of Lechfeld the following year allowed the German king to focus on the threat from Fraxinetum. At one point a military expedition may have been planned, but it never took place. This did not stop Widukind of Corvey from listing the Saracens among Otto's defeated enemies. Decline and defeat In 956, a raid into the Upper Rhine Valley prompted Otto I to send an embassy to the Umayyad court, which he clearly believed had the power to control Fraxinetum. Ballan calls their raid deep into Otto's territory "their first major miscalculation". Several embassies were exchanged between the two most powerful courts in western Europe. After this, material aid from Spain to Fraxinetum declined substantially. In 972, the Muslims captured Abbot Maiolus of Cluny while he was crossing the Alps and held him for ransom. After his release, Maiolus organized a military response. Led by Count William I of Provence and Count Arduin of Turin, a Christian force drawn from Provence, Piedmont and Septimania defeated the Muslims in the Battle of Tourtour in the summer of 972. Fraxinetum fell by the end of the year after a short siege. With the fall of Fraxinetum, those Muslims who did not go into exile were either killed or sold into slavery. Many converted to Christianity and remained in Provence as serfs, while the formerly Muslim lands were parcelled out among the victorious Provençal nobles. Governance The Muslims of Fraxinetum established forts throughout the areas they conquered in Provence and Piedmont, but Latin sources do not distinguish them, calling all of them Fraxinetum or a variant thereof, such as Frassineto, Frascendello or Fraxinth. A string of forts was constructed across the Alps to control the mountain passes and serve as bases for raiding. The form of Islamic rule imposed by Fraxinetum was indirect. Christians retained their religion and towns their self-government through agreeing to the dhimma (the pact of submission) and paying the jizya (a head tax). Archaeological evidence in the form of 10th-century Muslim shipwrecks off the coast of Provence suggests that Fraxinetum maintained commercial links with the rest of the Muslim world. Timeline 889: Twenty Andalusis sail up the Gulf of St. Tropez and found a colony at Fraxinetum. 906: Andalusis cross the defiles of the Dauphiné and Mont Cénis. 908: Andalusis occupy the Susa Valley. 911: Andalusis hold the Alpine passes. 929: Fraxinetum forces advance to borders of Liguria. 935: Sa'id