King Ed (888-989) was a prominent figure in the French Middle Ages. The conqueror of the Normans, the first king of the Capetian dynasty - the third royal dynasty of France - Ed was the protagonist of the era when Charlemagne's empire was disintegrating under the burden of internal strife and turmoil and the onslaught of the Scandinavian Viking invaders. The last attempt to restore the Carolingian empire ended in failure: Emperor Charles III the Fat failed to effectively manage Charlemagne's legacy and protect his subjects from the Norman threat. This became obvious under the walls of Paris, besieged by the Vikings, heroically defended by the future king, Count Ed. The last Carolingian emperor was deposed, and the unified empire was finally replaced by new kingdoms - France and Germany. Ed of Paris became king of France. The Swiss medievalist Eduard Favre showed how the inexorable logic of events now forced Ed to fight for the throne with internal enemies and rebellious lords, forgetting about the raids of the Scandinavians. The new monarch, who emerged from the aristocracy thanks to his talents as a military leader, became a real symbol of that turbulent time when the Carolingian civilization was fading into the past and new political and socio-economic structures were dimly beginning to emerge on the horizon.