10. The Varangian Guard was an elite bodyguard for the Byzantine Emperors composed of Viking mercenaries
Although one commonly imagines the Vikings as solely inhabiting Scandinavia, they were among the most adventurous and far-reaching peoples in medieval history. Due to this fascination with travel, it is perhaps unsurprising that the warrior race appears in the background of history in several distant lands; of particular note, the Norsemen served as the primary members of the Varangian Guard: the elite personal bodyguard to the Byzantine Emperors.
Formed as early as 874 CE, the Varangian Guard was formally instituted in 988 under Emperor Basil II; sent 6,000 Varangian warriors from Vladimir of Kiev, the Byzantine Emperor employed them due to his distrust of native guardsmen and the famed loyalty of the foreign warriors, who were bound by blood oath in allegiance to their employers. Of special note, the legendary Viking ruler Harald Sigurdsson III of Norway, commonly known as Harald Hardrada, was a member of the Varangian Guard between 1035 and 1043; according to the Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar, Hardrada fought in as many as eighteen battles against the Arabs in modern-day Turkey, Jerusalem, and Sicily, as well as in Bulgaria and southern Italy. Hardrada’s grandson, Sigurd I of Norway, would later follow in his grandfather’s footsteps in the Norwegian Crusade, in the course of which the majority of his force elected to enter the Varangian Guard rather than return home to Scandinavia in 1110.