The Battle of Saucourt was part of the Viking invasions of West Francia and occurred between forces of

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

and the troops of Kings of

West Francia In medieval history, West Francia (Medieval Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the West Franks () refers to the western part of the Frankish Empire established by Charlemagne. It represents the earliest stage of the Kingdom of France, lasting from about ...

Louis III of France Louis III (863/65—5 August 882) was King of West Francia (a precursor to the Kingdom of France) from 879 until his death in 882. He succeeded his father Louis the Stammerer, and ruled over West Francia in tandem with his brother Carloman II. L ...

and his brother

Carloman II Carloman II ( 866 – 6 December 884) was the King of West Francia from 879 until his death. A member of the Carolingian dynasty, he and his elder brother, Louis III, divided the kingdom between themselves and ruled jointly until the latter's d ...

, on 3 August 881 at Saucourt-en-Vimeu.

Background

Following the

Battle of Thimeon The Battle of Thiméon was a Frankish victory over the Vikings near Thiméon (near modern Charleroi, Wallonia) north of the Sambre in February 880. In 879, Vikings (probably Norsemen) from England settled on the river Scheldt. After celebrating C ...

near Charleroi where the Vikings were defeated by

Louis the Younger Louis the Younger (830/835 – 20 January 882), sometimes Louis the Saxon or Louis III, was the second eldest of the three sons of Louis the German and Hemma, Emma. He succeeded his father as the King of Saxony on 28 August 876 and his elder broth ...

, King of

East Francia East Francia (Medieval Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the East Franks () was a successor state of Charlemagne's Carolingian Empire, empire ruled by the Carolingian dynasty until 911. It was created through the Treaty of Verdun (843) which divided t ...

, they resumed their raids on the West Frankish kingdom. After taking Kortrijk in November 880, they raided Arras and Cambrai in December. Later in 881, they sacked Amiens and Corbie.

Battle

Louis and Carloman were victorious, in what must have been a rare pitched battle, against the northern raiders in which some 9,000 Vikings were slain according to the

Annals of Fulda The ''Annales Fuldenses'' or ''Annals of Fulda'' are East Frankish chronicles that cover independently the period from the last years of Louis the Pious (died 840) to shortly after the end of effective Carolingian rule in East Francia with the ac ...

. The battle is celebrated in the

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

poem ''

Ludwigslied The ''Ludwigslied'' (in English, ''Lay'' or ''Song of Ludwig'') is an Old High German (OHG) poem of 59 rhyming couplets, celebrating the victory of the Frankish army, led by Louis III of France, over Danish (Viking) raiders at the Battle of Sau ...

''. Despite winning the battle, Louis was unable to take advantage of this victory since he would die in an accident in 882. The battle of Saucourt did nothing to stop Viking raids, who switched to raiding Lotharingia.

References

Sources

* * * * Battles involving the Carolingian Empire Battles involving the Vikings Battles in Hauts-de-France Viking Age in France 9th century in France 880s conflicts 881 {{France-battle-stub

Background

Battle

See also

References

Sources