula ( al-Andalus ) between 719 and 721 .

In 720 he conquered Barcelona and then invaded the Frankish Empire with a large army across the Pyrenees . After some initial successes such as the capture of the cities of Narbonne , Béziers , Agde , Lodève , Maguelonne ( Montpellier ) and Nîmes , he withdrew to the Iberian Peninsula to win more fighters for the siege of the heavily defended Franconian city of Toulouse . He came back with a large army and siege engines.

The Battle of Toulouse (721), the struggle for a city with almost impregnable walls, lasted until early summer. The defenders, starved and without supplies of ammunition, were almost ready to surrender when the dux Eudo of Aquitaine arrived on July 9, 721 with a large relief army , attacked as-Samh's rearguard and surrounded his troops. Trapped between the defenders of the city of Toulouse and the relief army Eudos, as-Samh tried to break out with the bulk of his troops, but he was crushed and mortally wounded by the Christian forces at a place called Balat.

Remarks

1. ^ David L. Lewis: God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215 . WW Norton, New York 2008, ISBN 0-393-06472-7 , p. 56.
2. ↑ Philip Khuri Hitti: History of Syria Including Lebanon and Palestine, Vol. 1 . Gorgias Press LLC, 2002, ISBN 1-931956-60-X , p. 468.

predecessor	Office	successor
al-Hurr ibn Abd ar-Rahman	Governor of al-Andalus 719–721	Abd ar-Rahman