The Twelve Forgotten Defenders of Paris: The Viking Siege of 886
For decades, Viking ships had been coming up the Seine. Paris was an inviting target: its old defenses had been neglected, its churches and monasteries held gold and silver, and the river gave raiders a route straight into the city. They came, plundered and left, sometimes after being paid to go. And then they came back.
Eventually, Paris began to prepare for their return. Around 870, Charles the Bald ordered the city strengthened. Two wooden bridges were built to connect the Île de la Cité to the riverbanks, the Grand Pont to the north and the Petit Pont to the south, with stone towers guarding their ends. But the bridges had another purpose: they were barriers. Together, they closed the two channels of the Seine around the island, so Viking ships could no longer simply sail through Paris and continue towards the towns upstream, such as Melun, Sens and Troyes. In 885, Bishop Gozlin completed the restoration of the ancient wall around the Île de la Cité. It was finished just in time.
The Vikings return
On 24 November 885, a Viking fleet appeared on the Seine. This was no ordinary raid. Some 700 ships arrived before Paris, and their army is said to have numbered around 30,000 men. Abbo, a monk of Saint-Germain-des-Prés who wrote a poem about the siege, claimed 40,000 Vikings against only 200 Parisian fighters, figures that were probably greatly exaggerated.
Their leader, Siegfried, asked Gozlin to allow his fleet to pass through Paris and continue up the Seine. Gozlin refused, declaring that he was defending not only Paris but the whole kingdom. The defenses built to stop the Vikings would now have to do exactly that. The siege began, and for weeks Paris held out. Then, in the middle of winter, the defense was breached not by the Vikings, but by the Seine.
The twelve defenders
In February 886, a flood swept away the Petit Pont. The bridge disappeared, but its fortified tower on the left bank, known as the Petit Châtelet, remained, suddenly cut off from the Île de la Cité. Inside were twelve defenders. According to one account, the men were trapped between the burning fortification and the wreckage of the bridge. Across the water, Parisians watched from the city walls. They could see what was happening, but they could not reach them. On 6 February 886, all twelve were killed. Their names might easily have disappeared with them, but Abbo, the monk who wrote about the siege, recorded them.
Paris itself survived. In March, Henry, Duke of Austrasia, managed to bring supplies into the city, but he could not end the siege. Gozlin died in April, and command passed to Ebles, abbot of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and Odo, Count of Paris, who left the city in May and returned a month later with reinforcements. In the autumn, Emperor Charles the Fat arrived and negotiated with the besiegers. He promised them 700 pounds of silver and allowed them to plunder the country as far as Sens, provided they left the kingdom by March 887. After almost a year, Paris had not been taken. Odo, one of the men who had defended the city, later became king and reigned from 888 to 898.
A thousand years later
Abbo had preserved the names of the twelve defenders. A thousand years later, Paris decided to preserve their memory as well. On 25 November 1885, the Paris city council decided to honour the twelve men with a commemorative plaque. It was first placed on the Place du Petit-Pont and later moved to the façade of an annexe of the Hôtel-Dieu. When the building was demolished in 1908, the plaque was given to the Musée Carnavalet. It carries the names of the twelve: Arnold, Eimard, Eriland, Ermenfred, Ervée, Ervie, Gobert, Gozsmin, Hardre, Odoacre, Solié and Uvide.
Inside the Archaeological Crypt beneath the square in front of Notre-Dame are remains of the wall built around the Île de la Cité at the beginning of the 4th century, the same wall Gozlin restored shortly before the siege. The Petit Pont defended by the twelve men is long gone, but part of the Paris they defended can still be seen beneath the streets of the city today.