cold of the oncoming northern European winter, despite having tents, which the Franks did not, but they did not want to attack an army which may have been numerically superior. The Umayyads were waiting for the Franks to come out into the open; while the Franks, formed up in a thick defensive formation, waited for them to charge uphill. It was a waiting game Charles won: the battle began on the seventh day, as 'Abd-al-Raḥmân did not want to postpone the battle any longer with winter approaching. Western Knight fighting against an Arabian horseman. (Illustration from the 19th century) 'Abd-al-Raḥmân trusted the tactical superiority of his cavalry, and had them charge repeatedly. This time the faith the Umayyads had in their cavalry, armed with their long lances and swords which had brought them victory in previous battles, was not justified. In one of the few instances where medieval infantry stood up against cavalry charges, the disciplined Frankish soldiers withstood the assaults, though according to Arab sources, the Arab cavalry several times broke into the interior of the Frankish square. "The Muslim horsemen dashed fierce and frequent forward against the battalions of the Franks, who resisted manfully, and many fell dead on either side." [ 52 ] Despite this, the Franks did not break. It appears that the years of year-round training that Charles had bought with Church funds, paid off. His hard-trained soldiery accomplished what was not thought possible at that time: infantry withstood the Umayyad heavy cavalry. Paul Davis