Heruli

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, together with 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...