It was simply the word for pirate. They described pirates in the Mediterranean as vikings, despite them not being of Norse ethnicity or culture in any way.
Yep, this kind of meaning seems to have been in use until quite recently at least.
The 1967 Movie "The Viking Queen" is about a fictitious eastern English queen during the time of Roman occuption. She's definitely not Norse, but the intended meaning of "Viking" here is "a raider or plunderer".
The 1967 Movie "The Viking Queen" is about a fictitious eastern English queen during the time of Roman occuption. She's definitely not Norse, but the intended meaning of "Viking" here is "a raider or plunderer".