Hi, I'm Brian Howard Seibert, and I am presently rediscovering Ninth to Eleventh Century Danish and Ukrainian history.  Did you know that Kievan Rus', or Hraes', a great trading empire from Novgorod to Kiev, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea, was founded by Danes and Norwegians circa 800 AD (CE), a full 400 years before the existence of Moscvan Russia!  And that the Princes of Hraes' would habitually return to Denmark as kings when it was their turn to rule there.  Prince Ivar 'the Boneless' of Kiev took over in Denmark as King Harde Knute I and Prince Sveinald of Kiev took over as King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark and finally, Prince Valdamar of Kiev ruled as King Canute 'the Great' of England, Denmark and Norway.  They were all great Vikings and Varangians and were the sons and grandsons of King Ragnar 'Lothbrok' Sigurdson, so you know there will be plenty of sword duels and battles, both on land and sea and even places in between, and where princes go, princesses are bound to follow and, yes, there were many shield-maidens back then and all ours come right out of the original historic sources!  The book series is based on the First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus written in the twelfth century.  Give my series, THE VARANGIANS, a read and help me prove my theory.  Thanks!