Heruli
The
Heruli (spelled variously in
Latin and
Greek) were a nomadic
Germanic people, who were subjugated by the
Ostrogoths,
Huns, and
Byzantines in the
3rd to
5th centuries.
The
6th century chronicler
Jordanes reports a tradition that they had been driven out of their homeland long before by the
Dani, which would have located their origins in the Danish isles or southernmost Sweden. According to
Procopius, they maintained close links with their kinsmen in
Thule (Scandinavia). He relates that the Heruls killed their own king during their stay in the
Balkans (cf.
Domalde), and that they sent an emissary to Thule requesting a new king. Their request was granted, and a new king arrived with 200 young men.
The Heruls are first mentioned by Roman writers in the reign of
Gallienus (
260 -
268), when they accompanied the
Goths ravaging the coasts of the
Black Sea and the
Aegean. The mixed warbands managed to sack
Byzantium in
267, but their eastern contingent was virtually annihilated in the Balkans at the
Battle of Naissus (
Serbia) two years later, the battle that earned
Marcus Aurelius Claudius his surname "Gothicus." A western contingent of Heruli are mentioned at the mouth of the
Rhine in
289.
By the end of the
4th century the Heruls were subjugated by the
Ostrogoths. When the Ostrogothic kingdom of
Ermanaric was destroyed by the
Huns in about
375, the Heruls became subject to the Hunnic empire. Only after the fall of the Hunnic realm in
454, were the Heruls able to create their own kingdom in southern
Slovakia at the March and
Theiss rivers.
After this kingdom was destroyed, however, Herulian fortunes waned. Remaining Heruls joined the
Langobards and moved to Italy, and some of them sought refuge with the
Gepids. Marcellinus
comes recorded that the Romans (meaning the Byzantines) who allowed them to resettle depopulated "lands and cities" in
Moravia, near
Singidunum (
Belgrade); this was done "by order of
Anastasius Caesar" sometime between June 29 and August 31,
512. After one generation, this minor federate kingdom disappeared from the historical records.
Records indicate, however, that the Heruli served in the armies of the Byzantine emperors for a number of years, in particular in the campaigns of
Belisarius, when much of the old Roman territory, including
Italy,
Syria, and North
Africa was recaptured. Several thousand Heruli served in the personal guard of Belisarius throughout the campaigns. They disappear from historical record by the mid-
6th century.
According to Procopius, many Heruli returned to Scandinavia and settled beside the
Geats (
Gautoi). The places where they are assumed to have resettled have been identified with
Vermland or the provinces of
Blechingia and
Värend, two districts where the women had equal rights of inheritance with their brothers. Some noble Swedish families in the area also claim to be descendants of the returning Heruli. It should be noted that such identifications are not widely accepted.
No "Heruli" are mentioned in
Anglo-Saxon,
Frankish or
Norse chronicles, so it is assumed they were known in the north and west by another name.
Encyclopædia Britannica 1911 suggested that, since the name Heruli itself is identified by many with the Anglo-Saxon
eorlas ("nobles"), Old Saxon
erlos ("men"), the singular of which (
erilaz) frequently occurs in the earliest Northern inscriptions, that "Heruli" may have been a title of honor.
From the end of the
3rd century, Heruls are also mentioned as raiders in
Gaul and
Spain, where they are mentioned together with
Saxons and
Alamanni. These Heruls are usually regarded as Western Heruls; their settlements are assumed to have been somewhere at the lower
Rhine.
Same-sex relations
According to
Procopius, bishop of Caesaria, the Heruli practiced a warrior-based, ritual
homosexuality. In his
De Bello Gothico, Procopius is scandalized by the fact that (Greek) "and they have sex contrary to the ends of divine law, even with men and asses" (VI. xiv. 36). Procopius does not elaborate upon this brief statement. However, he also noted that the young squires of the "Erouloi" (Greek for Heruli) go into battle without even a shield to protect themselves; once proven in battle, their Heruli masters then permitted them to carry one in battle, signifying their entrance into full manhood.
Historian of homosexuality, David Greenberg, believes that in this passage, Procopius implied that the homosexuality practiced by the Heruli was ritualistic and initiatory in nature, for "
pederasty was practiced in connection with the transition from youth to manhood" in the early Germanic "men's societies (
Männerbünde)" as well as being common to all Indo-European cultures. Again, this initiatory pederasty is identical to the practices of the closely-related Suebian tribe, the
Taifali, as reported by
Ammianus Marcellinus (31.9.5). (See Greenberg's
The Construction of Homosexuality, 1988, p. 243.)
Ritual, warrior-based
pederasty (erotics between an adult and a youth) are held to have been common to all Indo-European peoples according to a school of thought elaborated by French historians such as
Bernard Sergent; variant forms of ritual homosexuality are well-documented and were particularly institutionalized throughout
ancient Greece, the
Scythians (who were Indo-Iranian), the
Celts, and others (
Homosexualité et initiation chez les peuples indo-européens, Éditions Payot 1996; about the Heruli and Taifali, pp. 477-504).
*
Erilaz*This article incorporates some information taken from
http://www.hostkingdom.net/ with permission.
*
Homosexuality among the Heruli*
Heroli in Paul's History of the Lombards i.20: (in English)
*
'The Heruls' by Troels Brandt
