Soissons, circa 960-70 AD

[aligern]

Battle of Valley of Soissons circa 960-70


Protagonists
Haesten the Dane with Edward and Hilduin of Flanders
15,000 Danes and Saxons say 5,000 Flemings
The King of France
Geoffrey Greymantle count of Anjou, the counts of France
20,000 French   
The only number given in the text is that for the Danes and Saxons, I have balanced up the other numbers, but all are incredible in this fictitious battle.


Source, Chronicle of the Counts of  Anjou
Text at the Halsall Fordham University site.


While this was going on, messengers suddenly appeared, anouncing that the Danes had made camp in the valley of Soissons; innumerable Flemish knights had joined them, since they have a great many people in the duchy. When the king heard this, he addressed the nobles thus: "You see, best of men, that I cannot recount without great weeping the many calamities and difficulties with which the Frankish people have been beset. What can I say to the common people, when many of you, sprung from noble bloodlines, grow pale with hunger, and the plague of the Danes contaminates your labors? Already your fields, laid waste, are rarely if ever touched by the plow. Let not, I beseech you, the praise of the Franks be debased by our own negligence. O unbroken race ! O unconquered people ! Be not afraid. Things are at their worst, the battle at its most fierce, the enemy in his numbers is close by. Go forth, mightiest of knights! Behold, the hour of battle is at hand; stir up your warlike strength and show your ancestral might when the time comes. What good are words? Let each man now take counsel with himself." The nobility now worried over what the king had said. Some of them answered: "We can give no opinion about the battle at present, but we recommend that for the moment a truce be made, and battle be postponed until our strength is greater." But Geoffrey Greymantle, adding his own advice, spoke his opinion: "You, consular lords (counts)  and illustrious men, light and flower of victorious France, honor and mirror of a battle-ready knighthood, fight on your own behalf, and lay down your souls for your brothers. Shall we watch the people, which committed itself to us and to the king, die unavenged? I see that you are all of one spirit, thanks be to God, and that none of you disagrees with his fellow. How does the lord differ from the serf, the noble from the commoner, the rich man from the poor, the knight from the footman, unless the advice of we who watch over them is of some good, unless our own aid protects them? If the Danes are to rule over me unpunished, I no longer want to live. Dying ingloriously is worth the same as being compared to stupid beasts, being likened to brute animals. All of you should hunger for battle, because you all believe this will be necessary for the common good. This is the course I myself suggest, and earnestly demand; I ask that we not die like slothful or imbecilic creatures, that we not be a disgrace and an infamy to all peoples."
At these words they all went forth, not without great sorrow on the part of those they were leaving behind. Neither these nor the ones who were leaving thought they would ever again enjoy the sight of the other; they rushed together in the kisses of loved ones, and all were moved to tears. They came then to the valley of Soissons and entered a valley, lovely in its levelness; there, each one disposed and decorated his own troops. The chief men discussed how the battle was to be fought, and this they entrusted to the Angevin Geoffrey. "Well," said Geoffrey, "each of you go and gather your men, and come to the battle with your troops when the sign is given. Then, where it is necessary, conduct the battle with lances and swords, and remember the deeds done and the blows struck by our fathers." Six lines were set up: five went out to sustain the brunt of the battle and to fend off the enemy's army with a fierce fight. The king came afterward, with his own troop, to see how the battle went, and to give aid, and to take up the battle if the Danes were winning out.
The trumpets blared, the horns resounded, a great cry from each side was heard; shield was thrust back by shield, boss was repelled by boss; once lances had been shattered, swords themselves were being notched and scarred. The ranks of the Danes and Flemish came up into hand-to-hand battle, overtook the French and began to drive them back. They were unable to withstand the rush of so many nations,  but, staggering, began instead to contemplate retreat. So great was  the cloud of buzzing missiles that the air itself seemed to grow dark. The king began to moan: he looked around at all his men like one gifted with second sight and said "O Christ, come to the aid of your Franks!" and to Geoffrey, who was carrying the king's standard, he added (by means of a messenger), "Geoffrey, spur on your swift steed and come to the aid of the tottering Franks. Be mindful, I beseech you, of your ancestors, that you in no way besmirch the reputation of the Franks." Geoffrey, guarded by the sign of the holy cross and surrounded by his followers, was quick among the armies, and was opposed by one of the bravest of the Danish knights. Geoffrey had ridden up against the heathen, to make the pennons of the royal standard dance in the faces of the Danes, and to put some fear into them with his loud battle-cry. With this advance by their chief centurion,[12] the Franks, taking courage again, rushed wildly on the Danes all at once with their weapons drawn. there was a great shattering of armor and weapons, and a clear fire flared from the bronze helms. Wounds were dashed against wounds and the fields were darkened with much blood. You would have seen hanging intestines, heads cut off, dismembered bodies on all sides. The Danes were seized with a swift and sudden terror; tottering in their ranks, they gave themselves up to flight. The Franks followed them, striking them down, slaying them, trampling them underfoot. Many knights and footmen died there, and their leaders were found thereafter, dead in the midst of five thousand of their troops. Having won a great victory, the Franks returned rejoicing to their own people, bring with them many captured horses and much plunder which they had taken in the battle. Then there was great rejoicing in France, and all gave the proper thanks to God.


Commentary.
This battle is very likely fictitious . The Chronicle of the counts of Anjou  is concerned to give a history of the comital line and increase its prestige. Here the chronicler creates a battle following  a Viking siege of Paris at which Geoffrey (lived 938-987 in office 958-987) meets in combat and kills a Danish knight who has already defeated several French champions. Geoffrey is anonymous in the joust and is later rcognised at the king's court by a miller.
The invading Danes are led by Haesten, surely a recalling of the Dane Hastein,  mayhap son of Ragnar Lothbrok  who raidede in  England, Spain Brittany and France in the ninth century and of the Danish siege of Paris which ended by them being bought off in 886, a century before this supposed action. The Flemish ally of Haesten, Hilduin, might be the count of Flanders at the time Baldwin Iron Arm.
In the period in question the king of France was weak. Counts, called consuls in the text, had moved from being royal appointees under the stronger Carolingians , to becoming a hereditary office. Counts warred against each other to increase their lands and power and into this mix, the Vikings of Normandy came, were granted lands and set about increasing their duchy through the conquest of neighbouring territories. In these confused  and poorly recorded wars the Angevin counts also  did well.
Though it is a fiction as a description of a battle from the late tenth century it gives a good idea of how a chronicler in the early century thought of a battle. Interestingly the French are in five divisions, one being in reserve with the king and his standard. The French line is pushed back, but the situation is restored by the fifth division and converted to a French victory.  The French divisions appear to fight by county with each having its own knights and footmen.

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