It is not uncommon for people to ask me why the Vikings, who were so active to the west in England and France, did not give the same attention to their German neighbors in the East.
The short answer to that question is that they did, but it is not as well-documented as the English raids, and the Vikings were less successful, so they left a less tangible impact on the region.
Let’s take a closer look at Viking activity in Germany, or the Rhineland, which at the time was part of the Frankish or Carolingian Empire.
Early Contact
Initially, the Viking attitude towards the expanding Carolingian empire was defensive.
Starting in the 7th century CE, the Danes built a series of ringforts along their eastern frontier to protect against Germanic tribes, and these were reinforced over the centuries.
The Vikings were raiding the Baltic from at least the 8th century and may have made forays into Germany at that time.
But by the early 9th century, the Vikings were firmly on the offensive.
The records suggest that in the first two decades of the 9th century, the Vikings sailed into Frankish territories, accessing their larger rivers, the Seine and the Rhine, via the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
The first major attack was recorded in 820, attacking settlements accessed via the River Seine.
They went on to attack the Elbe estuary and the heavily fortified city of Hamburg in 845.
The Vikings were successful enough that the Germans had to pay them off, much as Paris did when it was besieged in 845.
They reportedly paid 7,000 French livres of silver and gold, which is around 2,570 kilograms.
We can assume the Germans also paid a hefty price.
Intensified Raiding
Initially, the Vikings engaged in smash-and-grab raids, returning to their homelands every season, but in the 860s, they began to set up permanent camps in the region.
The Germans continued to manage the raids by paying the Vikings off, either with expensive gifts or lands, called fiefdoms.
But as a general rule, the Vikings had to be baptized before they could accept the territory, contributing to their gradual Christianization.
The raids intensified further in the 880s.
This could be linked to many Vikings who headed to England as part of the Great Heathen Army, leaving following a peace treaty with Alfred the Great in 878.
They were looking for new territories to raid.
It may also have been driven by the death of Louis the Stammerer, the King of West Francia, in 879, leaving his throne to his two sons.
This inevitably caused internal conflict and weakened the area, opening up an opportunity for the Danish Vikings.
Their main base of operations was at a place called Dyle, near modern Leuven in Belgium.
From there, in June 891, while King Arnulf of East Francia was in Bavaria dealing with the Slavs, the Vikings started to make moves.
The Franks were unsure were heading, for example, Cologne or Trier, so they decided to march out and meet them near their encampment.
This proved disastrous, as when some Viking scouts encountered their army while it was still organizing, they decided to pursue the scouts, which led their rabble right to the Viking army.
The Vikings easily defeated the disorganized Frankish forces and set about plundering the area.
Arnulf then returned with a substantial army and met the Vikings near their encampment in what would become known as the Battle of the Dyle River.
The Vikings had strong fortifications made of wood and earthworks, and were defended on one side by the river and the other by a swamp.
The overconfident Vikings taunted the Franks from their encampment.
Arnulf defeated the Vikings with a slow foot march directly into their encampment, driving them beyond their own fortifications and giving them nowhere to retreat.
The Viking leaders, named Sigfried and Godfried by the German sources, were killed in battle.
While this is often seen as the end of major Viking activity in Germany, this is far from the case.
While the Vikings certainly suffered a significant loss, more raiders arrived and continued to attack the area.
The very next year, there are records of the Vikings crossing the Meuse, and in 896, they were reportedly active in the Loire and Oise valleys.
There were also raids along the Seine and in northern Aquitaine in the 10th century.
It seems mostly that the Germans did a good job of defending themselves and buying the Vikings off, so their histories for this period focus on other threats.
Further Viking Raids
The evidence also suggests that the Vikings were raiding in the region in the 11th century.
This comes from a text written by the contemporary Alpert of Metz, who provides details of Viking raids in the Rhine Delta in 1006 and 1007 in his On the Variety of Our Times.
This was another time of general weakness for the Germans, which gave the Vikings an opportunity.
The fact that the Vikings were well aware of political activities in the area suggests strong trade and political ties.
He says that the count of the district, Godfrey, was now old and feeble, but it was unclear whether his nephew Balderich or his son-in-law Wichmann would succeed him.
This left the region unprepared when the Vikings sailed up the Merwede River to the port of Tiel.
With no organized defense, the people living along the river fled, and the Vikings plundered Tiel and sacked the monastery of St Walburga.
Finally, Godfrey sent messengers to the villages within his county and summoned a substantial force for battle.
He was too weak to take personal command, so he delegated to Balderich and Hunerick, the count of the neighboring district with significant battle experience.
This militia was successful in forcing the Vikings back to their ships and retreating upriver.
The Vikings did stop after a few miles to prepare for a set battle, but when no opposing army came to meet them, they cut their losses and left.
They were back the following year, apparently with 90 ships carrying several thousand men, rowing up the Lek River.
This time, the locals were prepared for an immediate response, and foot soldiers and cavalry were deployed on both sides of the river.
The Vikings set anchor in the middle of the river and tried to negotiate passage, but while they were negotiating, the militia used their own ships to block the path of the Vikings.
While this should have been a checkmate move, rumors spread among the defenders on the ships that the defenders on the shore had won a great victory against the Vikings.
They, therefore, began to attack in a disorganized fashion, granting the Vikings an easy victory.
As those on shore watched, they began to flee, only to be cut down by the Vikings.
This freed the Vikings to sail their fleet to Utrecht, though they had little success against the heavily fortified city.
End of the Viking Age
While sporadic raids probably continued after this date, these are the last well-recorded instances of Viking raids in Germany.
This was also the time when the Vikings started to convert to Christianity, fundamentally changing both their relationship with their neighbors and their way of life.
The Vikings would stop raiding in the area since it just didn’t make economic sense anymore.
