Vikings in Continental Europe 75 



The kingdom of Italy, too, formed part of Charlemagne's 

 empire. Spain was not Christian in those days, for 

 it had been conquered by the Mohammedans ; save, 

 indeed, a little strip in the north, half of which belonged 

 to the Franks, while the other half was independent. 

 To whatever shore, therefore, the Vikings, coming from 

 the Baltic, might direct their sail, unless they fell upon 

 one or other of our islands, they were sure almost to come 

 ill contact with the subjects of the Frankish empire. 

 As long as Charlemagne held this mighty power in his 

 hands, the countries were safe from any serious harm ; 

 though, as we have seen, even Charlemagne had a fore- 

 taste of the evils of Viking invasion. Under Charle- 

 magne's successor, Lewis, called the Debonair, or the 

 Pious, the Prankish empire began to decay and fall to 

 pieces; but even in this reign Christendom suffered 

 little hurt from the northern pirates. It was after 

 Lewis's death (a.d. 840) when his sons, who during 

 the lifetime of their father had often been in rebellion 

 against him, were now engaged in civil war one with 

 another, that an opening was made for the Viking 

 attacks. 



While the rival armies of the imperial princes were 

 manoeuvring inland, the Viking fleets began to find 

 their way to the mouths of the great rivers of Western 

 Europe which emptied themselves into the North Sea, 

 or into the Atlantic. The most eastern of these, and 

 therefore the nearest to Denmark, was the Elbe. Near 

 the mouth of it stood Hamburg, then a growing trading 

 place and the See of an Archbishop. Next (to the 

 westward) came the many mouths of the Ehine, which 

 flowed through the country then called Frisia. On 



