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Mara999 In reply to adam-ant2 [2016-07-06 07:27:56 +0000 UTC]

Pretty much, though the Ulfen guard is based on the ideal the Varangian guard was supposed to follow. The idea was that as foreigners they wouldn't have conflicting loyalties to other noble houses and they would be fiercely loyal to the emperor alone. In reality they were just as meddlesome in imperial politics as the praetorian guard had been in western Rome, which meant that the Varangians could decide to replace an emperor with someone more agreeable to them.

The vikings sold themselves to pretty much anybody with coin, because their main cultural trait was as businessmen and lawyers. When they went westwards they had the luxury to make quick raids from the sea and could more often conquer and colonize the lands they visited, which is how they could create proto-Dublin as a trade-city favourable to them and founded the Norse kingdoms in Scotland. Eastwards was a whole different game, because the rivers affected their travel and made it more difficult for quick exits after a raid. That's why they focused more on trade and mercenary work in the eastern lands, at least as far south as Northern Africa. Like other Germanic tribes before them, the vikings gradually accepted Christianity because it eased the trade with Christian cultures that refused to have dealings with heathens. There were likely some vikings who converted to Islam for the same reason and worked for the caliphate of Baghdad. They also probably had a hand in creating some of the petty-kingdoms that one day would become Russia, as the people referred to as Rus in ancient chronicles are considered by many scholars to have been Scandinavian.

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adam-ant2 In reply to Mara999 [2016-07-06 12:10:37 +0000 UTC]

Very insightful, Mara.
Perhaps I should brush up on my history.

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Mara999 In reply to adam-ant2 [2016-07-06 12:27:20 +0000 UTC]

There is a lot of interesting stuff to read about ancient times and it's readily available if you know where to look. I recommend reading some of the old Icelandic sagas, because these give an insight into how the Norse people saw the world.
 
sagadb.org/

Of course, the sagas were written down a few centuries after the colonization of Iceland had happened and during the end of the Viking Age, so there are cultural details that are incorrect as the stories have changed with the audience. For instance, most cases where the origin of a place-name is explained it is an example of nonsensical folk-etymology when people have forgotten the original context.

Besides the interesting cultural aspect of reading these old stories, it can get hilariously jarring when you see how modern the action sequences can be. For instance, "Njáls saga" has many scenes of over-the-top violence that resemble a Schwarzenegger-movie from the 80's, particularly with the frequent one-liners.

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