[gothic-l] Re:Heruls

[andreas.schwarcz at UNIVIE.AC.AT]

On 8 Feb 2001, at 8:56, dirk at smra.co.uk wrote:

>
> 
> Hello Andreas,
> 
> that is very interesting information. Alas some systematics in the
> otherwise very blurred and speculative history of the Heruls. However,
> 
>  can you venture a guess as to the nature (tribe or warband?), 
> 'origin' (Danube area, Jutland or else?) and fate of the Heruls from
> your knowledge of the sources?
> 
> best regards
> Dirk

Hello Dirk,
as far as I can see, from the knowledge of the contemporary 
sources one can only guess as to nature and origin. For the 
western Heruls and the Maeotis Heruls I would say that they 
started as warbands (and their origin is pure speculation apart from 
a chance remark by Jordanes) and then settled down and became 
tribes. The Western Heruls were integrated into the Western 
empire, the Maeotis Heruls into the Hunnic realm. After the end of 
Attila´s realm remnants from the Eastern Heruls (moved by the 
Huns like the Goths under their domination to the Hungarian Plain) 
plus splinters from other groups formed a realm in Moravia and 
Slovakia, which was defeated by an uprising of the Longobards in 
508/509. Remnants of them found refuge in Ostrogothic Italy, a 
strong group was accepted by Anastasius into the eastern Empire 
in 512 A.D. and settled near Singidunum in today's Serbia (and for 
the first part of the sixth century gave a lot of soldiers and officers 
to the imperial army) and a part of them went according to 
Procopius north to Thule (and the description by Procopius fits for 
Scandinavia and not for Denmark) and found reception in the realm 
of the Gauti. I won't guess for the fate of that last group, because 
our written sources do not tell us anything more than that.
Kind regards
          Andreas

Ao.Univ.Prof.Dr.Andreas Schwarcz
Institut für österreichische Geschichtsforschung
Universität Wien
Dr.Karl Lueger-Ring 1
A-1010 Wien
Österreich
Tel.0043/1/42-77/272-16
Fax 0043/142-77/92-72

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