Heruli
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/Roman_Empire_125.png/260px-Roman_Empire_125.png)
The Heruli (also Eluri, Eruli, Herules, Herulians) were one of the smaller Germanic peoples of Late Antiquity. Along with their neighbours the Scirii, Rugii and Gepids, they are known from the third to sixth centuries. In the late 5th century AD and early 6th century they lived in a series of relatively small kingdoms established near the Roman frontier along the Middle Danube. At first they established a kingdom north of Vienna, which they were later able to expand southwards towards Lake Balaton, and eastwards towards the Tisza. After the conquest of this kingdom by the Lombards in 508, smaller groups were established in Sweden, Ostrogothic Italy, and present-day Serbia, which was under Eastern Roman control.
Like the Goths, soon after first being noted in contemporary records for their raiding the Heruli began entering the Roman empire and serving in its military, where they developed a particularly notable reputation already in the 4th century, at first mainly in the Western Roman Empire, where they were already mentioned in the late 3rd century. It has even been proposed that a western Heruli settlement existed somewhere near the Lower Rhine in this period, under Roman influence. Heruli were in any case settling somewhere near the Roman frontiers, and they were among the many groups causing disruption inside and outside of the empire in this period. In 405 or 406 Heruli were among the ferocious nations who Saint Jerome described as occupying all of Roman Gaul. Attila and his Huns were moving east and came to dominate the Danubian region. The Heruli kingdom known from later probably already existed in some form within Attila's empire, as did the kingdoms of the Ostrogoths, Scirii, and Gepids.
After the death of Attila in 453, the Danubian Heruli fought in the Battle of Nedao in 454, although it is not certain which side they took among his various former allies. They also participated in successive conquests of Italy by Odoacer (476), Theoderic the Great (493), Narses (554), and probably also the Lombards (starting in 568). After their independent kingdom was destroyed by the Lombards in 508, a part of the Danubian Heruli subsequently became established inside the Roman empire near Belgrade, and continued contributing fighting men to the Eastern Roman Empire, and participating in Balkan and Italian conflicts. With their last kingdom eventually dominated by Rome, and smaller groups integrated into larger political entities such as the Gepids and Lombards, the Heruli disappeared from history around the time of the conquest of Italy by the Lombards. In this period the Middle Danube was coming under the control of the Pannonian Avars.
The Danubian Heruli are believed to have moved from Ukraine during the 4th century, like their neighbours the Goths and Alans, forced to move by the entry of the Huns into Europe from the east. They are thus generally equated to the "Elouri" who lived near the Sea of Azov in the third century, and took part together with Goths and others in massive raids into Roman provinces in the Balkans and Aegean Sea, attacking not only by land, but notably also by sea. The equation of these "ELuRi" with the "ERuLi" was made by several Byzantine authors, and is still widely accepted. However, some scholars such as Ellegård consider such proposals uncertain, and have proposed that the Heruli homeland may be have actually been near the Middle Danube. In contrast, because a group of Danubian Heruli moved from the Danube to Scandinavia, some scholars believe that the Heruli had their earliest origins in Scandinavia, and that there may have been Heruli kingdoms in several parts of Europe. (Similar northern origins are also often proposed for the Goths and Rugii, and other Germanic peoples.)
Name
[edit]In English, the name of the Heruli is sometimes spelled as Heruls, Herules, Herulians or Eruli (all plurals). In the earliest mentions of them in 4th century records, they were called Eluri instead, with the "L" and "R" reversed, leading to some doubts about whether these were the same people.[1] The name Heruli was often written without "h" in Greek (Ἔρουλοι, 'Erouloi') and Latin (Eruli). Dexippus whose writings about these early "Eluri" only survive in fragments, gave their name a Greek etymology, claiming that that they were named after the swamps (ἕλη, hélē) of their Azov homeland.
According to modern scholars the etymology of the name is uncertain but it is sometimes thought to be Germanic and related to the English word earl (see erilaz) implying that it was an honorific military title.[2] There is even speculation that the Heruli were not a normal tribal group but a brotherhood of mobile warriors, though there is no consensus for this old proposal, which is based only on the name etymology and the reputation of Heruli as soldiers.[3]
Language
[edit]The Heruli are believed to have spoken a Germanic language.[4] Personal names are one of the only direct sources of evidence for this.[5] Some attested Heruli names are almost certainly Germanic,[6][7] and similar to Gothic names, but a large number are not easily attributed to any specific language family.[8][9]
Given their association with the Goths, the Heruli may have spoken an East Germanic language, related to the Gothic language.[10][11][12] Alternatively however, given their proposed connections to Scandinavia, it has also been proposed that they spoke a North Germanic language.[13]
Classification
[edit]When first mentioned by Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, the "Elouri" were referred to as "Scythians", along with the Goths and allied tribes.[14] The use of this term for Heruli and Goths probably began as early as Dexippus, most of whose work is now lost.[15] The use of this term does not give us any clear linguistic classification.[16]
In late antiquity, the Gepids, Vandals, Rugii, Sciri, the non-Germanic Alans and the actual Goths, were all classified by Roman ethnographers as "Gothic" peoples, and modern historians generally consider the Heruli to be one of these.[17] While historians such as Walter Goffart have pointed out that the Herules are never included in the lists of "Gothic peoples" of Procopius, Mihail Zahariade has pointed out that Zonaras (12.24.20) stated that the Heruli were of Gothic stock, and he suggests this might be why Latin authors did not distinguish the early Heruli from the Goths as carefully as Greek authors did.[18]
None of these eastern peoples were considered Germanic by Roman ethnographers at the time.[19] However, in modern scholarship the Heruli are usually classified as a Germanic people.[20][21][22][23] On account of having likely spoken an East Germanic language, the Heruli are often more specifically classified as an East Germanic people.[24][25]
History
[edit]Origins
[edit]Although contemporary records locate the Heruli first near the Sea of Azov, and later on the Middle Danube, their ultimate origins are traditionally sought in north-central Europe,[4] possibly Scandinavia.[23][26][27][28] Before the earliest contemporary records of them, the Heruli are thus commonly believed to have migrated towards the Black Sea in the 3rd century AD. Their better known neighbours there, the Goths, and possibly also their later Danubian neighbours Rugii, may have both had their origins on the southern Baltic shore. The Goths and their allies replaced the Sarmatians as the dominant power north of the Black Sea. The Sarmatians had in the 1st century AD partly replaced the Bastarnae, who are believed to have spoken a Germanic language. The arrival of the Heruli has thus been seen as part of a bigger cultural shift in this region, involving the migration from the northwest of more Germanic-speaking groups, who replaced the Sarmatians as the dominant power in the region.[29]
The main evidence for the proposed origins in Scandinavia is the 6th century work Getica of the historian Jordanes, who was based in Constantinople. He wrote that the Heruli had been driven out of their own settlements in Scandinavia by the Danes (Herulos propriis sedibus expulerunt).[30] This has been read as implying Heruli origins in the Danish isles or southernmost Sweden. However, the reliability and correct interpretation of this passage in the Getica is disputed, and depends on the idea that this expulsion was far in the past for Jordanes, who reported the Herules being in the Sea of Azov region already by the time of Ermanaric in the 4th century.[31][32] Alternatively, this expulsion from Scandinavia may have been recently before Jordanes was writing, and the expelled Heruli may have been recent immigrants to Scandinavia. Procopius, a contemporary of Jordanes, recounted a migration of a sixth-century group of Heruli noblemen to Scandinavia ("Thule") from their "homeland" on the Middle Danube.[33] Later, the Danubian Heruli found new royalty among these northern Heruli who had previously migrated northwards.[33] While the migration to Scandinavia can itself be seen as evidence of an old and continuous connection between the Heruli and Scandinavia, some recent scholars are sceptical of this interpretation, and have noted that Procopius does not depict the Heruli as returning to a homeland, but as leaving their homeland.[32][31] In 2021 Prostko-Prostyński argued that such doubts about Scandinavian origins are "hypercritical" and "ungrounded".[34][35]
Ellegård, one of the scholars who argues that the expulsion involved immigrants whose homeland was on the Danube, wrote that "the only thing we can say with reasonable certainty is that a small group of Eruli lived there [in Scandinavia] for some 38-40 years in the first half of the 6th century AD". He proposes that the evidence makes it most likely that the Heruli were "a loose group of Germanic warriors which came into being in the late 3rd century in the region north of the Danube limes that extends roughly from Passau to Vienna".[28]
On the Pontic-Caspian steppe
[edit]In 267/268 and 269/270 Graeco-Roman writers described two major campaigns by the "Eluri" (normally equated to the Heruli), into the Balkans.[36] Doubts have been raised about this earliest, Black Sea period in the history of the Heruli. The first author known to have equated these "Eluri" with the later "Eruli" was Jordanes, in the 6th century.[28] However, the Augustan History written in the late 4th century, Jordanes in the 6th century, and George Syncellus around 800 all equated them with the Heruli known in later times.[37]
Goths, Eluri, and other "Scythian" peoples from the region of the Sea of Azov, took control of Black Sea Greek cities, and gained a fleet that they used to launch raids along the northern Black Sea and as far as Greece and Asia Minor. Although some historians in the past doubted whether there were really two invasions so close together, these invasions began in the reign of Gallienus (260-268 AD), and continued until at least 269 during the reign of Marcus Aurelius Claudius, who subsequently took up the title "Gothicus" due to his victory.[38][39][40]
In 267, a Heruli (Αἴρουλοι) fleet departed from the Sea of Azov, past the Danube delta, and into the straits of the Bosphorus. They took control of Byzantion[a] and Chrysopolis before retreating to the Black Sea. Emerging to raid Cyzicus, they subsequently entered the Aegean Sea, where they troubled Lemnos, Skyros and Imbros, before landing in the Peloponnese. There they plundered not only Sparta, the closest city to their landing site, but also Corinth, Argos, and the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia. Still within 267 they reached Athens, where local militias had to defend the city. It seems to have been the Heruli specifically who sacked Athens despite the construction of a new wall, during Valerian’s reign only a generation earlier. This was the occasion for a famous defense made by Dexippus, whose writings were a source for later historians.[41]
Further north, in 268, Gallienus defeated Heruli at the river Nestos using a new mobile cavalry, but as part of the surrender a Herulian chief named Naulobatus became the first barbarian known from written records to receive imperial insignia from the Romans, gaining the rank of a Roman consul. It is highly likely that these defeated Heruli were then made part of the Roman military.[42][43]
Recent researchers such as Steinacher now have increased confidence that there was a distinct second campaign which began in 269, and ended in 270.[44] Later Roman writers reported that thousands of ships left from the mouth of the Dnieper, manned by a large force of various different "Scythian" peoples, including Peuci, Greutungi, Austrogothi, Tervingi, Vesi, Gepids, Celts, and Heruli. These forces divided into two parts in the Hellespont. One force attacked Thessaloniki, and against this group the Romans, led by Claudius now, had a major victory at the Battle of Naissus (Niš, Serbia) in 269. This was apparently a distinct battle from that at the Nessos. A Herulian chieftain named Andonnoballus is said to have switched to the Roman side, and this was once again a case where Heruli appear to have joined the Roman military. The second group sailed south and raided Rhodes, Crete, and Cyprus and many Goths and Heruli managed to return safely to harbor in the Crimea. Lesser attacks continued until 276.[45][46]
The Heruli are believed to have formed part of the Chernyakhov culture,[47] which, although dominated by the Goths and other Germanic peoples,[21] also included Bastarnae, Dacians and Carpi.[48] The Heruli are thus archaeologically indistinguishable from the Goths.[47][49]
Jordanes reports that these Heruli of the Azov area in the late 4th century AD were conquered by Ermanaric, king of the Greuthungian Goths.[50][51][52] Ermanaric's realm may also have included Finns, Slavs, Alans and Sarmatians.[48] Before being conquered by Ermanaric, Jordanes says that the Heruli were led by a king named Alaric.[52] Herwig Wolfram has suggested that the future Visigothic king Alaric I may have been named after this Herulian king.[53]
The "western" Heruli of the 4th century
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Heruli_seniores_shield_pattern.svg/220px-Heruli_seniores_shield_pattern.svg.png)
As with their neighbours the Goths, Heruli were already seen in western Europe before the empire of Attila, both as raiders and as soldiers working under Roman authority. They first appear at the time of their first ambitious campaigns in the east. In 286 Claudius Mamertinus reported the victory of Maximian over a group of Heruli and Chaibones (known only from this one report[b]) attacking Gaul. Further reports of the Heruli in the west continue in the 4th century and based on this there is a proposal that there was a distinct Western kingdom of Heruli living near the Lower Rhine, who were not descended from the Heruli who lived in the Black Sea.[54][55]
Already before the time of Attila the Romans established a Herulian auxiliary unit in the Western Roman Empire, and it has been argued that this implies that they were already settled somewhere within the empire. The Heruli seniores were stationed in northern Italy. This numerus Erulorum was a lightly-equipped unit often associated with the Batavian Batavi seniores. If there was ever a regiment called Heruli iuniores, then it is possible it was based in the Eastern Roman empire and it may have been one of the units which ceased to exist after the Battle of Adrianople in 378.[56]
- In about 314, the Heruli (like the Scirii and Rugii) were already listed in the Laterculus Veronensis as one of the barbarian peoples living within the Roman empire. Ellegård argues that this and other 4th century sources indicate that several of Attila's future allies in the Middle Danube were already established in the 4th century. He proposes that the Heruli were already based somewhere between Passau and Vienna.[57] Liccardo has however criticized Ellegård's interpretation of the evidence.[58]
- In 360, Constantius II ordered the future emperor Julian the Apostate, who then had command of forces in Gaul, to send some of his best units including the Heruli, Batavi, and others, for fighting against the Parthians in the Middle East.The records about this imply that the Heruli were a unit who had left their homes east of the Rhine, which Ellegård thinks is consistent with a base near Passau, while Liccardo emphasizes that it implies that they now lived west of the Rhine.[59][60]
- In 366 the Batavian and Heruli units fought against the Alamanni near the Rhine, under the leadership of Charietto, who died in the battle, and then against Picts and Scoti in Britain. They were subsequently sent to fight Parthians in the east.[61][62]
- In 405 or 406, a large number of barbarian groups crossed the Rhine, entering Roman Gaul, and the Heruli appear in the list of peoples given by the historian Jerome. However, this list is sometimes thought to have drawn on historical lists for literary effect. Furthermore the list included many of the Middle Danubian peoples from the East, including Roman provincials from Pannonia, and was already in the period where the Huns were causing major movements of such peoples.
- In 435 the Heruli are mentioned by Sidonius Apollinaris (Letter 7, lines 23-240) among the troops which Aëtius, who had spent time in exile with the Danubian Huns, used to defend Gallia Belgica, a Roman province, from Burgundians. (At least some of his troops such as the Sarmatians apparently came from Eastern Europe.)[63]
Ellegård argues that the association with the Batavi in this period should be seen not as a connection to the Lower Rhine, the original home of the Batavi unit centuries earlier, but to their quarters in this period which were at Passau (Castra Batava) on the Danube, not far from where the Heruli would later have their kingdom.[64] Liccardo argues that even though "units were moved around and over time tended to lose any ethnic or geographical homogeneity" they could still give hints about the origins of ethnic groups.[65]
At least two much later mentions of Heruli in southwestern Europe, after the Heruli were established on the Middle Danube, and in parts of Italy, can be connected to the Visigoths who had been granted a kingdom by the Romans in what is now southwestern France, but have also been taken to imply the existence of Heruli based on the North Sea coast, for example near the Lower Rhine. Firstly, two sea raids were made by Heruli around coastal Spain in the 450s, as reported by Hydatius. Secondly, shortly after 475 Sidonius Apollinaris reported the presence of Heruli at the Visigothic court of Euric in Bordeaux.[54][66] They are listed in a poetic way together with other barbarians, from places as distant as Parthia, who Sidonius found looking for protection and patronage.
Latin | English |
---|---|
hic glaucis Herulus genis vagatur, | Here wanders the Herulian with his blue-grey cheeks, |
imos Oceani colens recessus algoso prope concolor profundo. | who dwells in the uttermost retreats of Ocean and is almost of one colour with its algae-filled depths. |
Particularly striking in this passage is the implication that the Heruli homeland is on the "Ocean". More generally the connection of these Heruli with the sea, so far to the west, is sometimes taken as evidence that these were not Eastern Europeans. Steinacher on the other hand argues that the poetic references of Sidonius linking the Heruli to the sea, might be "nothing more than a bookish reference to 3rd-century accounts of Herules" who attacked form the Black Sea.[67] Recent scholars such as Steinacher and Halsall have furthermore pointed out that this evidence of Heruli in Visigothic territory is consistent with the conflicts within the Roman empire during this period, and therefore do not prove that these Heruli were not from the Black Sea and Danube. Halsall, for example, writes that it "must at least be a possibility that their raid constituted part of a Romano-Visigothic offensive against the Sueves". These Suebi, also from central Europe, had recently established a kingdom on the northern coast of Spain.[68] Steinacher demonstrates using examples from the period, including Charietto's life story, that barbarian soldiers could switch from being Roman soldier, to pirate, and back to soldier.[69]
Finally the 6th century correspondence of Theoderic preserved in Variae of Cassiodorus does not give any information about the location of the homeland of the Heruli kingdom. This makes it likely that the recipients of the letter was the Middle Danubian kingdom of the Heruli. However, proponents of a distinct Western Herulian kingdom near the Rhine note that the letter was also sent to the kings of the Thuringians and Warini quite far to the north of the Danube.[70]
Kingdom on the Middle Danube
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Huns450.png/220px-Huns450.png)
In the late 4th century, large groups of Eastern European peoples crossed the Lower Danube into the Roman empire, while other entered the Middle Danubian region, west of the Carpathians. By 405 when the Huns and their allies also established themselves in this region, large numbers of "ferocious" peoples including the Heruli, Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Alans, Gepids, Saxons, Burgundians, Alemanni, together with provincial inhabitants of Roman Pannonia, are reported by Saint Jerome to have occupied all parts of Roman Gaul. Some of these such as the Vandals and Alans eventually reached Iberia. Other groups from north of the Middle Danube crossed south into the empire, like the forces of Radagaisus, who invaded Italy.[71] By 450 AD, the Heruli and the other peoples still in the Middle Danube area, including Gepids, Rugi, Sciri and many Goths, Alans and Sarmatians, were firmly part of the Hunnic empire of Attila.[72] Heruli were among the peoples who are reported as having fought for Attila at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains.[citation needed]
After the death of Attila, his sons lost power over the various peoples of his empire at the Battle of Nedao in 454. The centre of this alliance was now settled upon the Roman border north of the Middle Danube. Heruli who were possibly on the winning side with the Gepids, were subsequently among the several peoples now able to form a kingdom in that area. The Herulian kingdom, was established north of modern Vienna and Bratislava, near the Morava river, and possibly extending as far east as the Little Carpathians. They ruled over a mixed population including Suevi, Huns and Alans.[73] Compared to other Middle Danubian kingdoms in this period, Peter Heather has described this Heruli kingdom as "middle-sized", similar to the Rugian one, but "clearly not as militarily powerful, say, as the Gothic, Lombard, or Gepid confederations which generated much longer-lived political entities, and into which elements of the Rugi and Heruli were eventually absorbed".[74]
From this region the life story of Severinus of Noricum reports that the Heruli attacked Ioviaco near Passau in 480.[73] The Heruli are listed by Jordanes as having fought at the Battle of Nedao, but we do not know if they took the Gepid or Ostrogothic side. However, they benefited from the subsequent downfall of Odoacer's people the Sciri, and were able established control on the Roman (south) side of the Danube, north of Lake Balaton in modern Hungary when they were apparently able to take over the kingdoms of the Suevi and Sciri, who had been under pressure from the Ostrogoths, who continued to press their old allies from the south.[75]
Odoacer, the commander of the Imperial foederati troops who deposed the last Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus in 476 AD came to be seen as king over several of the Danubian peoples including the Heruli, and the Heruli were strongly associated with his Italian kingdom. The Heruli on the Danube also took control of the Rugian territories, as they had become competitors to Odoacer and been defeated by him in 488. However Heruli suffered badly in Italy, as loyalists of Odoacer, when he was defeated by the Ostrogoth Theoderic.
By 500 the Herulian kingdom on the Danube, apparently by now under a king named Rodulph, had made peace with Theoderic and become his allies.[76] Paul the Deacon also mentions Heruli living in Italy under Ostrogothic rule.[77] Peter Heather estimates that the Herulian kingdom could muster an army of 5,000-10,000 men.[78]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Southeastern_Europe_in_520%2C_showing_the_Byzantine_Empire_under_Justin_I_and_the_Ostrogothic_kingdom.png/220px-Southeastern_Europe_in_520%2C_showing_the_Byzantine_Empire_under_Justin_I_and_the_Ostrogothic_kingdom.png)
Theoderic's efforts to build a system of alliances in Western Europe were made difficult both by counter diplomacy, for example between Merovingian Franks and the Byzantine empire, and also the arrival of a new Germanic people into the Danubian region, the Lombards who were initially under Herule hegemony. The Herulian king Rodulph lost his kingdom to the Lombards at some point between 494 and 508.[79]
Later history
[edit]After the Middle Danubian Herulian kingdom was destroyed by the Lombards in or before 508, Herulian fortunes waned. According to Procopius, in 512 a group including royalty went north and settled in Thule, which for Procopius meant Scandinavia.[31] Procopius noted that these Heruli first traversed the lands of the Slavs, then empty lands, and then the lands of the Danes, until finally settling down nearby the Geats.[80][33] Peter Heather considers this account to be "entirely plausible" although he notes that others have labelled it a "fairy story", and given that it only appears in one source it is possible to deny its validity.[74]
Another Heruli group were assigned civil and military offices by Theoderic the Great in Pavia in north Italy.[81]
What happened to the main part of the Danubian Heruli has been difficult to reconstruct from Procopius, but according to Steinacher they first moved downstream on the Danube to an area where the Rugii had sought refuge in 488. Here they suffered famine. They sought refuge among the Gepids, but wanting to avoid being mistreated by them crossed the Danube came under East Roman authority.[82][83]
Anastasius Caesar allowed them to resettle depopulated "lands and cities" in the empire in 512. Modern scholars debate whether they were moved then to Singidunum (modern Belgrade), or first to Bassianae, and to Singidunum some decades later, by Justinian.[84] This area had been re-acquired by the empire from the Goths, who now ruled Italy from Ravenna.[85] Justinian integrated them into the empire as a buffer between the Romans and the more independent Lombards and Gepids to the north. Under his encouragement, the Herule king Grepes converted to Orthodox Christianity in 528 together with some nobles and twelve relatives.[86] Procopius who felt that this made them somewhat gentler, also showed in his account of the wars against the African Vandals, that some of them were Arian Christians.[87]
The Heruli were often mentioned during the times of Justinian, who used them in his extensive military campaigns in many countries including Italy, Syria, and North Africa. Pharas was a notable Herulian commander during this period. Several thousand Heruli served in the personal guard of Belisarius throughout the campaigns, and Narses also recruited from them. They were a participant in the Byzantine-Sasanian wars.
Grepes and most of his family had apparently died by the early 540s, possibly in the Plague of Justinian (541-542).[88][89] Procopius related that in the 540s the Heruli who had been settled in the Roman Balkans killed their own king Ochus and, not wanting the one assigned by the emperor, Suartuas, they made contact with the Heruli who had gone to Thule decades earlier, seeking a new king. Their first choice fell sick and died when they had come to the country of the Dani, and a second choice was made. The new king Datius arrived with his brother Aordus and 200 young men.[90][91] The Heruli who were sent against Suartuas defected with him and were supported by the empire. The supporters of Datius, two thirds of the Heruli, submitted to the Gepids.[88] This period of rebellion against Rome lasted approximately 545–548, the period immediately before conflict between their larger neighbours the Gepids and Lombards broke out, but this rebellion was repressed by Justinian.[92]
In 549, when the Gepids fought the Romans, and Heruli fought on both sides.[93] In any case after one generation in the Belgrade area, the Herulian federate polity in the Balkans disappears from the surviving historical records, apparently replaced by the incoming Avars.[91]
Peter Heather has written that:
by c.540 being a Herule had ceased to be the main determinant of individual behaviour; the Heruli had ceased to operate together on the basis of that shared heritage, and different Heruli were adopting different strategies for survival in the new political conditions which even caused them to fight on opposing sides. After c.540, we still find small groups called Heruli fighting for the East Romans in Italy, and it is noticeable that the Roman commanders were careful to appoint for them leaders of their own race. Thus some sense of identity probably remained. That said, we are clearly dealing with a few fragments of the original group, and, in the prevailing circumstances, Herule identity had no future.[94]
Sarantis however shows that the Belgrade-region Heruli continued to be recruited, and to play a role in local conflicts involving the Gepids and Lombards, into the 550s. Suartas, a Herule general for the Romans, led Herule forces against the Gepids in 552 for example.[95] However it appears that by this period the semi-independent Heruli near Belgrade became Roman provincials.[96]
In 566, Sinduald, a Herule military leader under Narses, was declared a king of Heruli in Trentino in northern Italy, but he was executed by Narses. Sinduald was said to be a descendant of the Herules who had already entered Italy under Odoacer.[97][98]
Paul the Deacon writes that many Heruli joined the Lombard king Alboin in their eventual conquest of Italy from the empire in the late 6th century AD.[99]
Along with the Rugii and Sciri, the Heruli may have contributed to the formation of the Bavarii.[100]
Culture
[edit]Political culture
[edit]While there is very little detailed information available, historical sources name six kings of the Danubian Herules, from the first half of the 6th century. Unlike their neighbours the Goths and Gepids, they appear to have had a limited role, and some of the military leaders who fought under the Romans are better known. Based mainly on the remarks of Procopius it appears they did not necessarily make all decisions, but they were expected to play a partly symbolic role in leading their people in battle, and representing them in dealings with other peoples and empires. Procopius suggests that the Herulian kings were often challenged and could be deposed if they failed to meet the expectations of their people.[101]
Religion
[edit]The early religion of the Heruli is vividly described by Procopius in his History of the Wars. He describes them as a polytheistic society known to practice human sacrifice.[102][103] The Heruli appear to have been worshippers of Odin, and might have been responsible for the spread of such worship to Northern Europe.[104]
By the time of Justinian, Procopius reports that many Heruli were Arian Christians. In any case, Justinian appears to have pursued a policy of converting them to orthodox Chalcedonian Christianity.[87]
Society
[edit]Procopius writes that the Heruli practiced a form of senicide, having a non-relative kill the sick and elderly and burning the remains on a wooden pyre.[102][103] Procopius also states that, following the death of their husbands, Herulian women were expected to commit suicide by hanging.[105][103]
Furthermore, Procopius claims that the Heruli practiced homosexuality[106] or bestiality, depending on the interpretation:
They are still, however, faithless toward them [the Romans], and since they are given to avarice, they are eager to do violence to their neighbours, feeling no shame at such conduct. And they mate in an unholy manner, especially men with asses, and they are the basest of all men and utterly abandoned rascals.[103]
The translated "especially men with asses" is from the original Greek text (provided next to Dewing's translation) "ἂλλας τε καί ἀνδρῶν καί ὄνων"[103] where ὄνων is genitive plural of ὄνος, meaning donkeys.
It appears that Procopius disliked the Heruli and wanted to present them in as negative light as possible. His description of bestiality among the Heruli is almost certainly untrue.[106]
Warfare
[edit]The Heruli were famous for the quality of their infantry, who were recruited as mercenaries by all other peoples.[107] They were known particularly for their speed, and were perhaps used for the stabbing cavalry.[108] Procopius described the Heruli in the Battle of Anglon against Persians, carrying no protective armor save a shield and thick jacket.[109][105][110] This form of warfare has been compared to that of the berserkers of the Viking Age.[111]
Herulian slaves are known to have accompanied the Herules into combat. Slaves were forbidden from donning a shield until having proven themselves brave on the battlefield. This practice might be a relic of ancient Indo-European tradition.[106] Steinacher has pointed out that, while this remark has reasonably been seen as evidence of an "initiation rite", initiation rites are so common that caution is required:
It is of course far from clear exactly what Procopius had in mind when writing about Herul 'slaves'. But he surely provided plenty of evidence that any gens was open to newcomers. As in any other human community, both in the past and in the present, such newcomers had to prove themselves worthy before receiving full membership in that community. This must have been even truer for a community geared towards warfare.[112]
Material culture
[edit]The tumuli of the Heruli on the Middle Danube in the early 6th century are very similar to contemporary tumuli built in southern Sweden.[113] At this time, the Heruli appears to have had close trade relations with peoples living near the Baltic Sea.[113]
Physical appearance
[edit]In Getica, Jordanes writes that the Heruli claimed to be the tallest people of Scandza. Jordanes further writes that all the peoples of Scandza "surpassed the Germans in size and spirit".[30] Sidonius Apollinaris wrote that the Heruli had blue-grey eyes.[114]
The negative excursus of Procopius
[edit]Scholars remark that the historian Procopius had a notable fascination with the Herules, which colors his descriptions of them. As Steinacher remarks, "Procopius's Herul excursus [...] is full of stereotypes and negative attitudes towards this primitive people and its archaic conventions".[115] This means that caution is required when using his descriptions as evidence. In the words of Walter Goffart:
Though appreciative of their military qualities, he goes out of his way to blacken their character - "they are the basest of all men and utterly abandoned rascals," "no men in the world are less bound by convention or more unstable." His low opinion may result from the "special relationship" the Herules appear to have had with Justinian's eunuch general, Narses, who Procopius disliked.[116]
Although Procopius praised the Herule named Pharas who brought about the surrender of the north African Vandal king Gelimer, he noted that despite being born a Herule, he did not drink excessively and was not unreliable.[117]
Procopius was not mollified. The Herules were part of the panorama of an entire "West" that, owing to Justinian's neglect, had come into the possession of the barbarians by the late 540s. [...] The crowning irony, in the historian's view, was that, because some Herules served as Roman foederati, they both plundered Roman subjects and collected pay from the Roman emperor.[118]
Places sacked by the Heruli
[edit]See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- Liccardo, Salvatore (2024). "Who in the world are the Heruli?". Early Medieval Europe.
References
[edit]- ^ Steinacher 2010, p. 322.
- ^ Neumann 1999, p. 468.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, pp. 359–360.
- ^ a b Heather 2007, p. 469. "Heruli – Germanic-speaking group originally from north central Europe, some of whom migrated to regions north of the Black Sea in company with Goths and others in the 3rd century."
- ^ Taylor 1999, pp. 468–469.
- ^ Maenchen-Helfen 1947, pp. 837–838. "Schönfeld... offers Germanic etymologies not only for Faras and Alvith but also for Fanotheus, Filimuth, Hariso, Sindval, Svartva, Uligangus, and Visandus. Other Germanic names of the Heruli, not listed in Schönfeld, are Sindila, Batemodus, and Cunthia. Like the Heruli the Rugi were... most certainly a Germanic tribe... The Heruli and Rugians were Germans. So were the Scirians as proved by the names of their leaders."
- ^ Goffart 2006, pp. 335.
- ^ Taylor 1999, pp. 468–469: "Aufschluß über die Sprache der H. geben nur die Namen, von denen die lat. und griech. Qu. eindeutig berichten, daß sie von H.n geführt wurden. Diejenigen, die problemlos etymologisierbar sind, lassen sich im Hinblick auf diagnostische Dialektmerkmale nicht von got. Namen derselben Zeit unterscheiden. Dies kann jedoch auf einer sekundären Gotisierung in S-Europa sowie auf lat. und griech. Schreibgewohnheiten beruhen und braucht eine skand. Herkunft nicht auszuschließen."
- ^ Reynolds & Lopez 1946, p. 42: "It may be granted that the Heruls apparently were Germanic despite the fact that most of the personal names of their leaders baffle German philologist"; " We find among the Heruls an Ochus, which appears Iranian; an Aordus which appears to be based on the name of the Sarmatian Aorsi; and even a Verus, which is quite Roman. Names which "sound" perhaps Dacian were Andonnoballus, Datius, Faras, Alvith, for which neither Forstemann nor Schoenfeld offers a Germanic etymology or can offer one only on the supposition that Greek sources misspelled the name. Only Halaricus, Rodvulf, and Fulcaris yield results to Germanic etymology"
- ^ Murdoch & Read 2004, p. 5. "The Germani may be split into groups in a variety of ways. Tacitus speaks of Ingaevones, Herminones and Istaevones, which philologists have tried to associate with tribal and linguistic subdivisions. Other distinctions, based on the supposed geographical origins of various tribal groups, divided them into Nordgermanen (who would develop into the various Scandinavian peoples) and Oder-Weichsel-Germanen (those originating around the Oder and the Vistula, and including Goths and a number of tribes with un-or only scantily recorded languages, such as the Burgundians, Herulians, Rugians, Vandals and Gepids). The languages of these two broad groups are usually referred to as North and East Germanic, and are linked more closely with each other than with the third, West Germanic group, made up of Elbgermanen (Lombards, Bavarians and Alemanni or Alemans — again the spelling varies), Nordseegermanen (Angles, Frisians, Saxons) and Weser- Rhein-Germanen (Saxons and Franks)."
- ^ Murdoch & Read 2004, p. 149. "Gothic is associated with other so-called East Germanic languages spoken by tribes such as the Burgundians, the Vandals and the Gepids (classical historians group them with the Goths), the Herulians, and the Rugians."
- ^ Kaliff & Munkhammar 2011, p. 12. "East Germanic languages (those of the Burgundians, Gepids, Heruli, Rugians, Sciri and Vandals)."
- ^ Taylor 1999, p. 469.
- ^ Angelov 2018, p. 678.
- ^ Zahariade 2010.
- ^ Reynolds & Lopez 1946, p. 43 n22: "the term, of course, had no classificatory significance".
- ^ See for example Wolfram (2005, p. 77) and Steinacher (2017, p. 28).
- ^ Goffart (2006, pp. 205–206, 335) and Zahariade (2010, p. 167)
- ^ Wolfram 2005, p. 259.
- ^ Wolfram 1990, p. 592. "Heruli, Germanic tr."
- ^ a b Heather 1994, p. 87. "[S]ome of the territory covered by the Sîntana de Mureş–Černjachov culture may have been controlled not by Goths but by related Germanic peoples, such as the Heruli."
- ^ Heather 2012, p. 678. "Heruli, a Germanic people...
- ^ a b Angelov 2018, p. 715. "Heruli. Germanic tribe with possible origins in Scandinavia...
- ^ Green 2003, p. 13. "Goths and other East Germanic tribes attracted to this region (including Heruli, Burgundians, Vandals and Gepids)."
- ^ Neumann 1999, p. 468. "[D]ieses ostgerm. Ethnos..."
- ^ Green 2000, p. 131. "[T]he Heruli who in the course of their migrations sent a party back to Scandinavia for a king from amongst the members of their royal family who had remained behind."
- ^ Speidel 2004, p. 44.
- ^ a b c Ellegård 1987.
- ^ Heather 2010, p. 116.
- ^ a b Jordanes 1908, p. III (23).
- ^ a b c Goffart 2006, pp. 205–209.
- ^ a b Steinacher 2017, pp. 148–152.
- ^ a b c Procopius 1914, Book VI, XV
- ^ Steinacher 2022.
- ^ Prostko-Prostyński 2021.
- ^ Heather 2010, p. 124.
- ^ Schwarcz 1987, p. 394.
- ^ Steinacher 2017, pp. 55–66.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, pp. 322–327.
- ^ Schwarcz 1987, p. 393.
- ^ Steinacher 2017, pp. 58–60.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, p. 324.
- ^ Steinacher 2017, p. 62.
- ^ Also see Zahariade (2010).
- ^ Steinacher 2017, pp. 63–65.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, pp. 326–327.
- ^ a b Green 2000, p. 1.
- ^ a b Green 2000, p. 137.
- ^ Heather 1994, p. 87.
- ^ Steinacher 2017, pp. 77–80.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, pp. 331–333.
- ^ a b Jordanes 1908, p. XXIII (116).
- ^ Heather 1994, p. 33.
- ^ a b Goffart 2006, p. 206.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, p. 328.
- ^ Liccardo 2024, p. 291.
- ^ Ellegård 1987, p. 22.
- ^ Liccardo 2024, p. 297.
- ^ Liccardo 2024, pp. 292–293.
- ^ Ellegård 1987, p. 20.
- ^ Steinacher 2017, p. 67.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, pp. 326–328.
- ^ Steinacher 2017, p. 93.
- ^ Ellegård 1987, p. 21.
- ^ Liccardo 2024, p. 292.
- ^ Letters 8.9
- ^ Steinacher 2010, p. 329.
- ^ Halsall 2007, p. 260.
- ^ Steinacher 2017, pp. 69–74.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, pp. 328–330.
- ^ Goffart 2006, Ch.5.
- ^ Heather 2010, p. 208.
- ^ a b Steinacher 2010, p. 340.
- ^ a b Heather 2010, p. 242.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, p. 341.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, p. 338-345.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, p. 347.
- ^ Heather 2010, p. 251.
- ^ Sarantis 2010, p. 366.
- ^ Heather 2010, p. 430.
- ^ Steinacher 2017, p. 144.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, p. 350.
- ^ Steinacher 2017, pp. 144–145.
- ^ Sarantis 2010, p. 369.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, pp. 350–351.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, pp. 351–352.
- ^ a b Sarantis 2010, p. 372.
- ^ a b Goffart 2006, p. 209.
- ^ Steinacher 2017, p. 147.
- ^ Heather 2010, p. 225.
- ^ a b Steinacher 2010, pp. 354–355.
- ^ Sarantis 2010, pp. 393–397.
- ^ Sarantis 2010, p. 394.
- ^ Heather 1998, p. 109.
- ^ Sarantis 2010, p. 385.
- ^ Sarantis 2010, p. 402.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, p. 355.
- ^ Steinacher 2017, p. 159.
- ^ Heather 2010, p. 240.
- ^ Green 2000, p. 321.
- ^ Banfi 2022.
- ^ a b Davidson 1990, p. 54.
- ^ a b c d e Procopius 1914, Book VI, XIV
- ^ Davidson 1990, p. 148.
- ^ a b Davidson 1990, p. 67.
- ^ a b c Bremmer 1992, pp. 58–59.
- ^ Jordanes 1908, p. XXIII (117-118).
- ^ Speidel 2004, p. 136.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, p. 353.
- ^ Procopius 1914, Book II, XXV
- ^ Speidel 2004, pp. 58–61.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, p. 360.
- ^ a b Christie 1995, p. 29.
- ^ Heather 2007, p. 423.
- ^ Steinacher 2017, p. 349.
- ^ Goffart (2006, pp. 206–207)
- ^ Steinacher 2017, p. 168.
- ^ Goffart (2006, p. 208)
Sources
[edit]Ancient sources
[edit]- Jordanes (1908). The Origins and Deeds of the Goths. Translated by Mierow, Charles C. Princeton University Press.. Also see Latin version: https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/iordanes1.html.
- Procopius (1914). History of the Wars. Translated by Dewing, Henry Bronson. Heinemann.
Modern sources
[edit]- Angelov, Alexander (2018). "Heruli". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press. p. 678. doi:10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001. ISBN 9780191744457. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
- Banfi, Jaka (2022), "Kralji Herulov: vladarji ljudstva, ki ni »spisalo« zgodovine, in njihov regnum", in Cedilnik; Lovenjak (eds.), Na obzorju novega: območje severnega Jadrana ter vzhodnoalpski in balkansko-podonavski prostor v obdobju pozne antike in zgodnjega srednjega veka: posvečeno Rajku Bratožu ob njegovi sedemdesetletnici, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani, doi:10.4312/9789612970161
- Bremmer, Jan (1992). "A Enigmatic Indo-European Rite: Paederasty". Homosexuality in the Ancient World. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9780815305460.
- Christensen, Arne Søby (2002). Cassiodorus, Jordanes and the History of the Goths. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 9788772897103.
- Christie, Neil (1995). The Lombards. Wiley. ISBN 0631182381.
- Davidson, Hilda Ellis (1990). Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Penguin UK. ISBN 9780141941509.
- Drout, M. D. C.; Goering, N. (2020). "The Emendation Eorle (Heruli) in Beowulf, Line 6a: Setting the Poem in 'The Named Lands of the North'". Modern Philology. 117 (3): 285–300. doi:10.1086/707097. S2CID 214550424.
- Ellegård, Alvar (1987). "Who were the Eruli?". Scandia. 53.
- Goffart, Walter (2006). Barbarian Tides: The Migration Age and the Later Roman Empire. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812239393.
- Green, D. H. (2000). Language and history in the early Germanic world. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521794234.
- Green, Dennis H. (2003). "Linguistic Evidence For The Early Migrations Of The Goths". In Heather, Peter (ed.). The Visigoths from the Migration Period to the Seventh Century. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. pp. 11–40. ISBN 9781843830337.
- Green, D. H. (2014). "The Boii, Bohemia, Bavaria". In Fries-Knoblach, Janine; Steuer, Heiko; Hines, John (eds.). The Baiuvarii and Thuringi: An Ethnographic Perspective. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. pp. 11–22. ISBN 9781843839156.
- Halsall, Guy (2007). Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376–568. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107393325.
- Heather, Peter (1998), "Disappearing and reappearing tribes", in Pohl, Walter; Reimitz, Helmut (eds.), Strategies of Distinction: The Construction of the Ethnic Communities, 300-800, BRILL, ISBN 9004108467
- Heather, Peter (1994). Goths and Romans 332–489. Oxford Scholarship Online. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205357.001.0001. ISBN 9780198205357.
- Heather, Peter (2007). The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195325416.
- Heather, Peter (2010). Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199892266.
- Heather, Peter (2012). "Heruli". In Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony; Eidinow, Esther (eds.). The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press. p. 715. ISBN 9780191735257. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
- Kaliff, Anders; Munkhammar, Lars (2011). Wulfila 311-2011 (PDF). Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 9789155486648. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2020.
- Liccardo, Salvatore (2024), "Who in the world are the Heruli?", Early Medieval Europe, 32 (3): 284–305, doi:10.1111/emed.12712
- Maenchen-Helfen, Otto (July 1947). "Communications". The American Historical Review. 52 (4). American Historical Association: 836–841. JSTOR 1842348.
- Murdoch, Brian; Read, Malcolm Kevin (2004). Early Germanic Literature and Culture. Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 157113199X.
- Neumann, Günter [in German] (1999). "Heruler: § 1. Philologisches". Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde. Vol. 14. Walter de Gruyter. p. 468. ISBN 9783110164237.
- Prostko-Prostyński, Jan (2021), A History of the Herules, Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu Poznań, ISBN 978-83-232-3902-4
- Reynolds, Robert L.; Lopez, Robert S. (October 1946). "Odoacer: German or Hun?". The American Historical Review. 52 (1). American Historical Association: 36–53. doi:10.2307/1845067. JSTOR 1845067.
- Sarantis, Alexander (2010). "The Justinianic Herules". In Curta, Florin (ed.). Neglected Barbarians. ISD. ISBN 9782503531250.
- Schwarcz, Andreas (2020), "Gotische und herulische maritime Einfälle in das Imperium Romanum in der zweiten Hälfte des 3. Jahrhunderts n. Chr.", in Mitthof, Fritz; Martin, Gunther; Grusková, Jana (eds.), Empire in Crisis: Gothic Invasions and Roman Historiography. Beiträge einer internationalen Tagung zu den Wiener Dexipp-Fragmenten (Dexippus Vindobonensis) in Wien, 3.–6. Mai 2017
- Speidel, Michael P. (2004). Ancient Germanic Warriors: Warrior Styles from Trajan's Column to Icelandic Sagas. Routledge. ISBN 1134384203.
- Steinacher, Roland [in German] (2010). "The Herules: Fragments of a History". In Curta, Florin (ed.). Neglected Barbarians. ISD. ISBN 9782503531250.
- Steinacher, Roland (2017), Rom und die Barbaren. Völker im Alpen- und Donauraum (300-600), Kohlhammer Verlag, ISBN 9783170251700
- Steinacher, Roland (2022), "Jan Prostko-Prostyński, A History of the Herules. Poznań, UAM 2021", Historische Zeitschrift, 315 (2): 477–478, doi:10.1515/hzhz-2022-1363
- Taylor, Marvin Hunter (1990). "The Etymology of the Germanic Tribal Name Eruli". General Linguistics. 30 (2): 108–125.
- Taylor, Marvin Hunter (1999). "Heruler". Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde. Vol. 14. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 468–473. ISBN 9783110164237.
- Wolfram, Herwig (1990). History of the Goths. Translated by Dunlap, Thomas J. University of California Press. ISBN 0520069838.
- Wolfram, Herwig (2005). The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520244900.
- Zahariade, Mihail (2010), "A Crux in Bellum Scythicum. The Invasion of 267: Gothi or Heruli?", Antiquitas istro-pontica : Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire ancienneofferts à Alexandru Suceveanu
External links
[edit] Media related to Heruli at Wikimedia Commons
- The American Cyclopædia. Vol. 8. 1879. .
- Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. .
- Troels Brandt: The Heruls in Scandinavia Archived 2019-02-26 at the Wayback Machine