When Charles the Fat, the German Emperor, became also
King of France, he had to suffer for his treacherous murder of a Danish
chief, for soon afterwards came the great Rollo with a large fleet of
galleys, and Paris was besieged once more. Odo, Count of Paris, held out
successfully, but when the king came from Germany with his army, instead of
attacking the Danes, he induced them to retire by offering them a bribe of
800 lbs. of silver. Before long Odo became King of France, but after ten
years of constant fighting, he died and was succeeded by Charles the
Simple. This title does an injustice to his character, for he certainly did
more for France than most of his predecessors. Finding the Northmen too
firmly established in Neustria to have any hope of successfully driving
them out of the country, he made a statesmanlike arrangement with Rollo.
The Dane was to do homage to the French king, to abandon his gods Thor,
Odin and the rest for Christianity, and in return was to be made ruler of
the country between the River Epte and the sea, and westwards as far as the
borders of Brittany Rollo was also to be given the hand of the Princess
Gisela in marriage.
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