Aquitanian Viking Connections: The 840s and the question of the Mullaghboden silver coins

International audienceScandinavian raiders operated in Aquitaine on and off for two hundred years. Sometimes they stayed for a short time, sometimes they remained for a number of years. Their appearances in the region were part of wider pan-European trajectories – they moved from place to place, literally ‘overseas’. This article examines the Scandinavian raiders’ origins, activities and movements in just one decade: the 840s. What is particularly interesting about this period is that on the basis of a handful of silver coins found in Ireland a whole theory has arisen stating that the ‘Vikings’ involved had come from Ireland and returned there. It is shown that this was likely not so. There are some very clear examples of connections between Ireland and Aquitaine, but the 840s is not one of them