To: ggersh who wrote (200179 ) 7/8/2023 1:38:57 PM From: Haim R. Branisteanu Respond to Sorry to contradict see Varangians - Wikipedia Primary Chronicle , a group of Varangians known as the Rus' [9] settled in Novgorod in 862 under the leadership of Rurik . Before Rurik, the Rus' might have ruled an earlier hypothetical polity known as the Rus' Khaganate . Rurik's relative Oleg conquered Kiev in 882 and established the state of Kievan Rus', which was later ruled by Rurik's descendants . [10] [11] mercenary service, Varangians roamed the river systems and portages of Gardariki , as the areas north of the Black Sea were known in the Norse sagas . They controlled the Volga trade route (between the Varangians and the Muslims), connecting the Baltic to the Caspian Sea and the Dnieper and Dniester trade route (between Varangians and the Greeks) leading to the Black Sea and Constantinople . [12] Those were the main important trade links at that time, connecting Medieval Europe with Abbasid Caliphates and the Byzantine Empire . [13] Most of the silver coinage in the West came from the East via those routes.Rus'-Byzantine Wars , some of which resulted in advantageous trade treaties. At least from the early 10th century, many Varangians served as mercenaries in the Byzantine Army , constituting the elite Varangian Guard (the bodyguards of Byzantine emperors ). Eventually most of them, in Byzantium and in Eastern Europe, were converted from Norse paganism to Orthodox Christianity , culminating in the Christianization of Kievan Rus' in 988. Coinciding with the general decline of the Viking Age , the influx of Scandinavians to Rus' stopped and Varangians were gradually assimilated by East Slavs by the late 11th century.
