* Varangian Guards appear in the popular video game Assassin's Creed: Revelations ; although the game is set in 1511 / 1512.

The Varangian guard was still operating at least as late as the mid-fourteenth century, and people identified as Varangians were to be found in Constantinople around 1400.

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.

Moreover, the Norse Eymund's saga tells a story of the Varangian warriors who were hired by Yaroslav I the Wise to kill his brother Burizleif.

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.

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

Yaroslav, with the active support of the Novgorodians and the help of Varangian mercenaries, defeated Svyatopolk and became the Grand Prince of Kiev in 1019.

During the campaign, Harald probably also held command over a group of Norman mercenaries in addition to the Varangian Guard.

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

In 980, Vladimir returned with the Varangian mercenaries and attacked Yaropolk.

During this period, the Varangian mercenaries were included in the Great Companions ( Gr. Μεγάλη Εταιρεία ).

Varangian mercenaries joined in the pursuit of the fleeing Normans, but became separated from the main force and were massacred.

Since much of the Byzantine military focused on the strategy and skill of generals utilizing militia troops, heavy infantry were recruited from Frankish and later Varangian mercenaries.

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

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.

Rosemary Sutcliff's 1976 historical fiction novel Blood Feud depicts Basil II from the point of view of a member of his recently created Varangian Guard.

In 989 these Varangian, led by Basil II himself, landed at Chrysopolis to defeat the rebel general Bardas Phokas.

" Unlike the native Byzantine guards so mistrusted by Basil II, the Varangian guards ' loyalties lay with the position of Emperor, not the man that sat on the throne.

* Rosemary Sutcliff's 1976 historical novel Blood Feud depicts the formation of the Varangian Guard by Basil II, from the point of view of a half-Saxon orphan who journeyed to Constantinople via the Dnieper trading route.

* 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.

He had left Skåne in 978 and served in the Varangian guard of Basil II.

John Kontostephanos, the chief dragoman ( interpreter ) Theophylact, and the akolouthos of the Varangian Guard Basil Kamateros were sent to Jerusalem to seek a new wife, and the two princesses Maria of Antioch and Melisende of Tripoli, a daughter of Count Raymond II of Tripoli by Hodierna of Jerusalem, were offered as candidates.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.