Hack and Slash with the Varangian guard

[Kyriakos]

Seems like more often than not their wars involved fighting themselves, usually at the most inopportune moment.

There was also a civil-war during the Greek war of Independence (1821), and just for some bit in the Peloponnese as well. Goes to show the (dumb/shortsighted) mentality of division.

 

[Domen]

Varangian guard existed from 988 to 1341 - that's 353 years, a bit longer than average Medieval warrior's lifespan. In 1204 - 1261 (when Constantinople was under occupation by Crusaders) they existed in the Empire of Nicaea only. Their last confirmed participation in battle was in 1272 but until 1341 they served as Emperor's personal bodyguard. So my question is who was replenishing their ranks when the original 6000 (from 988) got killed, died or retired. Was there some system of finding and recruiting people who were willing to join? Was membership limited to certain ethnic groups only or could anyone join regardless of ethnicity?

Originally, the guard consisted of six thousand immigrants from Kievan Rus, sent by prince Vladimir (who married Anna, Byzantine princess):

"At the beginning of 988 an army of 6000 chosen warriors (Druzhina) were sent to Constantinople by the Kievan prince Vladimir."

"The Byzantine sources refer to them as Rus or Scythians."

Some English immigrants joined the guard only after the 1066 conquest of England:

"Major events in Europe caused an influx of other nationalities in the Varangian guard. Particularly in 1066 when William of Normandy invaded England much of the Anglo Saxon population fled to continental Europe. Many of them sought a new begining in the Byzantine lands."

OK but those English immigrants from 1066 also did not live forever - so, who joined next?

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Not sure if I should start another thread so I ask here first.

 

[Kyriakos]

Thanks

I haven't read much on this, but i do know there were recruiting centers in some parts of Europe for mercenary companies, and the Huscarl one (which the Varangians also were) existed at least in the Byzantine Empire, England, Russia and of course Skandinavia for troops from other countries of that culture.

 

[Domen]

other countries of that culture.

Which culture?

Russia

After Russia was conquered by the Mongols (1240), I assume numbers of recruits flowing from there vastly decreased.

Same must probably be true for England after the conquest of 1066. Those refugees were probably the last group.

Scandinaviams also had difficult access to Constantinople when Mongols took control of the traffic along the Dnieper. Trade and traffic along the north-south axis of Russian rivers largely ceased after that hostile Asiatic empire - the Mongols - took over. Southern Iberia was in hostile Moorish hands too.

 

[Kyriakos]

Of the axe-carrying hyperborean 'culture'

 

[Domen]

When you write Huscarls what do you mean? Huscarls were the guard unit of heavy infantry employed by Anglo-Saxon kings. Most of the unit was destroyed by William's heavy cavalry at Hastings, and never reconstructed thereafter. So year 1066 marks the end of their existence as a military unit.

Survivors from the destroyed unit - now unemployed - were perhaps those immigrants from England who joined the Byzantine VG.

 

[Domen]

Ibn Fadlan who travelled through Russia in 921-922, described the Rus (ar-Rusija), their king, his royal court, and his courtiers (400 men + 840 women):

(...) It is a custom of the king of the Rus to have with him in his palace four hundred men, the bravest of his companions and those on whom he can rely. These are the men who die with him and let themselves be killed for him. Each has a female slave who serves him, wash his head, and prepares all that he eats and drinks, and he also has another female slave with whom he sleeps. These four hundred men sit about the king's throne, which is immense and encrusted with fine precious stones. With him on the throne sit forty female slaves destined for his bed. Occasionally he has intercourse with one of them in the presence of the companions of whom we have spoken, without coming down from the throne. When he needs to answer the call of nature he uses a basin. When he wants to ride out, his horse is brought up to the throne and he mounts. If he wishes to dismount, he rides up so that he can dismount on to the throne. He has a lieutenant who commands his troops, makes war upon his enemies, and plays his role vis-a-vis his subjects. (...)

Why did the women's suffrage take place? Just imagine the number of both legitimate and illegitimate children those kings of the Rus had!

 

[Kyriakos]

^That is more than 50 years prior to the first use of any Varangians in the Byz Empire anyway.
I am sure that by that time the Rus would be at least on par with their Polish brothers to the south

 

[Domen]

The Rus were more like to the east or to the north-east of Polish brothers. Unless you mean our fellow eastern Poles from Kiev:



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BTW, not sure if you heard about the Rurikid Dynasty DNA Project led by - nomen omen - Polish scientist, Doctor Andrzej Bajor.

Among tested descendants of the Rurikids they identified the following Y-DNA haplogroups (indicating paternal ancestry in direct lineage): N1c1 "Finno-Ugrian-Baltic", R1a (subclades L260 "West Slavic", P278 "West Carpathian", Z92 "East Slavic", M458 "Central European" and Z280 "Balto-Slavic") and I2a1 "Dinaric".

Here is a good summary of the project: https://www.familytreedna.com/public/rurikid/default.aspx?section=news

The surprise (for some people) was total absence among the Rurikid dynasty of "Germanic" haplogroups such as I1, R1a Z284 or R1b U106.

Most frequent HG among the Rurikids was N1c1. Less frequent was R1a. The rarest - only present among Princes of Turov and Pinsk - was I2a1.

Modern distribution of N1c1 haplogroup (all of its branches) in Europe:



This haplogroup in Europe is most frequent among Finno-Ugrian peoples, Balts, East Slavs, Turkic-Tatar ethnic groups in Russia and Swedes.

But Swedes got it from assimilation (Swedization) of ancient Non-Germanic inhabitants of Northern and Central Sweden, such as Kvens, Finns.

 

[Domen]

The Gediminid Dynasty DNA Project also found out that the Gediminids of the GDL were mostly of N1c1 haplogroup.

But this is not surprising because N1c1 is the most common HG in Lithuania (R1a is 2nd most common) and very common also in Belarus.

It was established that N1c1 Rurikids and N1c1 Gediminids probably had a common ancestor, who lived at least 2500 years ago (ca. year 500 BC).

At that time, 500 BC, Rurikid N1c1 lineage and Gediminid N1c1 lineage split from each other, so the two Medieval dynasties were not related.

 

[Domen]

Back to the VG:

Wikipedia gives no hints about ethnicities or geographical origins of people serving in the guard after year 1110. Any hints?

I also wonder if guard's servicemen had children and if those boys were automatically inheriting the job of their fathers?

BTW - are there any known burials of VG's servicemen?

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I also wonder if guard's servicemen had children and if those boys were automatically inheriting the job of their fathers?

Wikipedia says about runestones, etc., commemorating the returns home of surviving veterans of the guard.

So it seems that service in the guard and living in the Byzantine Empire were not lifelong status but only temporary contracts. So at least some of mercenaries serving in the VG didn't have families with them in Greece, but in their original homelands, and after being retired from service at least some of them were migrating back to their homelands. This would largely exclude the possibility that the guardsman status was heritable and passed from father to son?

 

[Kyriakos]

Likely both were happening. A very famous case of a Varangian returning to his homeland (Norway) was the latter king Harald Haldrada (the one who died in Stamford bridge). He used the wealth he got being a captain in the Varangian guard, to buy off the nobles in Norway and become King.

Others probably had families here and were settled, although it should be noted that the Varangian guard often was sent to fight in the edges of the empire (eg from Syria to Sicily etc).