The siege of Asselt was a

Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...

siege of the

Viking 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 ...

camp at Ascloha () in the

Meuse The Meuse ( , , , ; wa, Moûze ) or Maas ( , ; li, Maos or ) is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a t ...

valley in the year 882. Though the Vikings were not forced by arms to abandon their camp, they were compelled to come to terms whereby their leader, Godfrid, was converted to Christianity.

History

The precise location of Asselt is somewhat disputed. The charters call it ''Ascloha'' and the Bavarian continuation of the ''

Annales Fuldenses 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 a ...

'' assigns the locale on the

river, fourteen miles from the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

. In the past, it was most often identified with Elsloo, north of

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

. These days, most scholars prefer Asselt, near

Roermond Roermond (; li, Remunj or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received town rights in 1231. Ro ...

, which better fits the distance to the Rhine. Immediately after assuming the kingship of East Francia in Regensburg in early May,

Charles the Fat Charles III (839 – 13 January 888), also known as Charles the Fat, was the emperor of the Carolingian Empire from 881 to 888. A member of the Carolingian dynasty, Charles was the youngest son of Louis the German and Hemma, and a great-grandso ...

, already emperor, held an assembly (late that same month) at

Worms Worms may refer to: *Worm, an invertebrate animal with a tube-like body and no limbs Places *Worms, Germany Worms () is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, situated on the Upper Rhine about south-southwest of Frankfurt am Main. It had ...

to determine a course of action against the Vikings who were encamped at Asselt. An army comprising

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

, Alemanni, Bavarii,

Thuringii The Thuringii, Toringi or Teuriochaimai, were an early Germanic people that appeared during the late Migration Period in the Harz Mountains of central Germania, a region still known today as Thuringia. It became a kingdom, which came into co ...

Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

, and

Lombards The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the '' History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 an ...

was assembled to march north and drive off the Vikings. The Lombards, Alemans, and Franks approached up the

on the west while the Bavarians went along the eastern bank and crossed over at

Andernach Andernach () is a town in the district of Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, of about 30,000 inhabitants. It is situated towards the end of the '' Neuwied basin'' on the left bank of the Rhine between the former tiny fishing villa ...

. The emperor, taking the line of verse "What do I care whether I win by force or tricks?" as his strategy, sent a force of Bavarians under Arnulf of Carinthia and Franks under Henry of Franconia ahead to ambush the unsuspecting Northmen. According to the biased account of the

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

continuation of the ''Annales Fuldenses'', the camp was about to fall when Liutward of Vercelli, bribed by the Vikings, convinced the emperor to meet envoys from Godfrid and make peace, even exchanging hostages. Godfrid was granted the

Kennemerland Kennemerland is a coastal region in the northwestern Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It includes the sand dunes north of the North Sea Canal, as well as the dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park. History Kennemerland gets it ...

, which had formerly been ruled by Roric, as a vassal. Charles also agreed to pay a

Danegeld Danegeld (; "Danish tax", literally "Dane yield" or tribute) was a tax raised to pay tribute or protection money to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged. It was called the ''geld'' or ''gafol'' in eleventh-century sources. It ...

to the Viking leader Sigifrid, partly using monies from churches. The Mainz continuator portrayed the army as greatly displeased with their emperor. The Bavarian continuator merely mentions that the initial ambush was thwarted by traitors and the subsequent siege — which lasted twelve days — by the spread of disease from rotting corpses and a very severe hailstorm. Godfrid, according to this account, swore oaths to Charles promising never to again lay waste his kingdom and accepted Christianity and baptism, at which Charles stood as his godfather. The Mainz continuation had a particularly poor opinion of Charles the Fat because its patron, Liutbert, had been dismissed from his court position with Charles' succession. The campaign over, Charles returned to Koblenz and there dispersed the army. His reputation as a weak and inept ruler stems largely from this campaign, though contemporaries did not in general see it as a failure. Only the Mainz cleric of Liutbert's, adding to the annals of Fulda had that impression.MacLean, 30–37.

Sources

*MacLean, Simon. ''Kingship and Politics in the Late Ninth Century: Charles the Fat and the end of the Carolingian Empire''. Cambridge University Press: 2003. *

Reuter, Timothy Timothy Alan Reuter (25 January 1947 – 14 October 2002), grandson of the former mayor of Berlin Ernst Reuter, was a German-British historian who specialized in the study of medieval Germany, particularly the social, military and ecclesiastical i ...

. ''Germany in the Early Middle Ages, c. 800-1056''. Longman, 1991. *
The Annals of Fulda
'. (Manchester Medieval series, Ninth-Century Histories, Volume II.) Reuter, Timothy (trans.) Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1992.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asselt, Siege of Battles involving the Vikings Viking Age in France 880s conflicts 882 Asselt Asselt