Introduction
In 1110 the Norwegian crusaders, some 60 galleys, were received warmly by the young Count Roger of Sicily. Setting off for the Holy Land, they were troubled by adverse winds and found themselves back on Sicilian soil. Troubled by reports of Almoravid stirring and resurgent piracy from Iberia and the western Mediterranean, the Pope Paschal II beseeched King Sigurd of Norway to attack the independent taifa kingdom of Majorca and forestall Almoravid-sponsored use of the Balearics (so recently "liberated", or pillaged, by Sigurd) as a base against Christian shipping lines. The Republic of Pisa, who had been granted the Baleares as a Papal fief back in 1085, was to assist in the enterprise and be placed in power thereafter with Viking aid.
At the head of a combined Viking and Pisan fleet, Sigurd swiftly hacked his way through the Saracens and Africans of Majorca. The chief port and capital Palma was captured in a spectacular show of Viking brutality and dexterity.
Thereafter disputes over booty escalated quickly; there was violence between the Norwegians and Pisans, resulting in some bloodshed, imprisonment, and the seizure of Pisan ships. Finding the islands a suitable place to winter, Sigurd's reluctance to accommodate Pisan requests was validated by stirrings from North Africa - more precisely, a Murâbit army come to displace the Crusaders and annex the islands to the North African empire.
The defeat of the Murâbit force was accomplished with the aid of Count Ramon Berenguer III, in whose company Sigurd raided Valencia and Tortosa. After two years the Pope brokered an entente between the Vikings and Pisans, confirming Sigurd's possession of the Baleares but safeguarding Pisan privileges in all his ports and binding him by oath to lead a crusade into North Africa, with the expressed intent of seizing a number of ports desired by the Pisans as compensation.
Eager to strengthen his ties with the mainland, Sigurd profited from the death of her husband and quickly annexed his friend Ramon's daughter María, the comely granddaughter of El Cid Campeador. Maximilla, the Sicilian wife he had picked up previously, was repudiated and imprisoned. Sigurd's resurgent dispute with Pisa was fueled by the fury of Count Roger - demanding Papal intervention, Sicily and the Republic aligned themselves against the nascent Christian Balearics.
At the head of a combined Viking and Pisan fleet, Sigurd swiftly hacked his way through the Saracens and Africans of Majorca. The chief port and capital Palma was captured in a spectacular show of Viking brutality and dexterity.
Thereafter disputes over booty escalated quickly; there was violence between the Norwegians and Pisans, resulting in some bloodshed, imprisonment, and the seizure of Pisan ships. Finding the islands a suitable place to winter, Sigurd's reluctance to accommodate Pisan requests was validated by stirrings from North Africa - more precisely, a Murâbit army come to displace the Crusaders and annex the islands to the North African empire.
The defeat of the Murâbit force was accomplished with the aid of Count Ramon Berenguer III, in whose company Sigurd raided Valencia and Tortosa. After two years the Pope brokered an entente between the Vikings and Pisans, confirming Sigurd's possession of the Baleares but safeguarding Pisan privileges in all his ports and binding him by oath to lead a crusade into North Africa, with the expressed intent of seizing a number of ports desired by the Pisans as compensation.
Eager to strengthen his ties with the mainland, Sigurd profited from the death of her husband and quickly annexed his friend Ramon's daughter María, the comely granddaughter of El Cid Campeador. Maximilla, the Sicilian wife he had picked up previously, was repudiated and imprisoned. Sigurd's resurgent dispute with Pisa was fueled by the fury of Count Roger - demanding Papal intervention, Sicily and the Republic aligned themselves against the nascent Christian Balearics.