Raiders Turned Traders: How Vikings Became Cheese Merchants in Medieval Spain
The year was 844, and the sun scorched the ancient city of Išbīliya, now known as Seville, smack dab in the Umayyad Emirate of Córdoba.
A horde of Vikings, thirsty for loot, descended upon the shores of what we now call Spain and Portugal. Their longships sliced through the waters of the Guadalquivir River like a hot knife through butter. And on that fateful day, either October 1st or 3rd, they took Seville.
The Vikings, they were like a force of nature. They tore through the city, pillaging and plundering, sending shockwaves through the emirate.
But Emir Abd ar-Rahman II wasn’t about to back down. With fire in his eyes, he rallied his troops. Under the command of the hajib, Isa ibn Shuhayd, the Muslim army clashed with those Viking invaders in some bloody battles.
For weeks, it was like a freaking war zone, neither side giving an inch. But finally, on November 11th or 17th, the Vikings met their match. The Muslim army, fierce and unyielding, pushed them back, taking Seville back.
The raid of 844 was like a wake-up call, man. The Muslim response was quick and brutal, not like those weak reactions from the Carolingian dynasty or the Anglo-Saxons. Historians like Hugh N. Kennedy and Neil Price, they’d later talk about this big time.
Now, this raid happened at a fragile moment, you see. Because there was this delicate peace between Al-Andalus and the Christian kingdoms up north. The Umayyad emirate, born out of the Abbasid Revolution, was like this beacon of intellect, drawing refugees from the Middle East.
But before they hit Seville, those Vikings got a taste of defeat. They raided Asturias, under the rule of Christian King Ramiro I, and they got their butts kicked. Lisbon fell before them, along with a bunch of Spanish towns, before they set their sights on Seville.
Abd ar-Rahman II didn’t waste time, man. He got his troops together, joined forces with local governors, and faced those Viking dudes head-on. And let me tell you, what happened next would be talked about for ages. The Muslims kicked some serious Viking butt, sinking 30 of their ships and sending the rest running downriver.
Seville was in ruins, and its people were shaking in their boots. But Abd ar-Rahman II wasn’t about to chill. No sir. He fortified his realm, built walls, got troops and sailors together, and set up a naval arsenal. And you know what? It paid off. They stopped those Viking raids dead in their tracks in 859 and 966.
Now, those Vikings, most of them sailed back to Francia, licking their wounds. That defeat at the hands of the Andalusian army? Yeah, it was a wake-up call. So, get this, in the following year, this crazy thing happens. An unlikely bunch show up at Abd ar-Rahman’s court. Vikings, man. But get this, they were done with all that plundering. They settled down, converted to Islam, and you know what they became? Cheese traders.
