Heruli

The Heruli (also Eluri, Eruli, Herules, Herulians) were one of the smaller Germanic peoples of Late Antiquity. Along with their neighbours the Scirii, Rugii and Gepids, they are known from the third to sixth centuries. In the late 5th century AD and early 6th century the best recorded group of them established a kingdom upon the Roman frontier north of the Upper Danube, north of present-day Vienna. At their peak they were later able to expand southwards towards Lake Balaton, and eastwards towards the Tisza, and they were able to demand tribute from their neighbours the Lombards. After the conquest of this kingdom by the Lombards in 508 these Heruli split up and moved to Sweden, Ostrogothic Italy, and present-day Serbia, which was under Eastern Roman control.

The Danubian Heruli are believed to have moved from Ukraine during the late 3rd or early 4th century. Before then, they are generally equated to the "Elouri" who lived near the Sea of Azov in 267-270, when they took part together with Goths and others in two massive raids into Roman provinces in the Balkans and Aegean Sea, attacking not only by land, but notably also by sea. The equation of these "ELuRi" with the "ERuLi" was made by several Byzantine authors, and is still widely accepted. However, some scholars such as Ellegård consider such proposals uncertain, and have proposed that the Heruli homeland may be have actually been near the Middle Danube. In contrast, because a group of 6th century Heruli moved from the Danube to Scandinavia, some scholars believe that the Heruli had their earliest origins in Scandinavia. Connected to this idea, there also proposals that there were Heruli kingdoms in several parts of Europe, already in the 3rd and 4th century. One proposal, based upon indirect evidence, is that there was a western Heruli settlement based near the Lower Rhine. One reason for this is that in 286, only a few years after the eastern raids, the Heruli were listed as one of the peoples who were defeated in Gaul trying to cross the Rhine.

Like the Goths, soon after first being noted in contemporary records as Eastern European raiders, Heruli also began entering the Roman empire and serving in its military, where they developed a particularly notable reputation already in the 4th century, at first mainly in the Western Roman Empire. A new Heruli unit was stationed in northern Italy. Heruli living the Roman frontiers were among the many groups which caused disruption to the empire in this period. In 409 Heruli were among the ferocious nations who Saint Jerome described as occupying all of Roman Gaul. An important influence upon the movements of such peoples in this period was that Attila and his Huns were moving west and establishing an empire based in the Danubian region. The Danubian Heruli kingdom known from later probably already existed in some form within Attila's empire, as did the kingdoms of the Ostrogoths, Scirii, and Gepids.

After the death of Attila in 453, the Danubian Heruli fought in the Battle of Nedao in 454, although it is not certain which side they took among his various former allies. They also participated in successive conquests of Italy by Odoacer (476), Theoderic the Great (493), Narses (554), and probably also the Lombards (starting in 568). After their independent kingdom was destroyed by the Lombards in 508, the Danubian Heruli split up. Some moved to Scandinavia, and some to Italy. A significant group established a kingdom inside the Roman empire near Belgrade, and continued contributing fighting men to the Eastern Roman Empire. Under Roman command they played important roles in Balkan, African, and Italian conflicts. With their last kingdom eventually dominated by Rome however, and smaller groups integrated into larger political entities such as the Gepids and Lombards, the Heruli disappeared from history 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.