The Orthodoxy of England before 1066

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Bogatyr
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The Varangian Guard

Post by Bogatyr »

http://users.bigpond.net.au/quarfwa/mik ... /guard.htm

Runes Reference

'The soldiers who from old were his appointed bodyguard came to the Emperor`s tent first, some wearing swords, others carrying spears or their heavy iron axes on their shoulders, and ranged themselves in the form of a crescent at a certain distance from his throne ...'

Anna Comnena

The Varangian Guard were founded by Emperor Basil II in 988, with 6000 Russian Viking warriors sent by Varangian Tsar Vladimir of Russia. Their name comes from an Old Norse word relating to sharers of an oath.
Vikings had been serving in the Byzantine army and navy for some time already, but Basill formed them into a distinct regiment to act as his Imperial bodyguard. They were known as the axe-bearing Guard, from the enormous two-handed axes they carried. They served at the forefront of many of the Empire's battles, fighting Turks, Bulgars, Crusaders, Normans, and many other enermies. They also performed garrison duty in the Empire's cities.

The Varangian Guard were the best paid of all the Empire's troops. So well paid, in fact that membership had to be purchased. It was quite common for Norsemen to go to Byzantium from all over Scandinavia and Russia, spend time in the Varangian Guard, and return home rich. One such was the future king of Norway, Harald Sigurdson (known as the Ruthless, or inn hardradi) who was to die at the battle of Stamford Bridge in England, 1066.

'Then Harald had a large ox-hide spread out and emptied on to it the gold out of the chests. Scales and weights were brought and the wealth weighed out into two parts, and all who saw it wondered greatly that so much gold could have been brought together into one place in the northen lands. It was in reality wealth belonging to the King of the Greeks, for all men say that there are buildings there filled with red gold'

Snorri Sturluson

The Guard were renowned for their loyalty to the Emperors, an unusual thing in a society as riddled with intrigue as Byzantium. They stayed in Imperial service for over three centuries, seeing the greatness and decline of the Byzantium Empire.

quarfwa@firstnet.com.au 10 Mar 1996

Bogatyr
Member
Posts: 150
Joined: Sat 15 November 2003 6:22 pm

The Varangians

Post by Bogatyr »

NOW READ. No more unlettered nonsense.
Orthodoxia I Thanatos!
Rostislav Mikhailovich Malleev-Pokrovsky
PS I did not complete post graduate studies to present scholarly documentation on a discussion group.

http://www.missouri.edu/~tm104/who_were ... ngians.htm

Who were the Varangians?

Herein contains articles on the Varangians, who they were, their origins, where they came from, ect. Some of the articles come from back issues of the Varangian Voice, the newsletter of the New Varangian Guard (NVG.)

A general history of the Varangian Guard
More Varangian Guard Information
Who were the Varangian Guard
Battle Honours of the Varangian Guard by Steven Lowe
Byzantium - The English Connection by Steven Lowe
The English Varangians by Graeme Walker
Kiev and the supply of Norse mercs to Constantinople, 838 - 1043AD by Graeme Walker
Relics of the Varangians by Peter Beatson
Another illustration of Varangian Guardsmen from the Skylitzes Manuscript, Madrid by Peter Beatson
Varangian on an Ivory Panel? by Peter Beatson
Annihilation Again by Stephen Francis Wyley
The uses of the Varangian Guard by Tim Dawson
Genesis of the Emperor's Varangians; a new theory by Graeme Walker
The Adoption of Byzantine Equipment and Customs by the Varangian Guard by Steven Lowe
"The Varangians of Byzantium," Problems with the Blondal/Benedikz book by Graeme Walker
Bibliography of Blondal/Benedikz's "The Varangians of Byzantium"
This site is still under construction please check back frequently!

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Bogatyr
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The English In Byzantium

Post by Bogatyr »

I have made my point. READ. I suppose Moss is incorrect still?! Varangian guard didn't exist?! The Saxons did not emigrate to Constantinople?! ENOUGH!!!
Orthodoxia I Thanatos!
Rostislav Mikhailovich Malleev-Pokrovsky

http://www.otago.ac.nz/history/normans/mod3/pt2.html



Overview
General Reading
Introduction
Primary Sources
Module 1
Module 2
Module 3 i. General Works
ii. The Conquest
iii. Feudal Society
iv. The Church
v. Art & Architecture

Module 4
Module 5
Module 6
History Website


Code: Select all

     Overview> Module 3 - Index>       

Module 3: The Conquest of England, 1042-1087,
(ii) The Conquest


1066
The Process of Colonisation and Settlement
The Fate of the English and the History of English Identity
The English in Byzantium
The English 'State' under the Normans

1066
Cowdrey, H. E. J., 'Bishop Ermenfrid of Sion and the Penitential Ordinance following the Battle of Hastings', Journal of Ecclesiastical History 20 (1969), 225-42. Journals BR/140/J68 [Cf. S. Hamilton, The Practice of Penance, 900-1050, Rochester, NY, 2001. BX/2263/H35/H631]

Gillingham, J., 'William the fatherless kid at War', in C. Harper-Bill, C. J. Holdsworth and J. L. Nelson, ed., Studies in Medieval History presented to R. Allen Brown, Woodbridge, 1989, pp. 141-58. DA/175/SX444. Rpt in S. Morrillo, ed., The Battle of Hastings: Sources and Interpretations, Warfare in History 1, Woodbridge, 1996, pp. 96-112. DA/196/BA436

Keats-Rohan, K. S. B., 'The Breton Contingent in the Non-Norman Conquest', Anglo-Norman Studies, 13 (1991), 157-72. DA/195/BA43

Morton, C., 'Pope Alexander II and the Norman Conquest', Latomus 34 (1975), 362-82. PA/2002/L37

van Houts, E. M. C., 'The Memory of 1066 in Written and Oral Traditions', Anglo-Norman Studies, 19 (1997), 167-79. DA/195/BA43

van Houts, E. M. C., 'The Norman Conquest through European Eyes', English Historical Review, 110 (1995), 832-53. Journals DA/20/E53

van Houts, E. M. C., 'The Ship List of William the Conqueror', Anglo-Norman Studies, 10 (1988), 159-83. DA/195/BA43

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The Process of Colonisation and Settlement
Abels, R., 'Sheriffs, Lord-Seeking and the Norman Settlement of the South-East Midlands', Anglo-Norman Studies, 19 (1997), 19-50. DA/195/BA43

Bates, D., 'The Character and Career of Odo, Bishop of Bayeux (1049/50-1097)', Speculum 50 (1975), 1-20. Journals D/111/S63

Bates, D., 'The Land Pleas of William I's Reign: Penenden Heath Revisited', Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 51 (1978), 1-19. Journals D/1/H5718a. See also J. Le Patourel, 'The Reports of the Trial on Penenden Heath', in R. W. Hunt, W. A. Partin and R. W. Southern, ed., Studies in Medieval History presented to F. M. Powicke, Oxford, 1948, pp. 15-26. DA/175/SX44; J. Le Patourel, 'The Date of the Trial at Penenden Heath', English Historical Review, 61 (1946), 378-88. Journals DA/20/E53

Bishop, T. A. M., 'The Norman Settlement of Yorkshire', in R. W. Hunt, W. A. Partin and R. W. Southern, ed., Studies in Medieval History presented to F. M. Powicke, Oxford, 1948, pp. 1-14. DA/175/SX44.

Dalton, P., Conquest, Anarchy and Lordship: Yorkshire, 1066-1154, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 4th ser. 27, Cambridge, 1994. Not held at Otago.

Fleming, R., 'Domesday Book and the Tenurial Revolution', Anglo-Norman Studies, 9 (1987), 87-102. DA/195/BA43

Fleming, R., Kings and Lords in Conquest England, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 4th ser. 15, Cambridge, 1991. DA/197/FK86

Golding, B., 'Robert of Mortain', Anglo-Norman Studies 13 (1991), 119-44. DA/195/BA43

Green, J. A., The Aristocracy of Norman England, Cambridge, 1997, esp. pp. 25-99, on the Norman settlement. DA/195/GS83

Green, J., 'Robert Curthose Reassessed', Anglo-Norman Studies, 22 (2000), 95-116. DA/195/BA43

Hollister, C. W., 'The Greater Domesday Tenants-in-Chief', in J. C. Holt, ed., Domesday Studies, Woodbridge, 1987, pp. 249-65. DA/190/D7/DN27

Hooper, N., 'Edgar the Ætheling: Anglo-Saxon Prince, Rebel and Crusader', Anglo-Saxon England, 14 (1985), 197-214. DA/152.2/AK56

Kapelle, W. E., The Norman Conquest of the North: the Region and its Transformation, Chapel Hill, 1979. DA/195/K51

Lewis, C. P., 'The Formation of the Honour of Chester, 1066-1100', Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society, 71 (1991), 37-68. Not held at Otago.

Lewis, C. P., 'The Norman Settlement of Herefordshire under William I', Anglo-Norman Studies, 7 (1985), 195-213. DA/195/BA43

Mason, J. F. A., 'Roger de Montgomery and his Sons', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th ser., 13 (1963), 1-28. Journals DA/20/R69

Mason, J. F. A., William I and the Sussex Rapes, Historical Association 1066 Commemoration Series, Hastins and Bexhill Branch, St Leonard's, 1966. Not held at Otago.

Ó Brien, B. R., 'From Morthor to Murdrum: The Preconquest Origin and Norman Revival of the Murder Fine', Speculum 71 (1996), 321-57. Journals D/111/S63

Reynolds, S. J., 'Eadric "Silvaticus" and the English Resistance', Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 54 (1981), 102-5. Journals D/1/H5718a

Roffe, D., 'From Thegnage to Barony: Sake and Soke, Title, and Tenants-in-Chief', Anglo-Norman Studies, 12 (1990), 157-76. DA/195/BA43

Sawyer, S., '1066-1086: a Tenurial Revolution?', in idem, ed., Domesday Book: A Reassessment, London, 1985, pp. 71-85. DA/190/D7/DN268

Tanner, H. J., 'The Expansion of the Power and Influence of the Counts of Boulogne under Eustace II', Anglo-Norman Studies, 14 (1992), pp. 251-86. DA/195/BA43

Williams, A., 'The King's Nephew: the Family, Career and Connections of Ralph, earl of Hereford', in C. Harper-Bill, C. J. Holdsworth and J. L. Nelson, ed., Studies in Medieval History presented to R. Allen Brown, Woodbridge, 1989, pp. 327-43. DA/175/SX444

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The Fate of the English and the History of English Identity
Clark, C., 'People and Languages in Post-Conquest Canterbury', Journal of Medieval History, 2 (1976), 1-34. Journals D/111/J68

Clark, C., 'Women's Names in Post-Conquest England: Observations and Speculations', Speculum, 53 (1978). Journals D/111/S63.

Clark, C., Words, Names and History: Selected Papers of Cecily Clark, ed. P. Jackson, Woodbridge, 1994. PE/262/CK63

Foot, S., 'The Making of Angelcynn: English Identity before the Norman Conquest', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 6th ser. 6 (1996), 25-49. Journals DA/20/R69

Garnett, G., 'Franci et Angli: The Legal Distinction between Peoples after the Conquest', Anglo-Norman Studies, 8 (1984), 109-37. DA/195/BA43

Gillingham, J., The English in the Twelfth Century: Imperialism, National Identity, and Political Values, Woodbridge, 2000. DA/195/GF663

Reynolds, S., 'What do we mean by "Anglo-Saxon" and "Anglo-Saxons"?', Journal of British Studies 24 (1985), 395-414. Journals DA/20/J68

Smyth, A. P., 'The Emergence of English Identity', in idem, ed., Medieval Europeans: Studies in Ethnic Identity and National Perspectives in Medieval Europe, Basingstoke, 1998, pp. 24-52. Not held at Otago.

Stafford, P., 'Women and the Norman Conquest', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 6th ser., 4 (1994), 221-49. Journals DA/20/R69. Also reprinted in L. K. Little and B. H. Rosenwein, eds., Debating the Middle Ages: Issues and Readings, Malden, MA, 1998, pp. 254-63. D/117/D882

van Houts, E. M. C., 'The Trauma of 1066', History Today, October, 1996, pp. 9-15. D/1/H5734

Williams, A., The English and the Norman Conquest, Woodbridge, 1995. DA/195/WP863.

Wormald, P., 'Bede, the Bretwaldas and the Origin of the gens Anglorum', in P. Wormald, D. Bullough and R. Collins, ed., Ideal and Reality in Early Frankish and Anglo-Saxon Society, Studies presented to J. M. Wallace Hadrill, Oxford, 1983, pp. 99-129. DC/65/157. Important on the origins of 'English' identity.

Wormald, P., 'Engla Lond: The Making of An Allegiance', Journal of Historical Sociology 7 (1994), 1—24. HM/104/J68. Rpt. with a postscript in Wormald, Legal Culture, pp. 359-82. KL/401/WX274

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The English in Byzantium
Ciggaar, K. N., 'England and Byzantium on the Eve of the Norman Conquest', Anglo-Norman Studies, 5 (1983), 78-96. DA/195/BA43

Ciggaar, K. N., Western Travellers to Constantinople: The West and Byzantium, 962-1204: Cultural and Political Relations, The Medieval Mediterranean 10, Leiden, 1996. DF/546/CJ78

Godfrey, J., 'The Defeated Anglo-Saxons take Service with the Eastern Emperor', in R. A. Brown, ed., Proceedings of the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies I: 1978, Woodbridge, 1979, pp. 63-74, 207-9. DA/195/BA43

Rogers, L., 'Anglo-Saxons and Icelanders at Byzantium with Special Reference to the Icelandic Saga of St. Edward the Confessor', Byzantine Papers, Byzantina Australiensa, Canberra, 1981, pp. 82-89. Not held at Otago.

Shepard, J., 'Another New England? Anglo-Saxon Settlement on the Black Sea', Byzantine Studies, 1 (1974), 18-39. Not held at Otago.

Shepard, J., 'The English and Byzantium: A Study in their Role in the Byzantine Army in the Later Eleventh Century', Traditio, 29 (1973), 53-92. Journals D/111/T72

Theodorescu, R., 'Marginalia to Eleventh-Century Anglo-Saxons in the Pontic Area', Revue Roumaine d'Histoire, 20 (1981), 637-45. Not held at Otago.

Vasilev, A. A., 'The Opening Stage of the Anglo-Saxon Immigration to Byzantium in the Eleventh Century', Annales de l'Institute Kondakov (Seminarium Kondakovianum), 9 (1937), 39-70. Not held at Otago.

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The English 'State' under the Normans
Cam, H., 'The "Private" Hundred in England before the Norman Conquest', in J. Conway Davies, ed., Studies presented to Sir Hilary Jenkinson, London, 1957. 109 Leith St: Bliss MVB7/Jen. Rpt. in Cam, Law-finders and Law-makers, pp. 59-70. KL/401.6/C473

Cam, H., 'The Evolution of the Medieval English Franchise', Speculum, 32 (1957), 427-42. Journals D/111/S63. Rpt. in Cam, Law-finders and Law-makers, pp. 22-43. KL/401.6/C473

Campbell, J., 'Observations on English Government from the Tenth to the Twelfth Century', rpt. in idem, Essays in Anglo-Saxon History, London, 1986, pp. 155-70. Not held at Otago.

Campbell, J., 'Some Agents and Agencies of the Late Anglo-Saxon State', in J. C. Holt, Domesday Studies, Woodbridge, 1987, pp. 201-18. DA/190/D7/DN27

Campbell, J., 'The Late Anglo-Saxon State: A Maximum View', Proceedings of the British Academy 87 (1994), 39-65. Journals AS/121/LF22

Campbell, J., 'The Significance of the Anglo-Norman State in the Administrative History of Western Europe', Beihefte der Francia 9 (1980), 117-34. Not held at Otago.

Campbell, J., 'The United Kingdom of England: The Anglo-Saxon Achievement', in A. Grant and K. J. Stringer, ed., Uniting the Kingdom? The Making of British History, London and New York, 1995, pp. 31-47. DA/1/UK5

Campbell, J., 'Was it Infancy in England? Some Questions of Comparison', in M. Jones and M. Vale, eds., England and her Neighbours, 1066-1453: Essays in Honour of Pierre Chaplais, London, 1989, pp. 1-17. DA/45/EK4

Clanchy, M. T., From Memory to Written Record, England, 1066-1307, 2nd. edn., Oxford, 1993. DA/176/CK473

Green, J., 'The Sheriffs of William the Conqueror', Anglo-Norman Studies, 5 (1983), 129-45. DA/195/BA43

Hyams, P. R., 'Feud and the State in Late Anglo-Saxon England', Journal of British Studies 40 (2001), 1-43. Journals DA/20/J68

Hyams, P. R., 'Feud in Medieval England', Haskins Society Journal, 3 (1992), 1-21. Not held at Otago.

Lewis, C. P., 'The Early Earls of Norman England', Anglo-Norman Studies, 13 (1991), 207-23. DA/195/BA43

Loyn, H. R., The Governance of Anglo-Saxon England 500-1087, London, 1984. JN/131/LW97

Mason, J. F. A., 'The Barons and their Officials in the Later Eleventh Century', Anglo-Norman Studies, 13 (1991), 243-62. DA/195/BA43

Palliser, D. M., 'Towns and the English State', in J. R. Maddicott and D. M. Palliser, eds., The Medieval State: Essays Presented to James Campbell, London and Rio Grande, Ohio, 2000, pp. 127-45. D/119/MF97

Philpott, M., 'Eadmer, his Archbishops and the English State', in J. R. Maddicott and D. M. Palliser, eds., The Medieval State: Essays Presented to James Campbell, London and Rio Grande, Ohio, 2000, pp. 93-107. D/119/MF97

Warren, W. L., 'The Myth of Norman Administrative Efficiency', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th ser. 34 (1984), 113-32. Journals DA/20/R69

Warren, W. L., The Governance of Norman and Angevin England 1086-1272, London, 1987. JN/137/W919

Williams, A., Kingship and Government in Pre-Conquest England, c. 500-1066, Houndmills, Hampshire, 1999. DA/152/WP86

Wormald, P., 'James Campbell as Historian', in J. R. Maddicott and D. M. Palliser, eds., The Medieval State: Essays Presented to James Campbell, London and Rio Grande, Ohio, 2000, pp. xiii-xxii. D/119/MF97

Wormald, P., 'Lordship and Justice in the Early English Kingdom: Oswaldslow Revisited', in W. Davies and P. Fouracre, ed., Property and Power in the Early Middle Ages, Cambridge, 1995, pp. 114-36. HD/141/PY67. Rpt. in Wormald, Legal Culture, pp. 313-32. KL/401/WX274

Wormald, P., 'Oswaldslow: An "Immunity"?', in N. P. Brooks and C. Cubitt, ed., St Oswald of Worcester: Life and Influence, ed. Studies in the Early History of Britain / The Makers of England 2, London, 1996, pp. 117-28. Not held at Otago.

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CGW
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Posts: 389
Joined: Tue 18 November 2003 4:30 pm

Re: Moss, etc.

Post by CGW »

bogatyr wrote:

If I begin quoting sources, I will expect a retraction. If not, I will savage you, because I'm not getting paid to wetnurse an incompetent, who is totally ignorant of his field of endeavour. My research work is not trivial or free. I suggest you READ and come back with something substantial.

OK, I've looked over the three sources you've posted. (BTW, why the heck are you quoting entire texts to which you have linked?)

The third one is easy. These people are not professional historians; they are medieval recreationists.

The other two puzzle me, because you have selected two sources which support points which I have made and which dispute the claims you have made. For instance:

"A task of the Varangian Guard in barracks at Constantinople was civil policing. Their character as foreign mercenaries untainted by the political and religious passions that stirred the local population and solely loyal to the Emperor must have made them especially useful in performing such risky and delicate tasks as arresting, imprisoning and punishing people who held some religious or aristocratic standing and who might otherwise have been able to work on sympathies existing in native troops."

and

"By this time, the term Varangian referred to any mercenary from nothern Europe, and the Guard was probably composed more of English and Scottish mercenaries than Russians or Scandinavians."

The fourth citation is a bibliography, so I have no response to it.

I do have a question, though. You keep referring to Meyendorff. I've reviewed the whole thread, and unless I'm mistaken you never actually cited any specific work of his. Would you care to correct that omission?

And as far as savaging me is concerned: I am sure the moderators would appreciate such a fine display of Orthodox charity.

Last edited by CGW on Tue 25 November 2003 1:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Joe Zollars
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Post by Joe Zollars »

can we please make our posts in a polite manner Bogatyr?

Nicholas Zollars

Bogatyr
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Joined: Sat 15 November 2003 6:22 pm

Posts

Post by Bogatyr »

The Citations were from educational institutions and I've referred you to Meyendorff on YOUR OWN and, specifically, I made it a point to put forward WESTERN scholars to deflect any charges of "Orthodox apologetics". I'm finished with this as I've supported my points of contention in the face of your lack of sincere scholarship in this arena. The bibliography was provided as A REFERENCE OF THE MULTITUDE of works out there which support what I have said. Tolle lege. The end.
Orthodoxia I Thanatos!
Rostislav Mikhailovich Malleev-Pokrovsky

George
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The word 'Viking'

Post by George »

In one of the earlier posts in this thread, CGW wrote "Viking was something one did, not something one was by tribe or nationality."
I would beg to differ. The word Viking is not a verb in Swedish, it is a noun, and refers to the same as it does in English. The word 'Vik' means something like the English words coast, beach or seaside, so a viking is basically a "Coastal Dweller" in its literal sense, and these vikingar (the plural in Swedish of viking) being coastal dwellers were pretty good boatsmen. :)

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