Byzantine (Civ6)/Vikings, Traders, and Raiders!/Civilopedia

Under the Macedonian dynasty (867 to 1057 AD), the Byzantine Empire – heir to the power of Rome and culture of Greece – reached its greatest height of expanse and influence, recovering from a couple centuries of decline. Commencing with Basil I, a number of competent leaders managed victories over the Arabs and the Bulgars, regaining lost territories in Syria and the Balkans. These successes were matched with economic growth, and a flowering of the arts, sciences, and religion. All that thinking about religion by the patriarchs of the land led, it appears, to the “Great Schism” … the break in communion between the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic faiths in 1054.
The Byzantine leaders, commencing in 850, developed the proverbial love-hate relationship with the Viking kingdom of Kiev to the north. The empire quickly became the major trading partner to Kiev, swapping luxury goods for the raw materials so plentiful in the interior north of the Black Sea. After “Christianizing” the Rus, Vladimir of Kiev brought in Byzantine architects and artists to work on all manner of religious projects. Over the next couple centuries, the Kievan and Byzantine imperial families intermarried frequently, and Byzantium made liberal use of the fierce Viking warriors, employing them as mercenaries (notably, in the famed Varangian Guard). But relations were not always so cordial, for several times Viking or Rus raiders attacked Byzantine settlements over the decades.