Editing Viking Age (section)

=== Italy ===
In 959, a major long-distance Viking expedition, under the command of two famed Vikings, [[Björn Ironside]] and [[Hásteinn]], set out for Spain from their base on the Loire with the objective of sacking the city of Rome. They tried to land at Galicia and were driven off. Then they sailed down the west coast of the peninsula and burned the mosque at Seville, but were repelled by a large Muslim force there before entering the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar and burning the mosque at Algeciras, following which they headed south to Nekor on the coast of Morocco, plundered the city and defeated a Muslim force that attempted to stop them.<ref name="Price2008">{{cite book |last1=Price |first1=Neil |editor1-last=Brink |editor1-first=Stefan |editor2-last=Price |editor2-first=Neil |title=The Viking World |year=2008 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-31826-1 |pages=465–466 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wuN-AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA465 |chapter=Spain, North Africa and the Mediterranean}}</ref><ref name="Logan2013">{{cite book |last1=Logan |first1=F. Donald |title=The Vikings in History |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-52716-6 |page=110 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_TD-AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA110}}</ref>

According to an account by the Norman monk [[Dudo of Saint-Quentin]], a Viking fleet under Björn Ironside and Hásteinn landed at the Ligurian port of [[Luni, Italy|Luni]] and sacked the city. The Vikings then moved another 60 miles down the Tuscan coast to the mouth of the [[Arno]], sacking [[Pisa]] and then, following the river upstream, also the hill-town of [[Fiesole]] above [[Florence]].<ref name="Haywood2016">{{cite book |last1=Haywood |first1=John |title=Northmen: The Viking Saga, 793–1241 AD |year=2016 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-1-250-10615-5 |pages=138–139 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Og2zCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT138}}</ref><ref name="Logan2013"/>

Many Anglo-Danish and Varangian mercenaries fought in Southern Italy, including [[Harald III of Norway|Harald Hardrada]] and [[William Iron Arm|William de Hauteville]] who conquered parts of Sicily between 1038 and 1040,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Carr |first1=John |title=Fighting Emperors of Byzantium |date=30 April 2015 |publisher=Pen and Sword |page=177}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Hill |first1=Paul |title=The Norman Commanders: Masters of Warfare 911–1135 |date=2015 |publisher=Pen and Sword |page=18}}</ref> and [[Edgar the Ætheling]] who fought in the [[Norman conquest of southern Italy]].<ref name="Florence of Worcester">''Anglo-Saxon Chronicles'', p. 217; Florence of Worcester, p. 145</ref> [[Italy runestones|Runestones]] were raised in Sweden in memory of warriors who died in Langbarðaland ([[Langobardia Minor|Land of the Lombards]]), the Old Norse name for southern Italy.<ref>[http://www.lansmuseum.a.se/runriket/taby.html ''2. Runriket – Täby Kyrka''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080604203505/http://www.lansmuseum.a.se/runriket/taby.html |date=4 June 2008 }}, an online article at Stockholm County Museum, retrieved 1 July 2007.</ref>

Several Anglo-Danish and Norwegian nobles participated in the [[Norman conquest of southern Italy]], like [[Edgar the Ætheling]], who left England in 1086,<ref name="Florence of Worcester"/> and Jarl [[Erling Skakke]], who won his nickname ''("Skakke", meaning bent head)'' after a battle against Arabs in Sicily.<ref>Orkneyinga Saga, Anderson, Joseph, (Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1873), FHL microfilm 253063, pp. 134, 139, 144–145, 149–151, 163, 193.</ref> On the other hand, many Anglo-Danish rebels fleeing [[William the Conqueror]], joined the Byzantines in their struggle against the [[Robert Guiscard]], [[duke of Apulia]], in Southern Italy.<ref>Translation based on Chibnall (ed.), ''Ecclesiastical History'', vol. ii, pp. 203, 205</ref>