Citing Orderic’s chronicle, Vasilievskii’s edition of Cecaumenus, and Byzantine chrysobuls, Vasiliev stated that English were serving widely in the Byzantine military by the 1070’s and 1080’s prior to the accession of Alexius Comnenus. He believed that Anglo-Danish huscarls entered service after leaving England upon the death of King Canute in 1035. In his later study concentrating on English emigration to Byzantium, Vasiliev asserted that the warriors from England began arriving in Byzantium to serve in the Varangian guard well before 1066. He noted the mention of Englishmen serving in the Byzantine army in the correspondence of Manuel to Henry. The great Russian émigré Byzantinist had earlier worked on the relations between Henry II Plantagenet and Manuel I Comnenus. While the knowledge of English serving in Byzantium has existed among modern scholars since the beginning of the systematic study of sources in the nineteenth century, the first significant study solely on the Anglo-Saxon military migration was made by A. This fascinating yet little known aspect of the transformation of Anglo-Saxon England in the wake of the Norman Conquest has been the subject of increasing scrutiny and investigation by scholars of Anglo-Saxon, medieval Scandinavian, and Byzantine history. The paper will also look into any evidence of ethnic or national consciousness among those English émigrés serving the Emperor in Constantinople from 1066 to 1204. Since the regiment up until that time consisted of Scandinavian and Kievan Rus’ troops, there is also a question as to whether there was a Norse and Russian connection to the Anglo-Saxon initiation into Byzantine service. In particular it will study the changes in the elite Varangian Guards Regiment that came about by the entry of troops from England. This paper will attempt to investigate the influx of English mercenaries into the Byzantine Army in the wake of the Norman Conquest of 1066. There are a number of problems that this paper will address. Important work has been done on the development of the Varangian guard during its others. Up until the Norman conquest of England, the Varangian guards consisted chiefly of Scandinavian and Kievan Rus’ warriors. The crisis in Anglo-Saxon state and society brought on by the Norman Conquest created an Anglo-Saxon emigration, part of which found refuge and employment in Byzantium. In the 11th century, as a result of crises suffered by the Byzantine state (feudalization of the armed forces, civil-military conflict in the government, the loss of Asia Minor to the Seljuk Turks, the loss of Southern Italy to the Normans, etc.) the Byzantine army became increasingly dependent upon mercenary forces.Īmong the troops recruited into service of the Byzantine Emperor were Anglo-Saxons, who eventually made up the main component of the traditional foreign mercenary force that guarded the person of the Emperor. 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. Pappas (Sam Houston State University, 2004) English Refugees in the Byzantine Armed Forces: The Varangian Guard and Anglo-Saxon Ethnic Consciousness