Viking Sack of Paris (845): Reginherus and the Danegeld

The Viking sack of Paris took place in March 845, when a Danish fleet led by a chieftain the Franks called Reginherus rowed up the River Seine and seized the city. King Charles the Bald could not stop the raiders and paid them 7,000 pounds of silver and gold to go away. The episode showed how vulnerable the river systems of the Frankish world had become, and it set a costly pattern of tribute payments.

Background

In the 830s and 840s the Carolingian empire built by Charlemagne was divided by civil war among his grandsons. The Treaty of Verdun in 843 gave Charles the Bald the western kingdom, West Francia, but his hold on it was weak and his nobles were often unreliable.

Scandinavian raiders exploited this disunity. Their shallow-draught longships could travel far up navigable rivers, reaching rich monasteries and towns far from the coast. In May 841 a fleet had already sacked Rouen on the lower Seine. Paris, then a modest town centred on the Île de la Cité, lay within easy reach.

What happened

According to the Annals of St-Bertin, a fleet of about 120 ships entered the Seine in March 845. Charles gathered an army and divided it to guard both banks of the river. The Vikings attacked the weaker division, defeated it and took a number of prisoners. Frankish accounts state that they hanged 111 of these captives in sight of the remaining Frankish troops, which badly damaged morale.

The fleet reached Paris at the end of March, traditionally on Easter Sunday, 28 March 845. Much of the population had fled. The raiders plundered the town and the surrounding religious houses; the monks of Saint-Germain-des-Prés had carried their relics to safety, but the abbey and its lands suffered. The Vikings did not try to hold Paris permanently; their aim was portable wealth and captives who could be ransomed or sold.

Charles, camped at Saint-Denis, chose to negotiate rather than fight. He agreed to pay 7,000 pounds (livres) of silver and gold in return for their departure. The fleet withdrew down the Seine, raiding coastal areas on its way back to Denmark.

Key people

Reginherus was the leader named by Frankish annalists. Little is known of him beyond this campaign. Later writers have linked him to Ragnar Lodbrok, the hero of Old Norse sagas, but the sagas were written centuries later and mix history with legend.

Charles the Bald (823–877), king of West Francia, was criticised by some contemporaries for paying rather than fighting. Historians today often see the payment as a pragmatic choice by a king with limited reliable forces.

Horik I, king of the Danes, was the ruler to whom Reginherus returned. Frankish sources say Horik, alarmed by the disease afflicting the returning fleet, released Christian captives and sought peace with the Franks.

Consequences

The tribute was the first of a series of large payments the Franks made to Viking groups during the 9th century. Historians such as Simon Coupland have argued that such payments, though humiliating, often achieved their short-term aim of removing an army that could not be defeated in the field.

Paris was attacked again in 856–857 and 861. Charles later built fortified bridges across the Seine to block river traffic, a defensive idea that proved its value during the long Siege of Paris in 885–886.

Myths and facts

A popular story holds that Ragnar Lodbrok personally sacked Paris. The only firm evidence is that a leader called Reginherus led the 845 raid; the name is a Latin form that could correspond to Ragnar, but no contemporary source links him to the saga hero. The idea that the Vikings were “bribed” with no fighting is also too simple: there was a real engagement, with Frankish losses, before the payment.

The word “Danegeld” is often applied to the 845 payment, but it was originally an English term for a later tax raised to pay Viking armies, and was not used by the Franks.

Timeline

• 841, May: Viking raiders sack Rouen on the lower Seine.
• 843, August: Treaty of Verdun divides the Carolingian empire; Charles the Bald receives West Francia.
• 845, March: A fleet of about 120 ships under Reginherus enters the Seine and defeats part of Charles’s army.
• 845, 28 March: The Vikings reach and plunder Paris, traditionally on Easter Sunday.
• 845, spring: Charles the Bald pays 7,000 pounds of silver and gold; the fleet withdraws.
• 845: A separate Danish force sacks Hamburg.
• 856–857: Vikings raid Paris again.
• 885–886: Paris withstands a major Viking siege.

Why it matters

The raid of 845 revealed that a determined Viking fleet could reach the heart of a Christian kingdom by river. It began the Frankish practice of paying tribute to raiders and pushed later rulers towards fortified bridges and local defence, changes that shaped the defence of the Seine valley for the rest of the Viking Age.