Heruli

The Heruli (also Eruli, Herules, Herulians) were one of the smaller Germanic peoples of Late Antiquity, appearing in records from the third to sixth centuries AD. The best recorded group of Heruli established a kingdom north of the Middle Danube, in or near present day Lower Austria, together with the kingdom of the Rugii. These two kingdoms were among several which precipitated out of the Hun empire, following the death of Attila in 453 and the Battle of Nedao in 454. After the conquest of this Heruli kingdom by the Lombards, which happened in the period 493-511, splinter groups moved to Scandinavia and the region near present day Belgrade, which was at that time under Eastern Roman control.

Concerning the earlier history of the Heruli there are several common proposals which are the debated by scholars. Firstly, the Danubian Heruli are generally seen as descendants, or at least relatives, of the "Eluri" who lived near the Sea of Azov during in the 3rd century. In 267–270 these Eluri led two massive raids into Roman provinces in the Balkans and Aegean Sea, attacking not only by land, but notably also by sea. These raids were part of a longer series which also involved actions by Goths and other eastern European peoples. The equation of these "ELuRi" with the "ERuLi" was made by several Byzantine authors, and is still widely accepted; although some scholars such as the linguist Alvar Ellegård have argued against it. Secondly, Ellegård and others have argued that the Heruli were really a wandering warrior brotherhood, and not a tribe in the normal sense of the term. However, this proposal has also not gained many followers. Thirdly it has also long been proposed that the Heruli had their earliest origins in Scandinavia, mainly because a group of the defeated 6th-century Heruli moved from the Danube to Scandinavia. Fourthly, another old proposal is that there was a "Western Heruli" settlement based near the North Sea, possibly on the Lower Rhine or in Jutland. One reason for this is that in 286 AD, only a few years after the eastern raids, an Heruli army were defeated in an attack on Roman Gaul, which some historians speculate to have been an attack by sea.

What is more certain is that already in third century records of the Eastern European raids, "Eluri" were entered into the Roman military. In the fourth century, the "(H)eruli" were serving in its military in western Europe, spending time for example in Roman Britain and Gaul. One unit was paired with elite Batavi auxiliaries, and possibly already established at Passau on the Roman Danube frontier. Not far from this location there are also indications that the Herulian and Rugian kingdoms known from later centuries may already have been founded just outside the empire, in a region which had been decimated by the Marcomannic Wars of the late second century. As an elite force the Heruli and Batavi became the subject of an apparent dispute between Julian the Apostate the future emperor, and Constantius II, who wanted these forces in the Middle East.

After the Battle of Adrianople in 378 the Middle Danubian region was overwhelmed with armed groups and settlers from the east including Alans, Goths and Huns, and Rome lost control of the region. In 409 AD Heruli were among the "ferocious" nations, mostly from the Middle Danubian border area, that Saint Jerome described as occupying all of Roman Gaul. In the meantime, the new Hunnic empire of Attila established its base in the region, and some form of the Heruli kingdom probably continued to exist within it, along with the kingdoms of the Rugii and Gepids. After the death of Attila the Heruli fought in the Battle of Nedao, but it is not certain which side they took. They also participated in successive conquests of Italy by Odoacer (476), Narses (554), and probably also the Lombards, starting in 568. Under Eastern Roman command Heruli soldiers played important military roles in Balkan, African, Middle Eastern and Italian conflicts. Their last known kingdom at Belgrade was under Roman domination, and other Heruli integrated into larger political entities such as the Gepids and Lombards. The Heruli disappear from the historical record around the time of the conquest of Italy by the Lombards. In this period the Middle Danube was coming under the control of the Pannonian Avars, and Slavic languages were becoming common in that region.