Along the Riviera itself, local lords gradually overcame their differences and, in about 975, they united under Count William of Arles, later marquis of Provence, in a bid to drive the Muslims out of France for good. William was a popular leader, and managed to persuade warriors from Provence, the lower Dauphiné and the county of Nice to join his cause against the Muslims. The Andalusis consolidated their forces at Fraxinet and "came down from their mountainous resort in serried ranks," as Reinaud says, to encounter the Christian forces at Tourtour, near Draguignan, about 33 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of Fraxinet. The Muslims were driven back to their mountain stronghold, and the Franks laid siege to the fortress. The Andalusis, realizing their fate was sealed, abandoned the castle in the dark of night and fled into the surrounding woods. Most were either killed or captured by Count William's forces, according to contemporary accounts, and those who laid down their arms were spared. It is said that the Frankish army also spared the lives of those Muslim colonists living peacefully in neighboring villages; most of these were made serfs, subject to local landlords. Fraxinet had served as the administrative capital of all Muslim colonies in France, northern Italy and Switzerland, and its castle is believed to have held vast quantities of treasure. All the booty from Count William's conquest was said to have been distributed among his officers and men. His second-in-command, Gibelin de Grimaldi of Genoa -- an ancestor of Prince Ranier III, who rules present-day Monaco -- received the area where the hillside village of Grimaud stands today, overlooking the port of St. Tropez. Ruins of Grimaldi's feudal castle, built in the Saracen style, still crown the village. Thus ended the Muslim colonization of southern France. Andalusis made later attempts to establish footholds along that coast: They raided Antibes in 1003, Narbonne and Maguelone in 1019, and the Lérins Islands off Cannes in 1047. But never again were the Muslims able to repeat the stunning success of Fraxinet. The mountainous regions of inland Provence are dotted with hundreds of old fortified hill villages, like Grimaud, whose very existence is a reminder of the "Saracen period." These villages were first built for protection against Muslim raids, and later served to protect the villagers from marauders of their own faith. The peasants lived within their walls, venturing out to work their fields by day. By the 19th century, however, with the establishment of durable peace and order, peasants began leaving the hill villages and moving down into the valleys. Today, some of these villages lie wholly or partially abandoned, but many are being restored, their old stone structures converted into weekend or summer homes for the affluent, or housing small colonies of artists and craftsmen. Old mines and remnants of forges at Tende in the Maritime Alps northeast of Monaco and at La Ferrière, near Barcelonnette, have been identified as sites where Muslims extracted iron ore and manufactured weapons. Another surviving echo of the Fraxinet period are the old round towers erected for defense and as watchposts not only by the Muslims but also by local Christians. The Frankish towers mimic the style of Arab ones. Ruins of what are called "Saracen towers" are found all along the coast, as well as in nearby Alpine valleys. These are the remaining physical traces of the Arabs of Fraxinet: courses of cut stone, jutting from the underbrush, as fragmentary and mysterious as the tale that underlies them. Beyond this, the pirates of St. Tropez and their cohorts live on as part of the folk memory of Provence, remembered as conquerors, teachers and agents of change in a dark and troubled era. Notes Quotations from Reinaud are taken from the English translation of his work, Muslim Colonies in France, Northern Italy & Switzerland, translated by Haroon Khan Sherwani and published in Lahore in 1955 by Sh. Muhammad Ashraf. Excerpts from the Antapodosis are from The Works of Liudprand of Cremona, translated by F. A. Wright and published in London in 1930 by George Routledge & Sons, Ltd. More The Pirates of St. Tropaz Introduction An Islamic State? Occupiers William of Arles 9th Century Mediterranean Map (Large: slow: 184K) 9th Century Mediterranean Map (Jumbo: Monstrously slow: 498K) Back to Cry Havoc #35 Table of Contents Back to Cry Havoc List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by David W. Tschanz. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com