<P> Ninth - century chroniclers , who interpreted the outcome of the battle as divine judgment in his favour , gave Charles the nickname Martellus ( `` The Hammer '' ) . Later Christian chroniclers and pre-20th century historians praised Charles Martel as the champion of Christianity , characterizing the battle as the decisive turning point in the struggle against Islam , a struggle which preserved Christianity as the religion of Europe ; according to modern military historian Victor Davis Hanson , `` most of the 18th and 19th century historians , like Gibbon , saw Poitiers ( Tours ) , as a landmark battle that marked the high tide of the Muslim advance into Europe . '' Leopold von Ranke felt that `` Poitiers was the turning point of one of the most important epochs in the history of the world . '' </P>
who stopped the muslim advance into europe in ad 732 with his victory near poitiers
Charles Martel