Siege of Asselt

The Siege of Asselt was a Frankish siege of the Viking camp at Asselt in the Meuse valley in the year 882. Though the Vikings were not forced by arms to abandon their camp, they were compelled to come to terms whereby their leader, Godfrid, was converted to Christianity.

The precise location of Asselt is somewhat disputed. The charters call it Ascloha and the Bavarian continuation of the Annales Fuldenses assigns the locale on the Meuse river, fourteen miles from the Rhine. In the past, it was most often identified with Elsloo, north of Maastricht. These days, most scholars prefer Asselt, near Roermond, which better fits the distance to the Rhine.

Immediately after assuming the kingship of East Francia in Regensburg in early May, Charles the Fat, already emperor, held an assembly (late that same month) at Worms to determine a course of action against the Vikings who were encamped at Asselt. An army comprising Franks, Alemanni, Bavarii, Thuringii, Saxons, and Lombards was assembled to march north and drive off the Vikings. The Lombards, Alemans, and Franks approached up the Rhine on the west while the Bavarians went along the eastern bank and crossed over at Andernach. The emperor, taking the line of verse "What do I care whether I win by force or tricks?" as his strategy, sent a force of Bavarians under Arnulf of Carinthia and Franks under Henry of Franconia ahead to ambush the unsuspecting Northmen.

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