One of the most interesting episodes in Byzantine military history and in medieval English history is the Anglo-Saxon participation and service in the Varangian Guards regiment from the late 11th to the early 13th century. Continue reading “English refugees were the most prominent element in the Eastern Roman (‘Byzantine’) Varangian Guard from the late 11th to the 13th century”
The Normans in the Armeniakon
Although foreigners had served in the empire’s armed forces since the fourth century, they had ceased from the seventh century to constitute large, permanent units of a distinct ethnic character. Continue reading “The Normans in the Armeniakon”
Norman Atrocities and Devastation in Thessalonika
“The [Latin] barbarians, having entered every part of the city, beginning from the eastern gates, cut down our men and piled them on the ground, those thick maniples [a Roman army unit] of human crops that Hades loves to feed on. Continue reading “Norman Atrocities and Devastation in Thessalonika”