Thereafter the pressure of invasion eased as Alfred reorganized his army, set up
strongholds of his own (called burhs), and created a fleet of ships—a real navy. An
uneasy stability was achieved, with the Vikings dominating the east of England and
Alfred and his successors gaining control over most of the rest.
On the Continent, too, the invaders came to stay, above all in Normandy. The
new inhabitants of the region were integrated into the political system when, in 911,
their leader Rollo converted to Christianity and received Normandy as a duchy from
the Frankish king Charles the Simple (or Straightforward). Although many of the
Normans adopted sedentary ways, some of their descendants in the early eleventh
century ventured to the Mediterranean, where they established themselves as rulers
of petty principalities in southern Italy. In 1061 the Normans began the conquest of
Sicily.
Muslims
Sicily, once Byzantine, was the rich and fertile plum of the conquests achieved by the
Muslim invaders of the ninth and tenth centuries. That they took the island attests to
the power of a new Muslim navy developed by the dynasty that preceded the
Fatimids in Ifriqiya. After 909, Sicily came under Fatimid rule, but by mid-century it
was controlled by independent Islamic princes, and Muslim immigrants were swelling
the population.
Elsewhere the Muslim presence in Western Europe was more ephemeral. In the
first half of the tenth century, Muslim raiders pillaged southern France, northern Italy,
and the Alpine passes. But these were quick expeditions, largely attacks on churches
and monasteries. Some of these Muslims did establish themselves at La Garde-
Freinet, in Provence, becoming landowners in the region and lords of Christian serfs.
They even hired themselves out as occasional fighters for the wars that local
Christian aristocrats were waging against one another. But they made the mistake of
capturing for ransom the holiest man of his era, Abbot Majolus of Cluny (c.906–
994). Outraged, the local aristocracy finally came together and ousted the Muslims
from their midst.
Magyars (Hungarians)