[gothic-l] The Eruli after Defeat by Lombards

[Bertil Haggman]

Troels,

Thanks for your answer. Was there, in your opinion,
a movement other than the one Procopius describes
as via the Varni (could it have anything with the river
Warne to do, Warnemuende?)? After these, so P.,
the Eruli passed by the nations of the Dani. Then arriving
at the ocean they took to the sea and put in at Thule.

Did a group of Eruli split from the main group to follow
the River Oder, cross the Baltic Sea and settle
in Scania and Blekinge? At this time Scania would,
so I see it, probably already have been settled while
in Blekinge there world probably still be areas to
settle. The same with Oeland which according to the
latest reports (the book connected to the ongoing
exhibition on gold on Oeland at Borgholm) was a
very wealthy area which also ought to have been
settled. Remains Blekinge and maybe Vaerend.

Would the other side of the Gautoi be north of Goetaland
in Uppland then? That would geographically mean
they crossed from Denmark to Goetaland and would
have to pass throught the land of Gautoi as well,
which probably would have led to strife, if the Gautoi
like the Danoi did not accept a promise by the Eruli
that they would only pass through.

Then there is of course the question of Eruli in Norway.
If one connects the Eruli with the ek erilaR inscriptions
there ought to have been Eruli in Norway as well?

Gothically and Erulically

Bertil






We agree in most of this and the rest we have discussed eagerly
before under the title Eruli in Blekinge.

I still do not agree, that the Heruls of Procopius settled in
Blekinge, but since then I have realised, that a group of Heruls
probably followed the Oder from their kingdom in Moravia in the 5th
century. This group settled in Scania and Blekinge (a.e. your
Listerland and Soesdala), and maybe these were the Heruls, who were
expelled by the Danes - not in the 3rd, but in the 5th century before
Jordanes/Cassiodorus wrote their history - when they ravaged their
surroundings. The archaeological changes at Oeland and Bornholm
opposite the mouth of the Oder might be connected to these events.

Therefore the Herulian royal family knew exactly what they did, when
they left Pannonia for Scandinavia and passed the Danes peacefully
They probably promised to settle at the other side of the Gautoi as
a "stabilizing" element against the Svear. In this case they were
probably a Gothic tribe, and therefore Procopius stressed that they
settled as neighbours to the Gautoi - which was the only new
information Procopius had about Thule from Suartues or other Heruls.
The rest he knew from earlier writers. Some signs might indicate that
some of the Heruls still had a religion like the old Gothic described
by Jordanes, and it was therefore natural for them to look for more
familiar surroundings at the Gautois when they were defeated by the
Christian Germanic tribes in Southern Europe.

In this way you can get your Eruli in Blekinge, and I can get my
Heruls - or should I say Eriler - in Uppsala/Vendel.




------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Small business owners...
Tell us what you think!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/vO1FAB/txzCAA/ySSFAA/wWMplB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>.

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/