Siege of Paris (845)

A Viking siege of Paris, 19th century portrayal

Date	845, siege began 28/29 March
Location	Paris, West Francia
Result	Viking occupation of Paris; departed for 7,000 livres (pounds) of silver and gold

Belligerents

West Franks

Danish Vikings

Commanders and leaders

Charles the Bald

Reginherus (possibly Ragnar Lodbrok)

Strength

unknown

120 ships, with at least 5,000 men

The Siege of Paris and the Sack of Paris of 845 was the culmination of a Viking invasion of the kingdom of the West Franks. The Viking forces were led by a Norse chieftain named "Reginherus", or Ragnar, who traditionally has been identified with the legendary saga character Ragnar Lodbrok. Ragnar's fleet of 120 Viking ships, carrying thousands of men, entered the Seine in March and proceeded to sail up the river. The West Frankish king Charles the Bald assembled a smaller army in response, but as the Vikings defeated one division, comprising half of the army, the remaining forces retreated. The Vikings reached Paris at the end of the month, during Easter. After plundering and occupying the city, the Vikings finally withdrew after receiving a ransom payment of 7,000 French livres (2,570 kilograms or 5,670 pounds) of silver and gold from Charles the Bald.

The Frankish Empire was first attacked by Viking raiders in 799 (ten years after the earliest known Viking attack at Portland, Dorset in England), which eventually led Charlemagne to create a coastal defense system along the northern coast in 810. The defence system successfully repulsed a Viking attack at the mouth of the Seine in 820 (after Charlemagne's death), but failed to hold against renewed attacks of Danish Vikings in Frisia and Dorestad in 834. The attacks in 820 and 834 were unrelated and relatively minor, and more systematic raiding did not begin until the mid-830s, with the activity alternating between both sides of the English Channel. Viking raids were often part of struggles among Scandinavian nobility for power and status, and like other nations adjacent to the Franks, the Danes were well-informed about the political situation in Francia; in the 830s and early 840s they took advantage of the Frankish civil wars. Major raids took place in Antwerp and Noirmoutier in 836, in Rouen (on the Seine) in 841, and in Quentovic and Nantes in 842.

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