Ragnar Lothbrok and the Viking Raid on Santiago de Compostela 844

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore a little-known chapter of Viking expansion: the 844 raid on Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. While many know of the Viking attack on Seville the same year, fewer are aware that a Norse fleet also struck the emerging Christian pilgrimage center of Santiago. Lucas walks through the account in the Annales Bertiniani and later sources like the Historia Silense, discussing King Ramiro I of Asturias, the battle at Farum Brecantium (modern La Coruña), and the Norse fleet's advance on Santiago. They unpack how the raid fits into the larger pattern of Viking activity in Iberia, from the Guadalquivir to the Galician estuaries, and how the shrine of Saint James escaped destruction. Luna asks about the political context of Ramiro's reign and the nascent Reconquista, and they consider whether the Viking presence in Iberia influenced Carolingian defenses or Al-Andalus diplomacy. The conversation ends with a reflection on how peripheral this raid was to Norse sagas but how deeply it echoed in local Spanish chronicles. A vivid, specific look at a raid that could have changed Christian pilgrimage history.

#Viking #SantiagoDeCompostela #RamiroI #Galicia #Iberia #AnnalesBertiniani #HistoriaSilense #FarumBrecantium #LaCoruña #Reconquista #Pilgrimage #VikingRaid #844 #Norse #AlAndalus #Asturias #History #FexingoHistory

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