Uldin

Uldin († around or shortly after 409) was a tribal leader or perhaps even king of the Huns on the lower Danube . He is the first historically really tangible Hun ruler (since the person of Balamir is probably not historical).

In 400 Uldin defeated the remains of the army of the rebel Gainas , who had recently rebelled in vain against the Eastern Roman emperor Arcadius . Gainas fell and Uldin sent his head to Constantinople , for which he received a high reward ( Zosimos 5:22). In 406 Uldin sent troops to the Western Roman general Stilicho , with whom he had formed an alliance to support his fight against the Goth Radagaisus ( Orosius , Historiae adversum Paganos 7.37). After Uldin had attacked Eastern Roman territory in the winter of 404/05, he invaded Thrace again in 408 , but soon had to withdraw again after initial successes. Subsequently, no more news about Uldin have been received.

Much has been speculated about the cohesion of the empire over which Uldin ruled. Probably a real "Hunnic empire formation" did not take place until after Uldin's death. Nevertheless, its contribution to future development should not be underestimated.

literature

• Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen : The world of the Huns. Origin, history, religion, society, warfare, art, language. VMA-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1997, ISBN 3-928127-43-8 , pp. 43–53 (first edition 1978), [standard work which has been reviewed and improved compared to the American original edition.]