* Varangian Guards can be hired as mercenaries in Crusader Kings II.

According to a popular theory, it was promulgated in order to settle a conflict between Konstantin Dobrynich, a posadnik of Novgorod, and the Varangian population of the city.

Perhaps at that time the Varangian warriors were recruited ; their presence is indicated by archaeological excavations in the vicinity of Poznań.

Igor I ( Old East Slavic / Russian: Игорь ; Old Norse: Ingvar ; Ukrainian: Ігор, Ihor ) was a Varangian ruler of Kievan Rus ' from 912 to 945.

Travelling to Constantinople via Denmark, he spent many years in the Varangian Guard ; " and was thought to be the most valiant in all deeds that try a man, and always went next to those in the forefront.

* Basil I the Macedonian ( Βασίλειος Α ') ( 811 – 886, ruled 867 – 886 )-married the Varangian Eudokia Ingerina, mistress of Michael III ; died in hunting accident ( Origin: Armenian )

The Greece Runestones # Ög 81 | Högby Runestone is one of the c. 30 Greece Runestones in Sweden that commemorate members of the Varangian Guard.

* Olava or Allogia ( Varangian or Czech ), speculative she might have been mother of Vysheslav while others claim that it is a confusion with Helena Lekapena

The early part is rich in anecdotal stories, among which are the arrival of the three Varangian brothers, the founding of Kiev, the murder of Askold and Dir, the death of Oleg, who was killed by a serpent concealed in the skeleton of his horse, and the vengeance taken by Olga, the wife of Igor, on the Drevlians, who had murdered her husband.

Some modern historians have suggested that at some point during these years Edgar served in the Varangian Guard of the Byzantine Empire, a unit which was at this time composed primarily of English emigrants, but this is unsupported by evidence.

The Varangian Guard of the Byzantine Empire is the best known formation made up of barbarian mercenaries ( see next section ).

Among Zuckerman's beliefs and those of others who have analyzed these sources are that the Khazars did not lose Kiev until the early 10th century ( rather than 882, the traditional date ), that Igor was not Rurik's son but rather a more distant descendant, and that Oleg did not immediately follow Rurik, but rather that there is a lost generation between the legendary Varangian lord and his documented successors.

This information is confirmed by sagas and archaeological evidence, which suggests that Ladoga gradually evolved into a primarily Varangian settlement.

Although his burial mound is still shown to occasional tourists, archaeological excavations of long barrows abounding in the vicinity did not reveal the presence of the Varangian settlement at the site, indicating that Izborsk was an important centre of the early Krivichs.

It is also recorded that there were Varangian contingents among the forces that fought the Arabs in Syria in 955.

The great losses that the Varangian Guard suffered is probably what is reflected by the largest group of runestones that talk of foreign voyages in Sweden, i. e. the Greece Runestones of which many were raised by former members of the Varangian Guard, or in their memory.

* Turisas's second studio album The Varangian Way is a concept album that tells the story of a group of Scandinavians travelling the river routes of medieval Russia, through Ladoga, Novgorod and Kiev, down to the Byzantine Empire.

* In the PC games Medieval: Total War and Medieval II: Total War the Varangian Guard is an axe-wielding elite infantry unit of the Byzantine Empire.

The peninsula is one of the main settings in the Laxdœla saga and it was, according to this saga, the birthplace of the first West Norse member of the Varangian Guard, Bolli Bollasson.

Byzantine politics, the formation of the Varangian Guard, life in the big city is interesting for someone of Raef's fey sensitivities.

The Dane-Axe is also known to have been used by the Varangian Guard, also known as pelekyphoros phroura ( πελεκυφόρος φρουρά ), the " axe-bearing guard ".

One surviving ivory plaque from the 10th century Constantinople depicts a Varangian holding an axe that is at least as tall as its wielder.

Its name is derived from the Rus ', a people of Finno-Ugric and Varangian composition who settled in the vicinity to control trade routes leading from Novgorod to Polotsk and Kiev.

Among the beliefs of Zuckerman and others who have analyzed these sources are that the Khazars did not lose Kiev until the early 10th century ( rather than 882, the traditional date ), that Igor was not Rurik's son but rather a more distant descendant, and that Oleg did not immediately follow Rurik, but rather that there is a lost generation between the legendary Varangian lord and his documented successors.

The battle is also known for the involvement of Varangian mercenaries, most probably on the king ’ s side.

In 860, an attack was made on the city by a new principality set up a few years earlier at Kiev by Askold and Dir, two Varangian chiefs: Two hundred small vessels passed through the Bosporus and plundered the monasteries and other properties on the suburban Prince's Islands.

In the 970s, the Principality of Polatsk, ruled by the Varangian chieftain Ragnvald ( Rogvolod, in Lithuanian language " rag ( a ) nvald-ys " means the man who govern / rule / control or manipulate witches ), was chronicled for the first time.

The Varangian trade stations in Russia suffered a serious decline at roughly the same date.

In 980, the emperor Basil II received an unusual gift from Prince Vladimir of Kiev: 6, 000 Varangian warriors, which Basil formed into a new bodyguard known as the Varangian Guard.

Later in the 11th Century the Varangian Guard became dominated by Anglo-Saxons who preferred this way of life to subjugation by the new Norman kings of England.

He came out with the Patriarch to the Golden Milestone before the Great Palace and addressed the Varangian Guard.

Viking graffiti survive in Rome and at Newgrange Mound in Ireland, and a Varangian scratched his name ( Halvdan ) in runes on a banister in the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople.

Thus, there was a short-lived eleventh century attempt to re-establish an independent Galatia by native Galatians whose aristocracy and people appealed to Anglo-Saxon and Russo-Norman mercenaries of the Byzantine Varangian Guard and Frankish Crusaders alike in establishing a new kingdom.

According to the earliest Russian chronicle, a Varangian named Rurik was elected ruler ( knyaz ) of Novgorod in about 860, before his successors moved south and extended their authority to Kiev, which had been previously dominated by the Khazars.

Many served as mercenaries, and the famed Varangian Guard, serving the Emperor of Constantinople was drawn principally of Scandinavian warriors.

Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, the medieval state of Rus arose in the 9th century.

According to the Primary Chronicle, a Varangian from Rus ' people, named Rurik, was elected ruler of Novgorod in 862.

Rurik or Riurik (, Old East Norse: Rørik, meaning " famous ruler "; ca 830 – ca 879 ) was a Varangian chieftain who gained control of Ladoga in 862, built the Holmgard settlement near Novgorod, and founded the Rurik Dynasty which ruled Russia until the 17th century.

According to the Primary Chronicle Rurik was one of the Rus, a Varangian tribe likened by the chronicler to Danes, Swedes, English and Gotlanders.

The term Varangian remained in usage in the Byzantine Empire until the 13th century, largely disconnected from its Scandinavian roots by then.

In 862, the Finnic and Slavic tribes rebelled against the Varangian Rus, driving them overseas back to Scandinavia, but soon started to conflict with each other.

The disorder prompted the tribes to invite back the Varangian Rus " to come and rule them " and bring peace to the region.

Apart from Ladoga and Novgorod, Gnezdovo and Gotland were major centres for Varangian trade.

In contrast to the intense Scandinavian influence in Normandy and the British Isles, Varangian culture did not survive to a great extent in the East.

Instead, the Varangian ruling classes of the two powerful city-states of Novgorod and Kiev were thoroughly Slavicised by the end of the 10th century.

This was known as the Varangian Guard.

The word " Varangian " may have originated in Old Norse, but in Slavic and Greek it could refer either to Scandinavians or Franks.