Battle of Formentera (1109)

The Battle of Formentera (1109) was a part of a military campaign against the muslims of the Balearic Islands. The raid was a huge success for the Norwegian crusaders, facing low casualties. Islamic scholars have referred to the Norwegian raids in the region as part of a larger history of Islamic Spain.

Background
The raid occurred on the crusaders journey to the Holy land in the Levant. There had been multiple military successes before this such as the Siege of Lisbon and the Raid on Santiago de Compostela. The islands were often perceived as a pirate haven and slaving centre by Christians.

Battle
The Crusaders arrived at the small island of Formentera. The island settlement is described as precarious and inhabited by Saracens. The settlement was established in a cave in a cliff where they kept considerable plunder they had gained from raiding.

According to the Heimskringla Sigurd lowered several ships with four men in front of an inaccessible rock slab on Formentera to drive out a group of so-called "heathen bluemen" (North African Muslims) who had entrenched themselves there. By attaching ropes to the front and back of the boats and securing them under the ribs, they lowered the boats down the side of the cliff. The Norwegian archers and stone throwers, who were protected inside these boats, successfully forced the Saracens to retreat from the defensive wall and into the cave. As a result, Sigurd and his troops were able to climb up the cliff and reach the wall.

Once they breached the wall, the Christians gathered large pieces of wood near the entrance of the cave, set them on fire, and suffocated or burned the people inside. They also killed anyone who tried to escape. The loot recovered from the cave was said to be the most valuable of the entire expedition.