Muslim account of vikings after the raids at seville

In 844 A.D., Norsemen raiders (commonly referred to as “Vikings”) attacked al-Andalus, sacking Cadiz, Lisbon, Medina Sidonia before capturing Seville. They maintained their control over Seville for a little over a month before being defeated by an army sent by the Umayyad emir, ‘Abd al-Rahmān II (r. 822–852) to repel them. The battle, according to most accounts, was quite fierce and ended in the victory of Andalusi Muslims over a large Viking force consisting of about 15,000 men. Following the retreat, the emir—recognizing the vulnerability of his kingdom to raids and seeking to avoid future confrontations within his own territory—ordered the construction of a navy (the first of its kind in al-Andalus) and sent emissaries to initiate peace talks with the Vikings. There is a lot of dispute about the origins of the Norsemen who reached al-Andalus. If they were Norwegian, their raids would most likely have been launched from Ireland, while Danes would have most likely have set out from the territory comprising modern-day Denmark. The surviving account of the Andalusi embassy—included below (which is a slightly revised version of W.E.D. Allen’s)—is also ambiguous on this point and mentions only that the Norse monarch’s court was located on an “island” (which could signify either Ireland, where the chieftain Turgesius/Turgeis [d. 845)] was based, or the island of Zealand, where the court of King Horik I [d. 854] was located). I am personally inclined to believe that it was to the Vikings in Ireland that this account refers, due to some of the details provided within the text.