The Wolf's Lair

Beginning on the 25th of November, 885 and lasting until October of 886, a Danish/Norse army under Sigfred and Hrolf sailed up France’s Seine river in a bid to take the city of Paris. A few chronicles detailing the attack survive and paint a vivid picture of the events of this momentous struggle. Among the most striking accounts comes from the hand of Abbo Cernuus, a Benedictine monk who bore personal witness to the siege. No other account written during this period is remotely as riveting.

Abbo describes the arrival of hundreds of ships (his claim of 700 seems rather infeasible) that are so numerous the waters of the Seine are hardly visible for miles owing the congestion of the Viking longboats. The Danes (and/or Norsemen) are committed to destroying the towers situated on either side of the river, which are hindering the fleet’s passage. What ensues is a classic Dark Age siege employing catapults, battering rams and involving thousands of men who doggedly assail the Parisian defenses day and night. Abbo’s narrative is truly an enthralling work that no enthusiast of medieval warfare should overlook. 

Abbo’s work, Bella Parisiacae Urbis, is written largely in poetic verse and is unapologetic in its depiction of the Viking attackers, who are described as the ‘progeny of Satan’. The account is both visceral and evocative, often so detailed at times to be hard to dismiss as mere theatrical, exaggerative prose.