Varangians

The Varangians (/vəˈrændʒiənz/ və-RAN-jee-ənz; Old Norse: Væringjar; Medieval Greek: Βάραγγοι, romanized: Várangoi; Old East Slavic: варяже, romanized: varyazhe, or варяги, varyagi)[1][2] were Viking[3] conquerors, traders and settlers, mostly from present-day Sweden,[4][5][6] who settled in the territories of present-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine from the 8th and 9th centuries and established the state of Kievan Rus' as well as the principalities of Polotsk and Turov.

[10][11] Engaging in trade, piracy, and mercenary service, Varangians roamed the river systems and portages of Gardariki, as the areas north of the Black Sea were known in the Norse sagas.

Coinciding with the general decline of the Viking Age, the influx of Scandinavians to Rus' stopped and Varangians were gradually assimilated by East Slavs by the late 11th century.

Furthermore, the word is attested with -gangia and cognates in other Germanic languages in the Early Middle Ages; examples include Old English wærgenga, Old Frankish wargengus and Langobardic waregang.

It was the time of rapid expansion of the Vikings in Northern Europe; England began to pay Danegeld in 859, and the Curonians of Grobin faced an invasion by the Swedes at about the same date.

At that point, the new term Varangian was increasingly preferred to name Scandinavians, probably mostly from what is now Sweden,[24] plying the river routes between the Baltic and the Black and Caspian Seas.

The Varangians left rune stones in their native Sweden that tell of their journeys to what is today Russia, Ukraine, Greece, and Belarus.

[26] The Rus' initially appeared in Serkland in the 9th century, traveling as merchants along the Volga trade route, selling furs, honey, and slaves, as well as luxury goods such as amber, Frankish swords, and walrus ivory.

The account written by Ahmad ibn Fadlan about his 921–922 travels from Baghdad to the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire gives details which can reveal the cultural interaction between the two groups.

Ibn Fadlan gives a vivid description of the daily habits of the Rus, as well as the only known first-person account of the complicated ship-burning funeral ceremony.

The Rus' undertook the first large-scale expedition in 913; having arrived on 500 ships, they pillaged Gorgan, in the territory of present-day Iran, and the adjacent areas, taking slaves and goods.

Raids continued through the time period with the last Scandinavian attempt to reestablish the route to the Caspian Sea led by Ingvar the Far-Travelled in 1041.

According to the late Swedish historian Alf Henrikson in his book Svensk Historia (History of Sweden), the Norse Varangian guardsmen were recognised by long hair, a red ruby set in the left ear and ornamented dragons sewn on their chainmail shirts.

In these years, Swedish men left to enlist in the Byzantine Varangian Guard in such numbers that a medieval Swedish law, Västgötalagen, from Västergötland declared no one could inherit while staying in "Greece"—the then Scandinavian term for the Byzantine Empire—to stop the emigration,[34] especially as two other European courts simultaneously also recruited Scandinavians:[35] Kievan Rus' c. 980–1060 and London 1018–1066 (the Þingalið).

[35] Composed primarily of Scandinavians for the first hundred years, the guard increasingly included Anglo-Saxons after the successful Norman Conquest of England.

By the time of Emperor Alexios Komnenos in the late 11th century, the Varangian Guard was largely recruited from Anglo-Saxons and "others who had suffered at the hands of the Vikings and their cousins the Normans".

[citation needed] The Anglo-Saxons and other Germanic peoples shared with the Vikings a tradition of faithful, oath-bound service (to death if necessary), and after the Norman Conquest of England there were many fighting men, who had lost their lands and former masters, looking for a living elsewhere.

The Varangian Guard not only provided security for Byzantine emperors but participated in many wars involving Byzantium and often played a crucial role, since it was usually employed at critical moments of battle.

Map showing the major Varangian trade routes: the Volga trade route (in red) and the Dnieper and Dniester routes (in purple). Other trade routes of the 8th–11th centuries shown in orange.
Map of geographic distribution of Varangian Runestones (almost all of which are found in present-day Sweden )
The Byzantine cross , on U 161 , a cross which is today the coat of arms of the municipality of Täby , Sweden
One of the runic inscriptions in Hagia Sophia , probably carved by members of the Varangian Guard
Piraeus Lion drawing of curved lindworm . The runes on the lion tell of Swedish warriors, most likely Varangians, mercenaries in the service of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Emperor.
Nicholas Roerich : Guests from Overseas (1899)
Viktor Vasnetsov , The Invitation of the Varangians : Rurik and his brothers arrive in Staraya Ladoga .
Ship burial of a Rus chieftain as described by the Arab traveler Ahmad ibn Fadlan who visited Kievan Rus in the 10th century, painted by Henryk Siemiradzki (1883).
Varangian Guardsmen, an illumination from the 11th-century chronicle of John Skylitzes
Another illumination of a scene from the Skylitzes Chronicle , depicting a Thracesian woman killing a Varangian who tried to rape her, whereupon his comrades praised her and gave her his possessions. [ 33 ]