The Heruli (also Eruli, Herules, Herulians) were one of the smaller Germanic peoples of Late Antiquity, appearing in records from the third to sixth centuries AD. The best recorded group of Heruli established a kingdom north of the Middle Danube, in or near present day Lower Austria, close to the kingdom of the Rugii. These two kingdoms were among several which precipitated out of the Hun empire, following the death of Attila in 453 and the Battle of Nedao in 454. After the conquest of this Heruli kingdom by the Lombards, which happened in the period 493-511, splinter groups moved to Scandinavia and the region near present day Belgrade, which was at that time under Eastern Roman control.
Concerning the earlier history of the Heruli there are several common proposals which are the debated by scholars. Firstly, the Danubian Heruli are generally seen as descendants, or at least relatives, of the "Eluri" who lived near the Sea of Azov during in the 3rd century. In 267–270 these Eluri led two massive raids into Roman provinces in the Balkans and Aegean Sea, attacking not only by land, but notably also by sea. These raids were part of a longer series which also involved actions by Goths and other eastern European peoples. The equation of these "ELuRi" with the "ERuLi" was made by several Byzantine authors, and is still widely accepted; although some scholars such as the linguist Alvar Ellegård have argued against it. Secondly, Ellegård and others have argued that the Heruli were really a wandering warrior brotherhood, and not a tribe in the normal sense of the term. However, this proposal has also not gained many followers. Thirdly it has also long been proposed that the Heruli had their earliest origins in Scandinavia, mainly because a group of the defeated 6th-century Heruli moved from the Danube to Scandinavia. Fourthly, another old proposal is that there was a "Western Heruli" settlement based near the North Sea, possibly on the Lower Rhine or in Jutland. One reason for this is that in 286 AD, only a few years after the eastern raids, an Heruli army were defeated in an attack on Roman Gaul, which some historians speculate to have been an attack by sea.
What is more certain is that already in third century records of the Eastern European raids, "Eluri" were entered into the Roman military. In the fourth century, the "(H)eruli" were serving in its military in western Europe, spending time for example in Roman Britain and Gaul. One unit was paired with elite Batavi auxiliaries, and possibly already established at Passau on the Roman Danube frontier. Not far from this location there are also indications that the Herulian and Rugian kingdoms known from later centuries may already have been founded just outside the empire, in a region which had been decimated by the Marcomannic Wars of the late second century. As an elite force the Heruli and Batavi became the subject of an apparent dispute between Julian the Apostate the future emperor, and Constantius II, who wanted these forces in the Middle East.
After the Battle of Adrianople in 378 the Middle Danubian region was overwhelmed with armed groups and settlers from the east including Alans, Goths and Huns, and Rome lost control of the region. In 409 AD Heruli were among the "ferocious" nations, mostly from the Middle Danubian border area, that Saint Jerome described as occupying all of Roman Gaul. In the meantime, the new Hunnic empire of Attila established its base in the region, and some form of the Heruli kingdom probably continued to exist within it, along with the kingdoms of the Rugii and Gepids. After the death of Attila the Heruli fought in the Battle of Nedao, but it is not certain which side they took. They also participated in successive conquests of Italy by Odoacer (476), Narses (554), and probably also the Lombards, starting in 568. Under Eastern Roman command Heruli soldiers played important military roles in Balkan, African, Middle Eastern and Italian conflicts. Their last known kingdom at Belgrade was under Roman domination, and other Heruli integrated into larger political entities such as the Gepids and Lombards. The Heruli disappear from the historical record 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, and Slavic languages were becoming common in that region.
Name In English, the plural "Heruli" can also be spelled as Eruli, Heruls, Herules, or Herulians. The name is sometimes written without "h" in Greek (Ἔρουλοι, "Erouloi"), Latin (Eruli), and English. Whether or not the h was pronounced is uncertain.
In the earliest mentions of them in 4th-century records, they were apparently called "Eluri", with the "L" and "R" reversed compared to later records, although there are doubts about whether the "Eluri" from the Sea of Azov were the same people as the later "Eruli" who later lived near the Danube. Dexippus, whose writings about these "Eluri" only survive in fragments, connected their name to a Greek etymology, claiming that they were named after the swamps (ἕλη, hélē) of their Azov homeland, and this may have influenced the early spelling.
According to modern scholars the etymology of the name is uncertain, but it is generally thought to be Germanic. Traditionally it has been speculated that it is related to the English word earl (see erilaz) implying that it was an honorific military title. This etymology is associated with the controversial speculation that the Heruli were not a normal tribal group but a brotherhood of mobile warriors, but there is no consensus for this, and it is based only on this proposed etymology and the reputation of Heruli as soldiers. There have been proposals which connected this etymology with Germanic words found in runic inscriptions in Scandinavia signifying a pronunciation erilaR, and there have also been proposals that the word is connected to Germanic words for werewolves and beings with magic powers. None of these proposals can be verified.
Classification and language The 3rd century AD "Elouri" were referred to by contemporary writers such as Dexippus, most of whose work is now lost, as "Scythians", as were the Goths and other allied tribes. However, this was not a linguistic classification. The Goths and other "Scythians" were never classified as Germanic in classical times.
In the 6th century, Procopius categorized many Eastern European peoples who were now settled near the Danube as "Gothic" (or "Getic") peoples, and he asserted that they shared a common language called Gothic. He included the Gepids, Vandals, Sciri, and even the Alans, who did not originally speak a Germanic language.Procopius, Wars, 3.2.2, 5.1.3 In contrast, historians such as Walter Goffart have pointed out that Procopius never listed the Heruli among the Gothic peoples, and he explicitly believed their homeland was near the Danube. Only Jordanes linked the eastern European Eluri to the later Danubian Eruli. Nevertheless, modern historians often group the Heruli with the Gothic Peoples.See for example and . Mihail Zahariade has pointed out that one much later medieval source, Zonaras (about 1070–1140), did state that the Heruli were of Gothic stock.} and citing Zonaras 12.24.20
In contrast to ancient scholarship, modern scholars have traditionally used language to classify peoples. The Heruli are generally believed to have spoken a Germanic language, as the Goths certainly did, and to have therefore been a "Germanic people" in the modern sense. However, Heruli personal names are one of the only direct sources of evidence for their language, and the strength of this evidence has been debatable. Many of the identifiably Germanic names are indistinguishable from Gothic names, and could be a result of Gothic influence () when the two peoples were living in southeastern Europe. In the period following World War 2, such name analysis became a topic of scholarly debate in America, when Robert L. Reynolds and Robert S. Lopez criticized the assumption by Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen that Odoacer was a "German" and could not have been a "Hun", and within this exercise they accepted that "the Heruls apparently were Germanic despite the fact that most of the personal names of their leaders baffle German philologists", noting several Heruli names which appear to come from other languages. Maenchen-Helfen subsequently replied, calling the article a good corrective, but insisting among other things that the Heruli were Germanic. In the same edition the counter reply of Reynolds and Lopez clarified that they think there is not enough evidence to decide., , The strength of the evidence has remained controversial. Walter Goffart repeated the claim that most of Heruli personal names can't be explained, although some names are "definitely Germanic". More recently, Prostko-Prostyński has argued in detail that "a large number of Herulian names are certainly Germanic", though he also identifies some which appear to come from other language families.
On account of possibly having likely spoken an East Germanic language related to Gothic, the Heruli are sometimes more specifically classified as an "East Germanic people".; However, other scholars who connect the Heruli to Scandinavia have argued that they originally spoke a North Germanic language, and the name evidence remains inconclusive about the original Herule language.
History Possible Scandinavian origins
Although the first clear contemporary records of the Heruli are either near the Sea of Azov in the 3rd century AD, or later on the Middle Danube, their ultimate origins have traditionally been sought in Scandinavia.See for example , , The Heruli, or at least a part of them, are thus commonly believed to have migrated from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea before the 3rd century. There is no record of this, or scholarly consensus, but their Black Sea neighbours the Goths, and their later Danubian neighbours the Rugii, are also both believed to have had their origins near the Baltic, and there are similar proposals that their ultimate origins were in Scandinavia.
A general idea that many non-Roman peoples in Europe had their ultimate origins in Scandinavia is derived from the 6th century historian Jordanes. He claimed that the Goths and Gepids both came from Scandinavia many centuries before his time, and he described it as being "like a workshop or even better the womb of nations" (quasi officina gentium aut certe velut vagina nationum). This narrative was very influential upon medieval writers, and modern scholars. Jordanes also specifically mentioned the Heruli in a discussion about Scandinavia, saying Heruli living there had been driven out of their own settlements in Scandinavia by the Danes (Herulos propriis sedibus expulerunt), although he does not specify when this happened.Jordanes, Getica, III.23 English, Latin This is interpreted by modern scholars in at least two different ways., The expulsion happened centuries before Jordanes, and the Heruli origins are ultimately in present-day Denmark or southern Sweden., This expulsion from Scandinavia was not long before the time of Jordanes, and the Heruli involved may have been recent immigrants to Scandinavia, who had left the Danubian region after the Heruli kingdom there was destroyed. Such a migration is mentioned by Procopius, a contemporary of Jordanes, who mentioned that after the fall of the Danubian kingdom some Herules re-established themselves near present day Belgrade, among the Romans, while others moved north, crossing from the land of the Danes across the "ocean" to the "island" of Scandinavia ("Thule") where they became neighbours of the "Gauts". He also mentions that when the king of the Belgrade Heruli was later murdered, they sent an embassy to the Heruli in Scandinavia, and returned with a new king.Procopius, Wars, VI.14.42-VI.15