158 THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. many of the English to emigrate to Russia and so to Constan- tinople, where they joined the AYaring guard.' While there can be no doubt that there was a large acces- sion to the fi^uard in consequence of the Norman Influence of .... i i .i i. xi iir • Norman con- couqucst, it IS also clcar that there was a Warmg guard in Constantinople before that event. In 1034 and 1035 this guard wintered in the western part of Asia Mi- nor.' Ronianos Diogenes, emperor between 1068 and 1071, reorganized the Waring troops, and formed them into the body-guard of the emperor. That they retained, amid their Eastern surroundings, their respect for women as well as their valor is shown by many circumstances, and is illustrated by a story told by Cedrenus. A peasant woman had re- spect for sisted the violence of one of their number, and had women. , , -, i . . , i . i tt. stabbed him with his own sword. His companions, when they had learned the truth of the matter, not only par- ' Ordericus Vitalis says : " When, therefore, the English had lost their liberty, they turned themselves with zeal to discover the means of throw- ing off the unaccustomed yoke. Some fled to Sueno, King of the Danes, to excite him to the recovery of the inheritance of his grandfather Canute. Not a few fled into exile in other regions, either from the mere desire of escaping from under the Norman rule, or in the hope of acquiring wealth, and so being one day in a condition to renew the struggle at home. Some of these, in the bloom of youth, penetrated into a far-dis- tant land, and offered themselves to the military service of the Constan- tinopolitan emperor, that wise prince against whom Robert Wiscard, Duke of Apulia, had then raised all his forces. The English exiles were favorably received, and opposed in battle to the Normans, for wliose en- counter the Greeks themselves were too weak." The Greek writers be- lieved them to be of English origin. Du Cange collects the authorities (see vol. ii. Ann. Com., p. 462 of his notes), and concludes that English and Danes is a correct description of the Warings (" Observations on Villehardouin"). The same conclusion is adopted by the learned editor of the "Recueil dcs Croisades" (vol. iv. p. 518), who seems disposed to believe that they were almost exclusively fugitives from England, who had fled either on the accession of Edward the Confessor or at the Nor- man Conquest. ^ Professor Rafn thinks that Harold, King of Norway, defeated at Stamford Brig, was cliief of the Varangian guard when he left Constan- tinople in 1043.
