Today I continue the snippets of history ‘series’,with the presence of Anglo-Saxons in Byzantium. See also Ch. It led to the founding of a ‘New England’ settlement of Anglo-Saxon exiles in the Crimea. Following the Conquest of 1066, the Anglo-Saxon English initially fought a resistance campaign against the new king William and his Norman invaders, but this proved unsuccessful. 21 The Varangian Guard became the personal guard of the Emperor and the Anglo-Saxon contingent became the dominant part of the unity. Abstract. It led to the founding of a ‘New England’ settlement of Anglo-Saxon exiles in the Crimea. This is a little-known but fascinating episode in British history known as the Anglo-Saxon emigration to Byzantium (Constantinople). Englishmen fled overseas to Byzantium where they were received by the Em peror Alexius.2 Later, he implies that soon after Harold's death, and the acces sion of William, Englishmen found a friend in Alexius at Byzantium.3 This is a chronological absurdity, for Alexius Comnenus did not come to the throne 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. These pagan ravages had not ended when Charlemagne was crowned King of the Romans by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day in AD 800. His final chapter contains an account of the Anglo-Saxon emigration to Byzantium after the Norman Conquest. Up until the Norman conquest of England, the Varangian guards consisted chiefly of Scandinavian and Kievan Rus' warriors. No historian doubts that this event took place. 181-189). This is related to the Varangian Guard, and the ‘Swedes going South’, a previous post. Emigration to Byzantium, Anglo-Saxon England 3 (1974) 179-196 (esp. ‘The formal date for the introduction of the Varangian Guard to the Byzantine military establishment is widely considered to be the year 988 . Fell, 'The Icelandic saga of Edward the Confessor: its version of the Anglo-Saxon emigration to Byzantium', Anglo-Saxon England, 3 (1974), 179–96 at p. 193; A. Shchavelev, 'A seal of Byzantine "Translator of the English" Patrikios Sphen: its date and socio-cultural context', in H. Ivakin et al (eds. Byzantine historians record the new arrivals as axe-bearing warriors, which fits with them being the House Carls or personal guards of Anglo-Saxon nobles. His final chapter contains an account of the Anglo-Saxon emigration to Byzantium after the Norman Conquest. By Rachel Anderson. And They Called it England: Place-Naming and the Anglo-Saxon Emigration to Byzantium . No historian doubts that this event took place. 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