Eager to
rid himself of his powerful and troublesome vassal in Friesland, Charles
invited Gottfried to a meeting, at which he had the Norsemen
treacherously murdered, while his brother-in-law Hugo was deprived of
his sight. It was an act sure to bring a bloody reprisal. No sooner had
news of it reached the Scandinavian north than a fire of revengeful rage
swept through the land, and from every port a throng of oared galleys
put to sea, bent upon bloody retribution. Soon in immense hordes they
fell upon the imperial realm, forcing their way in mighty hosts up the
Rhine, the Maese, and the Seine, and washing out the memory of
Gottfried's murder in torrents of blood, while the brand spread ruin far
and wide.
The chief attack was made on Paris, which the Norsemen invested and
besieged for a year and a half. The march upon Paris was made by sea and
land, the marauders making Rouen their place of rendezvous. From this
centre of operations Rollo--the future conqueror and Duke of Normandy,
now a formidable sea-king--led an overland force towards the French
capital, and on his way was met by an envoy from the emperor, no less a
personage than the Count of Chartres, the once redoubtable Hasting, now
a noble of the empire.
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