The Varangian Guard: Norse Warriors in Byzantine Service, 988-1204 | Calm Bedtime History
In the Great Palace beside the Bosporus, Emperor Basil II prepares to receive a bodyguard of six thousand Viking axe-men sent by Vladimir of Kiev. The year is 988. The treaty they seal this winter will create an imperial guard that endures for two centuries, binding the rivers of Scandinavia to the golden capital of Byzantium.
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