[gothic-l] Re: Trailing the Eruli in the North

[faltin2001]

--- In gothic-l at y..., "troels_brandt" <trbrandt at p...> wrote:
> --- In gothic-l at y..., "faltin2001" <dirk at s...> wrote:
> >
> > > The Herulian mercenaries of Odoacer got land as wages - or the
> > income
> > > hereof. How do you know in which coinage they got their income?
> >
> > Since they were in Italy they will have received primarily coins
of
> > the Italian mints. In fact, Grierson and Blackburn stated
in 'Early
> > Medieval Coinage' that the strong increase in Italian mint
activity
> > in the late 470s reflected Odoaker's need to pay off his
solidiers
> > and mercenaries.
>
>
> Yes, but if they got land, Odoaker did not have to pay them in
coins.
> This was probably his way to tie them.


Possibly, but at least in part the payment might have consited of tax-
shares, which the sources often do not clearly distinguish from the
land itself. I don't think that Odoaker's Herulic mercenaries would
have been too interested in working on the land rather than receiving
revenue from it.





>
>
> > That is true, but since it was you how wrongly called
> > the Basiliscus coin in the Ottar mound 'a coin of Odoaker'
> > I felt it necessary to clarify this.
> >
> > >I regard the coin in Ottars mound as symbolic.
> >
> >
> > Well I think it shows that this king Ottar or people in his
> > vicinity had some sort of contact with Constantinopel.
>
>
> Exactly - and after earlier admitting my misunderstanding I
> understood from you, that the coin was from 476/77. The year 476 AD
> is said to be important in Uppsala's Aun-calender - and symbolic in
> Roman history.



I understand now what you meant. To be precice, the coin is from
475/76, the time when Basiliscus ruled.






>
> > > I do not believe the Pannonian Heruls were mercenaries of
> > > Theodoric, as they did not go to Italy after their defeat.
> >
> >
> > The North Danubian Heruls were allies of Theoderic. Their king
was
> > made son-in-arms of Theoderic. Whether this resulted in any kind
of
> > subsidy payments to bolster his son-in-arms we don't know.
>
>
> We know one letter to Roduulf and then the letters to Heruls,
Varnies
> and Thuringians showing that Theodoric tried to form alliances
> against the Franks. In my opinion the following events did in no
way
> indicate that he succeeded, and even if he did, there is no
> indication that he had to pay for it.



> .............
>
> I have noticed your comments about the coins. Unfortunately 5
solidi
> and the words "tend to" do not bring me much further.


Yes, I was surprised about the small number as well. Most of the
coins reported in this article are earlier Roman denars and coppers.
I wrote 'tend to' because their are exceptions and some
Constantinopel coins are also recorded in that region, but much less
than the West Roman coins.







As you earlier
> wrote that ALL Scandinavian solidi are from Constantinopel, I have
> one stupid question: How sure are you about the registration of the
> mints at these Scandinavian solidi?


Very sure. Fagerlie, among others investigated these coins and stated
that the complete absence of Ostrogothic gold coins in Scandinavia is
surprising. She noted that there is only one badly worn quarter-
siliqua of Theoderic. The actual mint-attribution is very easy and
undisputed. Most of the coins can be correctly attributed at first
glance. However, one Swedish author, Ulf Hagberg, while accepting
Fagerlie's findings still insisted on interpreting Scandinavian
solidi finds as mercenary payments made by Theoderic.

Dirk







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