threatened the loss of his ships, the brutal Hasting gave orders that
the vessels should be lightened by throwing overboard plunder and
captives alike. Saved by this radical method, the sea-rovers quickly
repaid themselves for their losses by sailing up the Rhone, and laying
the country waste through many miles of Southern France.

The end of this phase of Hasting's career was a singular one. In the
year 860 he consented to be baptized as a Christian, and to swear
allegiance to Charles the Bald of France, on condition of receiving the
title of Count of Chartres, with a suitable domain. It was a wiser
method of disarming a redoubtable enemy than that of ransoming the land,
which Charles had practised with Hasting on a previous occasion. He had
converted a foe into a subject, upon whom he might count for defence
against those fierce heathen whom he had so often led to battle.

While France, England, and the Mediterranean regions formed the favorite
visiting ground of the Norsemen, they did not fail to pay their respects
in some measure to Germany, and during the ninth century, their period
of most destructive activity, the latter country suffered considerably
from their piratical ravages. Two German warriors who undertook to guard
the coasts against their incursions are worthy of mention. One of these,
Baldwin of the Iron Arm, Count of Flanders, distinguished himself by
seducing Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald of France, who, young as
she was, was already the widow of two English kings, Ethelwolf and his
son Ethelbold. Charles was at first greatly enraged, but afterwards
accepted Baldwin as his son-in-law, and made him lord of the district.
The second was Robert the Strong, Count of Maine, a valiant defender of
the country against the sea-kings. He was slain in a bloody battle with
them, near Anvers, in 866. This distinguished warrior was the ancestor
of Hugh Capet, afterwards king of France.