Armed Forces and Units
Varangian Guard
Medieval
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The Varangian Guard was the personal bodyguard of the Byzantine emperors, formed in 988 when Emperor Basil II received 6,000 Rus warriors from Vladimir I of Kiev in exchange for a dynastic marriage alliance. Prized because they were outsiders with no stake in Byzantine court politics, the axe-wielding Varangians served as the emperor's last line of defense and elite shock troops in the field, drawing later recruits including Harald Hardrada, who served in the Guard before becoming king of Norway, and, after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, growing numbers of Anglo-Saxon exiles. The Guard is last clearly attested defending Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade's sack of the city in 1204.
Facts
Force TypeElite foreign mercenary bodyguard of the Byzantine emperor, recruited chiefly from Scandinavian Norsemen and, from the late 11th century, Anglo-Saxon exiles, renowned for the two-handed Dane axe 1 Founded Year Cross-Tradition Connections
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