Rodulf (Heruler)

Rudolf or Rodulf († around 508) was a leader or king of the Heruli at the beginning of the 6th century.

After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476, the Germanic peoples who settled on the central Danube became unrest. The Heruli settled on the March during this time .

The late antique historian Jordanes tells of a king named Rodulf, who ruled over several peoples in the far north before he fled to Italy to see the Ostrogoth king Theodoric . A Herul king named Rodulf is also mentioned in other late antique and early medieval sources, such as Prokopios of Caesarea and Paulus the deacon . Presumably all statements refer to the same person, although the Jordanes account is only essentially historical; an origin from Scandinavia , however, is unhistorical.

At the beginning of the 6th century, the Herulians' neighbors included the Ostrogoth Empire under Theodoric the Great on the right of the Danube, the Lombards in Moravia and Pannonia on the left of the Danube and the Gepids in eastern Hungary on the lower Danube.

Under their leader Rodulf, the Heruli came into conflict with the Lombards. These finally destroyed the Herulian empire around 508 and subsequently became the (temporarily) dominant power on the central Danube.

literature

• Roland Steinacher: The Heruls. Fragments of a History. In: Florin Curta (Ed.): Neglected Barbarians. Brepols, Turnhout 2010, pp. 321-364, especially pp. 345-349.

Remarks

1. ↑ Jordanes , Getica 3:24.
2. ↑ Prokop, Historien , 6,14f.
3. ↑ Paul, Lombards History , 1:20.
4. ↑ The Empire of the Rugians had already been destroyed by Odoacer in 488 .