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Norse travellers reached Constantinople and Baghdad by the rivers of Eastern Europe, and from 988 an elite corps of them, the Varangian Guard, protected the Byzantine emperors.

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The guard began in 988, when Emperor Basil II, facing a revolt, asked Prince Vladimir of Kyiv for help. Vladimir sent about 6,000 warriors, who helped Basil win at Chrysopolis and Abydos in 988–989 and then stayed as his personal guard, trusted because they had no ties to local factions. Norse traders, whom Arab and Byzantine writers called Rus, had long used the rivers to exchange furs, amber and enslaved people for Arab silver; the 9th-century Persian geographer Ibn Khordadbeh describes Rus merchants reaching Baghdad. After the Norman conquest of 1066, many English exiles joined the guard.

Türkçe oku
İskandinav gezginler Doğu Avrupa'nın nehirlerini izleyerek Konstantinopolis'e ve Bağdat'a kadar ulaştı. 988'den itibaren aralarından seçilen Vareg Muhafızları, Bizans imparatorlarını korudu.

Muhafız birliği 988'de kuruldu: bir isyanla uğraşan İmparator II. Basileios, Kiev Prensi Vladimir'den yardım istedi. Vladimir'in gönderdiği yaklaşık 6.000 savaşçı, 988–989'da Hrisopolis'te (bugünkü Üsküdar) ve Çanakkale Boğazı kıyısındaki Abydos'ta Basileios'un kazanmasına yardım etti; ardından imparatorun özel muhafızı olarak kaldı. Yerel hiziplerle bağları olmadığı için onlara güveniliyordu. Arap ve Bizans yazarlarının Rus dediği İskandinav tüccarlar, nehir yollarında uzun süredir kürk, kehribar ve köleleştirilmiş insanları Arap gümüşüyle takas ediyordu; 9. yüzyıl İranlı coğrafyacı İbn Hurdazbih, Rus tüccarların Bağdat'a kadar geldiğini yazar. 1066'da Normanlar İngiltere'yi fethedince birliğe çok sayıda sürgün İngiliz katıldı.

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