[gothic-l] Re: Analogy between fate of Eruli and Burgundians?

[george knysh]

--- "Dr. Dirk Faltin <dirk at smra.co.uk>"
<dirk at smra.co.uk> wrote:
> --- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "Troels Brandt

 wrote:
> > > --- "Dr. Dirk Faltin <dirk at s...>"
 wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > >
> > > > One (hopefully) final point. The Herulic
> armies
> > > > which figured 3,000
> > > > and 1,500 respectively may at that time
> already have
> > > > attracted new
> > > > followers of the regions where they were
> stationed.
> > > > We know that the
> > > > Visigoths were several times in their history
> > > > supplemented by large
> > > > numbers of slaves, Roman peasants and miners
> who
> > > > became Visigoths.
> > > > Similarly, a unit of Heruls does not have to
> include
> > > > only the
> > > > remnants of the once powerful Herulic tribe.
> > >

> > I am not sure this point is so good. First of all
> no other people
> > would join the weak people Dirk describes
>
> (DF) We have many examples in the history of
> that period when
> slavs and peasants joined peoples like Visigothic
> groups even though
> they were not in good shape at time. I suppose this
> is simply a
> matter of relative conditions. A slave may still
> find it advantageous
> to become a soldier or warrior in a small and weak
> group if that
> means escaping slavery, combined with the prospect
> of plunder.
> Procopius tells us that the Illyrian Heruls
> harrassed the local Roman
> provincials. This alone could have been enought for
> slaves and minor
> peasants to join the marauding groups of Heruls.

******GK: A comment in passing. The "joiners" would
have been very few indeed, since otherwise this would
have precipitated a social crisis. So in a very real
sense this red herring by Dirk doesn't matter in the
least, and does not influence retroactive computation
of Illyrian-Erulian strength on the basis of
Procopius' figures of 3000+1500.*****


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