On This Day In History: ‘Sea King’ Ragnar Lodbrok Seizes Paris – On March 28, 845

AncientPages.com - On March 28, 845, Paris was attacked by Vikings under the leadership of Ragnar Lodbrok, nicknamed 'Hairy Breeches,' referring to the animal-skin trousers that he wore.

Ragnar, one of the most notorious Viking heroes, was not a simple pirate but one of the first 'sea-kings'; a Viking who gained power and wealth through raiding to be recognized as a king.

Ragnar Lodbrok conquers Paris. Unknown author - Scanned from the german histrory magazine Der Spiegel Geschichte (6/2010): Die Wikinger - Krieger mit Kultur: Das Leben der Nordmänner. Spiegel-Verlag Rudolf Augstein GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg 2010, p.33

In 845, Ragnar and his army sailed southwards from Denmark across the sea and continued to France. He commanded over five thousand warriors in a hundred-and-twenty longships fleet.

As the Vikings besieged the great city, a plague erupted among the soldiers in their camps. At first, they prayed to the Norse Gods but found themselves ignored. Then, on the advice of one of their French Christian prisoners, they undertook a Christian fast, and soon their symptoms subsided.

Afterward, the Vikings took the French capital and only refrained from burning it to the ground after King Charles the Bald paid them an enormous ransom of 7,000 pounds of silver to leave.

The exact circumstances of his death are unclear. According to one story, Ragnar died of dysentery and wounds he sustained after ravaging Paris.

Another story says that he was returning home from France when his ship washed ashore on the coast of the Kingdom of Northumbria.

Ragnar was seized by King Aella of Northumbria, a medieval Anglian kingdom in what is now northern England and southeast Scotland, and executed by being thrown into a pit of snakes.

His sons bloodily avenged him by invading England with the Great Heathen Army.

A poetic version of his 'Death Song' had passed into popular legend, and it's a remarkable piece of Nordic verse.

It ends:

"The Disir summon me home, those whom Odin sends for me from the halls of the Lord of Hosts. Gladly shall I drink ale in the high seat with the Aesir. The days of my life are ended. I laugh as I die."

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