Edict of Pîtres

At the time Vikings more than annually ravaged not only the Frankish coastlands but, with the aid of Europe's numerous navigable rivers, much of the interior also.

To prevent the Vikings from even attaining a great booty, Charles also declared that fortified bridges should be built at all towns on rivers.

Simon Coupland believes that only two bridges, at Pont-de-l'Arche (near Pîtres) on the Seine and at Les Ponts-de-Cé on the Loire, were ever fortified, though a few others that had fallen into disrepair were rebuilt "in times of crisis in order to increase troop mobility".

King Pepin II of Aquitaine, against whom Charles had been fighting for decades, had been captured in 864 and was formally deposed at Pîtres.

Economically, besides the prohibitions on commerce with the enemy, Charles tightened his control of the mints and regulated the punishment for counterfeiting.