Note to Anon Krm 10^VIII

[4] í Flæmingjaveldi ‘in the realm of the Flemings’: ‘The realm of the Flemings’ must be Flanders, the exact extent of which in viking times is uncertain. According to Steenstrup (1876-82, III, 105-6), its coast extended northwards from Quentowic in the mouth of the river Canche, just south of Boulogne, to the Scheldt estuary (in modern terms from north-eastern France through Belgium into the south-west Netherlands). A viking raid on Paris followed by devastation of coastal regions is reported in the contemporary Annales Bertiniani for 845 (Nelson 1991, 60-2; Rau 1969, 64-6; Skyum-Nielsen 1967, 13-14), and the leader of the Paris raid is named as Reginheri (cf. Ragnarr) in the contemporary Annales Xantenses (Rau 1969, 348; cf. Skyum-Nielsen 1967, 15) and as Raginarius in the near-contemporary Translatio Sancti Germani (de Smedt et al. 1883, 91-3; cf. Rowe 2012, 28-31). It is thus possible that the coastal regions referred to in the Annales Bertiniani were those of Flanders, and that the raiders were Reginheri and his followers. The evidence, however, is uncertain, and it is likely that the land of the Flemings is mentioned here simply as one of the many known viking targets.

References

1. Bibliography
2. Steenstrup, Johannes C. H. R. 1876-82. Normannerne. 4 vols. Copenhagen: Rudolph Klein.
3. Rowe, Elizabeth Ashman. 2012. Vikings in the West: The Legend of Ragnarr Loðbrók and his Sons. Studia Medievalia Septentrionalia 18. Vienna: Fassbaender.
4. Skyum-Nielsen, Niels, trans. 1967. Vikingerne i Paris. Beretninger fra 9. århundrede oversat og forklaret. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
5. Nelson, Janet L., trans. 1991. The Annals of St-Bertin. Ninth-century Histories 1. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
6. Rau, Reinhold, ed. and revised. 1969. Quellen zur karolingischen Reichsgeschichte, part 2: Jahrbücher von St Bertin. Jahrbücher von St Vaast. Xantener Jahrbücher, with German translations by J. V. Jasmund and C. Rehdantz (= Ausgewählte Quellen zur deutschen Geschichte des Mittelalters. Freiherr vom Stein-Gedächtnisausgabe. Ed. Rudolf Buchner. VI). Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.