Ragnall ordered his ships to turn around to row downstream to the mouth of the Loire. The Norseman planned to sail around Brittany and into the Seine, thence to join Rollo in Paris. The longboats made good progress until they arrived at the confines of the city where Ragnall’s military eye took in the fortresses with two footbridges straddling the river at the Île de la Cité and evaluated the dangers that Rollo must have encountered when he besieged the Frankish capital some years before.
Rollo came down to the river to greet his relatives and asked only his cousins and their captains to accompany him to the royal residence. Since the Franks expected them, no panic ensued on their arrival. Ragnall noted Rollo’s fine silk tunic but thought nothing of it until he entered the royal palace wh
