What medieval group became famous as elite guards of Byzantine emperors and were often Scandinavian?

This elite corps served as the Byzantine emperors’ personal bodyguards from the late 10th century, prized for iron discipline and loyalty as foreign mercenaries with no local factional ties. Recruited largely from Scandinavia and the Rus’, they were famed for wielding massive two-handed axes and could act as both palace protectors and shock troops in battle. Formed after Emperor Basil II’s alliance with Vladimir of Kiev (c. 988), the unit later drew many exiled Anglo-Saxons after 1066. Byzantine chroniclers called them “axe-bearers,” and they held the unusual privilege of “palace plunder” upon an emperor’s death. Their service highlights Byzantium’s global reach and its savvy use of northern warriors to buttress imperial power.