Slavic and Greek designation of Vikings
The
Varangians
(
)
[1]
[2]
[3]
were
Viking
[4]
conquerors, traders and settlers, mostly from present-day
Sweden
.
[5]
[6]
[7]
The Varangians 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
. They also formed the
Byzantine
Varangian Guard
, which later also included
Anglo-Saxons
.
[8]
[9]
According to the 12th-century
Primary Chronicle
, a group of Varangians known as the
Rus'
[10]
settled in
Novgorod
in 862 under the leadership of
Rurik
. Before Rurik, the Rus' might have ruled an earlier hypothetical polity known as the
Rus' Khaganate
. Rurik's relative
Oleg
conquered Kiev in 882 and established the state of Kievan Rus', which was later ruled by
Rurik's descendants
.
[11]
[12]
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
. They controlled the
Volga trade route
(between the Varangians and the Muslims), connecting the
Baltic
to the
Caspian Sea
and the
Dnieper and Dniester trade route
(between Varangians and the Greeks) leading to the Black Sea and
Constantinople
.
[13]
Those were the main important trade links at that time, connecting
Medieval Europe
with
Abbasid Caliphates
and the
Byzantine Empire
.
[14]
Most of the silver coinage in the West came from the East via those routes.
Attracted by the riches of Constantinople, the Varangian Rus' began the
Rus'-Byzantine Wars
, some of which resulted in advantageous trade treaties. At least from the early 10th century, many Varangians served as mercenaries in the
Byzantine Army
, constituting the elite
Varangian Guard
(the
bodyguards
of
Byzantine emperors
). Eventually most of them, in Byzantium and in Eastern Europe, were converted from
Norse paganism
to
Orthodox Christianity
, culminating in the
Christianization of Kievan Rus'
in 988. 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.
Etymology
[
edit
]
Medieval Greek
Β?ραγγο?
Varangos
and
Old East Slavic
варягъ
varjag?
(
Old Church Slavonic
вар?гъ
var?g?
) are derived from
Old Norse
væringi
, originally a compound of
var
'pledge' or 'faith', and
gengi
'companion', thus meaning 'sworn companion', 'confederate', extended to mean 'a foreigner who has taken service with a new lord by a treaty of fealty to him', or 'protege'.
[2]
[15]
Some scholars seem to assume a derivation from
var
with the common suffix
-ing
.
[16]
Yet, this suffix is inflected differently in Old Norse, and furthermore, the word is attested with
-gangia
and cognates in other Germanic languages in the Early Middle Ages, as in
Old English
wærgenga
,
Old Frankish
wargengus
and
Langobardic
waregang
.
[17]
The reduction of the second part of the word could be parallel to that seen in Old Norse
foringi
'leader', correspondent to Old English
foregenga
and
Gothic
??????????????????????
fauragaggja
'steward'.
[18]
[19]
Runestones
[
edit
]
There are raised stone memorials called
runestones
throughout Scandinavia of which almost all are found in
Sweden
. Many date to the
Viking Age
, and there are many associated with the Varangian Guards. These
Varangian runestones
commemorate various fallen warriors through carved
runes
, and mention voyages to the East (
Austr
) or the Eastern route (
Austrvegr
), or to more specific eastern locations such as
Garðariki
(what is today Russia and Ukraine). The losses that the Varangian Guard suffered are reflected by the largest group of runestones that talk of foreign voyages, such as those known as the
Greece Runestones
.
[20]
These were raised by former members of the Varangian Guard, or in their memory. A smaller group consists of the four
Italy Runestones
which commemorate members of the Varangian Guard who died in southern Italy.
The oldest of the Greece runestones are six stones in the
RAK style
, which dates to the period before 1015 AD.
[21]
The group consists of
Skepptuna runestone U 358
,
Vastra Ledinge runestone U 518
,
Nalberga runestone So 170
and
Eriksstad runestone Sm 46
.
[22]
One of the later runestones in the
Pr4 style
is
Ed runestone U 112
, a large boulder at the western shore of the lake of Ed. It tells that Ragnvaldr, the captain of the Varangian Guard, had returned home where he had the inscriptions made in memory of his dead mother.
[22]
The youngest runestones, in the
Pr5 style
, such as
Ed runestone U 104
(presently in the
Ashmolean Museum
in
Oxford
), are dated to the period 1080?1130, after which runestones became unfashionable.
[22]
The Varangians returned home with some influence from Byzantine culture, as exemplified by the
Byzantine cross
carved on the early eleventh-century
Risbyle runestone U 161
, and which today is the
coat-of-arms
of
Taby
, a trimunicipal locality and the seat of Taby Municipality in Stockholm County, Sweden.
[23]
The runes were made by the runemaster
Viking
Ulf of Borresta
, see
Orkesta runestone U 344
, in memory of another Ulf, in Skalhamra, and at the request of the latter's father.
[23]
Kievan Rus'
[
edit
]
In the 9th century,
the Rus
' operated the
Volga trade route
, which connected Northern Rus (
Garðariki
) with the Middle East (
Serkland
). The Volga route declined by the end of the century, and the
Dnieper and Dniester routes
rapidly overtook it in importance. Apart from
Ladoga
and
Novgorod
,
Gnyozdovo
and
Gotland
were major centers for Varangian trade.
[24]
Having settled
Aldeigja
(Ladoga) in the 750s,
Norse
colonists played an important role in the early ethnogenesis of the Rus' people and in the formation of the
Rus' Khaganate
. The Varangians (
Varyags
, in
Old East Slavic
) are first mentioned by the
Primary Chronicle
as having exacted tribute from the Slavic and Finnic tribes in 859. 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.
It has been argued that the word
Varangian
, in its many forms, does not appear in primary sources until the eleventh century (though it does appear frequently in later sources describing earlier periods). This suggests that the term
Rus
'
was used broadly to denote Scandinavians until it became too firmly associated with the subsequent elite of Kievan Rus who assimilated Slavic culture. At that point, the new term
Varangian
was increasingly preferred to name Scandinavians, probably mostly from what is now Sweden,
[25]
plying the river routes between the Baltic and the Black and Caspian Seas.
[26]
Due largely to geographic considerations, it is often argued that most of the Varangians who traveled and settled in the lands of eastern Baltic, modern Russia and lands to the south came from the area of modern Sweden.
The Varangians left rune stones in their native Sweden that tell of their journeys to what is today Russia, Ukraine, Greece, and Belarus. Most of these rune stones can be seen today, and are a telling piece of historical evidence. The Varangian runestones tell of many notable Varangian expeditions, and even account for the fates of individual warriors and travelers.
[27]
Islamic world
[
edit
]
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.
[28]
These goods were mostly exchanged for Arabic silver coins, called dirhams. Hoards of 9th-century
Baghdad
-minted silver coins have been found in Sweden, particularly in Gotland. Variations in the size of the coin hoards show that there were phases of increased importation of coins and sometime decades during which very few coins were imported.
[29]
The economic relationship between the Rus and the Islamic world developed quickly into a network of trading routes. Initially the Rus founded Staraya Ladoga as the first node from the Baltic to the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. By the end of the 9th century, Staraya Ladoga was replaced as the most important center by Novgorod. From these centers the Rus were able to send their goods as far as Baghdad. Baghdad was the political and cultural center of the Islamic world in the 9th and 10th centuries and the Rus merchants who went there to trade their goods for silver interacted with cultures and goods from the Islamic World, and also from China, India, and North Africa.
[30]
The trade between the Rus and the lands south of the Black and Caspian seas made it possible for cultural interactions to take place between the Rus and the Islamic World. The account written by Ibn Fadlan about his 921?922 travels from Baghdad to the capital of the Bulghar kingdom 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. Certain details in his account, especially the dialogue of the ceremonies and his personal conversations with Rus individuals, show that the Rus and the Muslims were interested in and fairly knowledgeable about each other's cultures.
[31]
The geography of the Volga region and the relative lack of physical wealth available for stealing (compared to targets of Viking raids in the west) made raiding a less important aspect of the Rus/Varangian activities in the East. Some raiding was necessary to gain initial control of the towns and regions that they developed into centers of economic activities.
[32]
The first small-scale raids took place in the late 9th and early 10th centuries. 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. On their return, the northern raiders were attacked and defeated by
Khazar
Muslims in the
Volga Delta
, and those who escaped were killed by the local tribes on the middle
Volga
.
During their next expedition in 943, the Rus' captured
Barda
, the capital of
Arran
, in the modern-day Republic of
Azerbaijan
. The Rus' stayed there for several months, killing many inhabitants of the city and amassing substantial plunder. It was only an outbreak of
dysentery
among the Rus' that forced them to depart with their spoils.
Sviatoslav
, prince of Kiev, commanded the next attack, which destroyed the Khazar state in 965. Sviatoslav's campaign established Rus' control over the north?south trade routes, helping to alter the demographics of the region. 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. While there, Varangians took part in the Georgian-Byzantine
Battle of Sasireti
in
Georgia
(1042).
Byzantine Empire
[
edit
]
The earliest
Byzantine
record of the Rus' may have been written prior to 842. It is preserved in the Greek
Life of St. George of Amastris
, which speaks of a raid that had extended into
Paphlagonia
. Contemporary Byzantine presence of the Rus' is mentioned in the
Frankish
Annals of St. Bertin
. These relate that a delegation from the court of the
Byzantine emperor
visited Frankish
Emperor
Louis the Pious
at his court in
Ingelheim
in 839. In this delegation were two men who called themselves
Rhos
(
Rhos vocari dicebant
). Louis enquired about their origins and learnt that they were Swedes. Fearing that they were spies for their brothers, the
Danes
, he incarcerated them.
In 860, the Rus' under
Askold and Dir
launched their
first attack on Constantinople
from Kiev. The result of this attack is disputed, but the Varangians continued their efforts as they regularly sailed on their
monoxyla
down the Dnieper into the
Black Sea
. The Rus'
raids into the Caspian Sea
were recorded by Muslim authors in the 870s and in 910, 912, 913, 943, and later. Although the Rus' had predominantly peaceful trading relations with the Byzantines, the rulers of Kiev launched the relatively successful
naval expedition of 907
and the
abortive campaign of 941
against Constantinople, as well as the large-scale invasion of the
Balkans
by
Sviatoslav I
in 968?971.
In 1043, Yaroslav sent his son Vladimir to attack Constantinople. The Byzantines destroyed the attacking vessels and defeated Vladimir
[33]
These raids were successful in forcing the Byzantines to re-arrange their trading arrangements; militarily, the Varangians were usually defeated by the superior Byzantine forces, especially in the sea due to Byzantine use of
Greek fire
.
Varangian Guard
[
edit
]
The Varangian Guard (
Greek
: Τ?γμα των Βαρ?γγων,
Tagma t?n Varang?n
) were a part of
Byzantine Army
and personal bodyguards of the
Byzantine emperors
from the 10th to the 14th centuries. Initially the guard was composed of Varangians who came from Kievan Rus'.
Immigrants from
Scandinavia
(predominantly immigrants from Sweden
[25]
but also elements from
Denmark
and
Norway
)
[26]
kept an almost entirely Norse cast to the organization until the late 11th century. 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,
Vastgotalagen
, from
Vastergotland
declared no one could inherit while staying in "Greece"?the then Scandinavian term for the
Byzantine Empire
?to stop the emigration,
[35]
especially as two other European courts simultaneously also recruited Scandinavians:
[36]
Kievan Rus'
c. 980?1060 and
London
1018?1066 (the
Þingalið
).
[36]
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". 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. By the late 13th century, Varangians were mostly ethnically assimilated by Byzantines, though the guard operated until at least the mid-14th century, and in 1400 there were still some people identifying themselves as "Varangians" in Constantinople.
In popular culture
[
edit
]
- Varyag
was a Russian
protected cruiser
which became famous in 1905 for her crew's stoicism at the
Battle of Chemulpo Bay
.
- Rosemary Sutcliff
's 1976 historical novel
Blood Feud
depicts Basil II's formation of the Varangian Guard from the point of view of a half-Saxon orphan who journeyed to Constantinople via the Dnieper trade route.
- Henry Treece
's
Viking Trilogy
recounts the adventures of Harald Sigurdson, including service in the Varangian Guard.
- Michael Ennis's
Byzantium
ISBN
978-0-330-31596-8
, a fictionalized version of the life of
Harald Hardrada
, features time in the Varangian Guard.
- Also
Poul Anderson
's
The Last Viking
, another version of
Harald Hardrada
's life, features his time in the Varangian Guard and his tragic love for a Greek woman of Constantinople.
- Swedish writer
Frans G. Bengtsson
's Viking saga
The Long Ships
(or
Red Orm
) includes a section in which the main character's brother serves in the Varangians and gets involved in Byzantine court intrigues, with highly unpleasant results.
- In
The Bulpington of Blup
(1933) by
H.G. Wells
, the father of the protagonist maintains for years the fiction that he is at work on "a History of the Varangians that was to outshine
Doughty
".
- The
John Ringo
Paladin of Shadows
series features a fictional, long-forgotten enclave of the Varangian Guard in the mountains of
Georgia
.
- Turisas
' second studio album
The Varangian Way
is a concept album that tells the story of a group of Scandinavians traveling the river routes of medieval Russia, through Ladoga, Novgorod and Kiev to the Byzantine Empire. Their third album,
Stand Up and Fight
, describes the history of the Varangian Guard's service to the Byzantine Empire.
- Bearded axe-wielding
Easterlings
known as "Variags" appear in Tolkien's fantasy novel
The Return of the King
.
- In the PC game series
Mount & Blade
, the name and location of the Vaegirs echos the Varangians. Their faction have a unique unit called a "Vaegir Guard".
- In the video games
Medieval: Total War
and
Medieval II: Total War
the Varangian Guard is an axe-wielding elite infantry unit of the Byzantine Empire.
- Track 5 of
Amon Amarth
's seventh studio album
Twilight of the Thunder God
has the title "Varyags of Miklagaard".
- Track 2 of
Grand Magus
's eight studio album
Sword Songs
is titled "Varangian".
- Varangian soldiers are a common enemy in the video game
Assassin's Creed: Revelations
.
- A class of units in the multiplayer mode of the video game
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord
belonging to the Rus inspired Sturgian faction, is called 'Varyag'.
- Russian writer
Dmitry Bykov
's novel
Living Souls
(
ЖД
) involved a civil war between Varangians and
Khazars
over the control of Russia
See also
[
edit
]
Principality of Polotsk
Principality of Turov
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Old Norse
:
Væringjar
;
Medieval Greek
:
Β?ραγγοι
,
Varangoi
,
Old East Slavic
: варяже, varyazhe or варязи, varyazi
- ^
a
b
"
Varangian
Archived
12 June 2018 at the
Wayback Machine
," Online Etymology Dictionary
- ^
"Varangian"
.
TheFreeDictionary.com
.
Archived
from the original on 11 July 2018
. Retrieved
30 September
2015
.
- ^
Ildar Kh. Garipzanov,
The Annals of St. Bertin (839) and Chacanus of the Rhos
Archived
28 September 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
.
Ruthenica
5 (2006) 3?8 sides with the old theory.
- ^
"væringer"
.
Store norske leksikon
.
Archived
from the original on 12 June 2018
. Retrieved
30 September
2015
.
- ^
Little, Becky.
"When Viking Kings and Queens Ruled Medieval Russia"
.
HISTORY
.
Archived
from the original on 6 April 2022
. Retrieved
4 April
2022
.
- ^
"Rus | people | Britannica"
.
www.britannica.com
.
Archived
from the original on 24 March 2022
. Retrieved
4 April
2022
.
- ^
Milner-Gulland, R. R. (1989).
Atlas of Russia and the Soviet Union
. Phaidon. p. 36.
ISBN
0-7148-2549-2
.
Archived
from the original on 4 April 2023
. Retrieved
30 March
2023
.
- ^
Schultze, Sydney (2000).
Culture and Customs of Russia
. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 5.
ISBN
0-313-31101-3
.
Archived
from the original on 4 April 2023
. Retrieved
31 March
2023
.
- ^
"Пушкинский Дом (ИРЛИ РАН) > Новости"
. Archived from
the original
on 16 March 2015
. Retrieved
30 September
2015
.
- ^
Duczko, Wladyslaw (2004).
Viking Rus
.
Brill Publishers
. pp. 10?11.
ISBN
90-04-13874-9
.
Archived
from the original on 14 April 2023
. Retrieved
1 December
2009
.
- ^
"Rurik Dynasty"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
.
Archived
from the original on 27 March 2015
. Retrieved
30 September
2015
.
- ^
Stephen Turnbull
,
The Walls of Constantinople, AD 324?1453
,
Osprey Publishing
,
ISBN
1-84176-759-X
.
- ^
Schofield, Tracey Ann
Vikings
Archived
14 April 2023 at the
Wayback Machine
, Lorenz Educational Press, p. 7,
ISBN
978-1-5731-0356-5
- ^
H.S. Falk & A. Torp,
Norwegisch-Danisches Etymologisches Worterbuch
, 1911, pp. 1403?04; J. de Vries,
Altnordisches Etymologisches Worterbuch
, 1962, pp. 671?72; S. Blondal & B. Benedikz,
The Varangians of Byzantium
, 1978, p. 4
- ^
Hellquist 1922:1096
Archived
22 May 2008 at the
Wayback Machine
,
1172
; M. Vasmer,
Russisches etymologisches Worterbuch
, 1953, vol. 1, p. 171.
- ^
Blondal & Benedikz, p. 4; D. Parducci, "Gli stranieri nell’alto medioevo",
Mirator
1 (2007)
in Italian
Archived
21 April 2018 at the
Wayback Machine
,
English abstract
Archived
1 August 2019 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Falk & Torp, p. 1403; other words with the same second part are: Old Norse
erfingi
'heir',
armingi
or
aumingi
'beggar",
bandingi
'captive',
hamingja
'luck',
heiðingi
'wolf',
lausingi
or
leysingi
'homeless'; cf. Falk & Torp, p. 34; Vries, p. 163.
- ^
Bugge, Sophus
,
Arkiv for nordisk filologi
Archived
31 August 2018 at the
Wayback Machine
2 (1885), p. 225
- ^
Larsson, Mats G (2002). Gotarnas Riken : Upptacktsfarder Till Sveriges Enande. Bokforlaget Atlantis AB
ISBN
978-91-7486-641-4
p. 143?144.
- ^
Runriket Taby-Vallentuna ? en handledning
, by Rune Edberg
Archived
28 September 2007 at the
Wayback Machine
gives the start date 985, but the
Rundata
project includes also Iron Age and earlier Viking Age runestones in the RAK style.
- ^
a
b
c
The dating is provided by the
Rundata
project in a freely downloadable database.
- ^
a
b
The article
5. Runriket ? Risbyle
Archived
13 March 2009 at the
Wayback Machine
on the website of the
Stockholm County Museum
, retrieved 7 July 2007.
- ^
A massive majority (40,000) of all Viking-Age Arabic coins found in Scandinavia come from Gotland. In Skane, Oland and Uppland together, about 12,000 coins were found. Other Scandinavian areas have only scattered finds: 1,000 in Denmark and 500 in Norway.
Byzantine
coins have been found almost exclusively in Gotland, some 400 of them.
See:
Burenhult, Goran (1999).
Arkeologi i Norden 2
[
Archeology in the Nordic countries, part 2
] (in Swedish). Stockholm:
Natur & Kultur
.
ISBN
9789127134782
.
See also:
Gardell, Carl Johan (1987).
Gotlands historia i fickformat
[
The pocket history of Gotland
] (in Swedish).
ISBN
91-7810-885-3
.
- ^
a
b
Forte, Angelo; Oram, Richard; Pedersen, Frederik (2005).
Viking Empires
.
Cambridge University Press
. pp. 13?14.
ISBN
0-521-82992-5
.
Archived
from the original on 5 April 2023
. Retrieved
13 December
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Marika Magi,
In
Austrvegr
: The Role of the Eastern Baltic in Viking Age Communication Across the Baltic Sea
, The Northern World, 84 (Leiden: Brill, 2018), p. 195, citing Alf Thulin, 'The Rus' of Nestor's Chronicle',
Mediaeval Scandinavia
, 13 (2000), 70?96.
- ^
Sigfus Blondal (16 April 2007).
The Varangians of Byzantium
. Cambridge University Press. pp. 223?224.
ISBN
978-0-521-03552-1
.
Archived
from the original on 14 April 2023
. Retrieved
8 February
2021
.
- ^
Batey, Colleen E.;
Graham-Campbell, James
(1994).
Cultural Atlas of the Viking World
. New York: Facts on File. p.
194
.
ISBN
9780816030040
.
- ^
Batey, Colleen E.; Graham-Campbell, James (1994).
Cultural Atlas of the Viking World
. New York: Facts on File. p.
198
.
ISBN
9780816030040
.
- ^
Batey, Colleen E.; Graham-Campbell, James (1994).
Cultural Atlas of the Viking World
. New York: Facts on File. p.
184
.
ISBN
9780816030040
.
- ^
Montgomery, James E. (2000). "Ibn Fadlan and the Rusiyyah".
Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies
.
3
.
- ^
Noonan, Thomas S. (1997). "Scandinavians in Eastern Europe". In Sawyer, Peter S. (ed.).
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings
. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.
135
.
ISBN
978-0-19-820526-5
.
- ^
T. D. Kendrick, A History of the Vikings (Ch. Conversion of Russia), Courier Corporation, 2012
- ^
Wortley, John, ed. (2010),
John Skylitzes: A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811?1057
, Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, p. 372,
ISBN
978-0-521-76705-7
,
archived
from the original on 14 April 2023
, retrieved
13 December
2015
- ^
Jansson 1980:22
- ^
a
b
Pritsak 1981:386
Further reading
[
edit
]
Primary sources
Additional secondary sources
- Buckler, Georgina.
Anna Comnena: A Study
. Oxford: University Press, 1929.
- Blondal, Sigfus.
Varangians of Byzantium: An Aspect of Byzantine Military History
. Trans. by Benedikt S. Benedikz, Cambridge: 1978.
ISBN
0-521-21745-8
.
- Davidson, H. R. Ellis
.
The Viking Road to Byzantium
. London: 1976.
ISBN
0-04-940049-5
.
- Enoksen, Lars Magnar (1998).
Runor: historia, tydning, tolkning
. Historiska Media, Falun.
ISBN
91-88930-32-7
.
- Jansson, Sven B. (1980).
Runstenar
. STF, Stockholm.
ISBN
91-7156-015-7
.
- English Refugees in the Byzantine Armed Forces: The Varangian Guard and Anglo-Saxon Ethnic Consciousness
by Nicholas C.J. Pappas for
De Re Militari.org
- Raffaele D'Amato; Rava, Giuseppe (illustrator).
The Varangian Guard 988?1453
. "Men-at-Arms" series, Osprey, 2010.
ISBN
978-1849081795
. Illustrated reconstruction of arms and armor of Varangians.
- Sverrir Jakobsson,
The Varangians: In God’s Holy Fire
Archived
18 April 2021 at the
Wayback Machine
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2020),
ISBN
978-3-030-53797-5
- Primary Chronicle
- Ermolovich M.I., Ancient Belarus - Polotsk and Novogrudskii period, 1990 (Ермалов?ч М. ?. Старажытная Беларусь. Полацк? ? Навагародск? перыяд. Мн., 1990.) (in Belarusian)
- Saganovich G., Outline of the History of Belarus from antiquity to the end of 18th century (Саганов?ч Г. Нарыс г?сторы? Беларус? ад старажытнасц? да канца XVIII ст. Мн., 2001.) (in Belarusian)
- Hrushevsky, M. "History of Ukraine-Rus". Vol.2 Ch.4 (page 5) (in Ukrainian)
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Culture
| | |
---|
Ships
and navigation
| |
---|
Homelands
and colonies
| |
---|
Expansion
| |
---|
Battles
| |
---|
Arms, armour
and fortifications
| |
---|
Historical figures
| |
---|
Runestones
| |
---|
Related
| |
---|