List of Illustrations Preface and Acknowledgments Chapter 1. Introduction: Don Teudo Rico Defeats a Viking raid Chapter 2. From the Encircling Ocean Chapter 3. So the Story Goes Chapter 4. A Mediterranean Adventure Chapter 5. Waiting for the Barbarians Chapter 6. The Wars of Santiago and Cordoba against Vikings Chapter 7. Conclusion: from Charter to History to Saga Appendix 1: Glossary of Histories and Historians Appendix 2: Timeline Bibliography Index
A critical narrative of Viking activity in Iberia and the Mediterranean and written and material responses to it.
Ann Christys is an independent scholar. She completed her PhD, published as Christians in al-Andalus 711–1000 (2002), at Leeds and has published on the historiography of al-Andalus and on Christian–Muslim relations.
One of the great strengths of this book is that, from start to
finish, all of the written sources – whether in Arabic, Latin, Old
Norse or Romance – are treated with the utmost degree of caution
... Ann Christys treads a cautious path and we should all be
grateful to her for having, with infinite patience and considerable
skill, built such a secure and durable bridge to the various fields
of operations of those Viking sun-seekers.
*Early Medieval Europe*
Christys has a profound knowledge of both Arabic and Latin sources
on the Viking voyages to the south ... She discusses every work of
any importance, evaluates them critically and shows that only few
are indeed reliable ... This book is invaluable for every student
and researcher of Viking Age history.
*Nordicum-Mediterraneum*
The contribution of this volume is more than filling in a ‘blank’
spot in the wider modern histories of Vikings ... The books offers
approaches to understanding how Islamic and Christian writers
thought about themselves and their attackers and in particular the
historiographic analysis is a thorough scrutiny of themes,
differences and sources for the history of Vikings in the
south.
*Cerae*
[A]n important work that fills a gap in English-language
scholarship ... Christys is to be commended for opening up this ...
material for further study.
*Al-Masaq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean*
Ann Christys's concise and well-written book fills a real need; she
has read carefully all relevant sources, in Arabic, Old Norse and
Latin, concerning possible Viking visits to the coasts of the
Iberian Peninsula in the ninth and tenth centuries, stripped away
many romanticized details that have attached to the accounts over
the years, and come up with a sober assessment: that there were
indeed occasional such attacks, but the shock and fear which the
Vikings generated in coastal areas of the Iberian Peninsula were
lasting, and greater than the actual threat.
*Roger Wright, Professor of Spanish, University of Liverpool,
UK*
Ann Christys has made what might at first seem a small contribution
to Viking history recognisable as not just significant but, in its
field, definitive. Her knowledge of Arabic as well as Latin (and
relevant modern languages) gives her work the edge on previous
discussions of Vikings in the South. In methodological terms, her
sifting-out of the grist in ninth-century sources adds something
new to Viking historiography, while her critical analysis of later
myths and their contexts is exemplary, illuminating, and
enjoyable.
*Jinty Nelson, Professor Emeritus, King's College London, UK*
The Vikings in Iberia are remarkably elusive – our picture of them
shaped by genres as diverse as Ptolemaic geography, Scandinavian
saga and crusading narrative, affected by the recurring need of
foils for heroes – saintly or secular. Dr Christys uses her
formidable linguistic range and scholarly judgment to track them.
On the way we lose Viking cheese, but gain Viking mice! The overall
result is a major addition to our knowledge not only of Vikings,
but of early medieval Iberia, and especially of Iberian
historiography, both Christian and Muslim.
*Pauline Stafford, Professor Emerita, University of Liverpool,
UK*
This is the first study of the Vikings in Iberia to be based on
modern methodological principles and a profound knowledge of Muslim
historiography. It puts this field of study on an entirely new
footing and amounts to a true spring cleaning.
*Niels Lund, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, University of
Copenhagen, Denmark*
This account of Scandinavian activity in Iberia and around the
Mediterranean from the ninth to the eleventh centuries is based
mainly on a thorough and very welcome analysis of the problems
posed by medieval Muslim and Christian texts. It will be an
invaluable guide to future students of the Vikings.
*Peter Sawyer, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History, University
of Leeds, UK, and editor of The Oxford Illustrated History of the
Vikings (2001)*
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