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05 - Vikings by Allen Mawer · Vikings

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  Speaker 1: Chapter four of the Vikings by Allen Mauer. This librevant
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  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain recording by Kevin Johnson,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter four The Vikings in the Frankish Empire to the
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  Speaker 1: Founding of Normandy Bracket nine eleven and Bracket. The years
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  Speaker 1: from eight fifty to eight sixty five were perhaps the
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  Speaker 1: most unhappy in the whole history of the sufferings of
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  Speaker 1: the Frankish Empire. Under Viking attack, the Danes now took
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  Speaker 1: up more or less permanent quarters, often strongly fortified on
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  Speaker 1: the Shelt, the Psalms, the Seine, the Lois and the Corone,
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  Speaker 1: while Utrecht, Ghent, Amiennes, Paris, Chartres, Tours, Blois, Orleans, Poitchert,
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  Speaker 1: the Moges, Bordeaux and many other towns and cities were sacked,
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  Speaker 1: often more than once. When fourg obtained from the young
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  Speaker 1: Herricer of Denmark a concession of certain districts between the
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  Speaker 1: Ider and the sea, he gave trouble in that direction
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  Speaker 1: and sailed up the Albe and the Wesser alike. His nephew, Gudroder,
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  Speaker 1: was an occupation of Flanders and the lower valley of
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  Speaker 1: the Shout. Besides these Viking leaders who were active in
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  Speaker 1: the Low countries. We have the names of several others
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  Speaker 1: who were busy in France itself. The most famous of
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  Speaker 1: these were the sons of Ragnar Lothbroke Berneau, who first
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  Speaker 1: appeared on the Seine in eight fifty five was Bejorton Ironside,
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  Speaker 1: while it is quite possible that the sid Roc who
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  Speaker 1: accompanied him was Sigurd snake Eye, another son of that
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  Speaker 1: famous leader. With Bjorton, at least according to Norman tradition,
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  Speaker 1: came hasting Us Bracket old Nurse Houstain, and a Brackett.
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  Speaker 1: His foster father, Houstain was destined to a long and
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  Speaker 1: active career. We first hear of him in the Annals
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  Speaker 1: of eight sixty six when he appeared on the Las,
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  Speaker 1: and it was he who was one of the chief
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  Speaker 1: leaders in the great Danish invasion of England in eight
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  Speaker 1: ninety two to four. The sudden appearance of these leaders
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  Speaker 1: was undoubtedly due, as suggested in the previous chapter, to
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  Speaker 1: the turn of events in Denmark at this time. During
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  Speaker 1: the year of the Revolution eight fifty four, no attacks
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  Speaker 1: were made on France at all, and then immediately after
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  Speaker 1: came a flood of invaders. The Saint was never free
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  Speaker 1: from eight fifty five to sixty two, and the LaaS
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  Speaker 1: district was little better off. The troubled and desolate condition
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  Speaker 1: of the country may be judged from the numerous royal
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  Speaker 1: decrees commending those who had been driven from their land
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  Speaker 1: to the protection of those with whom they had taken refuge,
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  Speaker 1: and exempting them from payment of the usual taxes. Many
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  Speaker 1: even deserted their Christian faith and became worshipers of the
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  Speaker 1: gods of the Heathen. The difficulties of Charles the Bald
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  Speaker 1: were greatly increased by succession troubles, both in Brittany and Aquitaine.
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  Speaker 1: Now one now another claimant allied himself with the Northmen,
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  Speaker 1: and Charles himself was often an offender in this respect.
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  Speaker 1: He initiated the disastrous policy of buying off attack by
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  Speaker 1: the payment of large sums of what in England would
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  Speaker 1: have been called deingeld. In eight fifty nine occurred an
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  Speaker 1: incident which throws a curious light on the condition of
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  Speaker 1: the country. The peasants between the Seine and the Lois
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  Speaker 1: rose of their own accord and attacked the Danes in
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  Speaker 1: the Sane Valley. It is not quite clear what followed,
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  Speaker 1: but the rising was a failure, and possibly it was
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  Speaker 1: crushed by the Frankish nobles themselves, who feared anything in
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  Speaker 1: the nature of a popular rising made without reference to
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  Speaker 1: their own authority. In any case, the incident bears witness
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  Speaker 1: to a lack of proper leadership by the nobles. After
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  Speaker 1: the year eight sixty five, the tide of invasions set
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  Speaker 1: from France towards England. These were the years of Alfred's
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  Speaker 1: Great Struggle, and Danish efforts were concentrated on the attempt
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  Speaker 1: to reduce that monarch to submission. The Franks themselves had
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  Speaker 1: begun to realize the necessity of more carefully organized resistance.
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  Speaker 1: They began building fortified bridges across the rivers at certain
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  Speaker 1: points in order to stop the passage of Viking ships,
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  Speaker 1: and they also fortified several of their towns and cities,
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  Speaker 1: thus giving perhaps a hint for the policy later adopted
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  Speaker 1: in England by Edward the Elder. Probably, the Franks were
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  Speaker 1: not above taking lessons from their enemies in the matter
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  Speaker 1: of fortification, for the latter had already shown themselves approved
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  Speaker 1: masters of the art in such fortified camps as that
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  Speaker 1: of jou foss On the Seine. In another way, also
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  Speaker 1: had the Danes showed themselves ready to adapt themselves to
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  Speaker 1: new fighting conditions. Not only did they build forts, but
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  Speaker 1: we hear of them as mounted, and henceforward, horses played
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  Speaker 1: an important part in their equipment both in France and England.
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  Speaker 1: During these years, the Vikings made one notable expedition far
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  Speaker 1: beyond the ordinary range of their activity. Starting from the
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  Speaker 1: Seine in eight fifty nine, under the leadership of Bjorton
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  Speaker 1: and Haustein, they sailed round the Iberian Peninsula through the
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  Speaker 1: Straits of Gibraltar. They landed in Morocco and carried off prisoners,
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  Speaker 1: many of the Moors, or blue men, as they called them.
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  Speaker 1: Some of these found their way to Ireland and are
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  Speaker 1: mentioned in certain Irish annals of the period. After fresh
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  Speaker 1: attacks on Spain, they sailed to the Bellearic Isles and Rossilon,
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  Speaker 1: which they penetrated as far as Arles Surchek. They wintered
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  Speaker 1: in the island of Camargue in the Rhone Delta, and
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  Speaker 1: they raided the old Roman cities of Provence and sailed
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  Speaker 1: up the Rhone itself as far as Valens. In the
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  Speaker 1: spring of the nets next year, they sailed to Italy.
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  Speaker 1: They captured Pisa and Luna bracket at the mouth of
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  Speaker 1: the Magra, and a Brachet, the latter being taken by
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  Speaker 1: a clever stratagem. Holstaine feigned himself sick unto death and
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  Speaker 1: was baptized by the Bishop of Luna during a truce.
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  Speaker 1: Then news came that Houstain was dead, and the Vikings
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  Speaker 1: asked Christian burial for him. Permission was given and a
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  Speaker 1: mock funeral possession entered the city. It was in reality
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  Speaker 1: a band of armed men in disguise, and the city
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  Speaker 1: was soon captured. The real aim of the Vikings in
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  Speaker 1: this campaign was the capture of Rome with its mighty treasures,
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  Speaker 1: but for some reason unknown they made no advance further south.
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  Speaker 1: Scandinavian tradition said it was because they mistook Luna for
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  Speaker 1: Rome and thought their work already done. Sailing back through
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  Speaker 1: the Straits of Gibraltar, they returned to Britany in age
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  Speaker 1: sixty two. The Vikings had now almost encircled Europe with
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  Speaker 1: their attacks, for it was in the year eight sixty
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  Speaker 1: five that the Swedish ros Bracket, Russians and a bracket
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  Speaker 1: laid siege to Constantinople. When Alfred secured a definite peace
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  Speaker 1: with the Danes in eight seventy eight, those who were
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  Speaker 1: averse to settling permanently returned to their old roving life.
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  Speaker 1: They made their way up the Salm and the Shelt,
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  Speaker 1: and their progress was not stopped by a brilliant victory
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  Speaker 1: gained by the young Lewis the Third in June eight
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  Speaker 1: eighty one at Soeucourt near the Somme, a victory which
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  Speaker 1: is celebrated in the famous Ludwig's Liaide. During the same years,
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  Speaker 1: another Viking host invaded Saxony, winning a decisive victory over
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  Speaker 1: Duke Bruno on the Luneburg Heath. After their defeat at Saucourt,
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  Speaker 1: the main body of the Danes made their way to
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  Speaker 1: Alsloo on the Mouse, whence they ravaged the Moose, Rhine
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  Speaker 1: and Masal districts, plundering Cologne, Bonn, Coblenz, Aachen, Treves and Metz.
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  Speaker 1: Armed was the Emperor Charles the Fat that he entered
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  Speaker 1: into negotiations with the Danish king Gudrother, who was with
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  Speaker 1: the forces at Elslough. He secured Goudrother's acceptance of Christianity
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  Speaker 1: and the promise of security from further attack at the
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  Speaker 1: price of a large payment of danegeld and the concession
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  Speaker 1: to Gudrother of the province once held by Trouker, with
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  Speaker 1: large additions. The exact extent of the grant is uncertain,
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  Speaker 1: but it included the district of kinnem Bracket, round Elkmar
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  Speaker 1: and Harlem and of Bracket, and probably covered the greater
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  Speaker 1: part of modern Holland from the Vliers to the scheldt Here.
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  Speaker 1: Gudrother lived in semi independence and might perhaps have established
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  Speaker 1: another normandy within the Empire had he not been ruined
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  Speaker 1: by too great ambition. He entirely failed to defend his
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  Speaker 1: province from attacks. Indeed, he probably give them covert support.
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  Speaker 1: He intrigued with Hugo the Bastard, son of Lothair the
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  Speaker 1: Second against the Emperor, married his sister Guisla, and then
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  Speaker 1: asked for additional territories on the Rhine and the Massel
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  Speaker 1: on the plea that his own province included no vine
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  Speaker 1: growing districts. Gudroder had now overstepped all reasonable limits. The
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  Speaker 1: Emperor entered into negotiations with him, but secured his death
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  Speaker 1: by treachery when a meeting was arranged near Clavey. With
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  Speaker 1: the fall of Gudroder, Danish rule and Frisia came to
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  Speaker 1: an end, and though we hear of isolated attacks even
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  Speaker 1: during the early years of the tenth century, there was
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  Speaker 1: no more serious trouble in that district. In the autumn
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  Speaker 1: of eight eighty two, encouraged doubtless by the news of
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  Speaker 1: the death of Louis the Third, the Danes returned from
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  Speaker 1: the Meuse to Flanders, and during the next three years
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  Speaker 1: ravaged Flanders, Brabant and Picardy, establishing themselves strongly at Louvain.
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  Speaker 1: In eight eighty five, the and in these districts and
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  Speaker 1: sailed up the Seine after a nine years absence. In
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  Speaker 1: November they reached Paris with a fighting force of some
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  Speaker 1: thirty thousand men and a fleet of seven hundred vessels.
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  Speaker 1: The passage up the river was stopped by fortified bridges,
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  Speaker 1: and the besiegers were fortunate in having as leader two
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  Speaker 1: men of great ability and courage, first Gauislein Abbot of
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  Speaker 1: Saint Germains and later Count Odo of Paris. The position
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  Speaker 1: of Paris was at times desperate. The Danes were exasperated
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  Speaker 1: by the stout defense and in their eagerness to plunder
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  Speaker 1: further up the river, dragged many of their ships some
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  Speaker 1: two miles over land past Paris and so reached the
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  Speaker 1: upper waters of the Seine. Later, as the result of
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  Speaker 1: peaceful negotiations, they obtained permission to pass the bridges on
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  Speaker 1: condition that they only ravaged Burgundy, leaving the Seine and
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  Speaker 1: Marnay districts untouched. Thus had the provinces of the Frankish
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  Speaker 1: Empire lost all sents of corporate union. The Danes soon
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  Speaker 1: made their way as far west as Verdun. Here, however,
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  Speaker 1: they were disastrously routed by Odo, now King of the
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  Speaker 1: West Franks Bracket June eight eight eight and a bracket,
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  Speaker 1: and in the next year they finally abandoned the siege
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  Speaker 1: of Paris, making their way to Brittany. In Brittany they
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  Speaker 1: found another army already busy. The Bretons had won a
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  Speaker 1: great victory in the autumn of eight eight eight, when
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  Speaker 1: only four hundred out of some fifteen thousand Danes made
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  Speaker 1: their way back to their fleet. The great here from
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  Speaker 1: the Seine now joined forces with the remnants of this army,
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  Speaker 1: but proved powerless against Duke Alan and some returned to
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  Speaker 1: Flanders in eight ninety, while Houstaine with the rest sailed
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  Speaker 1: to the Psalmme. The Danes and Flanders were defeated by
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  Speaker 1: Arnulf Bracket. Afterwards Emperor and a Bracket on the dial
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  Speaker 1: near Luvain in eight ninety one, but it had no
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  Speaker 1: great effect, for soon after we find them again as
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  Speaker 1: far east as Bonn. A bad harvest in the summer
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  Speaker 1: of eight ninety two brought famine in its train, and
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  Speaker 1: this was more effective in ridding the land of invaders.
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  Speaker 1: In the autumn of the year, the whole army, horses
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  Speaker 1: and all crossed in one passage in some two hundred
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  Speaker 1: fifty ships from Boulogne to the mouth of the Lemen
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  Speaker 1: in Kent, and shortly after Houstain, with a fleet of
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  Speaker 1: eighty ships, left the Saalm and sailed to Milton in
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  Speaker 1: North Kent. The story of the campaigns there has already
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  Speaker 1: been told. For the first time since eight forty the
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  Speaker 1: Frankish Empire was free from invaders. Grievous as were the
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  Speaker 1: losses of the Francs, it is well to remember that
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  Speaker 1: those of the Danes had been great also. Their fleet
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  Speaker 1: had been reduced from seven hundred to two hundred fifty ships,
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  Speaker 1: and as the whole army could still go to England
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  Speaker 1: in one crossing, that must also have been reduced from
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  Speaker 1: thirty to ten or fifteen thousand men. When the English
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  Speaker 1: invasion had failed, those who could not settle in England
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  Speaker 1: returned to their French haunts once more. A small force
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  Speaker 1: of eight ships and some two hundred men sailed up
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  Speaker 1: the Seine under one hunkteos, and gradually their numbers were
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  Speaker 1: increased by fresh arrivals from abroad. They made their way
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  Speaker 1: north to the Meuse, south to the Lois, and east
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  Speaker 1: to Burgundy, but their headquarters were on the lower waters
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  Speaker 1: of the Seine. In nine o three, other invaders appeared
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  Speaker 1: on the Lois under leaders named Barrett Bracket Old Norse
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  Speaker 1: Barder and a Brachet, and Herrick Bracket Old Norse Eriker
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  Speaker 1: and a Brachet. The name of Barthur is mentioned more
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  Speaker 1: than once in the contemporary history of the Norsemen in Ireland,
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  Speaker 1: and as the Norsemen were driven from Dublin in nine
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  Speaker 1: o two, it is probable that these invaders came from there.
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  Speaker 1: The expedition was not a success, and the Vikings soon
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  Speaker 1: sailed away again. Of the history of the settlers on
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  Speaker 1: the Seine after nine hundred, we unfortunately know practically nothing.
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  Speaker 1: The Norman historian Dudo attempted in the eleventh century to
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  Speaker 1: give a connected account, but his narrative is confused and unreliable.
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  Speaker 1: Otto was dead, and Charles the Simple was more interested
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  Speaker 1: in conquering Lorraine than defending Neustria. The clergy were wary
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  Speaker 1: of the ceaseless spoiling of the monasteries and anxious for
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  Speaker 1: the conversion of the Heathen, while the nobles were as
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  Speaker 1: usual selfish and careless of the interests of the country
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  Speaker 1: at large. The Northmen made no great expeditions between nine
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  Speaker 1: hundred and nine ten, but maintained a steady hold on
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  Speaker 1: the lower Seine and the districts of Bessin and Cotentin.
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  Speaker 1: They could not extend their territories, and the frank could
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  Speaker 1: not drive them from the Seine at length, largely through
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  Speaker 1: the intervention of the clergy, A meeting was arranged between
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  Speaker 1: Charles and the Viking leader Rollo at Saint Clair Crept
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  Speaker 1: before the end of nine eleven. Here the province later
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  Speaker 1: known as Normandy Bracket, including the counties of Rouen, Lisieux, Evreux,
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  Speaker 1: and the district between the rivers Bressel and Epte and
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  Speaker 1: the Sea and of Brachet was given to Rollo and
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  Speaker 1: his followers as a beneficium, on condition that he defended
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  Speaker 1: the kingdom against attack and himself accepted Christianity. The Danes
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  Speaker 1: now formed a definite part of the Frankish Kingdom and
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  Speaker 1: occupied a position analogous to that of their countrymen in
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  Speaker 1: East Anglia, Northumbria and Murcia in England, except that the latter,
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  Speaker 1: after a period of freedom, had in course of time
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  Speaker 1: to pass definitely under English rule. The story of the
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  Speaker 1: foundation of Norman is obscure. Still more obscure is the
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  Speaker 1: origin and history of the leader of the Northmen at
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  Speaker 1: this time. Norse tradition, as given by Snorri Sturlison, makes
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  Speaker 1: Rollo to be one Prolfer, son of Rogenwalder, Earl of Moore,
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  Speaker 1: who was exiled by Harold Fairhair, and that a Viking
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  Speaker 1: life in the West. Norman tradition, as found in Dudo,
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  Speaker 1: made him out the son of a great noble in
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  Speaker 1: Denmark who was expelled by the king and later went
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  Speaker 1: to England, Prisia and northern France. Dudo's account of the
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  Speaker 1: founding of Normandy is so full of errors clearly proven,
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  Speaker 1: that little reliance can be placed on his story of
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  Speaker 1: the origin of Rollo. The Hamscrngler tradition was recorded much later,
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  Speaker 1: but is probably more trustworthy, and it would be no
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  Speaker 1: strange thing to find a man of Norse Berth leading
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  Speaker 1: a Danish host. Ragnar Lothbroke and his sons were Norsemen
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  Speaker 1: by family. They appear for the most part as leaders
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  Speaker 1: of Danes. How Rollo came to be the leader of
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  Speaker 1: the Danes in France and what his previous career had
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  Speaker 1: been must remain an unsolved mystery. His name is not mentioned.
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  Speaker 1: Apart from the settlement of Normandy, the Normans continued to
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  Speaker 1: ravage Brittany without any interruption, and they were soon granted
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  Speaker 1: the further districts of Beyeux, Siez Avranches and Coutanse, which
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  Speaker 1: made Brittany and Normandy conterminous. End of chapter four