The myth of Viking cheese in Al-Andalus. A food wrapped in controversy...

Cheese, one of the foods we consume most today, had a prominent role in medieval European diets. Today, we will delve into the history of cheese on the Iberian Peninsula with the help of the Vikings.

To understand the supposed production of Viking cheese in Al-Andalus, we first need to know how the alleged producers arrived. It is well known that in 844, men from the north first arrived on Iberian soil near Gijón. Expelled from the north and passing through Lisbon, they reached Seville, which they destroyed and looted for seven days. The Emir Abderramán II fought against the Vikings in the Battle of Tablada (844), obtaining a great victory that would free Al-Andalus from Nordic terror (Romero, 2004).

If the Vikings arrived in 844 with the intention of obtaining riches, it is normal to wonder at this point how they ended up making cheese. The answer lies in the results of the Battle of Tablada, which pitted Muslims and pagans two miles from Seville. After it ended, the Muslims allowed some converted Vikings to settle in Al-Andalus, and these same individuals dedicated themselves to cheese production according to Lévi-Provençal in his book The History of Muslim Spain, an important work for understanding the Vikings on the Iberian Peninsula (Aguadé, 1986). It seems that it was not a large number of Scandinavian people and over time, the tradition faded away as we have no further news about these Viking cheeses (Romero, 2004).

Although Lévi-Provençal claimed that the Vikings were dedicated to cheese production, many historians are surprised that a warrior and seafaring society could engage in such an activity. This, coupled with the fact that no other evidence of this event has been found in Hispano-Muslim sources, has led some to question whether there was a possible error by the French historian. Subsequent studies by Aguadé, Cook and Farrugia have shown that Lévi-Provençal made an error with the word «majūs», used by Arabs not only to refer to Vikings but also to speak of Zoroastrians from the East. It was these latter whom Ibn Habib spoke about when, mistakenly, Lévi-Provençal identified them as those Vikings who invaded Seville in 844 (Aguadé, 1986).

Before the works of the cited historians were published, the myth of Viking cheese production on the Iberian Peninsula spread like wildfire, leading to many current works still mentioning this event. In fact, today some cheese producers in Seville recognize this Viking legacy as true and make efforts to emulate Nordic cheeses.

There is no doubt about the quality of medieval Scandinavian cheese and its importance in people's diet as a secondary food, behind fish and meat. The Vikings had to orient their diet towards natural resources provided by Scandinavia. Milk from cows, goats, and sheep allowed for cheese production. In front of the flames, the Vikings consumed a varied cuisine where skyr, had great importance. It was a delicious dairy product, similar to the thick yogurt that is consumed daily in Iceland, sour but with a palpable sweet aftertaste (Price, 2020).

Ships were the main engine for Viking expansion, with which they could trade cheese but also attack, explore or fish. From the 9th century onwards, the Viking diaspora included violence, but under it also flowed commerce or peaceful interactions. The merchant ship that might have transported these cheeses across oceans and seas was the knörr, used for the colonization of Iceland and Greenland (Somerville, A. and McDonald, R., 2013).

The Vikings never settled to produce cheese and make a living, although they did occasionally organize bases in Cádiz or Isla Menor for preparing their incursions. However, the arrival of the Vikings in 844 brought other consequences such as the reconstruction of Seville's walls or the erection of defensive towers. The cheese trade mentioned by Lévi-Provençal was indeed common in Scandinavia, where itinerant vendors traded this food. This local market spread through commercial centers like Birka and Haithabu (Jankuhn, 1982).

Bibliography

Aguadé, J. (1986). Were there Norman cheeses in Al-Andalus? A note on a passage from the History of Muslim Spain by E. Lévi-Provençal.Al-Qantara, 7(1), 471.

Romero, E. M. (2004). The History of the Vikings in Spain: Attacks and Incursions against Christian and Muslim Kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula in the 9th to 11th Centuries. Madrid: Miraguano.

Farrugia, K. (2020). Viking Magians in Arabic Sources from al-Andalus (Doctoral dissertation, University of Oslo).

Cook, M. (1984). Magian cheese: an archaic problem in Islamic law.Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 47(3), 449-467.

Jankuhn, H. (1982). Trade and Settlement in Central and Northern Europe up to and during the Viking Period.The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 112, 18–50.

Price, N. (2020). Vikings: The Definitive History of the Peoples of the North. Barcelona: Ático de los libros.

Somerville, A. and McDonald, R. (2013). The Vikings and Their Age (2nd ed.). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.