Sack of Santiago de Compostela

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The sack (plundering) of Santiago de Compostela occurred in 968 AD, when a Viking fleet led by Gunrod entered and sacked the city of Santiago de Compostela in northern Hispania (now Spain). The attack had been encouraged by duke Richard I of Normandy. Three years later Gunrod attempted to sack the city again; however, this time his fleet was met with a powerful army and the sacking was averted.

Sack of Santiago de Compostela (968)
Part of Viking expansion
Date968 AD
Location
Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Result Viking victory
Belligerents
Raven Banner.svg Norwegian Vikings  Kingdom of Galicia
Commanders and leaders
Gunrod Sisnando Menéndez †
Strength
8,000 warriors
100 ships		 Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

Background[]

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 Lothair 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]

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.
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