Henry's Saga Continues: They Came Back! Quiz

Answer: False

According to "The Annals of St. Vaast", the Vikings carried out brutal raids in France beginning in 882, raiding monasteries and taking slaves. An entry in 884 states that "there was no road nor place where the dead did not lie..." The Frankish nobles decided to send the Dane, Sigfried, to the Viking camp to ask them to leave in exchange for tribute money.

The Vikings left after taking a sum of 12,000 livres of silver - and then came back a few months later. Abbo Cenuus, an eyewitness to the siege of 865-66, claimed the Vikings brought 700 ships and 30,000-40,000 men.

However, most historians agree that he exaggerated more than a little with those numbers!

Answer: It was a small village built on an island.

The island, today called the Île de la Cité, has been occupied at least since the 3th century BC. It appears that a group of Celts called Parisii inhabited the area. Of course, it was taken by the Romans during the conquest of Gaul. It was low-lying and prone to flooding, so the Romans built their Lutetia on a healthier site nearby.

It is said that the Romans did retreat to the island during the invasion by the Huns. Clovis, a Merovingian king of France, built a palace on the island, which became the capital of the western part of the Frankish kingdom.

After the siege of 885-886 the strategic importance of the island became apparent.

Answer: Bridges

Charles the Bald didn't have much success against the Vikings, but having the bridges built at river towns was a grand idea, and building bridges in Paris was important in protecting the city during the siege of 885-886. The low-lying foot bridges, one wood and one stone, blocked the passage of the Viking ships (yes, even though they could maneuver in very little water!). In an effort to destroy the wooden bridge, the Vikings sent three burning ships, but they sank before doing much damage. A rainstorm eventually aided in destroying the bridge, but overall the Vikings gained very little advantage by that small victory.

The Edict also prohibited all trade with the Vikings in order to keep them from establishing permanent settlements in Gaul. Selling horses to them was a crime punishable by death. Apparently mounted Viking attacks were becoming more frequent.

Answer: Count Odo

Odo was the Frankish hero of the siege. With two hundred men, he held back the Vikings using hot wax, oil, and pitch. He did send some men to ask allies for assistance, but little came of that. Odo himself slipped through the Viking blockade of the city to ask the Frankish king for help; sources report that he gloriously fought his way back into the city.

After the king died in 888, Odo was elected king, and so was his brother after his death.

Answer: Charles the Fat

When the Vikings began their siege of Paris in 885, the king was in Italy. He sent an ally, Henry of Saxony, to Paris; finally, the king brought his own army to the aid of the Parisians but it soon became clear that he had no intention of fighting the Vikings.

Answer: Sigfred and Sinric

Very little is known about these two Viking leaders. However, it is said they commanded the largest fleet ever recorded by a contemporary source - even if it may have been a bit exaggerated! After arriving in Paris, the leaders demanded ransom money, but were refused.

Then they began a siege, using all kinds of weapons, that lasted for several months. After months with little success many Vikings began to get discouraged; in April 886, Sigfred asked for the paltry sum of sixty pounds of silver, but was denied.

Many Vikings left at that time to look for more lucrative raiding. Really, laying siege as they did in 885-886 was not the Viking strength; they had more success with hit-and-run tactics.

Answer: Mangonel

The mangonel was used with the intention of breaking down walls, rather than throwing things over them. It had a lower trajectory than other siege engines, and hurled with a great velocity. Usually rocks or burning objects, such as fire pots, were used as well as just whatever happened to be available. At the siege of Paris the Vikings also used catapults and ballistae.

Answer: Trench

The Vikings began to dig trenches in order to give themselves a better position. It doesn't appear that the trenches ended up giving the Vikings any long-term advantage. There was an incident that occurred, however, as the king and his allies began to reinforce the besieged city. Henry of Saxony, fell into one of the trenches and was immediately killed by the Vikings.

Answer: Rollo

Rollo, who was eventually baptized as Robert I, became the founder and first Viking ruler of the area called Normandy. He and his men continued the siege of Paris after many of the others left for more raiding, and they were the group that was paid the Danegeld to leave.

He returned to Paris, however, in 911, and was defeated by the Franks in the Battle of Chartres. Rollo pledged allegiance to the king, Charles the Simple, and married the king's daughter. It is written that while Rollo kept the terms of the treaty as it applied to the area around the Seine, he continued to raid at will in other parts of France.

Answer: Burgundy

The Parisians were reportedly horrified when their king agreed to pay a ransom, and offered to give the Vikings free passage to raid and pillage Burgundy. Abbo Cernuus wrote that the Burgundians got what they deserved because they refused to help during the siege of Paris! When the Vikings left France the following spring, the king paid them the 700 livres of silver that had been previously agreed on, a pittance when compared to the 7,000 livres paid to Ragnar Lodbrok after the first siege of Paris in 845.