In the year 862 a great battle was fought in the Strait of Gibraltar between the Vikings from the north and the Muslims. For nearly three hundred years the Vikings came visiting the Moors’ Spain in search of riches, land and slaves. The Danish author Lasse Holm attempts to recreate a dramatic period in Spain’s history with his latest novel, ”Saqueo”.
The Vikings made their way from Asturias southward to Al-Mariya (Almería), Shaluqa (Sanlúcar) and on from Mundaka to Turtusha (Tortosa). They visited Maiorica (Mallorca), Ishbiliya (Seville) and pressed on as far as Qurtuba (Córdoba).
The Danish author Lasse Holm (1968), who is behind several novels about the earlier world empires of Greece and Rome, now continues to tell the story of the Nordic wars on the Iberian Peninsula.
The Vikings came to Spain in several waves or periods and met fierce resistance in the form of the Moorish army. Asturias and Galicia were the first places the Vikings reached. They went on to Al-Yazira (Algeciras) among other places and managed to reach Seville (844 and 859). Along the Ebro in northern Spain the Vikings also visited Pamplona.
In the book Holm recreates the brutal confrontations that occurred several times between the Vikings and the Muslims. They were brutal battles. When the Vikings first arrived in Galicia and then travelled south, they were taken aback to meet such a tough opponent.
At the battle of 862 in the Strait of Gibraltar the Muslims used an advanced military technique: fast ships equipped with boiling oil used as a weapon. 60 Nordic ships tried to return to their winter quarters in France, but only 20 managed to escape the Moors’ attacks.
The Vikings exposed themselves to many dangers on their journeys to the Moors’ Spain. Those who survived the fighting were taken prisoner. If they converted to Islam they were forgiven and ended their days as slaves thousands of kilometres from the north where they had been born.
The Muslims also used Viking prisoners to build ships. They knew the Vikings were very good navigators and wanted to take advantage of that knowledge.
Most of them were tall, muscular, fair-haired and blue-eyed. They looked after their physical appearance and their hygiene was far superior to that of other groups. It is no wonder they were very successful with the local women, says Lasse Holm in an interview in Diario SUR.
Svenska Magasinet in Spain
News 11/02/2019