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The Heruli (or Herules) were one of several "barbarian" groups, described by Roman writers as "Scythian" peoples, who first appeared north of the Black Sea and Danube in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. Together with their better-known neighbours the Goths, they raided Roman provinces in the Balkans and Aegean, attacking by land, and notably also by sea. During this time they reportedly lived near the Sea of Azov.
Based on the belief that they spoke a East-Germanic language like the Goths, the Herules are often categorized on a linguistic basis as Germanic peoples. (Walter Goffart has however pointed out that the evidence for their language is limited and inconclusive, and Procopius never included him any of his lists of "Gothic peoples".)
Like other such smaller Gothic-associated groups, from the 4th century AD the Heruli are believed to have been dominated first by Gothic leaders, then by the Huns. Many also served in the Roman military, where they had an notable reputation. After the death of Attila in 454, similar to several other such peoples who had previously been subject to Gothic and Hunnic hegemony, they established their own kingdom on the Middle Danube, and participated in the conquest of Italy by Odoacer. Their kingdom was destroyed by the Lombards in the early 6th century AD. The Heruli disappear from history with the conquest of Italy by the Lombards.
There is evidence of the Heruli having a presence in western Europe, and scholars were once more confident that they even had a western kingdom, perhaps based on the lower Rhine river. This proposal is now treated more skeptically. Steinacher has suggested such groups may have been mobile due to a connection with the Roman military.
Based on the Gothic history of Jordanes the Heruli are often proposed to have a similar origin to the Goths, Gepids and Rugii, supposedly in Scandinavia which Jordanes described as a womb of nations. Linguistic and archaeological evidence and speculations do not specifically support a Scandinavian origin for the Heruli, but they do support the idea of connections between their region and the Baltic Sea more broadly defined. Although the evidence for the language of the Heruli is unclear, the dominant language of the Gothic groups was in the Germanic family, thought to have first been spoken by the archaeological Jastorf culture. Archaeologically, this culture had a strong influence on archaeological cultures to the east and south east, the Wielbark and Przeworsk cultures, which in turn contributed a strong influence on the Gothic groups centuries later who lived within the archaeological Chernyakhov culture. It is believed this cultural influence also included the use of Germanic languages.
Language
Although generally assumed to be Germanic-speaking, like the Goths, the evidence for the Herule language is limited to names and inconclusive. Some of these names are considered to be definitely Germanic, but others are not, and the peoples of Sarmatia and the Middle Danube often used Gothic names.
History
Uncertain origins
In the 19th century, Jacob Grimm proposed that the Heruli may have a connection to the people known as the Harri mentioned by Tacitus and the Hirri mentioned by Pliny the Elder in what is now Poland, centuries earlier than the appearance of the Heruli. Pliny stated that the territory extending from the Vistula river, as far as Aeningia (probably Estland or Finland), is inhabited by the following nations: the Veneti, the Scirii and the Hirri. Relevant to this proposal, the Scirii were another Gothic people who, like the Herules, are thought to have moved from somewhere near the Sea of Azov towards the Middle Danube, during the times of Attila the Hun. Tacitus, on the other hand, described the Harri as one of the largest tribes of the Lugian peoples who he described as Germanic, living approximately in southern Poland.
Jordanes, the 6th-century AD writer of a Gothic origins story, the usefulness of which is much questioned by modern scholars, reported that the Herules had been driven out of their homeland by the North Germanic Dani, which implies origins in the Danish isles or southernmost Sweden. This is the first mention of the Danes in surviving writing. He furthermore reports that the Heruli "claim pre-eminence among all the nations of Scandza for their tallness".
Procopius, a contemporary of Jordanes, thought the ancestral land of the Herules was in the Middle Danube area, but he reported that after a defeat to the neighboring Lombards, a group of Herules moved north to live near the Geats in southern Sweden. Some scholars have seen this as evidence that the Herules knew they had an ancestral connection to this place, although there is no consensus that the story can be used this way.
Their name, often written in Greek and Latin with no "h", is sometimes thought to be Germanic and related to the English word earl (see erilaz) implying that it was an honorific military title. There is even speculation that the Herules were not a normal tribal group but an elite group of mobile warriors, though there is no consensus for this theory.
On the Pontic steppe
The first clear mention of the Herules by Roman writers is generally taken to be in the reign of Gallienus (260-268 AD). This is based on accepting the later writer Jordanes, who equated the Herules of his time and the "Elouri" mentioned by Dexippus.These Elouri accompanied the Goths and other "Scythians" ravaging the coasts of the Black Sea (today southern Ukraine) and later entering the Aegean, a "sea-borne invasion of unprecedented size took place in the spring of 268". Sacks of Byzantium, Chrysopolis, Lemnos, Scyros, Sparta, Corinth and Argos followed.
Armed groups moved around Greece and the Balkans, and the East Roman military took several years to contain the threat. After suffering a crushing defeat at the river Nestos one surrendering Herul chief named Naulobatus became the first barbarian known from written records to receive imperial insignia from the Romans. It seems to have been the Herules specifically who sacked Athens despite the construction of a new wall, during Valerian’s reign only a generation earlier. This was the occasion for a famous defense made by Dexippus, whose writings were a source for later historians. The Romans had a major victory at the Battle of Naissus in 269, apparently a distinct battle from that at the Nessos, where a Herul chieftain named Andonnoballus is said to have switched to the Roman side. But attacks continued until 276.
Herules were also seen in western Europe before the empire of Attila. In 268 Claudius Mamertinus reported the victory of Maximian over a group of Herules and Chaibones (known only from this one report) attacking Gaul. It is believed that it was from this time that the Romans instituted a Herul auxiliary unit, the Heruli seniores, who were stationed in northern Italy and often associated with the Batavian Batavi seniores.
Ermanaric's empire
Jordanes mentions the Herules as one of the first peoples to become subject to the empire of the Gothic king Ermanaric, who he described as a Gothic Alexander the Great. Unfortunately, although Ermanaric's existence is confirmed by other historians, the details of the account of Jordanes are considered unreliable and his description of the "empire" is considered likely to be exaggerated.
Jordanes reports that the Herules lived near the Sea of Azov, possibly derived from his reading of older historians. Their leader at this time was named Alaric (or Halaric), a name which would be used several times in later history of the East Germanic peoples including the Goths. After this nothing is heard of them again in that region.
Arrival of the Huns
In 406, a large number of barbarian groups crossed the Rhine, entering the Roman empire, and the Herules appear in the list of peoples given by the historian Jerome. However this list is sometimes thought to have drawn on historical lists for literary effect. A more difficult phenomenon for historians to explain is the appearance in these times of significant sea-borne raiding groups of Herules, as far away as northern Portugal, by this time under control of Suevi who had been involved in the 406 Rhine crossing approximately 50 years earlier. This was reported by Hydatius. Some historians have even speculated that there must have been a western Herul group with a power base somewhere in northern Europe, but not all historians agree that this assumption is justified.
It has been suggested that these Herules were working under the Visigothic kingdom in nearby southwestern France, and descended largely from eastern peoples who had been in the Roman army of the goth Alaric I in Italy, and who were heavily involved in conflict with the Suevi and other kingdoms in Iberia at the time.
Independent Kingdom
After the death of Attila, his sons and their Ostrogoth allies lost power over the various peoples of his empire at the Battle of Nedao in 454. The centre of this alliance was now settled upon the Roman border. Herules on the winning side of the Gepids were subsequently among the several peoples now able to form a kingdom on the northern banks of the Danubian area. The losing Ostrogothic forces moved into the Balkans, under Byzantine influence.
The Herul kingdom, apparently under a king named Rodulph, was established north of modern Vienna and Bratislava, near the Morava river, and possibly extending as far east as the Little Carpathians. They ruled over a mixed population including Suevi, Huns and Alans. From this region they pushed westwards, on one occasion attacking Passau, and eventually established control on the Roman (south) side of the Danube, north of Lake Balaton in modern Hungary. They do not appear in early lists of Odoacer's allies after Nedao, but they were apparently able to take over the kingdoms of the Suevi and Scirii, who had been under pressure from the Ostrogoths, who continued to press their old allies from the Balkans. Odoacer, the commander of the Imperial foederati troops who deposed the last Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus in 476 AD came to be seen as king over several of the Danubian peoples including the Herules, and the Herules were strongly associated with his Italian kingdom. The Herules on the Danube took control of the Rugian territories, who had become competitors to Odoacer and been defeated by him in 488. However Herules suffered badly in Italy, as loyalists of Odoacer when he was defeated by the Ostrogoth Theoderic. By 500 the Herule kingdom on the Danube had made peace with Theoderic and become his allies. Paul the Deacon also mentions Herules living in Italy under Ostrogothic rule.
Theoderic's efforts to build a system of alliances in Western Europe were made difficult both by counter diplomacy, for example between Merovingian Franks and the Byzantine empire, and also the arrival of a new Germanic people into the Danubian region, the Lombards. The Herule king Rodulph lost his kingdom to the Lombards at some point between 494 and 508.
Later history
After the Herulian kingdom was destroyed by the Lombards, Herulian fortunes waned. Some remaining Herules joined the Lombards and others moved into the old territory of the Gepids, and/or into areas where some defeated Rugii had moved after 488. According to Procopius many of the royal family with fellows went north and settled in "Thule" (the Scandinavian Peninsula) which corresponds to the envoy in 548 above and below. Others were moved into the northern Balkans, and came under East Roman authority. Anastasius Caesar allowed them to resettle depopulated "lands and cities" in the empire in 512. Modern scholars debate whether they were moved then to Singidunum (modern Belgrade), or first to Bassianae, and to Singidunum some decades later, by Justinian. In any case it appears that Justinian intended to integrate them into the empire as a buffer between the Romans and the more independent Lombards and Gepids to the north. The Herules were often mentioned during the times of Justinian, who used them in his extensive military campaigns in many countries including Italy, Syria, and North Africa. Pharus was a notable Herulian commander during this period. Several thousand Herules served in the personal guard of Belisarius throughout the campaigns, and Narses also recruited from them. They were a participant in the Byzantine-Sasanian wars, such as the Battle of Anglon.
Procopius related that some the Herules who had been settled in the Roman Balkans killed their own king and, not wanting the one assigned by the emperor, they made contact with other Herules who had gone north instead after the defeat, seeking a new king who then arrived from Thule. Their request was granted, and a new king arrived with 200 young men - this was the envoy mentioned in the chapter "Origins".
Procopius, who did not like the Herules, said that after the succession dispute involving Justinian, some joined the Gepids and some remained loyal to Constantinople. In 549, when the Gepids fought the Romans, Herules fought on both sides. In any case after one generation in the Belgrade area, the Herulian federate polity in the Balkans disappears from the surviving historical records, apparently replaced by the incoming Avars.
Criticism by Procopius
The historian Procopius had a notable fascination with the Herules. In the words of Walter Goffart :
Though appreciative of their military qualities, he goes out of his way to blacken their character - "they are the basest of all men and utterly abandoned rascals," "no men in the world are less bound by convention or more unstable." His low opinion may result from the "special relationship" the Herules appear to have had with Justinian's eunuch general, Narses, who Procopius disliked.
— Barbarian Tide, (pp.206-207)
...and although Procopius praised the Herule named Pharas who brought about the surrender of the north African Vandal king Gelimer...
For all that, Procopius was not mollified. The Herules were part of the panorama of an entire "West" that, owing to Justinian's neglect, had come into the possession of the barbarians by the late 540s. The crowning irony, in the historian's view, was that, because some Herules served as Roman foederati, they both plundered Roman subjects and collected pay from the Roman emperor.
— p.208
According to Procopius, the Herules were a polytheistic society known to practice human sacrifice, although it appears that by the time of Justinian, who wrote about his own times, many had become Arian Christians. In any case, Justinian appears to have pursued a policy of attempting to convert them to Chalcedonian Christianity.
In Procopius' "History of the Wars", the Herules are blamed for practising bestiality:
They are still, however, faithless toward them , and since they are given to avarice, they are eager to do violence to their neighbours, feeling no shame at such conduct. And they mate in an unholy manner, especially men with asses, and they are the basest of all men and utterly abandoned rascals.
Procopius also says that the Herules practiced a form of senicide, having a non-relative kill the sick and elderly and burning the remains on a wooden pyre. Following the death of their husbands, Herul women were expected to commit suicide by hanging. With the ascent of Justinian, Procopius says that the Herules within the empire converted to Christianity and "adopted a gentler manner of life." In terms of combat tactics, the Herules carried no protective armor save a shield and thick jacket. Herul slaves are known to have accompanied them into combat. Slaves were forbidden from donning a shield until having proven themselves brave on the battlefield.
Cities sacked by the Herules
See also
Notes
- Sidonius Apollinarius mentions Herules at the Visigothic court in 476, although this is in a poetic letter (Letters 8.9).
References
- Heather (2012); Angelov (2018)
- Goffart (2006) pp.205-206, p.335 note 90.
- Goffart (2006) pp.205-206, p.335 note 90.
- Grimm, Geschichte der deutschen Sprache p.325 and p.329. See also Schonfeld (1911) Wörterbuch der altgermanischen personen-und völkernamen pp.138-139 for a later secondary reference to Grimm as one of the originators of the idea.
- "Nec minor opinione Eningia. Quidam haec habitari ad Vistulam a Sarmatis, Venedis, Sciris, Hirris, tradunt". Plinius, IV. 27.
- Tacitus, Germania, 43.
- ^ Goffart 2006, pp. 205–209.
- Jordanes, Getica, 3.19-24; Christensen, pp.268-269.
- Neumann, Reallexikon volume 14 1999 p.468 https://books.google.be/books?id=MKQzrSgCHRIC
- Steinacher 2010, p. 360.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, pp. 322–323.
- Steinacher 2010, p. 324.
- ^ Steinacher 2010, pp. 326–327.
- They may have been Aviones. See for example Neumann, Namenstudien zum Altgermanischen
- Steinacher (2017) pp.77-80; (2010) pp.331-333.
- Steinacher 2010, p. 328.
- Halsall 2007, pp. 260, 265.
- Steinacher 2010, p. 338-345.
- Steinacher 2010, p. 347.
- Sarantis 2010, p. 366.
- Steinacher 2010, p. 350.
- Sarantis 2010, p. 369.
- Sarantis 2010, p. 394.
- Steinacher 2010, pp. 354–355.
- Sarantis 2010, p. 372.
- Procopius History of the Wars. Vol. V and VI. Translated by H.B. Dewing. Harvard University Press. 1919. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
- Procopius (December 28, 2007). History of the Wars: The Persian War. Vol. Books I and II. Dodo Press. ISBN 1-4065-6655-1.
Bibliography
- Angelov, Alexander (2018). "Heruli". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191744457. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|subscription=(help); Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Christensen, Arne Søby (2002). Cassiodorus, Jordanes and the History of the Goths. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 9788772897103.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Goffart, Walter (2006). Barbarian Tides: The Migration Age and the Later Roman Empire. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812239393.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|subscription=and|registration=(help); Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Halsall, Guy (2007). Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West, 376–568. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107393325.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|subscription=and|registration=(help); Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Heather, Peter (2012). "Heruli". In Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony; Eidinow, Esther (eds.). The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191735257. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|subscription=(help); Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Sarantis, Alexander (2010). "The Justinianic Herules". In Curta, Florin (ed.). Neglected Barbarians. ISD. ISBN 9782503531250.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|subscription=and|registration=(help); Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Steinacher, Roland (2010). "The Herules: Fragments of a History". In Curta, Florin (ed.). Neglected Barbarians. ISD. ISBN 9782503531250.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|subscription=and|registration=(help); Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Steinacher, Roland (2017), Rom und die Barbaren. Völker im Alpen- und Donauraum (300-600)
- "Heruli". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|subscription=,|registration=, and|editors=(help)
External links
- "Heruli" . The American Cyclopædia. 1879.
- "Heruli" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
- Troels Brandt: The Heruls in Scandinavia
