The Formning of the Varangian Guard in the Byzantine (10th–11th Centuries)

The work is devoted to the problem of the formation of the Varangian Guard in Byzantium in the X-XI centuries. The Varangian Guard is an elite military unit, whose task was to protect the emperor, the palace complex in Byzantium and participate in the ceremonies of the court. The main problems associated both with the historiography of the issue and directly with the Varangian Guard itself are the origin and reception of the word Varangian, the presence of Scandinavians in the Balkan region (X-XI centuries), the mechanisms of the formation of the Varangian Guard. Based on the involvement of various groups of sources (written and material), it is suggested that the discrepancies between different groups of sources indicate that the real situation of the Varangians in Constantinople was different from how it is described in a number of Greek sources.