[gothic-l] Re: Tracing the Eruli

[Dr. Dirk Faltin <dirk@smra.co.uk>]

> In my view (subject
> to correction) the simplest explanation is to have a
> fairly substantial number of Erulians (not hundreds
> but thousands, probably tens of thousands)trek
> northward into southern Sweden, establishing
> themselves "nest to" (not "among" since they retained
> their political independence and identity) the Gauts.



I would have a real problem with this notion of tens of thousands of
Heruls migrating to Thule. Firstly, a tribal army of that time
consisted of up to 3000 - 5000 warriors. The Goths and Franks had
more smaller peoples had less. However, as a general estimate this
number will be about right. Procopius tells us that most of the
Heruls were killed by the Langobards. From Cassiodorus we know that
parts of the survivors fled to Italy, and Procopius added that those
who sought refuge among Gepids and than Romans were in no state to
oppose anybody. In fact, the mere fact that they were too weak to set
up an independent kingdom shows that the remaining Heruls after 508AD
will not have been a large people. Also, even the idea that the 'tens-
of thousands' of Heruls were largely women and children is not
plausible. The logistic arrangement made by the court of Ravenna for
the resettlement of Gepids in 523AD to Gaul shows that such a large
migratory group, that was unable to take what it needed from others
by force, would have needed substantial administrative support.

If the group that split off from the last survivors who sought refuge
in the Roman empire was still 'tens of thousands' of people strong
this would still be a very strong group. Note, the Burgundians who
were resettled to the Sapaudia after their defeat by the Huns/Romans
numbered less than 10,000 (according to estimates by archaeologists),
but they were still very strong compared to the remaining Heruls.
Afterall, they were able to set up a kingdom.  Hence, since we know
that most of the Herulic warriors were likely killed while parts of
the people were scattered among Langobards, Ostrogoths, Romans etc.
the group that according to Procopius moved to Thule, must have been
very small indeed (my guess would be less than 1000). This would also
explain why they were completely absorbed into the local population
and why they did not set up a Herulic kingdom there. It also exlanes
the absence of any archaeological remains that point to the Heruls in
Thule.







> This became their "propriae sedes" in Scandinavia
> during the period ca. 510-ca. 548 AD. Some time during
> 548-551 there was a major war with the Danes, the
> result of which is reported by Jordanes as the loss of
> their "propriae sedes" by the Eruli. What happened to
> them afterwards has not been historically recorded. So
> we must rely on the evidence of archaeology and sagas
> etc. to emit hypotheses (as do Troels and others). The
> only certain thing is that this loss of their "sedes"
> led to the abandonment of a collective identity
> enjoyed by the Eruli for some 300 years.*****
>
>

These reports by Jordanes about Dani and Heruli are very problematic.
Some think that this information was brought to the court in Ravenna
by the Scandinavian king Roduulf, meaning that this antedates the
possible arrival of Eastern Heruls in Thule. I think that the
interpretations offered by Hachmann, Svennung and others, that the
Heruls were simply added to the list to demonstrate to the readers
that Goths and Heruls shared a common place of origin, thus making
them natural allies to the Ostrogoths. At that times there were still
Heruls living in Italy, who had arrived with Odoacer. As such this
quote may possibly have no historical ground.

Dirk




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/