Easter Sunday, 845. Paris is celebrating the holiest day in the Christian calendar when dragon-prowed ships appear on the Seine. The Vikings have come. And they won’t be the last.
For decades, Norse raiders terrorize the rivers of Francia, striking without warning, taking treasure, and vanishing before armies can respond. Paris—sitting on the Seine, accessible from the sea—becomes a prime target. The city is raided, burned, and ransomed over and over. Until 885, when the largest Viking army ever assembled surrounds Paris and lays siege for eleven brutal months.
This is the story of Count Odo, the hero who defended Paris when the king couldn’t. Of a city that refused to surrender even when all seemed lost. Of the moment when a Frankish count became a king because he’d proven himself worthy while the Carolingians proved themselves weak.
But it’s also the story of a brilliant solution: the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, where a Viking warlord named Rollo was given Normandy in exchange for protecting France from other Vikings. It worked. The raids stopped. And from this bargain would eventually come William the Conqueror and the Norman invasion of England.
Charlemagne’s empire has fallen. The Vikings have been tamed. And a new dynasty—the Capetians—is rising. Paris has survived fire and fury. Now it’s ready to flourish.
Thank you for listening.
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