The siege of Asselt was a
Frankish siege of the
Viking camp at Ascloha () in the
Meuse 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'' assigns the locale on the
Meuse river, fourteen miles from the
Rhine. In the past, it was most often identified with
Elsloo, north of
Maastricht. These days, most scholars prefer
Asselt, near
Roermond, which better fits the distance to the Rhine.
Immediately after assuming the kingship 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 ...
in
Regensburg
Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...
in early May,
Charles the Fat, already emperor, held an assembly (late that same month) at
Worms to determine a course of action against the Vikings who were encamped at Asselt. An army comprising
Franks,
Alemanni
The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes
*
*
*
on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...
,
Bavarii
The Baiuvarii or Bavarians (german: Bajuwaren) were a Germanic people. The Baiuvarii had settled modern-day Bavaria (which is named after them), Austria, and South Tyrol by the 6th century AD, and are considered the ancestors of modern-day Bava ...
,
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 confl ...
,
Saxons, and
Lombards was assembled to march north and drive off the Vikings. The Lombards, Alemans, and Franks approached up the
Rhine on the west while the Bavarians went along the eastern bank and crossed over at
Andernach. 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
Arnulf of Carinthia ( 850 – 8 December 899) was the duke of Carinthia who overthrew his uncle Emperor Charles the Fat to become the Carolingian king of East Francia from 887, the disputed king of Italy from 894 and the disputed emperor from Feb ...
and Franks under
Henry of Franconia Henry (died 28 August 886) was the leading military commander of the last years of the Carolingian Empire. He was commander-in-chief under Kings Louis the Younger and Charles the Fat. His early career was mostly restricted to East Francia, his home ...
ahead to ambush the unsuspecting Northmen.
According to the biased account of the
Mainz continuation of the ''Annales Fuldenses'', the camp was about to fall when
Liutward of Vercelli Liutward was the archchancellor of the Carolingian Empire from 878 and the bishop of Vercelli from 880 by appointment of Charles the Fat. Never liked by the nobility, he was trusted by Charles as a confidant and go-between with the papacy.
In 88 ...
, bribed by the Vikings, convinced the emperor to meet envoys from Godfrid and make peace, even exchanging hostages. Godfrid was granted the
Kennemerland, which had formerly been ruled by
Roric
Rorik (''Roricus, Rorichus''; Old Norse ''HrœrekR'', c. 810 – c. 880) was a Danish Viking, who ruled over parts of Friesland between 841 and 873, conquering Dorestad and Utrecht in 850. Rorik swore allegiance to Louis the German in 873. He ...
, as a vassal. Charles also agreed to pay a
Danegeld 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
Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary.
Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...
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. ''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