Looking at pictures of these men (especially the later Anglo-Saxons); they were covered almost completely. Even with lighter material for armor like leather or maille, in some of the warmest parts of the Byzantine empire should have fried the guards just because they were wearing a long sleeved shirt. I'm attempting to assemble my first kit which is an Anglo-Saxon varangian guard, but it gets around 95 in the summer. I was hoping I could figure out how they did it and follow in their footsteps.
That is a pretty drawing but there is nothing to suggest that Anglo-Saxons wore any armour other than mail. In any case climate has never been a factor in what armour a warrior chose to wear. We know that some of the heaviest armours ever worn were utilised in the arid regions of the Middle East. I've personally worn heavy armour all day in the middle of an Australian summer in temperatures greater than your 95 degrees F. It is no more uncomfortable than wearing heavy clothing. You just have to keep your head ventillated and stay hydrated
Presumably guardsmen would tend to replace their native woollen and linen clothing with locally sourced cotton and silk. There is some evidence that bare metal was often covered with cloth by Byzantine soldiers. This included epilorikia - believed to be quilted soft armour worn over metallic armour and cloth coverings for helmets and camails. This would tend to help prevent the overheating of armour in direct sunlight.
There are also early Byzantine military manuals which mention covering metal armour with cloth, but this is represented as being a camouflage device to prevent light glinting on metal giving away the position of troops - though it would abviously also help with problems of heat from solar irradiation.
In the first instance there is a fundamental fault with the question. There are *NO* accurate period pictures of Varangians, nor is there *ANY* precise evidence of their dress and equipment beyond the assertion that they carried big axes. Hence, any modern image you see is, at best, complete speculation, if not outright FANTASY.
On a practical level, for many years in the New Varangian Guard in Australia we trained and fought all through Summer in full armour, often in temperatures in excess of 40 degrees C without problems. It is simply a matter of making sure that there is as much water going in as coming out.
Timothy
Social History and Material Culture of the Enduring Roman Empire.
It would be fair to say that there are period Byzantine illustrations of soldiers that have been interpreted as Varangians. Whether the attributions are convincing is moot.
Quote:Looking at pictures of these men (especially the later Anglo-Saxons); they were covered almost completely. Even with lighter material for armor like leather or maille, in some of the warmest parts of the Byzantine empire should have fried the guards just because they were wearing a long sleeved shirt. I'm attempting to assemble my first kit which is an Anglo-Saxon varangian guard, but it gets around 95 in the summer. I was hoping I could figure out how they did it and follow in their footsteps.
That image is from a historical accuracy mod for Medieval 2 Total War. Fair enough to say that it is accurate as they could come up with, its supposed to be a 13th century Varangian, probably recruited from Bulgaria.
In fact the man in the picture is likely a Varangopoulos, a son of a Varangian born from a Roman mother. By that time the Guard had adopted mostly native equipment instead of or in combination with their original Anglo-Norse byrnies. In the original version of the same drawing there is an original Varangian from the 11th century next to him, with Northern European equipment.
By 1230 any Varangians from England would be better termed English, rather than Anglo-Saxon. I'm always happy that any English involved in the events of 1204 were fighting on the side of civilisation rather than the opposite.
Well France was on the opposite side, and the Romans had excellent Pay. The Image I'd say is fairly accurate, maybe a little bit stylized, but I would recommend using accurate depictions rather than concept art from a Videogame modification.
Going into specifics on the illustration I would have doubts about a few aspects. Mail chausses would have been more typical for the time period, and splint vambraces and greaves are not as well illustrated in Byzantine art as some reproductions would have you believe. Also I doubt the use of separate-strip pteruges in any Byzantine context - the items capable of being interpreted as pteruges are more likely to have been made of metal splint armour or are showing quilted fabric. No Byzantine illustration (other than religious confections) I have seen has shown convincing evidence of a separate strip construction.
