The Dark Ages in Mallorca -Vandals and Byzantines |
427 |
Gunderich and the Vandals take Mallorca
and the other Balearic Islands. Many Roman galleys are captured enabling them to enlarge their fleet to cover the entire
Mediterranean. Emperor Zeno recognised the full extent of the Vandal kingdom, including all of western Africa,
the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily, ensuring an end to the raids on the empire.
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455-465 |
Geiseric the Lame (389-477),
son of Gunderich, governed Mallorca using it as his base to loot and plunder the Mediterranean as far as
the shores of Italy. Said to have fallen from his horse as a youth, his prowess at sea was considered to stem
his resolve to compensate for his lack of horsemanship. Ruling for almost fifty years, he built an insignificant
Germanic tribe into a major Mediterranean power. After his death it declined remarkably quickly.
Christians were persecuted.
Byzantines and Moors periodically took over the Islands.
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534 |
Apollinaris, son of Belisarius,
the famous Byzantine general, occupied the Balearic Islands, which once again became part of the Roman Empire
in the east. However, being so far from Constantinople, the Islanders were unable to obtain any protection from
the constant incursions of passing seafarers, particularly the Moors who came as pirates or because one of their
mutual treaties had been broken.
Christianity flourished under Byzantine rule; basilicas were repaired and new ones, such as Son Fiol, were built.
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707 |
Abdullah, the eldest son of Muza,
Governor of Moorish Africa, leads his fleet to conquer Mallorca and they leave with a great deal of booty.
As the years went by, the Islanders signed treaties and agreements with the Moors. These were treated with
more or less respect –determined by each side's interpretation of a particular situation!
However, the Caliphate of Cordova, the Emirs of Denia, the Almoravids and the Almohades, all seized power in Mallorca
at some period.
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799 |
Continual invasions led the Islanders
to petition Charlemagne for help and he arrived in the Islands to defend them against a new attack. |
814 |
Mallorca shown
as part of Charlemagne’s empire on maps. |
c.850 |
The Emir of Cordova sends a fleet of 300 warships take control of the Islands. |
859 |
Invasion and devastation of the islands by the Normans. |
901-902 |
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