Vikings in the Annals of St Bertin written 830s onwards See also The Annals of St Bertin trans J L Nelson Manchester 1991 843 Northmen pirates attacked Nantes in Brittany killed the bishop and many of the clergy and laymen both men and women and pillaged the city Thence they set out to plunder the lands of western Aquitaine At length they arrived at a certain island the island of Noirmoutier and brought their households over from the mainland and they settled there for the winter as if that were to be their permanent dwelling place 844 The Northmen launched a major attack on the island of Britain in that part which is largely inhabited by the Anglo Saxons After a battle lasting three days the Northmen emerged the winners plundering looting slaughtering everywhere they wielded power over the land at will The Northmen sailed up the Garonne as far as Toulouse wreaking destruction everywhere and without meeting any opposition and pillaged the lands along both banks with impunity 845 A very hard winter In March 120 ships of the Northmen sailed up the Seine to Paris laying waste everything on either side and meeting not the least bit of opposition Charles the Bald made some effort to offer resistance but realized that his men could not possibly win So he made a deal with them by handing over 7000 pounds of silver as a bribe he restrained them from proceeding further and persuaded them to go away The Danes who had ravaged Aquitaine the year before returned and attacked Saintonge They won the fight and settled down to stay there quietly for a while 846 The Danish pirates landed in Frisia They were able to force from the people whatever tributes they wished and after fighting a battle which they won they gained control of nearly the whole province 847 The Danes made their appearance in that western part of Gaul inhabited by the Bretons and won three victories and completely overpowered them Nomino defeated fled with his men later he softened up the Danes with bribes and got them out of his territories
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