Viking in Galicia

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The next publications which I’m swinging on haven’t any relation with the previous ones “Stay at home”. These texts are sited now in another web-page.

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STAY AT HOME

 

 

In this blog I’m going to explore different types of issues from the Vikings, Celts, “tortilla”, poetry, ashes and cherry plums. Big issues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Viking in Galicia

 

First of all, this term –viking- gives no indication to the dwellers of the Nordic countries, seeing that in “Scandinavia” the word “Viking” was used to name the expeditions of looting, “go on Vikings”.

 

The folklore sagas and stories are literary sources not a clinching historical evidence.

 

Unlike France, Ireland or England, in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula the Normans did not achieve great political or military relevance and their presence was episodic and temporary. It follows that Galicians did not ally themselves with the Vikings to fight other kingdoms or rival groups, but instead faced Normans with one of the strongest resistances that the Normans encountered in all their adventures.

 

In their first incursions ‘vikings’ were defeated in the coast of Galicia and continued to Cádiz, making it their base of operations due to its extraordinary location on an easily defensible peninsula that controlled the passages by sea. The Viking fleet then attacked Seville, and other cities in the Guadalquivir, until the army of the Cordovan Emir Abd al-Rahman II managed to expel them. Arab sources describe these looting well.

 

They chose the Arousa Bay as driveway of penetration, with large beaches to disembark, and islands that they used as a resting place or base point for their attacks. The objective was Santiago de Compostela, which was already beginning to have great fame as a Christian pilgrimage center and as a place where great wealth existed. The closest port, Iria Flavia, was sacked by the Vikings and abandoned by its inhabitants, who took refuge in Compostela and the Vikings called Jakobsland.

 

In the year 1028 the Vikings attacked again through the Arousa Bay. At this time, the kingdom of León was going through a delicate situation, ruled by the still child Vermudo III under the tutelage of Urraca, and Galicia was divided in civil struggles. For many historians, based on the Knytlinga Saga, this fleet was commanded by the famous Viking chief Ulf ("wolf") nicknamed the Galician, according to the custom of the Nordic pirates of giving the person who led an operation the name of the conquered area.

 

One of the most persistent myths about the Vikings that has contributed to their reputation as barbarian people is the decoration of their combat helmets with two horns. However, this image related in some way to the idea of ​​demonization, lacks total archaeological foundation since the only two helmets that are decorated with horns found in Scandinavia both belong to the Bronze Age.

 

The first incursion was in the year 844. The did two more incursions that lasted around 8, 10 years. The third and most important was the third, 1008 to 1038.

 

 

 

 

 

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Differences with the Celts

 

Celts, are a set of autonomous peoples with certain characteristics in common (for example the language); they were not an empire or a defined political community. Some of them were the Gauls, the British or the Helvetians.

 

 

On the other hand, the Vikings were Nordic peoples from Scandinavia (now Norway, Sweden and Denmark); their language was Old Nordic (which was not a Celtic language).

 

Some Celtic peoples came to use the runes of the Vikings after being colonized, as a written language and in the form of spells in favor of their warlike campaigns and thus in almost all aspects of their lives. However, what we know as Celtic runes today, is actually a totally different symbology in the pictographic sense, although they share some mystical and descriptive qualities of their Normand counterparts, there are great differences between Celtic and Viking runes.

 

The Germans and Vikings were closer to each other than to the Celts.

 

Me walking in Arousa Bay waters (Ilha d'Arousa)