The Varangians or Varyags ( Russian,, Varyagi ) sometimes referred to as Variagians were Scandinavians, often Swedes, who migrated eastwards and southwards through what is now Russia and Ukraine mainly in the 9th and 10th centuries.

In the chronicles which narrate about the founding of Russia, the Chudes are mentioned as one of the founder races, with the Slav and the Varyags ( Varangians ).

If the name Ruthenia has any connection to the name Rus, a theory generally held in the West connects it the Varangians whom the early Slavic and Finnic tribes called Rus, taking this name from the Old Norse root roðs-or roths-referring to the domain of " rowing " and still existing in the Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden, Ruotsi and Rootsi.

In the 9th century, the Oka River was part of the Volga trade route, and the upper Volga watershed became an area of contact between the indigenous Uralic peoples such as the Merya and the expanding Volga Bulgars ( particularly the second son of Khan Kubrat who expanded the borders of the Old Great Bulgaria ), Germanic ( Varangians ) and Slavic peoples.

When the Byzantine Emperor died, the Varangians had the unique right of running to the imperial treasury and taking as much gold and as many gems as they could carry, a procedure known in Old Norse as polutasvarf (" palace pillaging ").

The word askold or oskold is derived from Old Norse óskyldr meaning strange, so there was probably a ruler Kiev called Dir by the Slavs and the Varangians called him something like " óskyldr Dyri "— stranger Dir.

Scandinavian Norsemen, called " Vikings " in Western Europe and " Varangians " in the East, combined piracy and trade in their roamings over much of Northern Europe.

The establishment of the first East Slavic states in the 9th century coincided with the arrival of Varangians, the traders, warriors and settlers from the Baltic Sea region.

Another group of East Slavs moved from Pomerania to the northeast, where they encountered the Varangians of the Rus ' Khaganate and established an important regional centre of Novgorod.

These eastern-traveling Scandinavian migrants were eventually known as Varangians ( væringjar, meaning " sworn men "), and according to the oldest Slavic sources, these varangians founded Kievan Rus, the major East European state prior to the Mongol invasions.

The first phase Migration Period displacement from between CE 300 and 500 included relocation of the Goths ( Ostrogoths and Visigoths ), Vandals, Franks, various other Germanic people ( Burgundians, Lombards, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Suebi, Alemanni, Varangians and Normans ), Alans and numerous Slavic tribes.

A general map of the cultures in European Russia at the arrival of the Varangians and before the beginning of the Slavic colonization

There is another theory that Rurik, on account of common intermarriages between Varangians and Slavic women, was of mixed Slavic-Varangian descent.

The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them Varangians ( ON: Væringjar, meaning sworn men or from Slavic варяги supposedly deriving from the root " вар "—" profit " as coming from North they would profit by trading goods and not producing them, which had a negative connotation in Slavic culture of that time ), and the Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard.

The Slavic Veche similarly developed from a general assembly into a legislature, and by some theories might have been directly inspired by the Scandinavian institution brought to Rus by the Varangians.

In fact, the Primary Chronicle relates that the regions paying protection money extended east towards Moscow, until the Finnish and Slavic tribes rebelled and drove the Varangians overseas.

In the 860s, the warring Finnic and Slavic tribes rebelled under Vadim the Bold, but later asked the Varangians under Rurik to return and to put an end to the recurring conflicts between them.

The Varangians are believed to be Vikings originally raiding the Rus, who in turn were retained as mercenaries for protection against invaders.

As early as 911, Varangians are mentioned as fighting as mercenaries for the Byzantines.

While the Varangians are represented in Walter Scott's novel Count Robert of Paris as being the fiercest and most loyal element of the Byzantine forces, this is probably exaggerated.

The route from the Varangians to the Greeks was first mentioned in the Primary Chronicle, but its effects were reported much earlier, in the early ninth century when the Byzantines noted newcomers in their regions, the Varangians.

It commemorates Assur, one of the first Varangians who is known to have died in the service of the Byzantine Emperor, and he is estimated to have died c. 1010, or in the late 10th century.

Perhaps among them were the Varangians, which is indicated by archaeological findings in the vicinity of Poznań.

Led by Rurik and his brothers Truvor and Sineus, the invited Varangians ( called Rus ') settled around the town of Novgorod ( Holmgard ).

As the Volga route declined by the end of the century, the Trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks rapidly overtook it in popularity.

The Primary Chronicle accused Svyatopolk of planning those murders, while the Saga of Eymund is often interpreted as recounting the story of Boris's assassination by the Varangians in the service of Yaroslav.

Roughly in the same period, the Ilmen Slavs and Krivichs were dominated by the Varangians of the Rus ' Khaganate, who controlled the trade route between the Baltic Sea and the Byzantine Empire.

The sagas note that aside from the significant spoils of battle he had retained, he had participated three times in polutasvarf, a term which implies either the pillaging of the palace exchequer on the death of the emperor, or perhaps the disbursement of funds to the Varangians by the new emperor in order to ensure their loyalty.

Yaropolk trusted Blud and his brother's promises of peace and left for Vladimir's headquarters, where he would be killed in an ambush by two Varangians.

Maniakes was then proclaimed emperor by his troops ( including the Varangians ), and marched towards Constantinople, in 1043 his army clashed with troops loyal to Constantine near Thessalonika, and though initially successful, Maniakes was killed during the melee after receiving a fatal wound ( according to Psellus ' account ).

Ігар ( Ihar ), IPA: /' iɣar /) is a given name derived from the Norse name Ingvar, that was brought to ancient Rus ' by the Norse Varangians, in the form Ingvar or Yngvar.

By the late 13th century Varangians were mostly ethnically assimilated by Byzantines, though the guard operated until at least mid-14th century and in 1400 there were still some people identifying themselves as " Varangians " in Constantinople.

However, when Maniakes ostracised the Lombards by publicly humiliating their leader, Arduin, the Lombards deserted and the Normans and Varangians followed them.

Thus, instead of defending their absent emperor, the Varangians were used by the usurpers — proving their loyalty to the throne, if not always the current occupier of that throne.

However, the exaggeration was begun by Byzantine writers themselves, who applied a " noble savage " identity to the Varangians.

* Piraeus Lion ( inscription made by Varangians )

As well as the native troops, the Byzantines were joined by 2, 000 Turkish and 1, 000 Frankish mercenaries, about 1, 000 Varangians and 7, 000 Turkish auxiliaries sent by the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm.

Guiscard hoped the feint would draw up the Varangians ; however, this plan failed when the cavalry was forced back by the archers.

It contained formidable guards units such as the Varangians, the Athanatoi, a unit of heavy cavalry stationed in Constantinople, the Vardariotai and the Archontopouloi, recruited by Alexios from the sons of dead Byzantine officers, foreign mercenary regiments, and also units of professional soldiers recruited from the provinces.

When the Rurikid successors of the Varangians tried to subjugate the Semigallians, they heavily defeated the invading army of Polotsk led by Prince Rogvolod Vseslavich in 1106.

The only information about him is contained in the 12th-century Russian Primary Chronicle, which states that Chuds, Slavs, Merias, Veses and Krivichs "… drove the Varangians back beyond the sea, refused to pay them tribute, and set out to govern themselves ".