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Viking Age · 885 Locked

Viking Siege of Paris, 885-886

From November 885 a large Norse army and fleet under Sigfrid besieged Paris, then little more than the Île de la Cité inside its late Roman wall, to force a passage up the Seine; the siege lasted to October 886, and the Norse left in November.Count Odo and Bishop Gauzlin, with perhaps 200 men-at-arms, held the island and the fortified bridgeheads through assaults on the tower of the Grand Pont, siege engines and fire ships; a flood on 6 February 886 broke the Petit Pont, and the twelve defenders of its small tower were killed. Gauzlin died in April and a relief force under Henry of Franconia failed. In October Emperor Charles the Fat came with an army to Montmartre but paid the Norse 700 pounds of silver and let them go to raid Burgundy. The siege is known chiefly from Abbo of Saint-Germain's eyewitness poem, whose numbers are greatly exaggerated; its hero, Odo, was elected king in 888.

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Count Eudes defends Paris (Schnetz)
Count Eudes defends Paris (Schnetz) — Jean-Victor Schnetz — public domain

The battle, stage by stage

  1. 24-25 November 885

    The fleet arrives

    After taking Rouen and the fort at Pontoise, a great Norse fleet under Sigfrid, whom the Annals of St Vaast call 'king of the Danes', comes up the Seine and moors below Paris. Abbo of Saint-Germain, a monk who watched the siege, gives 700 ships besides smaller boats, a line of vessels more than two leagues long, and tens of thousands of men; modern estimates are far lower: Carroll Gillmor reckons at most 200-300 ships and some 5,000-8,000 men. Paris is still essentially the Île de la Cité inside its late Roman wall, joined to the banks by two bridges: the Grand Pont to the right bank, its tower (on the later site of the Grand Châtelet) unfinished, and the Petit Pont to the left bank, with a smaller tower. Sigfrid asks Bishop Gauzlin for passage upriver; Gauzlin refuses, saying the city is held in trust for the emperor.

  2. 26 November - December 885

    The north tower holds

    At dawn on 26 November the Norse attack the tower at the north end of the Grand Pont, of which only the stone base is finished. They are thrown back, and overnight the defenders raise it with a timber story, by Abbo's account half again as high. The next day the attack is renewed with picks, fire and missiles, and again fails; Abbo singles out Odo, Gauzlin and the abbot Ebles among the fighters. The Norse then fortify a camp of earth and stone around the church of Saint-Germain-le-Rond (Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois) on the right bank, plunder the country around, and settle in for a siege. The defenders, perhaps 200 men-at-arms by modern estimate, hold the island's wall and both bridgeheads (exact sites not recorded).

  3. January - early February 886

    Engines and fire ships

    Over the winter the Norse build siege engines: by Abbo's description, large rams on wheels, mantlets of hides to shelter the attackers, and machines to hurl stones and missiles. They try to fill the ditch around the tower with earth, brushwood, slaughtered animals and, Abbo claims, the bodies of prisoners. Then they set three ships loaded with wood alight and drive them against the Grand Pont; the ships run aground on the stone bridgeheads and the defenders put out the flames. Defenders pour hot oil, wax and pitch on the attackers and answer with their own stone-throwers. Abbo's long speeches and saint's miracles make the poem a difficult guide to detail, but the annals confirm the long, failed assault on the tower.

  4. 6 February 886

    The Petit Pont falls

    During the night of 6 February the swollen Seine carries away part of the Petit Pont, cutting off the small tower on the left bank. The Annals of St Vaast say Gauzlin sent men to hold the tower so the bridge could be repaired at dawn, but the Norse attacked first. They surround the tower and set it on fire, by Abbo's account with a cart of burning hay. Its twelve defenders fight on in sight of the city, which cannot reach them; when they surrender on a promise of ransom, they are killed. Abbo names them: Ermenfredus, Eriveus, Erilandus, Odaucer, Ervic, Arnoldus, Solius, Gozbertus, Vuido, Ardradus, Eimardus and Gozsuinus. A plaque at the crypt on the parvis of Notre-Dame remembers them; it stands on the island, not on the site of the tower.

  5. February - August 886

    Help that does not come

    Many of the Norse leave to raid the surrounding country; Sigfrid himself, by Abbo's account, accepts 60 pounds of silver in the spring and goes. Henry, margrave of the Franks (Henry of Franconia), sent by the emperor, reaches Paris in late winter but achieves nothing and withdraws. Disease breaks out in the crowded city, and Bishop Gauzlin dies on 16 April 886; Ebles and Odo carry on the defense. Odo slips out to seek help from the emperor and, by Abbo's account, reappears on the heights of Montmartre with three companies and cuts his way back to the gate after his horse is killed. In late summer Henry returns, rides ahead to scout the Norse camp, falls into a covered ditch and is killed, and his army withdraws (exact sites not recorded).

  6. October - November 886

    The emperor at Montmartre

    Emperor Charles the Fat, who has held the West Frankish kingdom only since 885, arrives in October with a large army and camps, by Abbo's account, at the foot of Montmartre. He does not fight. Instead he agrees to pay the Norse 700 pounds of silver, due the following spring, and gives them leave to go up the Seine and winter in Burgundy, which, Britannica says, was in revolt against him. The Annals of St Vaast call it a shameful treaty. Where the Norse lay during these talks is not recorded; the left-bank position shown is a guess. Exact positions of both armies here are conjectural.

  7. November 886 - 888

    Odo becomes king

    The Parisians refuse to let the fleet pass under their bridges, so, by Abbo's account (followed by Britannica), the Norse haul their ships overland around the city and relaunch upstream; they then besiege Sens and plunder Burgundy through the winter, and return in 887 to collect their silver. Charles the Fat is deposed in November 887 and dies in January 888. In 888 the West Frankish nobles elect Odo, the defender of Paris, as their king, the first ruler of the kingdom from outside the Carolingian family. The siege made the reputation of Odo's family, the Robertians, whose descendant Hugh Capet became king in 987.

Forces

Abbo's 700 ships and 40,000 Norse are poetic exaggeration; modern estimates run to a few hundred ships and at most 5,000-8,000 men. The defenders were perhaps 200 men-at-arms by modern estimate, plus townspeople. Charles the Fat's relief army was large but uncounted.

Norse army and fleet (Sigfrid and Sinric)

Ships (contemporary claim)Abbo says the vessels lined the Seine for more than two leagues. Schools History, 'Viking Siege of Paris: contemporary account' (Abbo)700 sailing ships besides smaller boats (Abbo)
Men (contemporary claim)Treated by historians as literary embroidery. WarHistory.org, 'The Siege of Paris (885-6)'40,000 (Abbo, as reported by WarHistory.org; not checked against the text)
Present (modern estimate)Carroll Gillmor, 'War on the Rivers: Viking Numbers and Mobility on the Seine and Loire, 841-886', Viator 19 (1988), as reported by WarHistory.org (secondary reporting). Numbers also changed as bands left to raid during the siege. WarHistory.org, 'The Siege of Paris (885-6)'5,000-8,000 at most, probably fewer (200-300 ships of about 26 crew each)

Defenders of Paris (Count Odo, Bishop Gauzlin, Abbot Ebles), with Charles the Fat's relief army

GarrisonBritannica: probably no more than 200, besides the townspeople. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Siege of Paris'; WarHistory.org, 'The Siege of Paris (885-6)'about 200 men-at-arms (modern estimate)
Charles the Fat's relief army (October 886)The Annals of St Vaast give no figure. Annals of St Vaast (Robinson translation), De Re Militariunknown; 'a large army'

Casualties

Apart from the twelve named defenders of the Petit Pont tower, Bishop Gauzlin and Henry of Franconia, no source gives reliable losses for either side; Abbo's figures for Norse dead are poetic. Certainty: poor.

Norse army and fleet (Sigfrid and Sinric)

Killed and woundedAbbo describes heavy Norse losses in every assault and gives poetic tallies (two defenders slaying 'nine times thirty', Anscheric's sortie killing 600, Book II, ll. 485-490), which historians do not accept as counts; no other source gives a figure. Heroism in Abbo of Saint-Germain's Wars of the City of Paris (Trivent Publishing)unknown

Defenders of Paris (Count Odo, Bishop Gauzlin, Abbot Ebles), with Charles the Fat's relief army

Killed at the Petit Pont tower (6 February 886)Abbo names the twelve defenders, killed after surrendering on a promise of ransom; the Annals of St Vaast record the loss of the tower, and a plaque at the Crypte archéologique lists them. Heroism in Abbo of Saint-Germain's Wars of the City of Paris (Trivent Publishing); HMdb, 'Siege of Paris (886)' plaque; Annals of St Vaast (Robinson translation), De Re Militari12
Bishop GauzlinThe Annals of St Vaast record his illness and death during the siege; his epitaph gives 16 April. Annals of St Vaast (Robinson translation), De Re Militari; Heroism in Abbo of Saint-Germain's Wars of the City of Paris (Trivent Publishing)died of illness, 16 April 886
Henry, margrave of the FranksLured into prepared ditches while scouting the Norse camp and killed in sight of his army (full Annales Vedastini, via the Hamburg record); Regino of Prüm (s.a. 886) has him fall into a covered pit and be speared. University of Hamburg, Ancient Violence database: Henry, Duke of Austrasia (from the Annales Vedastini); Regino of Prüm, s.a. 886, as cited in 'Heroism in Abbo of Saint-Germain's Wars of the City of Paris' (Trivent Publishing)killed, 886
Other lossesNo source counts the defenders' dead in the assaults or from the disease that broke out in the city in spring 886. Annals of St Vaast (Robinson translation), De Re Militariunknown

Civilians

Civilian deathsThe Norse plundered the country around Paris and the churches outside the island; disease struck the crowded city in 886. No source gives numbers. Annals of St Vaast (Robinson translation), De Re Militari; Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Siege of Paris'unknown

Equipment and ships

Norse fire shipsAbbo says the three burning ships ran aground on the bridge's stone footings and the defenders put out the flames and kept them as booty. WarHistory.org, 'The Siege of Paris (885-6)'; Heroism in Abbo of Saint-Germain's Wars of the City of Paris (Trivent Publishing)3, captured
Bridges and towersThe flood of 6 February 886 carried away the Petit Pont and the Norse destroyed its tower; the Grand Pont and its tower held. Annals of St Vaast (Robinson translation), De Re MilitariPetit Pont broken; its tower burned

Then and now: how the ground has changed

Every landmark of the siege lies under the center of modern Paris. The towers and the 9th-century bridges are gone, the Île de la Cité has been lengthened by joining islets and walled in stone quays, and other islands in the river have been merged or joined to the bank.

The interactive map can show the period landscape (2 shapes: Western tip of the Cité: river and islets in 885 (approximate), Arm of the Seine behind the Île Louviers (filled 1841-1847)) under the units. Open the map.

Weapons

Norse army and fleet (Sigfrid and Sinric)

Spear and round shield

Spear and round shield

Spear and shield (the shield wall) · Viking Age and late Anglo-Saxon

At Viking Siege of Paris: Spear and round shield were the everyday arms of the Norse warriors who stormed the tower of the Grand Pont.

The everyday weapons of both armies. Locked shields formed a wall several ranks deep; Snorri describes Harald's army forming a ring of shields with spears set against the English charge.

Spear
about 2–3 m, ash shaft with iron head
Shield
about 80–90 cm limewood board with iron boss
Formation
overlapping shield wall
Photo: Rept0n1x · CC BY-SA 3.0
Viking-age sword

Viking-age sword

Double-edged sword · c. 800–1100

At Viking Siege of Paris: Swords were carried by the leaders and their household men, such as Sigfrid's following.

A costly weapon carried by kings, earls and their household men, used with a shield. Swords were named, inherited and buried with their owners.

Blade
about 75–90 cm, pattern-welded or crucible steel
Grip
one-handed, with heavy pommel
Status
prized heirloom of the wealthy
Photo: JopkeB · CC BY-SA 4.0
Mail byrnie and helmet

Mail byrnie and helmet

Body armor · Viking Age

At Viking Siege of Paris: Mail shirts and helmets protected the better-equipped Norse; Abbo describes the attackers sheltering under shields and mantlets.

Mail shirts were the best protection of the age. On a hot day, the sagas say, the Norwegians left theirs with the ships at Riccall — and paid for it when Harold's army came over the ridge.

Mail
riveted iron rings, about 10–15 kg
Helmet
iron cap, sometimes with spectacle guard (as at Gjermundbu)
Cost
very expensive; worn by the wealthy
Photo: NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet · CC BY 2.0

Defenders of Paris (Count Odo, Bishop Gauzlin, Abbot Ebles), with Charles the Fat's relief army

Spear and round shield

Spear and round shield

Spear and shield (the shield wall) · Viking Age and late Anglo-Saxon

At Viking Siege of Paris: The garrison of Paris fought from the tower and walls with spear and shield, besides bows, stones and boiling oil, wax and pitch.

The everyday weapons of both armies. Locked shields formed a wall several ranks deep; Snorri describes Harald's army forming a ring of shields with spears set against the English charge.

Spear
about 2–3 m, ash shaft with iron head
Shield
about 80–90 cm limewood board with iron boss
Formation
overlapping shield wall
Photo: Rept0n1x · CC BY-SA 3.0
Mail byrnie and helmet

Mail byrnie and helmet

Body armor · Viking Age

At Viking Siege of Paris: Count Odo, Abbot Ebles and the other Frankish nobles fought in mail.

Mail shirts were the best protection of the age. On a hot day, the sagas say, the Norwegians left theirs with the ships at Riccall — and paid for it when Harold's army came over the ridge.

Mail
riveted iron rings, about 10–15 kg
Helmet
iron cap, sometimes with spectacle guard (as at Gjermundbu)
Cost
very expensive; worn by the wealthy
Photo: NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet · CC BY 2.0

Paintings and photographs

Count Eudes defends Paris (Schnetz)
Count Eudes defends Paris (Schnetz) Jean-Victor Schnetz's 1834 painting of Count Odo (Eudes) defending Paris against the Norse (Versailles), a Romantic imagining. Jean-Victor Schnetz — public domain · source
Plaque to the twelve defenders
Plaque to the twelve defenders The plaque in memory of the twelve last defenders of the Petit Pont tower, killed in February 886. Tangopaso — public domain · source
The siege in a 19th-century print
The siege in a 19th-century print A 19th-century engraving of the Norse siege of Paris (Musée Carnavalet), a later imagining. Gabriel Lacoste after Jules Gagniet — CC0 · source

Free for everyone every year on its anniversary: November 25–26.

Accuracy score: 46/100 (limited)

How the accuracy score works

Sources and method

Siege of Paris, 885-886. The main source is the eyewitness poem of Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Bella Parisiacae urbis (full English translation by Nirmal Dass, Viking Attacks on Paris, 2007; an older translation of an extract, from Bouquet's Recueil, at Schools History), a work of praise full of miracles and inflated numbers; the line references to the tower assaults, fire ships, flood and twelve defenders follow a study of heroism in Abbo (Trivent Publishing). The Annals of St Vaast (J. H. Robinson's translation, De Re Militari) give the flood of 6 February, Gauzlin's talks with Sigfrid and death, Odo's ride for help, Henry's failure and Charles's 'shameful treaty'. Background and numbers: Encyclopaedia Britannica (garrison probably no more than 200; 700 pounds of silver; the overland haul); Simon MacLean, 'Charles the Fat and the Viking Great Army' (War Studies Journal, 1998; also his Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century, 2003); Carroll Gillmor, 'War on the Rivers: Viking Numbers and Mobility on the Seine and Loire, 841-886', Viator 19 (1988), for at most 200-300 ships and 5,000-8,000 men, cited as reported by WarHistory.org (secondary reporting, not checked against Gillmor's text; also the source of Abbo's 40,000); Si Sheppard, The Viking Siege of Paris (Osprey, 2022); Henry's death in the Norse ditches: University of Hamburg, Ancient Violence database (from the full Annales Vedastini, which the Robinson extract does not cover) and Regino of Prüm, s.a. 886 (a covered pit; as cited in the Abbo study above). Britannica differs from the primary sources in three places, which this map does not follow: it names Rollo as a Viking leader, credits Odo with building the towers, and has Charles arrive in summer 886 (Abbo and the annals: October). Places: the plaque to the twelve at the Crypte archéologique (HMdb 272232); the former islets at the west end of the Cité (HMdb 61580); the Carolingian Grand Pont roughly on the line of the Pont au Change and its tower on the later Grand Châtelet site (Structurae); the old cathedral of Saint-Étienne under the parvis (Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris); the late Roman wall at rue de la Colombe (Paris ZigZag). The line of the 885 shore, the exact sites of the camp, the engines, Charles's army and Henry's ditch, and the bridge alignments are conjectural; the Musée Carnavalet's and the city archaeologists' reports on the bridge sites could not be reached. Images from Wikimedia Commons.

Where the positions come from

Further reading