of Paris at this time did not extend beyond the island of the Cité. On the right bank, however, and especially on the left, lay the suburbs with their churches and abbeys, Saint-Merri and Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois to the north, Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Sainte-Geneviève to the south, with the houses, gardens and vineyards surrounding them. Of course no wall enclosed these suburbs. The city itself had been without a rampart in the days of Charles the Bald, since the Roman fortifications there as elsewhere had for long centuries fallen into ruins. Thus the Danes had on several occasions descended on the town and pillaged it without let or hindrance. The last of their incursions dated from 866. But since then Paris had made preparation for resistance. Under the superintendence of Odo, the count, son of Robert the Strong, helped by Bishop Joscelin, the old wall had been rebuilt[1]. Two bridges establishing communication between the island and both banks of the Seine barred the way to the viking ships. One Sigefrid, who seems to have been in command of the expedition, made a demand for himself and his followers of free access to the upper valley of the Seine. Odo and Joscelin refused. A general assault next morning was repulsed with loss, and the Northmen were obliged to undertake a formal siege.
This lasted for long months, varied by attacks upon the bridges and the works defending them on both banks of the river, and also by pillaging expeditions into the neighbouring districts. But the Parisians met the efforts of their assailants with indomitable energy and endurance. On 16 April 886 Joscelin was carried off by sickness. Odo tried a sortie in order to seek for reinforcements; it proved successful, and he made use of his opportunity to send pressing appeals to the Emperor and his counsellors. He then for the second time traversed the enemy lines to re-enter the besieged city. Meanwhile, Charles, on his return from Italy, had held a great assembly at Metz, and had then set out, at a deliberate rate, to go to the succour of the Parisians. Having reached Quierzy he sent forward his best warrior Count Henry of Alemannia, at the head of a detachment of his men. But in attempting to reconnoitre the enemy's camp, Henry fell, with his horse, into one of the fosses dug by the besiegers, and was killed (28 August). His death threw a gloom over his followers, and the relieving detachment which he had been leading fell back. On 28 October the Emperor came up in person before Paris, and the inhabitants could see his army on the heights of Montmartre. But instead of crushing the heathen between his troops and the city walls, Charles once more began negotiations with them. Sigefrid consented to raise the siege, in return for a sum of seven hundred pounds in silver, and permission for his followers to go and winter in Burgundy, with the right to go up the Seine freely. The
- ↑ At the end of the ninth century a fairly general movement took place to restore the walls of cities so as to ensure them against a coup-de-main of the Northman bands.
