THE VARANGIANS. 



IT is an interesting and somewhat singular fact, that during the 

 latter ages of the eastern empire of Rome, its most redoubted and 

 trusty defenders were a small body of northern warriors, or their 

 descendants, who bore the title of Varangians ; and that at the pe- 

 riod of our story, (late in the eleventh century), these consisted 

 chiefly of Englishmen, who, indignant at the arbitrary sway of the 

 Norman tyrant, found an asylum in that remote corner of Europe, 

 and were thus destined again to contend with unavailing gallantry 

 against a Norman foe. The celebrated Guiscard, not satiated with a 

 long train of Italian and Sicilian conquests, panted to sweep away 

 the vestiges of Roman power yet lingering in Greece. Circumstan- 

 ces furnished him with an excuse for invasion. The family of Ducas 

 had been banished from the throne of Constantinople, and to the heir 

 of this house had a daughter of Guiscard been betrothed. He, con- 

 certing measures with a crafty Greek, who assumed the character of 

 Michael, the exiled emperor, declared himself the asserter of the 

 rights of that unfortunate sovereign, and prepared to support them 

 with an army of thirty thousand men, in part composed of his coun- 

 trymen, but more generally of Italians, never less warlike than at 

 that period. Many of those, also who bore the name of Normans, 

 were natives of the Mediterranean shores, and the luxurious climate 

 of the south had tended to produce in them a degeneracy from the 

 strength, hardihood, and enterprise of their sea-ruling ancestors. 

 But the genius and energy of Robert Guiscard were equal to every 

 emergence. One of the most formidable champions of his age, he 

 was also one of its most accomplished generals, and formed in him- 

 self an union of the endowments of an Achilles and an Ulysses. 



Crossing to the shores of Epirus, he besieged Durazzo, the scene of 

 one of the few checks received by Caesar. Meantime Alexius, the 

 new sovereign of Greece, was not idle. He collected a large force 

 alike from Europe and Asia, but his body guards were composed of 

 those English or Scandinavians whom we have mentioned. They 

 were conspicuous in the streets of Constantinople alike by their sharp 

 and heavy battle-axes, and by the tall portly forms, fair complexions, 

 and open countenances, which announced the country that gave 

 them birth or parentage, and formed a strong contrast to the compa- 

 ratively low stature and swarthy hue of their Greek or Asiatic asso- 

 ciates. One of the most distinguished of the Varangian chiefs was 

 Redwald, a young Englishman, who had but lately arrived at this 

 scene of warlike preparation. His father had been killed at Hast- 

 ings, and his estates, which were considerable, were bestowed on a 

 Norman chief. His mother did not long survive her lord, but our 

 hero was carefully watched by some remaining relations, instructed 

 in all the learning of the times, together with the exercises of war, 

 Norman as well as English. In these Nature seemed to have formed 

 him particularly to excel. His frame, tall and well proportioned, 



