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Siege of Chartres (911)

10th century in France910s conflicts911Battles in Centre-Val de LoireBattles involving France
Battles involving the VikingsChartresHistory of Eure-et-LoirRolloSieges of the Middle Ages
Siege of Chartres
Siege of Chartres

The Siege of Chartres took place in spring 911 during the age of Viking incursions in Europe. The Viking leader, Rollo, and his men laid siege to the city of Chartres, in West Francia. But they failed to achieve their goal before the arrival, in July 911, of a relief army sent to battle them. The engagement that ensued resulted in the defeat of the Norsemen. Although, Viking raids were far from being a rare occurrence as the Frankish realms had to contend with such sudden incursions for decades, this one would prove to have everlasting consequences on European history. Following Rollo's defeat, the King of the West Franks, Charles the Simple, granted him a territory in the northern lands of his kingdom in exchange of an oath of fealty and his religious conversion. This territory, located between the mouth of the Seine and Rouen, a city Rollo had previously raided and seized in 876, officially formed the fief known as the County of Rouen. This county, through kinship in the decades to come, would expand into what came to be known as the Duchy of Normandy.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Siege of Chartres (911) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Siege of Chartres (911)
Impasse de l'Arbre de la Liberté, Chartres

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Latitude Longitude
N 48.456 ° E 1.484 °
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Impasse de l'Arbre de la Liberté

Impasse de l'Arbre de la Liberté
28000 Chartres
Centre-Val de Loire, France
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Siege of Chartres
Siege of Chartres
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Chartres Cathedral
Chartres Cathedral

Chartres Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres (French: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres), is a Catholic church in Chartres, France, about 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Paris, and is the seat of the Bishop of Chartres. Mostly constructed between 1194 and 1220, it stands on the site of at least five cathedrals that have occupied the site since the Diocese of Chartres was formed as an episcopal see in the 4th century. It is one of the best-known and most influential examples of High Gothic and Classic Gothic architecture, It stands on Romanesque basements, while its north spire is more recent (1507–1513) and is built in the more ornate Flamboyant style.Long renowned as "one of the most beautiful and historically significant cathedrals in all of Europe," it was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979, which called it "the high point of French Gothic art" and a "masterpiece".The cathedral is well-preserved and well-restored: the majority of the original stained glass windows survive intact, while the architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13th century. The building's exterior is dominated by heavy flying buttresses which allowed the architects to increase the window size significantly, while the west end is dominated by two contrasting spires – a 105-metre (349 ft) plain pyramid completed around 1160 and a 113-metre (377 ft) early 16th-century Flamboyant spire on top of an older tower. Equally notable are the three great façades, each adorned with hundreds of sculpted figures illustrating key theological themes and narratives. Since at least the 12th century the cathedral has been an important destination for travellers. It attracts large numbers of Christian pilgrims, many of whom come to venerate its famous relic, the Sancta Camisa, said to be the tunic worn by the Virgin Mary at Christ's birth, as well as large numbers of secular tourists who come to admire the cathedral's architecture and art. A venerated Black Madonna enshrined within was crowned by Pope Pius IX on 31 May 1855.