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Germans, Arabs and Vikings
The early middle ages
The Viking threat
In the 9th century a terrible threat started from the sea: the Normans, the Vikings.
They had a clear naval superiority with their characteristic vessel, the drakkar,
a complete wonder of navigation, since it allowed the movement both in the
sea and in rivers, being at the same time very stable and easy to handle in
quick sacking raids. Vikings devastated the villages and towns of the European
coasts at the time, and Galicia was not an exception. Their raids were repeated,
sometimes going deep into the inland, as it happened in Compostela, and it was
not easy to articulate an effective resistance against their attacks.
The bishops of Iria, dependant on
Compostela, were precisely the ones
with the greatest interest on it, militarily
confronting them, and building defensive
towers. In the natural exit of Santiago and
Iria towards the sea, the mouth of the Ulla
river, the bishop Cresconio ordered to
build two towers, of which there are still
some remains. These are the Torres do
Oeste in Catoira, which can be quickly
accessed from Vilagarcía de Arousa.
Vikings, with the fear that they awoke
with their fame of fierce, were not the
only threat that reached the peninsular
northwest. In the second half of the
10th century, a Muslim reinforcement
coincided with one of the many internal
conflicts of the kingdom of León. Muslims
gained ground again and their razzias,
quick sacking raids, affected again a
large part of Galicia. In 997, Almanzor’s
troops sacked Ourense and Compostela.
Towers of the West in Catoira (Vilagarcía
de Arousa)
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