File:The story history of France from the reign of Clovis, 481 A.D., to the signing of the armistice, November, 1918 (1919) (14590105039).jpg

Identifier: storyhistoryoffr01bonn (find matches)
Title: The story history of France from the reign of Clovis, 481 A.D., to the signing of the armistice, November, 1918
Year: 1919 (1910s)
Authors: Bonner, John, 1828-1899 Bonner, John, 1828-1899. A child's history of France
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Publisher: New York and London, Harper
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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f his faith, by stepping successively into three bar-rels filled with boiling water, boiling tar, and boiling pitch.But it did not serve. Hinckmar sent him back into thedungeon. It was not particularly safe, at that time, inFrance, for a man to have opinions on any subject, no mat-ter how he offered to prove their truth. But it was a much easier thing to shut up a priest in adungeon than to shut up the Northern pirates in theircountry. Hinckmar found this job beyond his power.Every year, as soon as the spring-birds began to sing, thesesea-rovers came swooping down upon the coasts of France,landing in some sheltered cove, seizing money, jewels, food,cattle, and young girls, and dashing off to sea again withtheir booty. By and by, they were not content with thesea-coast. They sailed up the rivers, in their broad boats,with ribs of iron, and with great beaks of bronze and ivory,fashioned in the shape of a serpent or a bird of prey.Back of this beak stood a warrior, shouting, singing, and
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843-987) 45 gesticulating, to strike terror into the hearts of those whosaw him : he was called a Berserkir, which in the Normantongue meant a madman. Along the bank of the river ranother warriors, blowing horns and bellowing war-cries.When the poor French peasants saw a fleet of these boatscome sweeping round the hill, dashing the foam from theirbows, and heard the horn yonder on the beach, they fled, asswiftly as they could, with wives and children, and, if theyhad time, with such scraps of their belongings as theycould pick up, to the nearest castle or monastery. Some-times the count or the abbot was strong enough to givebattle to the pirates ; but this did not often happen ; con-vents, churches, and castles were often pretty thoroughlyrobbed, and their owners killed under their own roofs. Theonly sure way to get rid of the Northmen was to buy themoft. One year, Charles paid them four thousand pounds ofsilver ; the next year he paid them five thousand ; theyear after that they insi

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