Viking siege of Paris
A large Viking fleet besieged Paris for almost a year; Count Odo and Bishop Gozlin held the fortified island city, but Emperor Charles the Fat bought the Vikings off, losing his authority, while Odo became king in 888.
- Date
- between 24 November and 25 November 885 – October 886start: exact date unknown: an interval is given; end: month known · duration: ≈ 11 months
- Place
- Paristoday: Paris, France · Western and Central Europe
- Participants
- Vikings, Rollo, West Francia, Odo of France, Charles the Fat
- Threads
- Early medieval Europe (500–1000)
- Also known as
- Siege of Paris (885–886); Осада Парижа (885—886)
Refused tribute, the Vikings led by Sigfred arrived on 24 or 25 November 885 with hundreds of ships — Abbo of Saint-Germain, an eyewitness, speaks of 700, which historians consider a great exaggeration. Paris then lay on the Île de la Cité, and its two fortified bridges blocked the way up the Seine. Repeated assaults with siege engines, fire-ships and mining failed; the defenders were led by Count Odo and Bishop Gozlin, who died during the siege.
Much of the Viking force dispersed to plunder the country, and Sigfred left in April for a payment of 60 pounds of silver. In October 886 Charles the Fat arrived with an imperial army but did not fight: he allowed the Vikings to winter in rebellious Burgundy and promised them 700 pounds of silver. The episode destroyed Charles’s prestige — he was deposed in 887 — and made the defender of Paris, Odo, the first non-Carolingian king of West Francia.
Connections
Related events
- Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte911 · Western and Central EuropeRollo is said to have been among the Vikings who besieged Paris in 885–886
- Hugh Capet becomes King of the FranksMay 987 – 3 July 987 · Western and Central EuropeThe rise of Hugh’s family began with Odo’s defence of Paris against the Vikings
Same participants
- Treaty of VerdunAugust 843 · Western and Central Europevia West Francia
- Battle of EdingtonMay 878 · Western and Central Europevia Vikings
Same place
- Storming of the Bastille14 July 1789 · Western and Central Europe
- Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen26 August 1789 · Western and Central Europe
- Execution of Louis XVI21 January 1793 · Western and Central Europe
- Coup of 18 Brumaire9–10 November 1799 · Western and Central Europe
- Napoleonic Code (French Civil Code)21 March 1804 · Western and Central Europe
- Coronation of Napoleon2 December 1804 · Western and Central Europe
- Battle of Paris18 (30) March 1814 – 19 (31) March 1814 · Western and Central Europe
- Hundred Days20 March – 8 July 1815 · Western and Central Europe
- Holy Alliance14 (26) September 1815 · Western and Central Europe
Adjacent events in the thread
- Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basinbetween 894 and 895 – 907 · Western and Central Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Eastern Europe
- Oleg takes Kyiv882
- Askold and Dir rule in Kyiv862–882
- First Christianization of the Rus’between 860 and 867
- Calling of the Varangians862
- The Khazar rulers adopt Judaismbetween 740 and 861
Balkans and Anatolia
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907
- Christianization of Bulgaria864
- Golden Age of Bulgaria under Simeon I893 – 27 May 927
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Siege of Paris (885–886)
- Wikipedia (Russian): Осада Парижа (885—886)
- MacLean S. Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the End of the Carolingian Empire. — Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
- Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Viking Attacks on Paris: The Bella Parisiacae urbis / ed. and tr. N. Dass. — Leuven: Peeters, 2007.
- Wikidata: Q815192