case the incident bears witness to a lack of proper leadership by the nobles. After the year 865 the tide of invasion set from France towards England. These were the years of Alfred's great struggle, and Danish efforts were concentrated on the attempt to reduce that monarch to submission. The Franks themselves had begun to realise the necessity of more carefully organised resistance. They began building fortified bridges across the rivers at certain points in order to stop the passage of Viking ships, and they also fortified several of their towns and cities, thus giving perhaps a hint for the policy later adopted in England by Edward the Elder. Probably the Franks were not above taking lessons from their enemies in the matter of fortification, for the latter had already shown themselves approved masters of the art in such fortified camps as that at Jeufosse on the Seine. In another way also had the Danes showed themselves ready to adapt themselves to new fighting conditions. Not only did they build forts, but we hear of them as mounted, and henceforward horses played an important part in their equipment both in France and England. During these years the Vikings made one notable expedition far beyond the ordinary range of their activity. Starting from the Seine in 859 under the leadership of Björn and Hásteinn, they sailed round the Iberian Peninsula through the Straits of Gibraltar. They landed in Morocco and carried off prisoners many of the Moors or 'Blue-men' as they called them. Some of these found their way to Ireland and are mentioned in certain Irish annals of the period. After fresh attacks on Spain they sailed to the Balearic Isles, and Roussillon, which they penetrated as far as Arles-sur-Tech. They wintered in the island of Camargue in the Rhone delta and then raided the old Roman cities of Provence and sailed up the Rhone itself as far as Valence. In the spring of the next year they sailed to Italy. They captured Pisa and Luna (at the mouth of the Magra), the latter being taken by a clever stratagem. Hásteinn feigned himself sick unto death and was baptised by the bishop of Luna during a truce. Then news came that Hásteinn was dead and the Vikings asked Christian burial for him. Permission was given and a mock funeral procession entered the city. It was in reality a band of armed men in disguise and the city was soon captured. The real aim of the Vikings in this campaign was the capture of Rome with its mighty treasures, but, for some reason unknown, they made no advance further south. Scandinavian tradition said it was because they mistook Luna for Rome and thought their work already done! Sailing back through the Straits of Gibraltar they returned to Brittany in 862. The Vikings had now almost encircled Europe with their attacks, for it was in the year 865 that the Swedish Rhôs (Russians) laid siege to Constantinople.