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The Tenth Century

Vikings in 9th Century France

When Charlemagne conquered the Saxons, he extended his empire to the borders of Viking realms: specifically, to Friesland in southern Denmark. Having encountered problems there, he built fortresses and maintained a navy to protect against Viking raids. His son, Louis the Pious, continued this practice.

But in 834, the Danes overran the Frankish coastal defenses and raided well inland. They were stopped only by a succession dispute that distracted them for a few years. Not until King Horik emerged as the eventual victor did they again threaten the Frankish kingdoms. Horik discouraged independent action and gathered the captains together into a regular invasion force. He attacked Hamburg in 845 with a fleet that numbered hundreds of ships. At the same time, he sent a second fleet up the Seine to attack Paris, but it was turned back.

After Horik was murdered in 854 by a rival, Denmark produced no centrally-directed attacks for a century. The captains were left to their own devices and they led numerous raids, mainly against northern France. These persisted for about fifty years.

In 878, having suffered a major defeat in England, various Danish princes joined together and formed a huge army that invaded the Continent. They plundered up and down rivers for thirteen years. During this time, a chronicle from the Scheldt River valley says "there did not exist a road which was not littered with dead, priests and laymen, women, children, and babies."

Even when this Viking army lost, it won. After a serious defeat in 881 at Saucourt, near the Somme River, the Frankish king was killed and the victory led to nothing. He was only about twenty years old and after the battle happened to spot a pretty young woman. He pursued her on horseback. She fled and ran through a gateway. The king charged after her and brained himself on the crossbeam.

Other Frankish kings were no more glorious. In 885 the Vikings were besieging Paris. King Charles the Fat of the West Franks bought them off with a huge ransom but allowed them to pass by the city, whereupon the Vikings laid waste to the entire countryside for several more years. Nothing actually stopped this Viking invasion until 892, when pestilence so ravaged the army that they finally dispersed.

Raids into France began again in 896. When a Viking leader named Rollo invaded, the Frankish king made him an offer: if Rollo would convert to Christianity and agree to defend his lands against other Vikings, then the king would make Rollo a duke and give him a huge chunk of north France. Rollo agreed and brought his people into a land that still bears their name:  Normandy, the land of the Northmen.