Beefonthebone's correct. The Vikings wer driving down to (fatally, as it turns out) establish a feudal system in Kievan-Rus around the 12th and 13th centuries ACE. A number of the more famous Vikings rented their services as missionaries to the Holy Roman Empire in Byzantium around the same time, where they were often employed as bodyguards. Viking exploration started around 900-1000 ACE, again long after the Roman Empire had collapsed.
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