Sack of Santiago de Compostela

In the year 968, a Norwegian Viking fleet led by Gunrod went to help the duke Richard I of Normandy (the grandson of the Viking chieftain Rollo, first duke of Normandy), who was afraid of a possible invasion by the Carolingian king Lothar I of France. Once the Franks had been defeated, the fleet of Gunrod stayed in Normandy, becoming a threat for Richard, so, the Norman duke sent the Norsemen to another place by telling them about the existence of an important pilgrimage site in the north of Hispania, Santiago de Compostela, where they could pillage a huge treasure. The fleet of Gunrod reached Galicia the same year. They crushed the Galician army, and then entered and sacked the city of Santiago de Compostela.[1] Three years after the sack of Santiago de Compostela, Gunrod attacked Galicia again, only to find a powerful army sent to put an end to the Viking expedition.[2]

Sack of Santiago de Compostela (968)
Part of Viking expansion
Date968 AD
Location
Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Result Viking victory
Belligerents
Norwegian Vikings  Kingdom of Galicia
Commanders and leaders
Gunrod Unknown
Strength
Unknown number of soldiers
100 ships		 Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

See also

References
  1. Fletcher, R. A. (1984). Saint James's catapult : the life and times of Diego Gelmírez of Santiago de Compostela. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-19-822581-2.
  2. Quoted by Ann Christys, Vikings in the South (London: Bloomsbury, 2015), pp. 83–84, citing Historia Silense, ed. by J. Pérez de Urbel (Madrid: CSIC, 1959), p. 171.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.