THE SEAKINGS AND ALL THEIR DARING FEATS

From the word vik, or bay, comes the word viking, long used to designate the sea-rovers of the Northland, the bold Norse wanderers who for centuries made their way to the rich lands of the south on plundering raids. Beginning by darting out suddenly from hiding places in bays or river mouths to attack passing craft, they in the end became daring scourers of the seas and won for themselves kingdoms and dominions in the settled realms of the south.

Nothing was known of them in the early days. The people of southern Europe in the first Christian centuries hardly knew of the existence of the race of fair-skinned and light-haired barbarians who dwelt in the great peninsula of the north. It was not until near the year 800 B.C. that these bold brigands learned that riches awaited those who dared seize it on the shores of France, England, and more southern lands. Then they came in fleets and spread terror wherever they appeared. For several centuries the realms of civilization trembled before their very name.

“From the fury of the Northmen, Good Lord deliver us!” prayed the priests, and the people joined fervently in the prayer.

Long before this period the sea was the favorite hunting ground of the daring sons of the north, but the small chiefs of that period preyed upon each other, harrying their neighbors and letting distant lands alone. But as the power of the chiefs, and their ability to protect themselves increased, this mode of gaining wealth and fame lost its ease and attraction and the rovers began to rove farther afield.

Sea-kings they called themselves. On land the ruler of a province might be called either earl or king, but the earl who went abroad with his followers on warlike excursions was content with no less name than king, and the chiefs who set out on plundering cruises became from the first known as sea-kings. Pirates and freebooters we would call them to-day, but they were held in high distinction in their native land, and some of the most cruel of them, on their return home, became men of influence, with all the morality and sense of honor known in those early days. Their lives of ravage and outrage won them esteem at home and the daring and successful sea-king ranked in fame with the noblest of the home-staying chiefs. We have seen how King Erik began his career as a viking and ended it in the same pursuit; how Rollo, a king’s son, adopted the same profession; and from this it may be seen that the term was one of honor instead of disgrace.

From all the lands of the north they came, these dreaded sons of the sea, from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark alike, fierce heathens they who cared nought for church or priest, but liked best to rob chapels and monasteries, for there the greatest stores of gold and silver could be found. When the churches were plundered they often left them in flames, as they also did the strong cities they captured and sacked. The small, light boats with which they dared the sea in its wrath were able to go far up the rivers, and wherever these fierce and bloodthirsty rovers appeared wild panic spread far around. So fond were they of sword-thrust and battle that one viking crew would often challenge another for the pure delight of fighting. A torment and scourge they were wherever they appeared.

The first we hear in history of the sea-kings is in the year 787, when a small party of them landed on the English coast. In 794 came another flock of these vultures of the sea, who robbed a church and a monastery, plundering and killing, and being killed in their turn when a storm wrecked their ships and threw them on shore. As a good monk writes of them: “The heathen came from the northern countries to Britain like stinging wasps, roamed about like savage wolves, robbing, biting, killing not only horses, sheep, and cattle, but also priests, acolytes, monks, and nuns.”

The Norsemen had found a gold mine in the south and from this time on they worked it with fierce hands. Few dared face them, and even in the days of the great Charlemagne they ravaged the coast lands of France. Once, when the great emperor was in one of his cities on the Mediterranean coast, a fleet of the swift viking ships, known by their square sails, entered the harbor. Soon word was brought that they had landed and were plundering. Who they were the people knew not, some saying that they were Jews, others Africans, and others that they were British merchants.

“No merchants they,” said the emperor. “Those ships do not bring us goods, but fierce foes, bloody fighters from the north.”

The warriors around him at once seized their weapons and hurried to the shore, but the vikings had learned that the great emperor was in the city and, not daring to face him, had sought their ships and spread their sails again. Tears came to the eyes of Charlemagne as he watched them in their outward flight. He said to those around him:

“It is not for fear that these brigands can do me any harm that I weep, but for their daring to show themselves on this coast while I am alive. Their coming makes me foresee and fear the harm they may do to my descendants.”

This story may be one of those legends which the monks were fond of telling, but it serves to show how the dread Norsemen were feared. France was one of their chief fields of ravage and slaughter. First coming in single ships, to rob and flee, they soon began to come in fleets and grew daring enough to attack and sack cities. Hastings, one of the most renowned of them all, did not hesitate to attack the greatest cities of the south.

In 841 this bold freebooter sailed up the Loire with a large fleet, took and burned the city of Amboise, and laid siege to Tours. But here the inhabitants, aided, it is said, by the bones of their patron saint, drove him off. Four years later he made an attack on Paris, and as fortune followed his flag he grew so daring that he sought to capture the city of Rome and force the Pope to crown him emperor.

For an account of this remarkable adventure of the bold Hastings see the article, “The Raids of the Sea-Rovers,” in the German volume of “Historical Tales.” In that account are also given the chief exploits of the vikings in France and Germany. We shall therefore confine ourselves in the remainder of this article to their operations in other lands, and especially in Ireland.

This country was a common field for the depredations of the Norse rovers. For some reason not very clear to us the early vikings did not trouble England greatly, but for many years they spread terror through the sister isle, and in the year 838 Thorgisl, one of their boldest leaders, came with a fleet of one hundred and twenty ships, with which he attacked and captured the city of Dublin, and afterwards, as an old author tells us, he conquered all Ireland, securing his conquest with stone forts surrounded with deep moats.

But the Irish at length got rid of their conqueror by a stratagem. It was through love that the sea-king was lost. Bewitched with the charms of the fair daughter of Maelsechnail, one of the petty kings of the land, he bade this chieftain to send her to him, with fifteen young maidens in her train. He agreed to meet her on an island in Loch Erne with as many Norsemen of high degree.

Maelsechnail obeyed, but his maidens were beardless young men, dressed like women but armed with sharp daggers. Thorgisl and his men, taken by surprise, were attacked and slain. The Irish chief had once before asked Thorgisl how he should rid himself of some troublesome birds that had invaded the island. “Destroy their nests,” said the Norseman. It was wise advice, and Maelsechnail put it in effect against the nests of the conquerors, destroying their stone strongholds, and killing or driving them away, with the aid of his fellow chieftains.

Thus for a time Ireland was freed. It was conquered again by Olaf the White, who in 852 defeated some Danes who had taken Dublin, and then, like Thorgisl, began to build castles and tax the people. Two other viking leaders won kingdoms in Ireland, but Olaf was the most powerful of them all, and the kingdom founded by him lasted for three hundred and fifty years. From Dublin Olaf sailed to Scotland and England, the booty he won filling two hundred ships.

The sea-rovers did not confine their voyages to settled lands. Bold ocean wanderers, fearless of man on shore and tempest on the waves, they visited all the islands of the north and dared the perils of the unknown sea. They rounded the North Cape and made their way into the White Sea as early as 750. The Faroe, the Orkney and the Shetland Islands were often visited by them after 825, and in 874 they discovered Iceland, which had been reached and settled by Irishmen or Scots about 800. The Norsemen found here only some Irish hermits and monks, and these, disturbed in their peaceful retreat by the turbulent newcomers, made their way back to Ireland and left the Norsemen lords of the land. From Iceland the rovers reached Greenland, which was settled in 986, and about the year 1000 they discovered North America, at a place they named Vinland.

Such is, briefly told, the story of the early Norse wanderers. They had a later tale, of which we have told part in their conquest of Ireland. Though at first they came with a few ships, and were content to attack a town or a monastery, they soon grew more daring and their forces larger. A number of them would now fortify themselves on some coast elevation and make it a centre for plundering raids into the surrounding country. At a later date many of them ceased to pose as pirates and took the rôle of invaders and conquerors, storming and taking cities and founding governments in the invaded land.

Such was the work of Thorgisl and Olaf in Ireland and of Rollo in Normandy. England was a frequent field of invasion after 833, which continued until 851, when King Ethelwulf defeated them with great slaughter. Fifteen years later they came again, these new invaders being almost all Danes. During all his reign Alfred the Great fought with them, but in spite of his efforts they gained a footing in the island, becoming its masters in the north and east. A century later, in 1016, Canute, the king of Denmark, completed the conquest and became king of all England.

This is not the whole story of the sea-kings, whose daring voyages and raids made up much of the history of those centuries. One of the most important events in viking history took place in 862, when three brother chiefs, probably from Sweden, who had won fame in the Baltic Sea, were invited by the Russian tribes south of Lake Ladoga to come and rule over them. They did so, making Novgorod their capital. From this grew the empire of Russia, which was ruled over by the descendants of Rurik, the principal of these chiefs, until 1598.

Other vikings made their way southward through Russia and, sailing down the Dnieper, put Constantinople in peril. Only a storm which scattered their fleet saved the great city from capture. Three times later they appeared before Constantinople, twice (in 904 and 945) being bought off by the emperors with large sums of money. Later on the emperors had a picked body-guard of Varangians, as they called the Northmen, and kept these till the fall of the city in 1453. It was deemed a great honor in the north to serve in this choice cohort at Myklegaard (Great City), and those who returned from there doubtless carried many of the elements of civilization to the Scandinavian shores.

To some of these Varangians was due the conquest of Sicily by the Northmen. They were in the army sent from Constantinople to conquer that island, and seeing how goodly a land it was they aided in its final conquest, which was made by Robert Guiscard, a noble of Normandy, whose son Roger took the title of “King of Sicily and Italy.” Thus it was that the viking voyages led within a few centuries to the founding of kingdoms under Norse rulers in England, Ireland, Sicily, Russia, and Normandy in France.

OFFICIAL AND OLDEST SCOTTISH CLAN CARRUTHERS

SINCE 1983-CLAN OF OUR ANCESTORS

MERITED TO CHIEF CAROTOCUS 10AD

PRESENT CHIEF : PAT E CARROTHERS USA

Dr Tim Fraser SCOTLAND CHS

Tammy Wise USA CHS

CLAN CARRUTHERS HISTORIAN AND GENEALOGIST

Preserving Our Past, Recording Our Present, Informing Our Future

Ancient and Honorable Clan Carruthers

clancarruthers1@gmail.com

You can find us on our main facebook pages at :

SILVER WINGS-https://www.facebook.com/CarruthersClanLLC/

GOLD WINGS – https://www.facebook.com/carrutherscarrothers.pat.9

COPPER WINGS https://www.facebook.com/ClanCarruthers1/

CLAN CARRUTHERS FAMILY HISTORY – https://www.facebook.com/CarruthersClan

CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS – https://www.facebook.com/groups/3878691252182714

CLAN CARRUTHERS INT SOCIETY- https://www.facebook.com/groups/394653845137709

CLAN CARRUTHERS – BORDER REIVERS – https://www.facebook.com/groups/434959914239094

Disclaimer Ancient and Honorable Carruthers Clan International Soci

Gutland / Gotland, OUR ANCESTORS, SEA KINGS AND ROVERS, The History of Gutland, Uncategorized

THE SIX WIVES HARALD FAIRHAIR CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS

March 20, 2020April 1, 2023 ClanCarruthers

ALL THE SONS OF HARALD FAIRHAIR

King Haraldr had many wives and many children- Haralds Saga – and a Carruthers ancestor.

Harald Fairhair, the legendary ruler of Norway who succeeded for the first time in uniting all the petty fiefdoms of his nation, inherited his father’s kingdom at a young age and proceeded to live an extraordinarily long and active life. During his time as a good looking adult with famously beautiful hairlocks, he wooed women from all different regions of Norway and produced many children accordingly,

.Although he cannot compete in importance with his Danish contemporary Ragnar Lodbrok, the list of his descendants is equally long and impressive. It includes among others, Ivan the Terrible of Russia, the Sun King Louis XIV of France and, via the House of Sachsen-Billung, our own Leopold II of Belgium.

Halfdan the Black handing over his kingdom to Harald ca. AD 860

Spouse no. 1 Ása Haakonsdotter

In Chapter IX of his Heimskringla text, the Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson, mentions that Harald eventually settled in Trondheim , which heal ways called his home, and where he built a very large establishment called Hladir (now Lade). That is where he met Aasa, the daughter of the important Jarl Haakon “the Rich” Grjotgardsson, who had nominal control over Trondelag and Halogaland.

Harald and Hakon came to an agreement dividing Norway between them except for the completely unruly Vestland. This first (political) marriage produced four sons, listed byname by Snorri In chapter XVII of the Heimskringla text:

“Then he began to have children. Harald and Àsa had these sons : Guthorm was the eldest, Halfdan svarti (the Black), Halfdan hviti (the White)–they were twins– the fourth Sigfròdr. They were all brought up in Trondheim in great honour”

Then Harald went after the Vikings of Vestland in Hafrsfjord whom hedefeated in a great naval battle in AD 872.

It is probably not a coincidence that the Viking Rollo, who was presumably born at Maere and who was a contemporary of Harald Fairhair, immediately after 872 what is since called Normandy. Many other Vikings, who did not want to be subjected to Harald, followed him there.

Image of the great battle of Hafrsfjord in 872

We can safely assume that Harald’s four children with Aasa were all born between the naval battles of 865 and 872.

Guthorm (865-895) Halvdan svarte ( (868-932)Halvdan hvite (868-925) Sigfrodr(872-?)

The eldest son Guthorm was named after Halfdan the Black’s best friend and right arm, Duke Guthorm, who took young Fairhair under his wings when he inherited the kingdom at the age of ten. After Duke Guthorm died of sickness ca. 890, Harald made his own son Guthorm king over Raanrike, which he had wrested from the Swedes, and gave him the responsibility of defending this south east region of Norway against his neighbor. However, Guthorm fell in a later fierce battle with the sea-king Solve Klove in 895, whose own father had been killed by Harald at the First Battle of Solskjel.

HalfdanII “the Black” (named after his grandfather) later inherited the kingdom of Tróndelag. He may therefore have considered himself the rightful successor to his father as the king of whole Norway and must have been disappointed when Harald gave preference to the younger son Eric.

Halfdan III “the White”, shared Trondelag with his darker twin brother. He

fell in Eist land in 925, i.e. ten years before Harald’s death.

Sigfròdr is not mentioned again. We do not know what happened to him.

Spouse no. 2 Svanhild Eysteinsdotter of Heidmark

After defeating the Vikings of Vestland, Harald turned his attention to Vestfold in Östland.Svanhild was the daughter of Eystein “the Noisy ” of Vestfold, who was also the grandfather of the before mentioned Rollo, the founder of Normandy. She was probably also chosen for political reasons.

Image of Eystein “Glumra” the Noisy Svanhild provided Harald Fairhair with three additional sons:

Olaf “Geirstadaalfer” Björn”formann” Ragnar“rykkill”

(Elf of Geirstadir) (the merchant) (the Snatcher)

(870- 932) (875- 932) (878-932)

Svanhild possibly also died young because nothing is heard of her after 880. Björn the Merchent would later succeed his grandfather Eystein asking of Vestfold, and his brother Olaf succeeded him after his death ,while Sigurd inherited Trondheim from his father.

Spouse no. 3 Gyda Eiriksdotter of Hardaland

Around AD 870, when Harald was approaching the age of twenty, he started thinking of taking a young mistress. This was probably before his marriage with Asa. Harald had heard of beautiful Gyda, the daughter of king Eirik of Hardaland, who was being fostered in Valdres and he sent his men to fetch her.

However, she sent them back with the message that she would not sacrifice her virginity to take as husband a king who had no more of a realm than a few districts to administer. She might only agree to be his wife if he would first subject the whole of Norway.

This seems to have had a stimulating effect on Harald who swore to God not to cut or comb his fancy hair until he became ruler over all of Norway. It would take him another ten years to fulfill this ambition, but when he had completed his project, he remembered beautiful but proud Gyda. So tells Snorri in chapter XX of Heimskringla:

King Haraldr had now become sole ruler of all Norway. Then he called to mind what that proud girl had said to him. He then sent men for her and had her brought to him and made her his mistress. That were their children :

Hroerekr Sigtrygg Frodi Torgils

(880- 932) (882-932) (885-938) (890-932)

All four sons were born in Bergen, but both Frodi and Torgils are said tohave died in Dublin.

Spouse no. 4 Snaefrid“ Snowfair ” Svasisdotter the Finn

In chapter XXV of Heimskringla, Snorri recounts the following story:

King Haraldr went one winter to attend banquets through Uppland and had a Yule banquet prepared for himself in Poptor. One Yule-eve Svási came to the door while the king was sitting at table, and sent the king a message that he was to come out to him.The King went out reluctantly and agreed to go to his home with him.

There Svasi’s daughter Snaefridr, a most beautiful woman, rose and served the king a goblet full of mead, and he took all into his grasp, including her hand, and it was immediately as if a fiery heat came into his flesh, and he wanted to have her straight away that night. But Svasi said that it should not be unless the king betrothed himself to Snaefridr and married her and got her lawfully. And the king betrothed himself to Snaefridr and married her and loved her so madly that his kingdom and all his duties he then neglected. They had four sons :

Sigurd “hrsi” Halvdan”hàleggr” Gudród“ljami” Ragnvald“rettilbeini”

(the Grey) (long legs) “Gleam” (Straightleg)

(890-937) (891-?) (893-?) (895-?)

Then Snaefrid died and according to Snorri, Harald was inconsolable and sat over her continually hoping that she would return to life.Sigurd later became king of Hadafylke and was the ancestor of other notable kings, such as Harald Hardraade, who ruled Norway successfully from 1046 to 1066, but failed in his attempt to invade England just before William the Conqueror made his own landing at Hastings.

Spouse no. 5 Ragnhild “the Mighty” of Jutland”

(Jutland and Gutland were one in the same)

Ragnhild was born ca. 880 as daughter of King Eirik of Jutland and would bear Harald’s

most notorious son Eric (900-954) upon whom posterity bestowed the epithet “Bloodaxe”,

presumably because he proceeded to eliminate his half-brothers in order to obtain the succession.

However, careful reading of Snorri’s Chapters 41-43reveals a different story:

King Harald was now 80 years of age; he now became so infirm that he felt he could not travel by land or manage the royal affairs. Then he took his son Eric to his high seat and gave him rule over the whole country. But when King Harold’s other sons heard about this, the Halfdan sorti set himself on the king’s high seat.

He then took the whole of Trondheim to rule over. All the Traendis backed him in his course of action. Two years later, Halfdan svarti died suddenly inland in Trondheim at some banquet, and it was rumored that Gunhilde (Eric’s wife) had bribed a warriors killed in magic to make him a poison drink. After that the Prendi’s took Sigurd as king.

All this shows is that Eric did not have an easy time taking hold of the situation, and that he was king by name only between 930 and 933.When in 934 his younger rival Haakon arrived from England to takeover the situation, Eric did not resist and moved to the Orkney Islands, which were already colonized by Norway. The English King Aethelstan, who had fostered Haakon and equipped his expedition, then entrusted Northumberland to Eric as under-king. Numismatic evidence found as recently as 2014 attests to his title as king of York between 952 and954.

Aethelstan’s successor Eadred put an end to his reign, and when Eric was travelling back to the Orkneys with his brother Ragnald and his son Haerekr, they were ambushed at Stainmore and all killed.

Coin of Eric as King of York AD 952-54

So who were the brothers who were supposedly killed by violent Eric?

1. Halfdan svarti : we already saw that his death was caused by poisoning, no bloody ax involved. Halfdan had it coming by takingover Trondheim, the jewel in his father’s crown

and had attempted himself first to kill Eric by burning down the house where he was staying. Eric managed to get out and went to see his father with news of these events. We cannot therefore exclude the possibility that it was Harald himself who ordered Halfdan’s poisoning as punishment

.2.

Bjòrn formann: succeeded his grandfather on his mother’s side as king of Vestfold. He was considered an intelligent person and very moderate and it seemed he might make a great ruler. However,Snorri recounts in chapter 41 of his book that when Eric returned from the eastern Baltic in 930, he visited Bjòrn to demand the revenues which were due to King Harald whlle he was still alive. It was when Bjòrn refused to pay, that he was killed in battle by Eric

Olaf : after the fall of Bjòrn, his brother Olaf took rule over Vestfold and adopted Bjòrn’s son Gudròdr. When the Vikverjar heard that Harold had taken Eric as supreme king, they took Olaf as supreme king in the Vik, and he kept that kingdom. Eric was very displeased at this. The same Spring, Eric calls out a great army and ships and turns east to Vik. He had a much larger force and gained victory. Olaf and Sigurd both fell there

.4.

Sigurd: this was probably Sigfródr, son of the first marriage of Harald with Àsa

So there is no mention of direct murder by Eric of any of his half-brothers.

They had all four

revolted against their father’s decision and bore the consequences. Maybe their father, while he was still alive, did not disapprove of their forceful elimination. It is interesting to read that according to the Saga in which Eric figures, after his death he is welcomed by Odin without any criticism of the killings of his brothers. When the other gods question Odin why he still welcomed Eric, Odin answers, “well, he has traveled a lot and has seen many countries” Sounds modern, does it not?

Spouse no. 6 Alshild Ringsdotter of Ringerike

Ring Dag Gudród “Skirja”

(882-?) (883-?) (890-965)

Alshild was a princess from the prestigious kingdom of Hringaríkei (nowRingerike near Oslo). Snorri mentions that when King Harald married her, she proudly named her sons after her own father (Ring), grandfather (Dag)and ancestor (Gudród). Their son Dag later became king of Hedmark and Gudbrandsdal.

Beautiful Hedmark

Spouse no. 7 Thora Mosterstang

When Fairhair reached the age of seventy, he retired to one of his farms in Hordaland where he is credited with impregnating beautiful Tora, who may have been only a handmaid. At the age of ten, her son Haakon wassent for safekeeping to the court of the English king Aethelstan where many sons of European princes were welcome to be taught the noble arts of statesmanship

King Aethelstan is said to have loved him more than his own kin. Hákon was baptized there and taught the true faith and good morality and all kinds of courtly behavior. In 934, Hákon was invited by dissident nobles in his home country to takeover the throne of Norway. Aethelstan equipped him with ships and men and Hákon was able to expel his unpopular half-brother Eric Bloodaxe, who conceded without a fight and fled to the Orkney Islands Haakon proved to be a good and pragmatic king and reigned until 960when he had to face an attack at Fitjur by five sons of Eric. He won the battle, but was wounded and died shortly there after.Three sons of Eric took over the kingdom and were able to fulfill the dynastic designs of their grandfather.

Conclusion

By impregnating so many women from all parts of his kingdom, Harald may have had political considerations in mind. It was his way of obtaining the support of so many previously independent smaller kings who might otherwise have been reluctant to accept him as over-king. His marriages to a Danish and a Finnish princess may also be interpreted as protection against over-zealous neighbors. The only missing piece in his political puzzle was a princess from hostile Sweden. I think Martin Arnold is right when he suggests that Harald’s governing style of usurping traditional inheritance rights had to lead to civil war. Hisson Eric was not only contested by his brothers, but also by the regional lords. Maybe if Harald had gradually shared power with his designated successor at an earlier period, the transition might have been successful.

OFFICIAL AND OLDEST SCOTTISH CLAN CARRUTHERS

SINCE 1983-CLAN OF OUR ANCESTORS

SCOTTISH CLAN – IRISH CLAN – NORSE CLAN

Willy van Ryckeghem

REKNOWNED NORSE HISTORIAN

REVIEWED BY TAMMY WISE CHS

CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS HISTORIAN AND GENEALOGIST

Preserving Our Past, Recording Our Present, Informing Our Future

Ancient and Honorable Clan Carruthers

clancarruthers1@gmail.com

You can find us on our main facebook pages at :

SILVER WINGS-https://www.facebook.com/CarruthersClanLLC/

GOLD WINGS – https://www.facebook.com/carrutherscarrothers.pat.9

CLAN CARRUTHERS FAMILY HISTORY – https://www.facebook.com/CarruthersClan

CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS – https://www.facebook.com/groups/3878691252182714

CLAN CARRUTHERS INT SOCIETY- https://www.facebook.com/groups/394653845137709

CLAN CARRUTHERS – BORDER REIVERS – https://www.facebook.com/groups/434959914239094

Disclaimer Ancient and Honorable Carruthers Clan International Socie

OUR ANCESTORS, SEA KINGS AND ROVERS, The Viking Age, Uncategorized, Varangians

THE RAIDS OF THE SEA KINGS – CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS

January 12, 2020January 16, 2022 ClanCarruthers

SEA KINGS

RAIDS OF THE SEA ROVERS

While Central and Southern Europe was actively engaged in wars by land, Scandinavia, that nest of pirates, was as actively engaged in wars by sea, sending its armed galleys far to the south, to plunder and burn wherever they could find footing on shore. Not content with plundering the coasts, they made their way up the streams, and often suddenly appeared far inland before an alarm could be given. Wherever they went, heaps of the dead and the smoking ruins of habitations marked their ruthless course. They did not hesitate to attack fortified cities, several of which fell into their hands and were destroyed. They always fought on foot, but such was their strength, boldness, and activity that the heavy-armed cavalry of France and Germany seemed unable to endure their assault, and was frequently put to flight. If defeated, or in danger of defeat, they hastened back to their ships, from which they rarely ventured far and rowed away with such speed that pursuit was in vain. For a long period they kept the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of Europe in such terror that prayers were publicly read in the churches for deliverance from them, and the sight of their dragon beaked ships filled the land with terror.

SEA KINGS SEIZE PARIS

In 845 a party of them assailed and took Paris, from which they were bought off by the cowardly and ineffective method of ransom, seven thousand pounds of silver being paid them. In 853 another expedition, led by a leader named Hasting, one of the most dreaded of the Norsemen, again took Paris, marched into Burgundy, laying waste the country as he advanced, and finally took Tours, to which city much treasure had been carried for safe-keeping. Charles the Bald, who had bought off the former expedition with silver, bought off this one with gold, offering the bold adventurer a bribe of six hundred and eighty-five pounds of the precious metal, to which he added a ton and a half of silver, to leave the country.

From France, Hasting set sail for Italy, where his ferocity was aided by a cunning which gives us a deeper insight into his character. Rome, a famous but mystical city to the northern pagans, whose imaginations invested it with untold wealth and splendor, was the proposed goal of the enterprising Norseman, who hoped to make himself fabulously wealthy from its plunder. With a hundred ships, filled with hardy Norse pirates, he swept through the Strait of Gibraltar and along the coasts of Spain and France, plundering as he went till he reached the harbor of Lucca, Italy.

As to where and what Rome was, the unlettered heathen had but the dimmest conception. Here before him lay what seemed a great and rich city, strongly fortified and thickly peopled. This must be Rome, he told himself; behind those lofty walls lay the wealth which he so earnestly craved; but how could it be obtained? Assault on those strong fortifications would waste time, and perhaps end in defeat. If the city could be won by stratagem, so much the better for himself and his men.

The shrewd Norseman quickly devised a promising plan within the depths of his astute brain. It was the Christmas season, and the inhabitants were engaged in the celebration of the Christmas festival, though, doubtless, sorely troubled in mind by that swarm of strange-shaped vessels in their harbor, with their stalwart crews of blue-eyed plunderers.

Word was sent to the authorities of the city that the fleet had come thither from no hostile intent, and that all the mariners wished was to obtain the favor of an honorable burial-place for their chieftain, who had just died. If the citizens would grant them this, they would engage to depart after the funeral without injury to their courteous and benevolent friends. The message—probably not expressed in quite the above phrase—was received in good faith by the unsuspecting Lombards, who were glad enough to get rid of their dangerous visitors on such cheap terms, and gratified to learn that these fierce pagans wished Christian burial for their chief. Word was accordingly sent to the ships that the authorities granted their request, and were pleased with the opportunity to oblige the mourning crews.

Not long afterwards a solemn procession left the fleet, a coffin, draped in solemn black, at its head, borne by strong carriers. As mourners there followed a large deputation of stalwart Norsemen, seemingly unarmed, and to all appearance lost in grief. With slow steps they entered the gates and moved through the streets of the city, chanting the death-song of the great Hasting, until the church was reached, and they had advanced along its crowded aisle to the altar, where stood the priests ready to officiate at the obsequies of the expired freebooter.

The coffin was set upon the floor, and the priests were about to break into the solemn chant for the dead, when suddenly, to the surprise and horror of the worshippers, the supposed corpse sprang to life, leaped up sword in hand, and with a fierce and deadly blow struck the officiating bishop to the heart. Instantly the seeming mourners, who had been chosen from the best warriors of the fleet, flung aside their cloaks and grasped their arms, and a carnival of death began in that crowded church.

It was not slaughter, however, that Hasting wanted, but plunder. Rushing from the church, the Norsemen assailed the city, looting with free hand, and cutting down all who came in their way. No long time was needed by the skilful freebooters for this task, and before the citizens could recover from the mortal terror into which they had been thrown, the pagan plunderers were off again for their ships, laden with spoil, and taking with them as captives a throng of women and maidens, the most beautiful they could find.

This daring affair had a barbarous sequel. A storm arising which threatened the loss of his ships, the brutal Hasting gave orders that the vessels should be lightened by throwing overboard plunder and captives alike. Saved by this radical method, the sea-rovers quickly repaid themselves for their losses by sailing up the Rhone, and laying the country waste through many miles of Southern France.

The end of this phase of Hasting’s career was a singular one. In the year 860 he consented to be baptized as a Christian, and to swear allegiance to Charles the Bald of France, on condition of receiving the title of Count of Chartres, with a suitable domain. It was a wiser method of disarming a redoubtable enemy than that of ransoming the land, which Charles had practised with Hasting on a previous occasion. He had converted a foe into a subject, upon whom he might count for defence against those fierce heathen whom he had so often led to battle.

While France, England, and the Mediterranean regions formed the favorite visiting ground of the Norsemen, they did not fail to pay their respects in some measure to Germany, and during the ninth century, their period of most destructive activity, the latter country suffered considerably from their piratical ravages. Two German warriors who undertook to guard the coasts against their incursions are worthy of mention. One of these, Baldwin of the Iron Arm, Count of Flanders, distinguished himself by seducing Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald of France, who, young as she was, was already the widow of two English kings, Ethelwolf and his son Ethelbold. Charles was at first greatly enraged, but afterwards accepted Baldwin as his son-in-law, and made him lord of the district. The second was Robert the Strong, Count of Maine, a valiant defender of the country against the sea-kings. He was slain in a bloody battle with them, near Anvers, in 866. This distinguished warrior was the ancestor of Hugh Capet, afterwards king of France.

For some time after his death the Norsemen avoided Germany, paying their attentions to England, where Alfred the Great was on the throne. About 880 their incursions began again, and though they were several times defeated with severe slaughter, new swarms followed the old ones, and year by year fresh fleets invaded the land, leaving ruin in their paths.

Up the rivers they sailed, as in France, taking cities, devastating the country, doing more damage each year than could be repaired in a decade. Aix-la-Chapelle, the imperial city of the mighty Charlemagne, fell into their hands, and the palace of the great Charles, in little more than half a century after his death, was converted by these marauders into a stable. Well might the far-seeing emperor have predicted sorrow and trouble for the land from these sea-rovers, as he is said to have done, on seeing their many-oared ships from a distance. Yet even his foresight could scarcely have imagined that, before he was seventy years in the grave, the vikings of the north would be stabling their horses in the most splendid of his palaces.

1,846 Viking Raid Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty-Free Images - iStock

The rovers attacked Metz, and Bishop Wala fell while bravely fighting them before its gates. City after city on the Rhine was taken and burned to the ground. The whole country between Liege, Cologne, and Mayence was so ravaged as to be almost converted into a desert. The besom of destruction, in the hands of the sea-kings, threatened to sweep Germany from end to end, as it had swept the greater part of France.

The impunity with which they raided the country was due in great part to the indolent character of the monarch. Charles the Fat, as he was entitled, who had the ambitious project of restoring the empire of Charlemagne, and succeeded in combining France and Germany under his sceptre, proved unable to protect his realm from the pirate rovers. Like his predecessor, Charles the Bald of France, he tried the magic power of gold and silver, as a more effective argument than sharpened steel, to rid him of these marauders. Siegfried, their principal leader, was bought off with two thousand pounds of gold and twelve thousand pounds of silver, to raise which sum Charles seized all the treasures of the churches. In consideration of this great bribe the sea-rover consented to a truce for twelve years. His brother Gottfried was bought off in a different method, being made Duke of Friesland and vassal of the emperor.

These concessions, however, did not put an end to the depredations of the Norsemen. There were other leaders than the two formidable brothers, and other pirates than those under their control, and the country was soon again invaded, a strong party advancing as far as the Moselle, where they took and destroyed the city of Treves. This marauding band, however, dearly paid for its depredations. While advancing through the forest of Ardennes, it was ambushed and assailed by a furious multitude of peasants and charcoal-burners, before whose weapons ten thousand of the Norsemen fell in death.

This revengeful act of the peasantry was followed by a treacherous deed of the emperor, which brought renewed trouble upon the land. Eager to rid himself of his powerful and troublesome vassal in Friesland, Charles invited Gottfried to a meeting, at which he had the Norsemen treacherously murdered, while his brother-in-law Hugo was deprived of his sight. It was an act sure to bring a bloody reprisal. No sooner had news of it reached the Scandinavian north than a fire of revengeful rage swept through the land, and from every port a throng of oared galleys put to sea, bent upon bloody retribution. Soon in immense hordes they fell upon the imperial realm, forcing their way in mighty hosts up the Rhine, the Maese, and the Seine, and washing out the memory of Gottfried’s murder in torrents of blood, while the brand spread ruin far and wide.

Vikings: Re-writing the legend of Ragnar for the TV age

The chief attack was made on Paris, which the Norsemen invested and besieged for a year and a half. The march upon Paris was made by sea and land, the marauders making Rouen their place of rendezvous. From this centre of operations Rollo—the future conqueror and Duke of Normandy, now a formidable sea-king—led an overland force towards the French capital, and on his way was met by an envoy from the emperor, no less a personage than the Count of Chartres, the once redoubtable Hasting, now a noble of the empire.

“Valiant sirs,” he said to Rollo and his chiefs, “who are you that come hither, and why have you come?”

( Rollo is a Carruthers Ancestor, and we have a large number of ancestors in Gutland, and they were considered Danes. Gutland and Jutland were one in the same, and had land that connected them, now is water)

“We are Danes,” answered Rollo, proudly; “all of us equals, no man the lord of any other, but lords of all besides. We are come to punish these people and take their lands. And you, by what name are you called?”

23 Viking ship ideas | viking ship, vikings, norse vikings

“Have you not heard of a certain Hasting,” was the reply, “a sea-king who left your land with a multitude of ships, and turned into a desert a great part of this fair land of France?”

“We have heard of him,” said Rollo, curtly. “He began well and ended badly.”

“Will you submit to King Charles?” asked the envoy, deeming it wise, perhaps, to change the subject.

“We will submit to no one, king or chieftain. All that we gain by the sword we are masters and lords of. This you may tell to the king who has sent you. The lords of the sea know no masters on land.”

Hasting left with his message, and Rollo continued his advance to the Seine. Not finding here the ships of the maritime division of the expedition, which he had expected to meet, he seized on the boats of the French fishermen and pursued his course. Soon afterwards a French force was met and put to flight, its leader, Duke Ragnold, being killed. This event, as we are told, gave rise to a new change in the career of the famous Hasting. A certain Tetbold or Thibaud, of Northman birth, came to him and told him that he was suspected of treason, the defeat of the French having been ascribed to secret information furnished by him. Whether this were true, or a mere stratagem on the part of his informant, it had the desired effect of alarming Hasting, who quickly determined to save himself from peril by joining his old countrymen and becoming again a viking chief. He thereupon sold his countship to Tetbold, and hastened to join the army of Norsemen then besieging Paris. As for the cunning trickster, he settled down into his cheaply bought countship, and became the founder of the subsequent house of the Counts of Chartres.

The siege of Paris ended in the usual manner of the Norseman invasions of France,—that of ransom. Charles marched to its relief with a strong army, but, instead of venturing to meet his foes in battle, he bought them off as so often before, paying them a large sum of money, granting them free navigation of the Seine and entrance to Paris, and confirming them in the possession of Friesland. This occurred in 887. A year afterwards he lost his crown, through the indignation of the nobles at his cowardice, and France and Germany again fell asunder.

44 photos et images de Ragnar Vikings - Getty Images

The plundering incursions continued, and soon afterwards the new emperor, Arnulf, nephew of Charles the Fat, a man of far superior energy to his deposed uncle, attacked a powerful force of the piratical invaders near Louvain, where they had encamped after a victory over the Archbishop of Mayence. In the heat of the battle that followed, the vigilant Arnulf perceived that the German cavalry fought at a disadvantage with their stalwart foes, whose dexterity as foot-soldiers was remarkable. Springing from his horse, he called upon his followers to do the same. They obeyed, the nobles and their men-at-arms leaping to the ground and rushing furiously on foot upon their opponents. The assault was so fierce and sudden that the Norsemen gave way, and were cut down in thousands, Siegfried and Gottfried—a new Gottfried apparently—falling on the field, while the channel of the Dyle, across which the defeated invaders sought to fly, was choked with their corpses.

This bloody defeat put an end to the incursions of the Norsemen by way of the Rhine. Thenceforward they paid their attention to the coast of France, which they continued to invade until one of their great leaders, Rollo, settled in Normandy as a vassal of the French monarch, and served as an efficient barrier against the inroads of his countrymen.

As to Hasting, he appears to have returned to his old trade of sea-rover, and we hear of him again as one of the Norse invaders of England, during the latter part of the reign of Alfred the Great.

OFFICIAL AND REGISTEREDL CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS SINCE 1983-CLAN OF OUR ANCESTORS

SCOTTISH CLAN – IRISH CLAN – NORSE CLAN

Preserving Our Past! Recording Our Present! Informing Our Future!

The Ancient and Honorable Carruthers Clan International Society LLC

carruthersclan1@gmail.com carrothersclan@gmail.com

GERMANIC HISTORICAL FILES #5

CLAN CARRUTHERS INT SOCIETY CCIS HISTORIAN AND GENEALOGIST

You can find us on our main facebook pages at :

SILVER WINGS-https://www.facebook.com/CarruthersClanLLC/

GOLD WINGS – https://www.facebook.com/carrutherscarrothers.pat.9

CLAN CARRUTHERS FAMILY HISTORY – https://www.facebook.com/CarruthersClan

CLAN CARRUTHERS CCIS – https://www.facebook.com/groups/3878691252182714

CLAN CARRUTHERS INT SOCIETY- https://www.facebook.com/groups/394653845137709

CLAN CARRUTHERS – BORDER REIVERS – https://www.facebook.com/groups/434959914239094

Disclaimer Ancient and Honorable Carruthers Clan International Societ