One mound (Valsgärde, grave 8) included splint-and-mail armour for one arm and both legs (see Catalogue, no. Several burials of fully equipped warriors have been excavated in Sweden, at Vendel and Valsgärde. Given this lack of information, what then is behind the popular and ingrained depiction of Varangian guardsmen wearing splints on their arms and legs? Despite this, many popular works present splinted limb armour as typically Byzantine, but in reality there is only a little evidence from art of the period to suggest that splinted limb defenses could have been in use in the Balkans-Asia Minor region during the middle period of the Empire ( see below). There are no archaeological remains of any arm and leg armours from Byzantium itself. According to Anna Komnena, fatigue from their rapid advance and weight of their armour contributed to their defeat by Robert Guiscards forces at Dyrrhachion. an iron helmet and mail coat or lamellar corslet. This might allow them to have armour as heavy as the normal cavalryman - i.e. There is some later evidence that they were a mounted infantry unit like English huscarls - that is, they rode to battle but fought on foot, as at Dyrrhachion in 1081. As they are not mentioned in the Byzantine manuals, we can only guess that they were provided with somewhat better armour than the ordinary infantry. The Varangians were an infantry unit, though of course an elite one. On the lower leg greaves (chalkotoubai) were worn - their construction is not described and the term is a transference of an ancient one, originally referring to the solid bronze ones worn by classical Greek hoplites. Both lower arms and thighs were protected by thickly padded silk or cotton guards, called manikelia for the arms, and kremasmata for the legs, but reinforced by zabai, here possibly meaning panels of mail or strips/plates of leather or horn (or possibly metal). Their iron helmets (kassidas sideras) had doubled or tripled zabai (screens, of mail?) covering the whole face except the eyes. Over their lamellar klibanion, which had elbow-length sleeves (manikia), they wore an epilorikon, which was a padded surcoat. Their entire body, and their horses as well were armoured. Mounted archers also had belted kabadia, padded coats with long and full skirts screening their legs (and the flanks of their horse), probably as they were not able to use their shield as cover from missiles while using the bow.Īround 950 a superheavy cavalry unit was formed - the klibanophori or kataphraktoi. The kaballarioi or ordinary cavalry wore helmets (kassidia) and a short klibanion (lamellar corslet) or lorikon (mail shirt), legs were unprotected except again by boots, and speculatively by padded hose (toubia). The infantry wore boots, which could be supple and thigh-length, or thick (doubled) and knee-length, providing some leg protection. They did not even have metal helmets - only a thick felt cap (kamelaukion) worn under a turban (phakiolion). In both cases the sleeves were slit and buttoned so they could be folded back, presumably to prevent overheating on the march. Later, the sleeves were shortened toward elbow length. the sleeves of this coat extended to the wrist, providing some protection for the lower arm. Relying mainly on their large shields and a forest of points for protection, they wore a coat (kabadion) padded with raw silk or cotton. Essentially a mobile fortress for the offensive cavalry arm to sally from and retire to, they would engage in close combat only as a last resort. The hoplitai (heavy infantry) who formed the bulk of the foot soldiers were deployed en masse in pike blocks. From these sources it is clear that arm and leg armour was not worn by infantry soldiers at all. Some of them list the pieces of armour worn by the different classes of infantry and cavalry soldiers. Just before the time of the beginning of the Varangian Guard there were several military manuals written in Byzantium.
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