Second Invasion of Al-Faranj
The first Islamic incursions began between late 747 and early 748. They were direct attacks against the territories ruled over by Pepin in Burgundy and Neustria. However, communications were less efficient, and with Pepin’s focus being on taking down Drogo, the Mayor of Austrasia, he decided to dismiss the Islamic attacks, believing they were just the usual raids.
The little resistance surprised Khalid, but Ukkasha pushed to take full advantage of it. After a quick capture of Orleans and Angers, as well as Autun and Besançon in Burgundy, Ukkasha decided to head straight into Paris, Pepin’s capital. The total caliphal army had been previously split. Most of the Baskunisi force had been sent to Burgundy under the leadership of the Baskuni commanders. That way, the weaker Frankish lands in Burgundy could be taken while the more experienced Berber core of military force focused on the core territories at Neustria.
Khalid debated this idea with his general, but in the end admitted that the chance could not be missed. The decision was taken, and Ukkasha took thirty thousand men with him, while Khalid stayed behind at Orleans. Grifo and his small personal forces accompanied Ukkasha, though without any certainty of whether his objectives would be achieved.
Ukkasha met a small Frankish force at Chartres on his way to Paris, which he easily crushed. Most of the surviving men were captured, but some disappeared. Fearing they fled to tell Pepin about the impending invasion, Ukkasha did not bother occupying Chartres and hurried for Paris.
The missing men had indeed fled to Paris and quickly met with the king. Almost immediately after learning of what was happening, Pepin recalled all of his armies and sent a letter to Austrasia, begging Drogo for support. When this letter arrived, Paris was already being besieged, but Drogo did not move a single finger to save Pepin.
While the siege was brutal and long, the city was forced to surrender after almost a year due to starvation and widespread illness. Upon entering the city, the Kharijites immediately began to search for the nobles and purged them all. This came at the request of Grifo, who wanted to be crowned safely.
Pepin was found as he was trying to escape disguised as a commoner. He was detained, made prisoner and later executed two weeks after the city fell. His entire family, including his children, were all massacred as well.x
Once the nobles were gone and Ukkasha held firm control over the city, he proclaimed Grifo the Emir. The Frank then informed the Berber general that Pepin was not the king of the Franks, and that yet another pretender was still ruling on Austrasia.
Ukkasha didn’t stay in Paris for much longer, and set out to finish the conquest by looking for the real king and the so-called pretender. Grifo was technically not lying, as Childeric III, technically still the nominal king of the Franks, was not in Paris; while Drogo, mayor of Austrasia, was still ruling from Reims.
Having taken with him some of Grifo’s men, he was guided to where the Merovingian king was said to be hiding. He had been staying at Chateau-Thierry, where his predecessor, Theuderic IV, spent most of his short life. Finding a young man with long hair, devoid of any real power, Ukkasha spent a couple of days at the place. Childeric was deposed, but he agreed to convert to Islam, and was allowed to live there for the remainder of his life. A small troop of less than a hundred Berbers was left behind to make sure Childeric did not try anything, and they guarded him for years to come.
Ukkasha razed and pillaged as he moved closer and closer to Reims. Drogo had already found out about Pepin and the fall of Paris. It had all happened in a matter of months, and painted a somber image. However, he had enough time to gather an army of fifteen thousand.
He personally led the army, and met the thirty thousand of Ukkasha outside his capital. There would be no siege, there would only be a battle.
Drogo valiantly fought against the Muslims. He fought for the possibility of coming out of the battle victorious, to then march to Paris and declare himself king. However, that would not happen. There would be no brave Frankish king who halted the meteoric and unstoppable expansion of Islam. Not in this timeline.
The mayor of Austrasia was killed by a Baskuni soldier, and soon the Frankish army collapsed into chaos. What followed was a brutal massacre that left ponds of blood on the ground.
Seeing this, the people of Reims surrendered unconditionally, and Ukkasha took the city without further violence. Many proclaimed him Ukkasha al-Rashid, while some others went as far as to proclaim him the Caliph. What was undeniable was that his victory over the franks had been fast and crushing. The Frankish armies had no chance against a general of his caliber.
After less than a week of occupation, however, unpleasant news would come from Paris. Upon reading the letter, Ukkasha immediately ordered the indiscriminate purge of all Frankish nobility, and he returned to Paris with most of his men.
Grifo had declared himself King of the Franks while Ukkasha defeated Drogo. He renounced the title of Emir and recognised Christianity as his faith, against what was agreed with Khalid. He had also purged all Islamic officials that had stayed behind to make sure he was solidly established as the new Emir of the lands. And that was the final straw.
If Ukkasha’s pillaging was brutal on his way to Reims, then what he did on his way to Paris is impossible to describe with mere words. Hundreds were killed, and upon arriving at the Frankish capital, the inhabitants of the city greatly feared the Berber general. Even Grifo and his military officials.
There was no chance for negotiations and the city was besieged. The gates were opened in mysterious circumstances only after a couple of months of siege in 750. The caliphal armies led by Ukkasha stormed into the city and completely destroyed it. Everything was raided and burnt to the ground, while the entire Frankish nobility that remained at the city was massacred as well as most of its regular inhabitants. Grifo had nowhere to go, so he had a last stand against the Muslims with his own men. They were overrun, and the last king of the Franks, Grifo, was slaughtered in battle.
Contrary to what would be expected for such a historical figure, his corpse ended alongside the many dead bodies of the commoners of the city, with no distinction or honors.
Paris was left severely depopulated and destroyed by Ukkasha and his men. So much so, that as soon as the news began to spread across the former Frankish lands, massive migrations began to occur out of fear of suffering the same fate.
Frankish nobles that survived began to flee towards Britain and Brittany, while Gallo Romans and lower Franks fled mostly into Germania. There, however, they would be met by the migrating hordes of Alemanni and Saxons, fleeing from the Slav migrants that continued pushing, taking advantage of the power vacuum left by the franks.
The kingdom of Kent welcomed most of the Frankish nobles, and important marriages ensued between them.
As for Khalid and Ukkasha, they met once again at Chartres, as Paris had been devastated. There, Khalid granted his general the governorship of Al-Faranj, which would have its capital at Orleans. This was also a measure to keep Ukkasha away from the core cities and capitals of the Caliphate, as Ibn Hamid feared he could be deposed.
Ukkasha would continue fighting small rebellions and resistance groups to consolidate Kharijite authority over the lands. However, northern Neustria and most of Austrasia would remain out of the real authority of the Caliphate, as depopulation, a power vacuum and migrations ensured that those territories would be taken over by chaos.
It did not take long for the Slavs to begin pushing westwards after Frankish authority collapsed. At the same time as Alemannia collapsed into anarchy following the escape of the few Frankish nobles that ruled over them after the massacre of the native nobility. The Saxons were displaced from a lot of their lands as well, and some were forced to incursion into former Frankish lands. As for the Alemanni, they almost completely migrated into former Burgundy and Austrasia. This shook Caliphal control, and made it almost impossible for Ukkasha to exert proper control over the lands of Austrasia.