Names of Scandinavians in the
Byzantine Varangian Guard and in Russia

Sometime after 850 AD, Scandinavians -- mostly from Sweden and Denmark -- began launching exploration, warfare, and trade eastwards into Russia. This movement eastwards extended along the major rivers, with Scandinavians eventually travelling all the way south to Byzantium. Here we will examine some of the names recorded for a few of these men.

• Norse Names from Treaties between Byzantium and the Rus
• Norse Names from Runic Inscriptions for Men Who Went To Byzantium
• Norse Names from Runic Inscriptions for Men Who Went Eastwards
• Men Mentioned in the Sagas who Served in the Varangian Guard of Byzantium
• Resources for Old Norse Names and Name-Creation
• Resources for Learning More About the Varangians

Note that the names listed in this article are presented in their normalized Old West Norse forms (OW.Norse, the language used in Norway, Iceland, and other parts of western Scandinavia), which is the standard scholarly way of presenting Old Norse names. However, the greatest number of Scandinavians who travelled eastwards into Russia or east and south towards Byzantium originated in eastern Scandinavia or its colonies. East Scandinavia, including Sweden, Denmark, and Scandinavian colonies in Russia and the Baltic, used a slightly different dialect than did the western Scandinavians. From the beginning of the Viking Age, there were enough differences between the Old Norse spoken in western Scandinavia to differentiate the western dialect from that of eastern Scandinavia. The differences in Old West Norse and Old East Norse (OE.Norse, the language used in Sweden, Denmark, and other parts of eastern Scandinavia) increased noticably after 1000.

The original runic inscriptions show some of these dialectical differences in the names presented below. This is not to say that eastern Scandinavians were the only east-farers -- several famous Icelanders, and even the reknowned Norwegian king Haraldr harðráði served in the Varangian Guard in Byzantium -- but most of the people of Scandinavian antecedents in Russia and Byzantium would have been men from Sweden, Denmark, Kiev, and other East Scandinavian settlements.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Arval Benicoeur and Talan Gwynek for their helpful feedback on this article.

Norse Names from Treaties between Byzantium and the Rus

In the Russian Primary Chronicle, early contacts between the Byzantines and the Swedish Rus are recorded in the form of trade treaties, one in 907 and the other in 911. These treaties preserve in Russian the names of northern men which clearly are Scandinavian in origin.

907 Treaty1
Normalized OW.Norse Form	Russian Form
Farulfr	Farlof
Karl or Karli	Karl
Hróðleifr	Rulav
Steinviðr	Stemid
Vermundr	Velmud
911 Treaty2
Normalized OW.Norse Form	Russian Form
Farleifr	Farlo
Fréleifr	Frelav
Gyði	Goudy
Hróaldr	Rouad
Hróaldr3	Roal
Hrœrekr	Rurik
Hrolleifr	Rulav
Ingjaldr	Inegeld
Kári	Kari
Karl	Karly
Vermóðr	Veremoud
1 The 907 treaty names are taken from: Ellis-Davidson, Hilda Roderick. The Viking Road to Byzantium. London: George Allen & Unwin. 1976. p. 90 2 The 911 treaty names are taken from: Sigfús Blöndal. The Varangians of Byzantium. London: Cambridge. 1978. p. 36. 3 This same person appears in another MS. as Hróarr (Ruar, )

Return to top

Norse Names from Runic Inscriptions for Men Who Went To Byzantium

There are nearly 30 runic inscriptions that specifically mention Greece (ON Grikkland, GrikkaR, GrikkinaR "Greek-land"), meaning the powerful Byzantine Empire and the great city of Byzantium. The following table contains names of Swedish men named in runic inscriptions as (usually) having died in Greece, been in service or a unit leader in Greece, or having travelled to Greece. While undoubtedly some of those who went to Greece were traders, a number would have travelled there to become members of the prestigious Varangian Guard, a special unit in the Byzantine Army charged with the duty of protecting the Emperor.

Normalized OW.Norse Name	Location4 in Sweden	Date	Signum5	Runic Form6	Notes
Áki	Uppland	ca. 1020-1050	U1016$	aki (nom)
Ásbjôrn Kolbeins sonr7	Västergötland	ca. 1010-1040	Vg178	isbiurn (acc)
Ásmundr	Östergötland	ca. 900's	Ög81	asmutr (nom)
Báulfr	Södermanland	ca. 990-1010	Sö170	baulf (acc)
Eysteinn	Uppland	ca. 1020-1050	U136	austain (gen)
Folkbjôrn	Uppland	ca. 990-1010	U358	fulkbiarn (acc)	Christian inscription.
Freygeirr	Uppland	ca. 990-1010	U518	frikiR (acc)	Christian inscription.
Freysteinn	Södermanland	ca. 1010-1050	Sö82	fraitRn (acc)
Geir-...	Södermanland	Viking Age	Sö345$A	kai(r)...	The second half of the name cannot be read from the inscription.
Gerðarr	Uppland	Viking Age, after ca. 1050	U73	kiaþar (nom)
Gunnarr	Uppland	ca. 1020-1050	U431	kunor (acc)	Christian inscription.
Halfdan	Östergötland	ca. 900's	Ög81	halftan (nom)
Heðinn	Södermanland	ca. 990-1010	Sö165	hiþin (acc)	Christian inscription.
Ingifastr	Uppland	Viking Age ca. 1070-1100	U922$	ikifast (acc)
Kári	Östergötland	ca. 900's	Ög81	kari (nom)
Óleifr	Södermanland	ca. 1010-1050	Sö163	ulaifr (nom)	This runic inscription may instead represent the name Gulleifr.
Ótryggr	Uppland	ca. 1060-1100	U1087+	utirik (acc)
Oddlaugr	Östergötland	ca. 1010-1040	Ög94$	u-auk (acc)
Ormgeirr	Uppland	ca. 990-1010	U518	urmiR (acc)	Christian inscription.
Ormika	Gotland	ca. 1050-1100	G216	ormiga (nom)
Ormulfr	Uppland	ca. 990-1010	U518	urmulf (acc)	Christian inscription.
Ragnvaldr	Uppland	ca. 1060-1100	U112B	rahnualtr (nom)	This is almost certainly a member of the Varangian Guard. The inscription says, "(he) was in Greece, was commander of the retinue."
Sveinn	Småland	ca. 990-1010	Sm46+	suin (acc)
Sveinn	Uppland	ca. 1070-1100	U104	suin (acc)
Tóki	Uppland	ca. 1010-1040	U201	tuka (acc)	Christian inscription.
Ulfhvatr(?)	Gotland	ca. 1050-1100	G216	ulfua-r (nom)	This reading is not certain. The name could instead be Ulfhvatr or Ulfvaldr.
Þórir	Uppland	ca. 1070-1100	U104	þori (acc)
Ôzurr	Östergötland	ca. 900's	Ög81	asur (nom)
4 The location indicated is the place where the runic inscription was located, usually near the home of the person being named, or the home of their surviving family. 5 The signum is a code used by scholars to identify each runic inscription. 6 The runic forms shown here are transliterations. The actual incription would have been written in runes, not Roman characters. For the actual form of the runes, see Arild Hauge's The Development of the Swedish Runes. 7 Throughout this article, o-circumflex (ô) is used to represent the character o-ogonek (  ), which is not available as an ASCII character. This is the same convention used in the Samnordisk Runtext Databas.

Names from runic data, as well as locations, normalizations, and dating, come from:

Samnordisk Runtext Databas
http://home6.swipnet.se/~w-61277/rundata/pc.htm.

Return to top

Norse Names from Runic Inscriptions for Men Who Went Eastwards

Names from runic data, as well as locations, normalizations, and dating, come from:

Samnordisk Runtext Databas
http://home6.swipnet.se/~w-61277/rundata/pc.htm.

Return to top

Men Mentioned in the Sagas who Served in the Varangian Guard of Byzantium

The Varangian Guard existed from around 911, when the Scandinavian Rus signed a treaty with Byzantium establishing relations for trade and military service. Men from Scandinavia continued to serve in the Varangian Guard until 1204, when the unit virtually disappeared after Crusaders sacked the city of Byzantium.

The Icelanders, who are responsible for preserving much of the surviving Old Norse literature, were extremely proud of the tradition in which certain Icelandic men made the long journey to enter the service of the Byzantine Emperor, and tales of such men had a big impact on the saga literature of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The vast majority of Varangians, of course, were from Russia, Kiev, or eastern Scandinavia. It was the rarity of Icelanders who served there that made them worth mentioning in the sagas. Several sagas record the names of men who had served in the famous Varangian Guard:

These names are taken from:

Ellis-Davidson, Hilda Roderick. The Viking Road to Byzantium. London: George Allen & Unwin. 1976.

Return to top

Resources for Old Norse Names and Name-Creation

• Medieval Names Archives: Scandinavian Names
  The Medieval Names Archive section on Scandinavian names includes guides to how Old Norse names were put together, as well as several sources of documented names from the Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia.

Resources for Learning More About the Varangians

• "Varangians". Wikipedia.
  
  
• Gunnvôr silfrahárr (Christie L. Ward). Vikings in Russia and Byzantium.
  A look at the Viking exploration and expansion to the east, into Russia and Byzantium, and the famous Varangian Guard.
  
  
• Who were the Varangians?
  A collection of articles discussion the Varangian Guard, its origins. Many of these come from from back issues of the Varangian Voice, the newsletter of the New Varangian Guard (NVG), a historical re-enactment group based in Australia whose core area and period of interest of the New Varangian Guard is the Byzantine Empire, its allies and enemies, during the 9th to 13th centuries A.D. A number of NVG websites have excellently researched articles covering many aspects of recreating a Varangian guardsman's life.
  
  
• Beatson, Peter. Relics of the Varangians. 2000.
  Provides a summary of artifacts representing the few physical traces of the Varangian Guard in Byzantine lands and elsewhere.
  
  
• NVG Miklagard Garrison. 1996.
  Contains links to articles discussing the Varangian Guard and the Byzantine Empire during the Varangian period.
  
  

Return to top