THE UMA YYAD REGIME 193in the ruins, notably at Granada, while some of the slave soldiers
seized power in Valencia and Almeria.
Whatever their value as purveyors of slaves, the Vikings, by their
raids on Spanish towns and cities, added a new component to the
disorders of ninth-century Al-Andalus. Recent attempts to portray them
as 'traders not raiders' cannot obscure their violence and destructive-
ness. They were dangerous and potentially treacherous trading part-
ners, and while their role in the slave trade in Spain remains largely
hypothetical, their depredations are clearly recorded. Raids on Al-
Andalus by Vikings are reported in the years 844, 859, 966 and 971,
conforming to the general pattern of such activity concentrating in
the mid ninth and late tenth centuries.^20 The attacks in 844 and 859
were also linked with descents made on the coasts of the kingdom
of the Asturias recorded in the Chronicle of Alfonso IIL21 In the first of
these, having received a drubbing at the hands of King Ramiro I of
the Asturias, the Vikings sailed south and surprised Seville. They
defeated forces sent against them from Cordoba, looted at will in the
lower Guadalquivir valley, and, evading 'Abd al-Ral).man II's fleet,
raided Niebla, Beja and Lisbon before sailing home. In 859 Vikings,
probably from Norway as previously, again descended on Seville,
burning the mosque, and went on to make attacks on the coast of
North Mrica and the Spanish Levant. Also, although it is not clear
where or how, they captured King Garda of Pamplona and extorted
a large ransom of 60,000 gold pieces for him.^22
In the aftermath considerable efforts were made to prevent a rep-
etition of these disasters. Mul).ammad I (852-886) is recorded as hav-
ing built a new fleet, as did 'Abd al-Ral).man III in 956, while 'Abd
al-Ral).man II constructed shipyards in Seville and a naval base was
developed at Almeria. These moves proved efficacious, for the Viking
raids of 966 and 971 were successfully resisted by the Umayyad fleet.^23
As well as the activities of the Vikings with their large expeditions-
fleets of fifty-four ships being recorded for 844 and sixty-two for 859-
smaller-scale piracy was probably on the increase in the western
Mediterranean in this period. In 953 Otto I of Germany sent Abbot
John of Gorze to Cordoba to try to persuade 'Abd al-Ral).man III to
suppress piratical raiding, doubtless from North Mrican and possibly
from Spanish ports.^24 The account of this embassy in the Abbot's Life
is one of the few contemporary Latin references to Umayyad Spain.
It is unlikely that the envoys, who encountered severe diplomatic
difficulties over religious differences, met with much success in their