It will be remembered that a Visigothic kingdom had been established in
Spain; but Roderick, the “last of the Goths,” was defeated on the field
of Xeres, and the Saracens established themselves firmly in Spain. In
the course of a few years they had possession of the whole peninsula,
with the exception of the mountainous districts in the north, where the
little Christian kingdom of the Asturias maintained itself.
The ambition of the Saracens now overleaped the Pyrenees. They obtained
a foothold in Southern Gaul; and after a time an able Saracen commander,
Abd-el-rahman, led a powerful Mohammedan army northward to subdue the
land of the Franks. As far as the Loire everything fell before him, and
it seemed that all Europe would come under Moslem sway.