On this day : March 29 AD 845 Ragnar Lodbrok having sailed by the river Seine with 120 ships carrying about 5,000 vikings began the siege of Paris.

The Frank king Charles the Bald had broken his forces into two divisions and placed one on each side of the river. Ragnar landed his forces and defeated half of the Frankish army, before hanging over a hundred prisoners on an island in the Seine. The remaining Frankish forces fled to the city. The Vikings were bought off and only left after being paid over 2,500 pounds of silver and gold.