The Vikings traded with and raided the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). It was one of the stop-off places, at times, on the Viking journeys into the Mediterranean. As the Vikings began to settle and convert to Christianity the Viking visits to Iberia became more peaceful. There are accounts of Vikings using the Iberian Penisular as a launchpad for their involvement in Crusades. Sources such as the Icelandic Sagas also include a verse that it is claimed was written to be recited to Iberian rulers.
In the Earl’s ear the words
of Ermingard will echo,
enjoining us to journey
by water to Jordan.
But when the sea-riders
race back from the river,
as we navigate northward
we’ll call at Narbonne.Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney, trans. by Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards (London: Hogarth, 1978)
And the untranslated version:
Orð skal Ermingerðar
ítr drengr muna lengi;
brúðr vill rǫkk, at riðim
Ránheim til Jórðánar.
En er aptr fara runnar
unnviggs og haf sunnan,
rístum, heim at hausti,
hvalfrón til Nerbónar.
Vikings were not always as pleasant as that though. A Chart from 1015 records Amarelo Mestáliz having to sell off his lands to raise the funds to pay the ransom demanded by Viking raiders for the release of his daughters.
a great number of Vikings (Lotnimis) arrived in July and occupied the territory between the rivers Douro and Ave for nine months. These Vikings (Leodemanes) captured my three daughters, called Serili, Ermesenda and Faquilo, and reduced me to poverty, for, when they were about to sell their captives, I had no choice but to pay to Vikings (Lotmanes) a ransom of silver for them
Charter quoted in: Ann Christys, Vikings in the South (London: Bloomsbury, 2015)
There are also accounts from Moors who occupied much of the Penisula. They kept very detailed records. Here is one record of a worrying dream:
IBt”-AL-KUTIA. Year 2JO ti.e., September 17, 844-October I, 845):-
When the great mosque in Seville was finished, Abdurrhaman dreamt that he entered it and found the prophet lying dead, in shrouds, in the holiest part of it. When he awoke, he was sorely grieved, and when he asked the soothsayers about the
meaning of this dream, they answered that divine service would cease for a time in this mosque. This came to pass when
Madjus had seized the city. Several Sheikhs in Seville have told that Madjus shot burning arrows at the roof of the Mosque,
and that parts of the roof caught by these fell down. Even to-day 1 traces of these arrows may be seen there. When Madjus
found that they would not succeed in burning the Mosque in this way, they piled up wood and reeds in the nave. They
meant to set it on fire, and hoped the fire would reach the roof. But a young man coming from the holiest part of the Mosque
met them. He drove them out of the Mosque, and prevented them from returning there the three following days, until the day
when the great battle was fought. Madjus said the young man who drove them out of the Mosque was of an extraordinary
beauty.
The extraordinary thing is that the dream came true and the actual events are also recorded by the same author:
Abdurrhaman (11., 822-852) built the great Mosque in Seville, and when the walls of this city had been destroyed by Madjus
in 230 he rebuilt them. The arrival of these barbarians struck terror into the heart of the inhabitants. All fled and sought a
refuge, partly in the mountains of the neighourhood, partly in Carmona. In all the west there was none who dared to meet
them in battle. Therefore the inhabitants of Cordoba and the nearest districts were called to arms as soon as Madjus had
landed on the coast in the farthest west, and had seized the plains of Lisbon, Our leaders with their troops took up a
position at Carmona, but, as the enemy was uncommonly brave, i.e., in the tenth century, when the author lived.
they dared not attack them before the arrival of soldiers from the border. (The border chieftain Musa-ibn-Kasi made his
own camp, and would not join forces). .. The border chieftains demanded news of the movements of the enemy, and the
commander answered that Madjus sent every day detachments towards Firrich, Lacant, Cordoba, and Moron.’ They (the
chieftains) then asked, if there were not, near Seville, a place where they could lie in ambush without being seen. The commander told them of the village Quintos-Maafir, south-east of Seville. They moved there in the middle of the night, and sat
in ambush. One of their men, with a bundle of faggots, was set to keep watch from the tower of the village church. At
sunrise the guard made known that a host of 16,000 Madjus was marching on Moron. The Moslem let them pass, cut them
off from Seville, and cut them down. Then our leaders advanced, entered Seville, and found its commander besieged
in the castle. They joined forces, and the inhabitants returned to the city in multitudes. Besides the host that had been cut down, two other hosts at Madjus had moved out, one towards Lacant, the other towards the quarter of the tribe of Beni-‘l-Laitb. in Cordova. But when the Madjus who remained in Seville saw the Moslem army coming, and heard of the disaster that the detachment marching on Moron had met with, they suddenly embarked. When they were sailing tip the river towards a castle, they met their countrymen, and when these had also embarked, they all together began to sail down the river, while the inhabitants of the country poured on them curses and threw stones at them. When they had arrived a mile (league) below Seville, Madjus shouted to the people, “Leave us in peace, if you wish to buy prisoners of us.” People then ceased to throw stones at them, and they allowed everybody to ransom prisoners. A certain sum was paid for most of them, but Madjus refused both gold and silver. They took only clothes and food. After this the Emir Abdurrhaman took measures of safety.
He built an arsenal in Seville, ordered ships to be built, and gathered sailors on the coasts of Andalos; to these he gave very
high wages, and provided them with war engines and naphtha. When Madjus returned next, in 244 (roth April, 8S8-7th April,
850), during the reign of Emir Mohammed, battle was given them at the mouth of the river,- and when they had been beaten
and several of their ships burnt, they departed.
What is clear from sources such as this is that the objective of such raids is financial. These raids are not ones of conquest, those did happen but not at this particular moment in time. Here, the sources show the Viking methods. Raid, capture, ransom for valuable goods, then leave.
Teachers Notes
- Viking Raids into the Iberian Peninsular first appears in written records from 844AD. The Vikings had previously raided the European Coastline around modern-day Holland, Belgium and France, before moving to the British Isles and Ireland.
- It is possible to compare and contrast Viking methods in Iberia with their approaches elsewhere. They raided holy sites in Iberia, as they had at Lindisfarne. They also established diplomatic relations there, as they had in France, resulting in their occupation of Normandy, and in England, resulting in Danelaw.
- The Vikings struck both the East and West coastlines of the Iberian Peninsula. Arab records show that Viking raiders were travelling from Russian rivers into the Black Sea, through the Bosphorus into the Meditteranean and then raiding the coastline of the Adriatic, Aegean, French Riveria and then onto the Iberian Peninsula. The natural assumption of many people would be to presume that the Vikings followed the Atlantic coastline to this region. They did, but they also came from the east.
Resources
This pdf file is an old but incredibly useful Viking Society Book on the Vikings. It has a chapter dedicated to the Vikings in Iberia.
Do you want to find other Primary Sources for use in your lessons, or for research purposes? Visit our Primary Sources page to see which areas we currently have a range of sources for.