The Varangian Guard as an Instrument for Maintaining Domestic Political Stability during the reign of Michael IV the Paphlagonian (1034 – 1041)

Abstract

This article discusses the position and role of the Varangian Guard in the internal political events of Byzantine Empire during the reign of the emperor Michael IV the Paphlagonian (1034 – 1041). The subject of the article is the Varangian Guard as a tool for maintaining power in the context of internal political struggle in Byzantium. The main conclusion of the study is the assumption that the active period of the formation of the Varangian Guard falls on the beginning of the reign of the Paphlagonian dynasty. The Byzantine emperor Michael IV the Paphlagonian (1034 – 1041) and his relatives, who did not have strong ties with representatives of the Byzantine civil or military nobility, relied on the Varangian guard to maintain their own power and used it as an instrument of internal political struggle. The novelty of the study lies in a comprehensive analysis of the activities of the Varangian Guard during the reign of the emperor Michael IV the Paphlagonian (1034 – 1041) on the basis of Byzantine, Scandinavian and Old Russian sources of different times. In addition, the Varangian Guard is for the first time considered as an instrument not so much of the imperial power, but of the power of the Paphlagonian dynasty.