Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings

by Neil Price

The subsequent assault is documented by Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Rāzī, who tells us of the seven days that raiders spent sacking the city, killing the men, and enslaving the women and children. As word spread into the surrounding countryside, the emir, ’Abd a-Raḥmān, mustered a large army and marched to meet the Viking force, which was now ensconced on the Isla Menor. The Vikings were drawn out of their camp and the city by decoy troops who led them to Tablada, some two miles south of Seville, where they were ambushed and slaughtered by the bulk of the Muslim army. The surviving members of the Viking force fled to their ships and departed, leaving thirty vessels behind, while the dead were hung from the palm trees of Seville.