6 February 886
The flood and the fall of the small tower, February 886
On 6 February 886 the Seine, swollen by rain and choked with the debris of the siege, rises and breaks the Petit Pont. The tower at the left bank end of the bridge is cut off from the city with twelve men inside.
The Petit Pont and the Petit Châtelet, the later fortress at its left bank end, as they stood in 1717, drawn by Theodor Hoffbauer in 1885Wikimedia Commons, Theodor Josef Hubert Hoffbauer, Public domain (Le Petit pont et le Petit Châtelet, 1717.jpg)
The Danes attack the tower from the left bank and set it on fire, and the twelve defenders are killed. Abbo records the names of all twelve. Part of the Danish army then leaves the siege to raid Le Mans, Chartres and Évreux, while a force stays in the camps before the city.
Sources
- Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Bella Parisiacae urbis, book 1.
- Nirmal Dass (ed.), Viking Attacks on Paris: The Bella Parisiacae Urbis of Abbo of Saint-Germain-des-Prés (2007).
- Jim Bradbury, The Medieval Siege (1992).
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