Calendar: 1927-1928 Page 477

Vlll SOME DEBTS TO BYZANTINISM and from the ninth to the eleventh century also served the Empire as mercenaries Their weapons were principally the battle-axe and two-edged sword and they came to form the Imperial body-guard known as Varangians though after the Norman Conquest they were largely superseded by Anglo-Saxons and Danes Many Norseman had in the eleventh century sought out Tzarigrad as refuge from poverty and political disturbance attracted to Constantinople by the high pay given to Imperial guardsmen The exploits of Harold Hardraada brother of King Olaf of Norway and himself ultimately king of that country are alluded to in the Strategikon of Kekaumenos and passed into the Sagas Between 1033-4 he fought valiantly for the Empire and his career should make special appeal to Englishmen as that of one who ultimately fell fighting on English soil at the battle of Stamford Bridge War also was thus an instrument for increasing amongst the Russians and their Scandinavian element knowledge of the customs and riches of the Byzantine Empire The Serbs too drew much of their civilization from the Byzantines The one chiefly responsible for Byzantine infiltration was Stephan Nemanya 1171-1195 who died as monk at Athos in 1200 The faith and ritual of the Orthodox Church were introduced into his country and despite Western influence by way of the Adriatic the Court cere- monies of the Byzantine Empire were adopted by the Serbian monarchs Between 1280 and 1360 Serbian architecture was developed on Byzan- tine lines through Salonika and Athos and monasticism became marked feature and with monasticism was developed an ecclesiastical literature in the mystic and ascetic vein which appealed so greatly to the Slavonic temperament Modern Russia Bulgaria Roumania and Jugoslavia cannot therefore be understood without realization of their debt to Byzantine ecclesiastical and civil life Though Byzantinism has left its most permanent mark upon Greece and the Slav countries it also influenced though less permanently non-Slav peoples The Hungarians that intrusive Finno-Uralian people received their culture through Slav and Christian influences and herein Byzantium had large share The Hungarians were alternately the allies and the foes of the Empire The Orthodox Church made strenuous efforts for their conversion and monk Hierotheus was consecrated Bishop of the Turks In the eleventh century Byzantine trade influences were strong and the Empire's silks and metal-work were exchanged for Hungarian horses and salt Latin influence ultimately predominated in religion but even to-day the Orthodox Church has numerous followers in Hungary Appropriately the crown of St Stephen was formed of two parts the one given by Pope the other by Byzantine Emperor The barbarous Patzinaks lying between the Empire and the Russians were never civilized but were sometimes used by the Empire as allies The relations of the Byzantines with the Finnish Khazars situated between the mouths of the Don and the Volga were far closer They