![]() ![]() The Byzantines were experiencing the same horrors other Vikings were inflicting on the coasts of Germany, England, Ireland, France, Muslim Spain and Italy. Vikings took the 22 servants of the former Patriarch Ignatius aboard their ships and hacked them to death with axes. The nine islands in the Sea of Marmara were devastated. Photios later wrote of the “wholesale massacres” conducted by the Vikings as they looted and razed the suburbs. While this saved the city from falling to the Vikings’ bold rush, this left the suburbs and hinterland unprotected. As many as 20,000 Vikings surged ashore, but Oryphas was an able man and shut the gates of the capital just in time. Suddenly on June 18, 860, “like a swarm of wasps,” according to Photios, the Archbishop of Constantinople, the Viking fleet of 200 ships emerged from the Bosporus, the narrow strait connecting the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea, to assault Constantinople. The much feared Byzantine fleet was also absent, having sailed in support of operations against Arabs in the eastern Mediterranean and farther west against Danish Viking raids that had penetrated as far as Italy. The capital’s extensive suburbs and the thickly settled shores and islands of the Sea of Marmara were therefore left defenseless. Michael had taken with him all the elite army formations normally stationed in and around Constantinople, leaving behind only the normal city garrison under the command of City Prefect Nicetas Oryphas. The Vikings’ opportunity came in 860 when Theophilus’ successor, Emperor Michael III, was away campaigning against the Arabs along the Syrian border, where he suffered a severe defeat due to his military incompetence (no doubt aided by his constant drunkenness). Two Ros leaders, Askold and Dir, had set themselves up in Kiev and looked south across the Black Sea to Constantinople, the “Queen of Cities,” known to them as Miklagard (Big City) and to their Slav subjects as Tsargard (Caesar City). But the Ros were only waiting for an opportunity. Commercial relations followed, and the Byzantines had no reason to suspect any hostility. This event marked the first appearance on the world stage of Swedish Vikings, also known as Varangians, whom the Greeks called “Ros.” These Ros (or Rus) were bent on taking over the land of the Eastern Slavs and would give their name to Russia (Rossiya). Scandinavian Vikings had already begun ravaging his empire. Ludwig discovered the men were Swedes and was rightfully suspicious. He sent them on to German Emperor Ludwig, asking him to send them home safely. ![]() The “fury of the Northmen” hit the Byzantine Empire in a surprise attack on the Queen of Cities.īyzantine Emperor Theophilus was gracious in his treatment of the two ambassadors who had arrived unexpectedly in the imperial capital, Constantinople, from the Black Sea in the year 838. 'The Fury of the Northmen': Viking Assault on Constantinople, 860 Close ![]()
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