Harald Hardrada, Basil II, and the Varangian Guard | Animated Byzantine History

Special Black Friday deal! Every purchase of a 2-year plan will get you 4 additional months free. Go to https://nordvpn.com/historyhouse and use my coupon "historyhouse" at checkout.

Vikings ended up pretty much everywhere. They were even the personal bodyguards of the Byzantine Emperor for a while. The history of this group also covers some interesting figures like Harald Hardrada and Basil II, my celebrity crush.

Connect with me on social media!

Instagram: historyhouseproductions
Twitter: HistoryHouseProductions
Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/GygvreS

Sources:

Alvarez, Sandra. “English Refugees in the Byzantine Armed Forces: The Varangian Guard and Anglo-Saxon Ethnic Consciousness.” De Re Militari, 23 June 2014, deremilitari.org/2014/06/english-refugees-in-the-byzantine-armed-forces-the-varangian-guard-and-anglo-saxon-ethnic-consciousness/.

Blöndal Sigfus, and Benedikt S. Benedikz. The Varangians of Byzantium. Verlag Nicht Ermittelbar, 1978.

Coles, Damien. The Varangian Guard: Elite Foreign Defenders of the Byzantine Emperors.

D'Amato, Raffaele, and Giuseppe Rava. The Varangian Guard, 988-1453. Osprey, 2010.

Dawkins, R. M. “The Later History of the Varangian Guard: Some Notes.” The Journal of Roman Studies, vol. 37, 1947, pp. 39–46. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/298453. Accessed 1 Nov. 2020.

Herrin, Judith. Byzantium: the Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire. Princeton University Press, 2009.

Manley, Brendan. “Last of the Vikings.” Military History, vol. 25, no. 4, 2008, pp. 38–41.

Sturlasson, Snorre. Heimskringla, or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway. Translated by Samuel Laing, Project Gutenberg, 1996.

"Varangian Guard." Encyclopedia of Warrior Peoples & Fighting Groups, edited by Paul K. Davis, and Allen Lee Hamilton, Grey House Publishing, 3rd edition, 2016. Credo Reference, https://grinnell.idm.oclc.org/login?u.... Accessed 2 Nov. 2020.

Music:

Jingle Bells by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Hidden Agenda by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

All the other music and sound effects in this video are copyright free, so no one can sue me.