Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte
Lothair, who was the emperor at the time, ordered his Danish vassal to raid and plunder specific sites in Charles’ kingdom.
Throughout the times of these six kings, the counts and dukes under the kingdom in West Frankia started to fortify their own lands heavily to counter these Viking attacks.
Charles proposed that Rollo be baptized and granted land from the Seine River to the sea, along with protecting the kingdom from further Viking raids.
Rollo and his men like the sound of this idea so they agree to meet with the King for some sort of peace conference where they would exchange gifts and create an alliance.
[1] The King of Dacia breaks that agreement, and he sets up and attack on Rollo and his men to happen at night when they arrive.
The Vikings evolved over time into a large group of roving bandits that sailed the coast of Europe and at the expense of the society in which they faced, gained substantial rewards from the act of plundering.
On top of this, there was concern for overpopulation, political persecution, and conquest incentives that drove up the number of Viking migrants out of their native land.
The Viking warlord Rollo laid siege on Chartres before Charles the Simple offered to make a peace deal.
The proceedings were rocky; Rollo was originally offered Flanders, a stoney section of West-Frankia along the northern coast.
Charles’ changed quickly and Rollo became the first Duke of the land east of the Epte river while still being along the northern coast, which was far more farmable than Flanders.
[9] With Norse bands of settlers, composed of non-aristocratic lineages, there came multiple communities formed and a new political ethos that was not Frankish.
[10] This identity formation was partly possible because the Norse were adapting indigenous culture, speaking French, renouncing paganism and converting to Christianity,[11] and intermarrying with the local population.
The Treaty of Saint-Clair-Sur-Epte may have been another Carolingian tactic to ease Viking attacks and as author Letty ten Clair argues, possibly meant to be temporary.
However, by choosing to assimilate and reinvent their cultural identity the Vikings and Rollo’s descendants created a greater succession than when events like this treaty had occurred before.
Author Alice Taylor argues, when Dudo wrote his account of the event, he instead exaggerated respectful gestures he described Rollo enacting towards Charles the Simple to create an image of submission.
Ultimately the Treaty was long lasting as descendants continued to assimilate and the idea of submission to Carolingian ideals was already in place.
Dudo’s accounts are rarely trusted as law but are imperative to understanding the cultural significance of this treaty between Rollo and Charles the Simple.
