| Translation |
a. 881 In the year of the Lord’s incarnation 881, Charles [the Fat] came from Alemannia and took possession of Lombardy; and within a few days he received the whole of Italy into submission. Coming to Rome, he was favourably received by John, the bishop of the apostolic see, and by the
Roman senate, and he was made emperor with great glory. At the same time a fleet of Northmen entered the River Waal and landed next to the royal palace of Nijmegen, where they built their camp. When this event was brought to Louis [the Younger]’s attention he came without delay with an army and besieged them in their fortification. Although they struggled for several days Louis could still not
fully prevail, because the palace’s great size and wonderful fortifications provided the enemy with a very secure refuge. In this engagement Eberhard Saxo, son of Count Meginhard, was caught by the enemy and taken hostage; his mother Evesa later got him back unharmed by paying a large ransom. The king finally retreated with all his troops after accepting the Northmen’s promise that, if he raised the siege, they would immediately leave his kingdom. After Louis withdrew, the pagans set the palace on fire along with their fortification, boarded their ships and returned to the mouth of the Rhine.
In the same year in the month of November two kings of the Northmen, Godafrid and Sigfrid, camped at Asselt by the Meuse with an innumerable multitude of men on foot and horseback. On their first raid they laid waste to the surrounding places and burned the city of Liège, the fort of Maastricht and the town of Tongres. On their second incursion they streamed into the lands of the Ripuarians and devastated everything with murder, pillage and fire, ruining with fire the cities of Cologne and Bonn together with the nearby strongholds of Zülpich, Jülich and Neuss. After these things they reduced the palace of Aachen, and the monasteries of Inden [Cornelimünster], Malmedy and Stavelot
to ashes. |
