After the successful invasion of England by the Normans the guard began to see increased inclusion of Anglo-Saxons and Danes. Thousands of them started arriving to the Byzantine empire and enrolling into service.
Overall, Varangian guard was quite a peculiar and and unusual bunch of people, whose loyalties lay with the position of Emperor, not the man that sat on the throne. In 969 an Emperor Nicephorus II was assassinated in his palace. A servant had managed to call for the Varangian guard while the Emperor was being attacked, but when Vikings arrived he was already dead. Without any hesitation they instantly knelt before the emperor's murderer John Tzimisces and hailed him as Emperor. Their logic was the following: they would defend the late emperor if he was alive, but now that he was dead there was no point avenging him. Besides, they had a new master in the house.
Varangian Guard ended its existence in 1204. It happened during Fourth Crusade, when the army of knights attacked Constantinople. In fact, Vikings turned out to be the only part of the Byzantium army that successfully defended part of the city. Contemporary sources say that the fighting was very violent and there was hand to hand fight with axes and swords. After the capture the Varangian Guard was disbanded.
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