Sixteenth-century nautical map of the Black SeaHeritage Image Partnership Ltd/Alamy
Posted on 09/30/2025 6:43:27 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The fourteenth-century Icelandic Edwardsaga chronicles the life of Edward the Confessor, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England (reigned 1042–1066). It also describes how, in the years after the Norman Conquest in 1066 -- when William the Conqueror invaded England and was crowned king -- 350 ships carrying English warriors set out for Constantinople. There, the Byzantine emperor employed the Anglo-Saxons as members of the Varangian Guard, an elite unit of foreign soldiers that served as his personal army. Such was their loyalty, says the Edwardsaga, that the emperor deeded them land six days' sailing north of Constantinople. There, presumably on the northern shores of the Black Sea, they are said to have occupied towns and cities with names such as London and York...
>Seals belonging to two twelfth-century Byzantine interpreters serving in the Bureau of the Barbarians -- an office founded in the fifth century A.D. to manage imperial relations with foreigners in residence in the empire -- identify them as English translators. The seal of one, Constantine Kourtikios, calls him "the interpreter of the most faithful English." On the banks of the Thames in London, archaeologists have documented a number of lead seals belonging to the Byzantine genikon, or chief financial ministry, most of which date to the end of the eleventh century...
Perhaps, speculates Shepard, future DNA or isotope analysis of medieval people's remains from Crimea will reveal ancestral ties to the British Isles. And artifacts or even buildings may still emerge that have an English cast. Until then, the cities of the first New England survive only on maps and in the words of the sagas.
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
Sixteenth-century nautical map of the Black SeaHeritage Image Partnership Ltd/Alamy
Byzantine seal from London, front and backCourtesy Jean-Claude Cheynet
The rest of the Varangians keyword, sorted:
WOW! Thanks, SunkenCiv!
My pleasure.
This makes sense because when you say “London” with a Ukrainian accent the sound comes out as “Odessa.”
The boot drive gets its name from the traditional leather boots worn by firefighters, which are held out to collect donations
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