Viking invasions in Spain

Image: Literature and journalism

The viking village It was always linked to the sea and the races they did during the summer months throughout the North Sea are well known. Thanks to these, the different tribes or groups, collected the necessary loot to stay during the cold winters. In this lesson from a TEACHER we will bring you closer to Viking invasions in Spain that occurred from the year 844 causing a series of great problems for all the places where they docked.

Index

1. When they first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula
2. The attack on the Portuguese coasts and the arrival in Al-Andalus
3. The attacks by in the kingdom of Pamplona and Aragon
4. The Spanish Levant
5. The problems of Santiago de Compostela

According to the various writings that exist in the Middle Ages, possibly the Vikings arrived for the first time to the coasts of the north of the peninsula around the year 844. Without a doubt we must get an idea of ​​what those people from northern Spain might think when they saw approach a set of ships adorned with similar heads of dragons, in addition to carrying quite a few sails flashy.

On first moment they disembarked in GijónAccording to the chronicles, there would be around fifty-four ships that would dock on its shores, after the sacking of the city, they continued their way through the estuaries of Arosa. Being defeated in combat by the king Ramiro I of Asturias, near La Coruña.

In this way the inhabitants of the peninsula came into contact with the Viking people who had gone raiding the various kingdoms of northern Europe. It would not be surprising if the different monarchs that were in the peninsula sent emissaries to each other so that a possible invasion would not catch them unexpectedly.

Within our lesson on Viking invasions in Spain, we have to mention three points to take into account and that serve to divide the stages of the various invasions:

• The first invasions were looking for loot, therefore, we will not find mercy towards the inhabitants of the attacking localities.
• In a second period they began to look for slaves to sell them on their land.
• The last invasions were looking create settlements durable in the peninsula.

Image: Eternal Spain - blogger

The setback received at the hands of a Christian monarch did not seem to end the desire to obtain loot from the Germanic people, which reached the shores of Portugal in the same year of 844, exactly on August 20, entering the city and taking all possible booty. It was at that moment that the governor of Lisbon sent emissaries to Abd al-Rahmán II warning of the arrival of the invaders to Muslim lands and the possibility that they would descend towards the Mediterranean.

Continuing with our lesson on the Viking invasions in Spain, we must emphasize the great speed with which they could move the drakar boats that, being so extremely light, ran more that the Muslim emissaries themselves, and by the time they reached the caliph's court, the Vikings had arrived in Cádiz.

While the Caliph's troops were preparing to march to finish off the invaders, the Vikings arrived at Isla Mayor on September 29. There they razed Coria del Río, killing most of the inhabitants of the place and three days later they reached Isbiliya. It was in the Islamic city where they were most exceeded, They wiped out almost 90% of its population, hunting and capturing those who had managed to flee. During the landing of the Vikings, in this attack the city's mosque, the current church of the Savior.

For 6 days they were dedicated to touring part of the countryside, devastating the different populations, in addition to taking loot. They left their base camp in Isbiliya, because it was a defensible port and it was through the Battle of Tablada in which they were defeated by Caliphal troops.

The chronicles tell that approximately a thousand Vikings died that day, keeping about a hundred men alive. They were forced to settle in the city they had looted, becoming a kind of colony slave, which provided some exquisite cheeses that were sent to the caliphate court in Cordova.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we offer you a summary history of Al-Andalus.

Image: The Hispania of the Vikings - blogger

In the same way we know that in the year 859 a group that had managed to escape before the attack in Tablada, created a winter base in Camargue, a town in the south of France. It was in this group that one of the most relevant names of the Viking people, Björn, will appear at the time.

This being the leader of the group, they reached Pamplona, ​​and crossing the Ebro and its tributaries entered Aragon, where They took García Íñiguez, king of Pamplona, ​​prisoner, this character was found as a prisoner until a ransom of about 80,000 gold dinars was paid.

After this series of attacks, the Vikings returned to their cold northern lands, full of great spoils of war. This fact would cause that later on, another series of invasions would take place, such as those that occurred in the year 1031 on the coast of eastern Spain.

Continuing with our lesson on the Viking invasions in Spain, we will have to place a series of looting along the coast of Murcia or the city of Orihuela itself. In the same way and for a short period of time they would even create a series of principalities in the areas of Valencia, Denia, Almería and the Balearic Islands.

Galicia, being located at the end of the peninsula, was at the mercy of the inclemency of pirates, which caused great damage over the centuries. In the same way, we know that the Vikings arrived at the gates of the city on three occasions causing great damage:

• In the first moment in the year 858 the city will suffer a siege of about 100 ships those who had been paid to desist from entering the city. The Vikings, observing that possibly this city kept more treasures, did not give up the siege and did not leave it until the king's troops Ordoño I and those of the count Peter Theon They attacked them, and only 62 ships could be saved.
• In a second moment in the year 899 the Cíes Islands were taken, which had been delivered to the bishopric of Santiago, having in them two monasteries. This island was taken and the monasteries destroyed and from there, Olaff "the Galician" he dedicated himself to performing a series of races.
• Third time In the year 968, Gunderedo, engaged in battle with the same bishop of the city of Santiago, that he died during the war, after sacking the city, he had to face the troops of the Bishop of Mondoñedo and those of Count Gonzalo Sánchez in which the Vikings were crushed, in this case they did not leave anyone with lifetime.

The last news we have of attacks in Spanish things occurred in the year 970, by which a group entered the city again, keeping it under their control for a short period of weather.

Image: The Viking Age

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