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Yes. In learning about the vikings most concentrate on those in the west, the Danes and those in Norway. However, the Swedes took a different route. The Swedes went east through modern Russia, to some extent creating the Kievan Rus, the precursors to the Russians. By the 8th century the Swedes - who I’ll start to call the Varangians - were settling in the Baltic and they would continue expanding south into Russia. By 862 the Rus had created a unified state stretching across eastern Europe.(I do apologize, this map shows the Byzantine Empire (Roman Empire) controlling Georgia, Armenia, upper Mesopotamia, Syria, Persia, and Azerbaijan. Don’t take this as reference for the Byzantine Empire, but only the Kievan Rus.)The Rus would continue to be a major political player in the area for centuries. They would Raid and Trade in the Byzantine Empire, the Islamic world, Volga Bulgaria, and the Caspian area. The Rus had one major thorn in their side for raiding, that being the Pechenegs. In 895 the Pechenegs appeared on the scene and they occupied the land just north of the Black sea. They were a steppe tribe and thus negotiations, while possible, were difficult. Due to this, the Rus could only raid south when they were on good terms with the Pechenegs. (The Pechenegs are actually a very fascinating factor in history as not only the Rus, but the Romans, Bulgars, and Khazar relied on good relations with them, I suggest that if one has time they research them.) Aside from raiding the Rus were a major economic factor as they kicked off trade in the Black sea where it had previously been more minor, some historians make the argument that the North-South trade route from Greece to Russia was only profitable after the Rus came into play. The Rus would decentralize in the 11th century and after that they became less of a threat, but mind you not irreverent.So how does this turn into the Romans? Effectively, the Byzantines were just the continuation of the Roman Empire, I challenge anyone who disagrees to make a legal argument against it. I’ve already mentioned that the Rus would raid the Byzantine Empire, which is in fact the Roman Empire, and this wasn’t irrelevant to Roman politics in the time. Ever since the Rus started to raid in the 9th century the Romans set up defenses against them, the Theme of Patagonia, Western Mesopotamia (meaning between two rivers, this theme was located in the Balkans, don’t let the name fool you), and a naval theme in the Black sea, were all meant to counter the Rus threat. Diplomatically, the Romans did everything they could to keep the Pechenegs loyal, as I’ve already stated, the Pechenegs controlled the land between the Romans and the Rus and if hadn't been a Roman ally the Roman state would have been significantly handicapped as they were already fighting against the strongest political power in the area, the Abbasids. In the time the Rus were becoming a significant factor, the Abbasids were weakening allowing the Romans to rise from their dark age. If the Rus had been allowed to expand south the Romans might have been unable to rise as they did, killing the Macedonian renaissance.In the Rus attacks on the Romans, the Romans saw that the Rus could be a major asset of they could be safely used. The Romans would often hire Rus men to fight for them, largely for their naval skills. The Romans set up the Varangain guard which protected the emperor, they were supposedly loyal to a man to the office of emperor, but they technically weren’t loyal to the person. This is demonstrated as when Nikephoros Phokas was killed in a coup and they failed to stop it, the guard didn’t kill the conspirators, and later they would proclaim him emperor after the palace higher ups proclaimed him. In the reign of Basil II 6,000 Varangians were hired and they made up a large portion of the Roman army.So what was the history of these Attacks? The Rus laid siege to Constantinople three times. The first was in 860, then in 941, and lastly in 1043. In 860 the conflict started mostly from Varangian opportunism. The Roman army at that time was busy fighting the Arabs after the major fortress of Lulon surrendered to the Arabs. The Roman army and Navy were both fighting the Arabs, and it’s likely the some Varangian traders managed to put two and two together and attacked at this opportune moment. The Byzantines probably could have beaten the Varangians, so after the Varangians raided the Suburbs of Constantinople they left before the Roman army came back.The Rus under the walls of ConstantinopleThe next siege came in 941 in the reign of Leo VI. The Rus probably attacked with similar motives, they knew Constantinople was weak because the Roman army was fighting out east, leaving the City temporarily vulnerable. The Romans in the city, however, had “Greek Fire” which they called Liquid Fire. This is theorized to have been an early form of napalm, and it got ugly. While the real navy was out fighting east, the commander of the city defenses had 15 old ships fixed up and fitted out with Liquid Fire. The Rus, not knowing of the great threat upon these ships, decided that they wanted to surround them and capture the crew. Once the roar of the machinery to propel the Liquid Fire was heard the ships were alight, men, seeing their ships burning around them, as if God himself had come down to proclaim judgment, would, in horror, jump into the sea to avoid the fire, but only to find that the fire wouldn't go out. The Rus, being literally badly burned fled, but did raid the suburbs again. When a portion of the Roman army returned, and the Rus tried to avoid the army, but after raiding they were ambushed by the Roman navy and the entire fleet was destroyed. The Rus prince reorganized a larger army and soon the Romans decided that making peace would be wise. The treaty established gave the Rus increased trading rights in the Roman Empire, and the conflict ended, for a time.The Rus, depicted in the right, were not having a good day at all. My favorite part is how the guy holding the flame thrower is smirking.The final Rus siege of Constantinople was in 1043, during the reign of Constantine IX. The Rus tried to attack the city, but this time the Roman navy was free to fight. They crushed the Rus and the Rus ceased hostilities for a time. However, they were again after good trading terms and they captured the Roman territory in the Crimea until the Romans agreed to it. This was done, but Rus political power would continue to weaken, they became less and less of a threat on the Roman state.The Rus also made a number of other attacks on the Romans, one in the 830’s, and another the early 11th. Additionally, the Romans would stop a Rus invasion of Bulgaria in the 970’s. In the 830’s the Rus attacked the city of Amasris in Paphlagonia, leading the Romans to create the Theme of Paphlagonia. In 1024 some Rus under the leader Chrysocheir went to the Roman Empire to get hired as members of the Varangian guard. They were asked to leave their weapons at the gates, but they refused and went to raid. They moved toward the Aegean, defeating a small Roman fleet on the way, and then they were crushed at the island of Lemnos.The Campaign of the Rus into Bulgaris started at Roman suggestion, but the Roman intended the Rus to raid Bulgaria so the Bulgars would stop attacking the Romans. Soon, it became clear that the Rus were invading and occupying which horrified the Romans. They called upon the Pechenegs to attack the Rus homeland, which forced the Rus to return. When the Rus returned, they had the support of the Pechenegs, so the new emperor, John I, attacked them directly. The Rus were defeated outside the city of Preslav, and then devastated in the Battle of Dorostolon. After this, the Romans would exert more and more control over Bulgaria.John I celebrating his victory.I should mention that some people don’t consider the Rus to be Vikings, but the attacks definitely started of as by people we would call Vikings. Over time the Rus would become Slavic and stop being so Germanic, but this was a gradual change and we can definitely say the Rus in the 9th century that attacked the Romans were “Vikingish”, of nothing else. Technically speaking, Viking just means raider, usually associated with sea raids. This and the Nordic connection also associated with the term makes these attacks “Viking” enough, in my mind, to count.

Greek Fire was an incendiary weapon used by the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire that was first developed in 672. The Byzantines typically used it in naval batles to great effect, as it could continue burning while floating on water. It provided a technological advantage and was responsible for many key Byzantine military victories, most notably the salvation of Constantinople from two Arab sieges, thus securing the Empire's survival.The impression made by Greek fire on the western European Crusaders was such that the name was applied to any sort of incendiary weapon, including those used by Arabs, the Chinese, and the Mongols. However, these were different mixtures and not the same formula as the Byzantine Greek fire, which was a closely guarded state secret. Byzantines also used pressurized nozzles or siphōns to project the liquid onto the enemy, in a manner resembling a modern flamethrower.Although usage of the term "Greek fire" has been general in English and most other languages since the Crusades, original Byzantine sources called the substance a variety of names, such as "sea fire" (Medieval Greek: πῦρ θαλάσσιον pŷr thalássion), "Roman fire" (πῦρ ῥωμαϊκόν pŷr rhōmaïkón), "war fire" (πολεμικὸν πῦρ polemikòn pŷr), "liquid fire" (ὑγρὸν πῦρ hygròn pŷr), "sticky fire" (πῦρ κολλητικόν pŷr kollētikón) or "manufactured fire" (πῦρ σκευαστόν pŷr skeuastón).The composition of Greek fire remains a matter of speculation and debate, with various proposals including combinations of pine resin, naptha, quicklime, calcium phosphide, sulfur, or niter. In Titus Livy's history of Rome, priestesses of Bacchus are said to have dipped fire into the water, which did not extinguish, "for it was sulphur mixed with lime." Incendiary and flaming weapons were used in warfare for centuries prior to the invention of Greek fire. They included a number of sulfur-, petroleum-, and bitumen-based mixtures.Incendiary arrows and pots containing combustible substances surrounded by caltrops or spikes, or launched by catapults, were used as early as the 9th century BC by the Assyrians and were extensively used in the Greco-Roman world as well. Furthermore, Thucydides mentions that in the Siege of Delium in 424 BC a long tube on wheels was used which blew flames forward using a large bellows.The Roman author Julius Africanus, writing in the 3rd Century AD, records a mixture that ignited from adequate heat and intense sunlight, used in grenades or night attacks:“Automatic fire also by the following formula. This is the recipe: take equal amounts of sulphur, rock salt, ashes, thunder stone, and pyrite and pound fine in a black mortar at midday sun. Also in equal amounts of each ingredient mix together black mulberry resin and Zakynthian asphault, the latter in a liquid form and free-flowing, resulting in a product that is sooty colored. Then add to the asphalt the tiniest amount of quicklime. But because the sun is at its zenith, one must pound it carefully and protect the face, for it will ignite suddenly. When it catches fire, one should seal it in some sort of copper receptacle; in this way you will have it available in a box, without exposing it to the sun. If you should wish to ignite enemy armaments, you will smear it on in the evening, either on the armaments or some other object, but in secret; when the sun comes up, everything will be burnt up.”In naval warfare, the Eastern Roman Emperor Anastasius I (r. 491–518) is recorded by chronicler John Malalas to have been advised by a philosopher from Athens called Proclus to use sulfur to burn the ships of Vitalianus. Greek fire proper, however, was developed in c. 672 and is ascribed by the chronicler Theophanes to Kallinikos(Latinized Callinicus), an architect from Heliopolis in the former province of phoenice, by then overrun by the Muslim Conquest:“At that time Kallinikos, an artificer from Heliopolis, fled to the Romans. He had devised a sea fire which ignited the Arab ships and burned them with all hands. Thus it was that the Romans returned with victory and discovered the sea fire.”The accuracy and exact chronology of this account is open to question: Theophanes reports the use of fire-carrying and siphōn-equipped ships by the Byzantines a couple of years before the supposed arrival of Kallinikos at Constantinople.If this is not due to chronological confusion of the events of the siege, it may suggest that Kallinikos merely introduced an improved version of an established weapon.Kallinikos' development of Greek fire came at a critical moment in the Byzantine Empire's history: weakened by its long wars with Sassanid Persia, the Byzantines had been unable to effectively resist the onslaught of the Muslim Conquests. Within a generation, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt had fallen to the Arabs, who in c. 672 set out to conquer the imperial capital of Constantinople. Greek fire was used to great effect against the Muslim fleets, helping to repel the Muslims at the first and second Arab sieges of the city.Records of its use in later naval battles against the Saracens are more sporadic, but it did secure a number of victories, especially in the phase of Byzantine expansion in the late 9th and early 10th centuries. Utilisation of the substance was prominent in Byzantine civil wars, chiefly the revolt of the thematic fleets in 727 and the large-scale rebellion led by Thomas the Slav in 821–823. In both cases, the rebel fleets were defeated by the Constantinopolitan Imperial Fleet through the use of Greek fire.The Byzantines also used the weapon to devastating effect against the various Rus’ raids on the Bosporus, especially those of 941 and 1043, as well as during the Bulgarian War of 970–971, when the fire-carrying Byzantine ships blockaded the Danube.The importance placed on Greek fire during the Empire's struggle against the Arabs would lead to its discovery being ascribed to divine intervention. The Emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos (r. 945–959), in his book De Administrando Imperio, admonishes his son and heir, Romanos II (r. 959–963), to never reveal the secrets of its composition, as it was "shown and revealed by an angel to the great and holy first Christian emperor Constantine" and that the angel bound him "not to prepare this fire but for Christians, and only in the imperial city." As a warning, he adds that one official, who was bribed into handing some of it over to the Empire's enemies, was struck down by a "flame from heaven" as he was about to enter a church.As the latter incident demonstrates, the Byzantines could not avoid capture of their precious secret weapon: the Arabs captured at least one fireship intact in 827, and the Bulgars captured several siphōns and much of the substance itself in 812/814. This, however, was apparently not enough to allow their enemies to copy it. The Arabs, for instance, employed a variety of incendiary substances similar to the Byzantine weapon, but they were never able to copy the Byzantine method of deployment by siphōn, and used catapults and grenades instead.Greek fire continued to be mentioned during the 12th century, and Anna Komnene gives a vivid description of its use in a naval battle against the Pisans in 1099.However, although the use of hastily improvised fireships is mentioned during the 1203 siege of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade, no report confirms the use of the actual Greek fire. This might be because of the general disarmament of the Empire in the 20 years leading up to the sacking, or because the Byzantines had lost access to the areas where the primary ingredients were to be found, or even perhaps because the secret had been lost over time.Records of a 13th-century event in which "Greek fire" was used by the Saracens against the Crusaders can be read through the Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville during the Seventh Crusade. One description of the memoir says "the tail of fire that trailed behind it was as big as a great spear; and it made such a noise as it came, that it sounded like the thunder of heaven. It looked like a dragon flying through the air. Such a bright light did it cast, that one could see all over the camp as though it were day, by reason of the great mass of fire, and the brilliance of the light that it shed."In the 19th century, it is reported that an Armenian by the name of Kavafian approached the government of the Ottoman Empire with a new type of Greek fire he claimed to have developed. Kavafian refused to reveal its composition when asked by the government, insisting that he be placed in command of its use during naval engagements. Not long after this, he was poisoned by imperial authorities, without their ever having found out his secret.As Constantine Porphyrogennetos' warnings show, the ingredients and the processes of manufacture and deployment of Greek fire were carefully guarded military secrets. So strict was the secrecy that the composition of Greek fire was lost forever and remains a source of speculation.Consequently, the "mystery" of the formula has long dominated the research into Greek fire. Despite this almost exclusive focus, however, Greek fire is best understood as a complete weapon system of many components, all of which were needed to operate together to render it effective. This comprised not only the formula of its composition, but also the specialized dromon ships that carried it into battle, the device used to prepare the substance by heating and pressurizing it, the siphōn projecting it, and the special training of the siphōnarioi who used it.Knowledge of the whole system was highly compartmentalised, with operators and technicians aware of the secrets of only one component, ensuring that no enemy could gain knowledge of it in its entirety. This accounts for the fact that when the Bulgarians took Mesembria and Debeltos in 814, they captured 36 siphōns and even quantities of the substance itself, but were unable to make any use of them.The information available on Greek fire is exclusively indirect, based on references in the Byzantine Military Manuals and a number of secondary historical sources such as Anna Komnene and Western European chroniclers, which are often inaccurate. In her Alexiad, Anna Komnene provides a description of an incendiary weapon, which was used by the Byzantine garrison of Dyrrachium in 1108 against the Normans. It is often regarded as an at least partial "recipe" for Greek fire:“This fire is made by the following arts. From the pine and the certain such evergreen trees inflammable resin is collected. This is rubbed with sulfur and put into tubes of reed, and is blown by men using it with violent and continuous breath. Then in this manner it meets the fire on the tip and catches light and falls like a fiery whirlwind on the faces of the enemies.”In attempting to reconstruct the Greek fire system, the concrete evidence, as it emerges from the contemporary literary references, provides the following characteristics:It burned on water, and, according to some interpretations, was ignited by water. In addition, as numerous writers testify, it could be extinguished only by a few substances, such as sand (which deprived it of oxygen), strong vinegar, or old urine, presumably by some sort of chemical reaction.It was a liquid substance, and not some sort of projectile, as verified both by descriptions and the very name "liquid fire."At sea, it was usually ejected from a siphōn, although earthenware pots or grenades filled with it or similar substances were also used.The discharge of Greek fire was accompanied by "thunder" and "much smoke."Methods of deploymentUse of a cheirosiphōn ("hand-siphōn"), a portable flamethrower, used from atop a flying bridge against a castle. Illumination from the Poliocetica of Hero of Byzantium.The chief method of deployment of Greek fire, which sets it apart from similar substances, was its projection through a tube (siphōn), for use aboard ships or in sieges. Portable projectors (cheirosiphōnes, χειροσίφωνες) were also invented, reputedly by Emperor Leo VI. The Byzantine Military Manuals also mention that jars (chytrai or tzykalia) filled with Greek fire and caltrops wrapped with tow and soaked in the substance were thrown by catapults, while pivoting cranes (gerania) were employed to pour it upon enemy ships.The cheirosiphōnesespecially were prescribed for use at land and in sieges, both against siege machines and against defenders on the walls, by several 10th-century military authors, and their use is depicted in the Poliorcetica of of Hero of Byzantium.The Byzantine dromons usually had a siphōn installed on their prow under the forecastle, but additional devices could also on occasion be placed elsewhere on the ship. Thus in 941, when the Byzantines were facing the vastly more numerous Rus' fleet, siphōns were placed also amidships and even astern.PROJECTORS -The use of tubular projectors (σίφων, siphōn) is amply attested in the contemporary sources. Anna Komnene gives this account of beast-shaped Greek fire projectors being mounted to the bow of warships:“As he [the Emperor Alexios I ] knew that the Pisans were skilled in sea warfare and dreaded a battle with them, on the prow of each ship he had a head fixed of a lion or other land-animal, made in brass or iron with the mouth open and then gilded over, so that their mere aspect was terrifying. And the fire which was to be directed against the enemy through tubes he made to pass through the mouths of the beasts, so that it seemed as if the lions and the other similar monsters were vomiting the fire.”Some sources provide more information on the composition and function of the whole mechanism. The Wolfenbüttel manuscript in particular provides the following description:“...having built a furnace right at the front of the ship, they set on it a copper vessel full of these things, having put fire underneath. And one of them, having made a bronze tube similar to that which the rustics call a squitiatoria, "squirt," with which boys play, they spray [it] at the enemy.”Another, possibly first-hand, account of the use of Greek fire comes from the 11th-century Yngcars saga vidforla, in which the Viking Ingvar the Far-Travelled faces ships equipped with Greek fire weapons:“[They] began blowing with smiths’ bellows at a furnace in which there was fire and there came from it a great din. There stood there also a brass [or bronze] tube and from it flew much fire against one ship, and it burned up in a short time so that all of it became white ashes...”The account, albeit embellished, corresponds with many of the characteristics of Greek fire known from other sources, such as a loud roar that accompanied its discharge.These two texts are also the only two sources that explicitly mention that the substance was heated over a furnace before being discharged; although the validity of this information is open to question, modern reconstructions have relied upon them.Now if we look at the Ancient Murals depicting the use of “Greek Fire” -We can see that the flame never went more than 50 ft, it consumed everything in close quarters combat, and at further ranges could be used as a deterrent against anyone who was going to get close, at a farther distance the effect would be much more spread out, while up close it would be more compact. I hope this helps, there isn’t a whole lot of information about the ranges of the weapon, yet this is where I Must leave it.Thanks for reading, Cheers!

On a balcony in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul can clearly be seen old Norse graffiti dating from the 9th Century, reading. ‘Haldan was here.’ But what was a Norseman doing in Byzantine, so far away from home? It seems likely that Haldan was a member of the elite Varangian Guard made up of Rus Viking (For the most part) mercenaries. These people whom gave their name to Russia were prominently Swedish Vikings called Rus; the origin of this word could possibly come from the Finnish word for Sweden, Ruotsi, or maybe from the Byzantine word of Rho, meaning red, because of the Norsemen’s complexions. Another word used by the Byzantines to describe the Swedish Viking was Varangoi, which could possibly come from the Old Norse word meaning a pledge, describing a band of warriors that had sworn loyalty to each other. The rulers of the Byzantine Empire would hire Rus mercenaries to guard themselves and their families but the question is what were warriors from the cold, rugged lands of the north doing so far south, serving a foreign emperor?The origins of the word Varangian, a word wildly used by the Byzantines to describe Scandinavians possibly derived from the Old Norse word of ‘var,’ meaning ‘pledge,’ which was used to describe a band of men swearing loyalty to each other, these men would share a common code and fairly distribute any bounty taken.Whilst Danish and Norwegian Vikings moved westward out into the Atlantic and into western Europe the Rus moved westward, down the rivers and water-ways of Russia and eastern Europe.(An illustration from the scene Skylitzes Chronicles, depicting a Thracian woman killing a Varangian who had tried to rape her, whereupon his comrades praised her and gave her his possessions.{Bibliotica Nacional de Espana})The Rus would carry cargos of iron, wax, furs, amber and slaves taken in raids or traded to the exotic markets of Milklagrad – the Great City (Byzantine) and controlled the trading routes along the Dnieper and the Volga. Though they were known as the Rus, the Russians as the Varangians and later through them to the Byzantines and Arabs knew them as the same.“Men who hung their swords and axes from their shoulders and regard hung loyalty to the Emperor and his protection as a sacred duty, an inheritance to be handed from father to son.”(Anna Comnena)(Anna Comnena {1083 – 1153} her writings give us a valuable insight into the lives of the Varangian Guard and the events of the First Crusade. She was quite a woman, A Greek princess and a historian, writer, scholar, physician and an administrator for a hospital and orphanage. )The Rus had been trading along the eastern Baltic shoreline and down its rivers since the 7th Century, one of their settlements being on the shores of Lake Ladoga at Starya Ladoga, but the first recorded raid by the Rus was at the relatively late date of 852 when a Swedish host attacked the city of Novgorod and forced the unfortunate city to pay a massive Danegeld (A sum of money paid to the Vikings by a people if the Vikings would go away and basically leave them alone, a sort of medieval protection racket.)It was late in the 8th Century that the Rus had started to dominate the local populations after they had ousted the Radaniya, these were Jewish merchants had dominated the trade in eastern Europe, after this the Scandinavians became a powerful force between the Baltic and the Black Seas. They would also make themselves known along the Volga and the Caspian Shores, where the Turks would call their leaders Khagans.Around the middle of the 9th Century there appeared the semi-legendary figure of Rurik (or Ruric) as some scholars believe. By 858 Rurik and his followers had established themselves around Kiev, where they would form the Kievan Rus Kingdom after ousting the Magyar-Khazar Rulers. Possibly this is the reason that the Magyars moved westward and eventually settled in Hungary but there could be a number of reasons for this, Bulgarian and Pechenegs pressure for instance.From Kiev, a mere two years later, the Rus would sail down the Dniepr and across the Black Sea and raid Byzantium, no doubt lured by stories of the vast wealth and luxuries of the eastern Roman Empire; the raid was unsuccessful. In 864 – 883, the Rus would raid the Islamic regions around the Caspian, and in 965, they would devastate the Khazar capital of Itil (Atil), raid more into Islamic regions and attack the Volga Bulgars in an attempt to control the trade routes. As the Rus exploded, they brought with them their Nordic beliefs and Nordic culture, as the Arabs noted.“When a boy is born to any man amongst them, he takes a drown sword to the newborn and places it between his hands and says to him. “ I shall bequeath to you no wealth and you will have nothing except what you can for yourself by this sword.”(Ibn Rusta)In 907 and 944, the Rus would again attack Byzantium, but this time, the Rus had come to be assimilated by the Slavic subjects and should no longer regarded as purely Viking, as many of them had adopted the Slavic languages, following the Slavic customs, even speaking Slavic languages and following the Slavic religion. In 941, a Rus fleet under king Igor was destroyed. They surrounded a small Byzantine force and were clearly expecting easy plunder when to their horror jets of flame shot out from metal tubes mounted on their intended victim’s ships. The Rus vessels were engulfed in flames and many a man throw himself overboard preferring death by drowning rather than being burnt alive. The Rus had fallen victim to what was called ‘Greek Fire,’ a sort of early flame-thrower.“…Having built a furnace right at the front of the ship, they set it on a copper vessel full of these things, having, put fire underneath. And one of them, having made a bronze tube similar to that which the rustics call a Squitiatoria ‘Squirt,’ with which boys plays, they spray (it) at the enemy.”(Woffenbuttel manuscript)(Reenactor dressed as a Rus Viking. Many of these, originating from Sweden made their way down the rivers of Russia to Byzantine and ended up in the Varangian Guard. They also gave their name to Russia)Yet at this time, real Vikings, now being referred to as Varangians, continued to feature in Russian history. Sizeable bands of these warriors were hired as mercenaries and lasted right up until 1043 when we have the last reference to Viking mercenaries in Russia.In 860, a treaty was made between the rulers of Byzantium and the chiefs of the Rus that stipulated that the emperor should receive a levy from these fierce northern warriors. Though it is not known whether this was honoured or not, we do not know that there were other similar treaties drawn up in 911, 945 and 971. In 911, for instance, we know that probably around 700 Varangians took part in the Byzantium attack on Crete under Leo VI, an attack that was defeated by the Muslims who humiliated the Byzantium at Chios in 912,. At this time, however, none of the mercenary bands serving Byzantine were regular units, but things were to change in 988, when Emperor Basil II recruited up to 6,000 men from Vladimir of Kiev, feeling that he could not trust his own people, for, as Psellus puts it, “Basil knew the treacherous disposition of the Roman” (meaning the Eastern Roman, after the Roman Empire had split between East and West), Basil established the Varangian guard as his Royal Bodyguard.The Varangians were known for their …“…Uncompromising fidelity to the legimate heirs of the Emperor to whom they had originally take oaths of fidelity.”(Michael Psellos)The Emperor surrounded by his elite Varangian Guard, Painting by Giuseppe Rava)Like with any elite force, membership was not always accepted, it was not merely enough to be a Viking. When a warrior named Thormoth Indrithason wanted to join the Guard, he was refused as the Emperor thought that he was too small and he was told that he would not be able to do a man’s job. However the Emperor changed his mind when Thormoth killed a huge bull, cutting off its head with a single stroke.During the following years, the Varangians would see combat in Syria, Armenia and Sicily; yet not all Norsemen arriving in Byzantium would join the ranks of the guard. This was an exclusive elite outfit, whose members were given higher pay, were allowed to be the first into a captured town for looting, and even had the privilege of looting the emperor’s palace after his death. A position in the guard was therefore sold for money, and many Rus would serve in other units until they had earned enough money to pay their way into the guard.The Rus had gained a reputation as excellent fighters, and the people of Byzantine were more than glad to have them serving under their emperors. (Here we can find a wooden parallel between the relationship between the Byzantines and their Vikings and the British and the Nepalese Ghurkhas.)“This allegiance they preserve inviolate and will never book the slightest hint of betrayal.”(Anna Comnena.)However, unlike the Gurkhas, the Varangians could not always be relied on for their loyalty. The Varangian Guard attacked Michel II, and in 1079, some drunken Varangians attacked another emperor, Nikephoros II Bottanaiates, trying to kill him. We know that these northerners were heavy drinkers, and there is evidence that drink was a problem amongst the guard; we know for instance that they were nicknamed ‘Wine-Rags,’ by the Byzantines, and in 1103, King Eric of Denmark, whilst visiting Byzantine, exhorted members of the Guard to ‘Endeavour to lead sober life and not give themselves up to drunkenness.’One of the most famous members of the Varangian guard was Harald Hardrada, later to become King of Norway. (Killed by an arrow through the windpipe at Stamford Bridge in 1066. ) He had reputedly been imprisoned for a time with two Icelandic members of the Guard, accused of stealing from the Imperial taxes and as reported in the old sagas he is supposed to have personally blinded the Emperor Michael V and to have kidnapped Emperor Zoe’s niece Maria. In the Guard he held a senior rank and would have commanded about 500 men. Yet he was not accepted into the Guard straight away, maybe he couldn’t raise the money or he brought too many men with him; he had had to make do with fighting in the Byzantine Navy against Arabian pirates; in spite of this, he campaigned for several years in the Mediterranean and Asia Minor, finally returning to Norway with a sizeable amount of Imperial revenues, only to die in England at Stamford Bridge in 1066.In 989, when the Guards failed to take revenge on the murderers of Emperor Nikephoros II, when a servant had managed to call for the Varangians as the Emperor was being assaulted, but by the time they arrived Nikephoros was dead, and the Guard immediately knelt before John Tzimiskes, the former Emperor’s murderer.“Alive they would have defended him to the last breath; dead there was no point in avenging him. They had no new master now.”(Anna Comnena)(Viktor Vasnetsov’s painting. The invitation of the Varangians, Rurik and his brothers arrive in Staraya Ladoga)Though the Varangians are mostly associated with the Vikings, and indeed Vikings made up the majority of men in their ranks, there were also members of other Germanic peoples, especially Saxons, many of whom had come from England. It is not inconceivable that some of the members may have fought at Stamford Bridge, where they may even have crossed swords with their Norse comrades in the Guard.“The Normans pressed so hard against the Englishmen that the Emperor moved them to Byzantium and made them into his Life Guards.”(Orderic Vitalis)By the reign of Alexios Kemnenos in the late 11th Century, the number of Anglo-Saxon had increased but they still remained in the minority. As late as the 12th Century some sources were still referring to the Guard as Danes or Norsemen. The Anglo-Saxons shared with the Norse a bond and faithfulness unto death.“The English groaned aloud for their lost liberty and plotted ceaselessly to find some way of that what was so intolerable and unaccustomed.”(Orderic Vitalis.)After the Norman conquest of England, there were many such men, landless and dispossessed, either seeking adventure or a home. They became known as the Englinbarrango (Anglo-Varangians) and fought for Byzantine under Robert Guiscard against the Normans in Sicily. Yet axe-armed Danes are recorded as accompanying Alexius 1 in Anatolia in 1098 and just a few years later Saxo Grammaticus wrote about “Men of the Danish tongue occupy in the first place.”(After the defeat of the Saxon army at Hastings many Saxons fled to Byzantium and joined the Varangian Guard. Some would have served alongside Norsemen they had previously crossed swords with on fields such as Stamford Bridge. Here we see William the Conqueror lifting his visa at Hastings so his men could see he was not dead. Painting by Angus McBride)The Varangians accompanied the emperor on his ceremonial duties and were often deployed in critical battles were they became known for their ferocity and ruthlessness, among their most feared fighters were the Berserkers. (Men who literally went berserk in battle; scorning armour and wounds. Though this of cause could apply to any army in any war it is mostly associated with the Vikings.) These Norsemen were among the emperor’s best paid troops, many of them returning to Scandinavia were fabulous amounts of wealth.They served the Byzantines until the city was sacked by the Crusaders in the 1200, causing their disbandment.In Byzantium the Norsemen found the only state in Europe that could offer regular pay for the service of mercenaries. The first written account we have of the Rus mercenaries comes from 902 when they were used in the invasion of Crete. Since then all recorded names from the Expedition are of Nordic origin, we can conclude that it is more than probable that this 700 strong auxiliary unit consisted mainly of Varangians. Harad Hardrada famously killed in the 1066 Battle of Stamford Bridge was probably the famous of the Varangians, served under the command of General George Maniakes (Died in 1043) a Norman, fighting side by side with the three sons of Tancred of Hauteville (980 -1041) Drogo, William Iron Hand and Humphrey. Meanwhile the Normans had thrown the Byzantines out of Calabria and had conquered Sicily. However, far from satisfied they spotted the Byzantine Emperor locked in a deadly combat with the Turks, an emperor that had become weak and exhausted by the desperate struggle.(One of the favourite weapons of the Varangian Guard was the axe as seen here.)After another son of Tancred, Robert Guiscard had united all the Norman lands under his rule; in 1080, he began to gather a strong force for an invasion of Italy. It would be a strong force by the standards of the time, Guiscard mustering nearly every man that he could find whom could carry a weapon. The following year Guiscard was ready, he despatched his army over to Dalmatia and laid siege to Dyrrhachium (Durazzo). The Emperor Alexius called on his Varangian Guard, which came up as part of the Byzantine relief army. The Guard was to be the backbone of the relieving force and included in its ranks several Anglo-Saxons who had fled to Byzantine when William the Conqueror and overrun their land, they were more than eager to get grips with the hated Normans and to settle old scores. The battle was a bitter fight, the Byzantines, in spite of the most gallant resistance were driven back, only the Varangians held, they were positioned on the Byzantine left wing, where from they attacked with such vigour, that the Normans began to retreat. Soon the whole section of the Norman army in front of the Varangians was routed. , fleeing before the axe-wielding Norsemen and Anglo-Saxons. Only the intervention of a woman, the wife of Robert Guiscard, Princess Sikelgaita saved the day, like a true descended of the Norse, she picked up weapons and fought in full armour, rallied the fleeing Normans, as this was happening Robert Guiscard arrived with the reserves attacked the far advanced and exhausted Varangians in their rear. The Varangians earlier zeal now come against them, curt off from the rest of the Byzantine force and attacked from all sides they retreated to a church which was then set ablaze by the Normans and most of the brave Varangians died horribly in the flames. The Normans won the battle only after the most desperate fighting, with great courage being shown by the warriors of both sides while Alexius was lucky to escape with his life.However the Byzantines bounced back from this crisis and founded uprising in Italy and an expedition to Rome undertaken by the German Emperor, nonetheless the recruitment for warriors never slackened. However, by this time the supply of men from Kiev was no longer possible, as the supply had been replaced by the casualties. Yet Scandinavians could easily be replaced on transit, sometimes whole units were recruited. One Danish prince called Sveno entered Byzantine service, bringing with him 1,500 men. It looks like the Byzantine used the Varangians as recruited agents who searched the port cities for potential recruits, who presented wine, presents, and painted.(Map showing the Varangians trade routes, the Volga River trade route is in red and trade route from Scandinavia to the Greeks in blue, other trade routes from the 8th and 11th Century are shown in orange)serving in the guard in bright rosy colours. We have an example of six ships belonging to the Count of the Orkney Islands passing through the 2ndCrusade and all the count’s men were enticed away. Service in the Guard could bring fabulous wealth as was often witnessed by the people when Varangians returned home.“Bolli ride from the ship with twelve men, and all his followers were dressed in scarlet, and rode on gilt saddles, all were they a trusted band, though Bolli was peerless among them. He had on the clothes of fur which the Garth-King had given him, he had over all a scarlet cape; and he had a footbiter girt on him, the hilt of which was alight with gold, the grip woven with gold, he had a gilded helmet on his head, and a red shield on his flank, with a night painted on it in gold. He had a dagger in his hand; as it the custom in foreign lands; and whenever they took quarters the women paid heed.”“From the Laxdoela.)Ironically, another source of recruits came from the Normans, the Normans presented a new and dangerous foe when they appeared in Italy, like the Rus they could trace their origins back to the Vikings of Scandinavia, and they saw a source of wealth through plunder from the Byzantines. Unlike the Kievan Rus, however the Vikings settlement in northern France soon settled in and adopted the local customs and language, and named their new land ‘The land of the Norse,’ Normandy. When looting the Byzantines didn’t work they started to offer their services their services as mercenaries, some ended up in the Varangian Guard.(The charge of the Varangian Guard. Painting by Guiseppe Rava)The end for the Guard came with the Crusades, in 1206 when Venice succeeded in using the whole Crusaders army, not fight the Muslims as was intended but for the conquest of Byzantium. As a consequence of internal politics and the usual intrigues the only reliable troops were the Varangian Guard – at this time, mostly English and Danish. Heavily outnumbered the Byzantine defenders were unable to prevent the Crusaders from entering the city, but they were counter-attacked and driven back with heavy loss. The rot seems to have started with the Emperor himself, Alexius was not about to be around when the city fell so he had fled, taking he’s treasure with him. The Varangians were persuaded by the Imperial Treasurers to free Alexius blind opponent Isaac II from prison. When this was done, Isaac’s was chosen to be emperor by the Varangians and was crowned as Alexius IV, yet unbeknown to the guard the new Emperor had already made the Crusaders huge promises of land and riches, while he tried to raise the necessary founds the Crusaders preceded to plunder the surrounding countryside and in the city a hatred for the Latins started to grow. It was decided that the new emperor must go and so with the help of the Varangians a palace coup was launched and a new emperor was crowned as Alexius V, the new ruler had gained the help of the Guard by explaining to them that they would otherwise be replaced by the hated Latin Frankish knights. Outside the city walls, the Crusaders, angered that the promises made to them had been revoked attacked in April 1204. The assault was successful, the Crusaders breached the walls in several places and the Varangians were forced to retreat with the Emperor to the palace. Here they fought a gallant rear-guard action, buying time for the Emperor and large segments of the nobility to leave the city. With Alexius V gone the fight was now hopeless and pointless and so after negotiations the Varangians surrendered, many of them probably ended up fighting for the Crusaders. After this there is no concrete evidence for Scandinavians serving Byzantium though the Guard was later reformed, using Cretans.SOURCES.BOOKS.1) Viking Longships. By Keith Durham. Illustrated by Steve Noon. Osprey publishing.2) Byzantine Armies 886-1118. By Ian Heath. Illustrated by Angus McBride. Osprey Publishing.3) Campaign. Hastings 1066. The Fall of Saxon England. By Christopher Gravett. Osprey Publishing.4) Armies of Medieval Russia 750-1250. By David Nicolle. Illustrated by Angus McBride. Osprey Publishing.5) The Vikings. By Ian Heath. Illustrated by Angus McBride. Osprey Publishing.6) The Warrior’s Way. England in the Viking Age. By Stephen Pollincton. Blandford Press.7)The Barbarians. Warriors and wars of the Dark Ages. By Tim Newark. Blandford press.WEB.1) The Varangian Guard. Wikipedia.2) Elfwood. Harad Hardrada by Mitch Brewer.3) All the Empire. The Achieve.4) Encyclopaedia Britannica. Byzantine Empire. Historical Empire Eurasia.5) The Complete Guide to Viking travel. News and advice travel.6) George Maniakes. Wikipedia.7) Tancred of Hauteville. Wikipedia.8) The Varangian Guard. The Vikings in Byzantium.9) Pasbyxor aka “Viking Rus Pants”: Background and research. Research Dumping Grounds.10) Armour of the Varangian Guard. www.angelfire.com11) English refugees in the Byzantine Armed Forces: The Varangian and the Anglo-Saxon Ethnic Consciousness. WordPress.com: Create a Free Website or Blog