Hunulf

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Hunulf (also Unulf , Onulf or Onoulf ; * around 430; † in March 493 in Ravenna ) was a prince and military leader of the East Germanic Skiren in the 5th century.

Life

Hunulf was the son of the general Edekon and a brother of Odoacer . In 469 Hunulf was involved in the defeat of a Germanic coalition on the Bolia against the Ostrogoths , in which his father died. The ski kingdom collapsed after the battle . Many Skiren then entered the Roman military service. Hunulf went to eastern Roman territory with what was probably only an insignificant retinue , where he soon came with the support of Armatus . He rose to magister militum (army master) in the eastern empire , while Odoacer went to the western empire. Hunulf acted as master of Illyria on behalf of Emperor Zenon against the Ostrogoths.

The Empire of Odoacer 480

From 479 he supported Odoacer, who had overthrown the last Western Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476 ; Hunulf became Odoaker's "right hand man". In the war against the Rugier 487/488 Hunulf led on behalf of his brother's forced evacuation of the Roman population in the east bank of Noricum to Italy through. As a result, Odoacer permanently deprived the Rugians of their economic base.

After Odoacer's murder in 493 by the Ostrogoth king Theodoric , the latter also had his family killed. Hunulf, who had sought protection in a church, was shot from outside by archers.

The ethnic origin of Hunulf and Odoacer is controversial in research, as most sources do not make precise statements or seem to contradict each other in part. In the eyes of Roman observers, Odoacer and Hunulf were considered Herulian or Rugian princes. A clear statement about the family origins of Hunulf seems to be found in the Central Byzantine lexicon Suda . Research sees the relevant passage as a fragment from the history of Malchus of Philadelphia . There it says: "Onoulf comes from the Thuringian tribe on his father's side and from the Skiren on his mother's side." This interpretation of Hunulf's origins is supported by statements about his brother Odoaker. It is true that this is associated with several ethnic groups by the historian Jordanes . The statement in the Getica des Jordanes that Odoacer was "Torcilingorum rex habens sicum Sciros, Heruls diversarumque gentium auxiliarios" shows, however, that he was king of the Torcilingi who also brought other peoples with him. The name Torcilingi , which occurs only in Jordanes, is sometimes seen in recent research as a prescription for Toringi (Thuringian).

In late antiquity, however, ethnic affiliation was usually not very important and a person could be described as a Teutonic, at another time as a Hun or Sarmatian . At the heyday of the Hun Empire, with the exception of the Amal Goths and the Gepids, there were "no political identities of Germanic peoples."

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Herwig Wolfram : The Goths. From the beginning to the middle of the sixth century. Draft of a historical ethnography. 3rd, revised edition. CH Beck, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-406-33733-3 , p. 265.
  2. ↑ a b Friedrich Lotter : Displacements of peoples in the Eastern Alps-Central Danube region between antiquity and the Middle Ages. (375–600) (= supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde . Vol. 39). de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2003, ISBN 3-11-017855-9 , pp. 113, 168; Herwig Wolfram: The Goths. From the beginning to the middle of the sixth century. Draft of a historical ethnography. 3rd, revised edition. CH Beck, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-406-33733-3 , p. 267.
  3. ↑ a b c d Herwig Wolfram: The Empire and the Germanic Peoples. Between antiquity and the Middle Ages (= German history. Vol. 1). Complete paperback edition, 1st edition. Siedler, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-442-75518-2 , p. 264 ff.
  4. ↑ Edith Marold : Change and constancy in the representation of the figure of Dietrich von Bern. In: Heinrich Beck (Hrsg.): Heldensage und Heldendichtung in Germanic (= supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Vol. 2). de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1988, ISBN 3-11-011175-6 , pp. 149-182, here pp. 154 f.
  5. ↑ Herwig Wolfram: The Birth of Central Europe. History of Austria before its creation. 378-907. Kremayr and Scheriau, Vienna 1987, ISBN 3-218-00451-9 , p. 40.
  6. ↑ Suda, kappa 693, which is regarded as fragment 8a from the work of Malchus (fragment 13 in the edition by Roger C. Blockley ).
  7. ↑ Wolfram Brandes: Thuringians in Byzantine sources. In: Helmut Castritius , Dieter Geuenich , Matthias Werner , Thorsten Fischer (eds.): The early days of the Thuringians. Archeology, language, history (= supplementary volumes to the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Vol. 63). de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-021454-3 , pp. 291–327. See also Alexander Demandt : Die Spätantike. Roman history from Diocletian to Justinian. 284–565 AD (= Handbook of Classical Studies . Dept. 3: Ancient Orient, Greek History, Roman History. Part 6). 2nd, fully revised and expanded edition. Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55993-8 , p. 211, note 64.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Hunulf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Onoulf, Hunuwulf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prince of the Skiren
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century
DATE OF DEATH 493
Place of death Ravenna