Piotr Gasiorowski and George Knysh have earlier in this thread been
kind to help me regarding the development of the name Heruls. At that
time I expected an ethnogenesis to take place between Hari or Goths
and Alans.
Thanks to George and others the scenario has changed since then. The
Heruls were probably established north of the small belt of steppes
along the Black Sea from Moldavia to Dnepr between Goths, Alans and
Bosporans. We know they used the Bosporan navy together with the
Goths when they attacked Greece and Asia Minor in 267 AD. The first
Herul to be mentioned was Naulobates being defeated by emperor
Gallienus at Thessaloniki. He surrendered and became a Roman consular
insignia. Dexippos called them "'Elouroi" being later by Jordanes
connected with the swamps of the Meotic Sea. In 286 AD we hear for
the first time about "Eruli" at the mouth of the Rhine - a group well
known as Roman mercenaries until the 5th century - and my guess is
that the Romans had moved Naulobates' surrendered group away from the
war against their kinsmen to the northwestern border instead. Here we
know they were used in England. In this way the official Latin
version of their name was "frozen" in the Roman empire, but the main
group became subjects to Ermaneric and the Huns according to Jordanes
and were outside Roman influence until they were met again in the 5th
century at Moravia/Weinviertel, where the Romans also called this
group "Heruli"/"Eruli"/"'Erouloi". East of Vienna official papers in
the 9th century showed the names "Herilungoburg" and "Herilungewald"
which could be remains of the Herulian name outside Roman influence.
We know from Procopius that many of the Heruls around 500 AD left for
Sweden but we do not know what happened to them. Later however the ON
Widsith mentioned an unknown people called "Herelingas".
In the 6th century and maybe a little earlier too we have 9 runic
versions of "ErilaR" in Scandinavia.
Later the title "Jarl" (ON), "Eorl" (OE), "Earl" (later ME), "Erl"
(Old Saxon) and "Erell" (Ireland 9th century) became widespread in
Northern Europe. While modern linguists often accept that "ErilaR"
was an early version of "Earl" very few accept a connection
between "Herul" and "ErilaR".
Another chain of names has been discussed by historians. The "Harii"
were mentioned by Tacitus being settled south of the Goths before
they went to Ukraine. Earlier they could be the "Hirri" of Plinius,
but they disappeared when the Heruls were met for the first time.
Because of the connection to the word "*Harjaz" and their nightly
fighting it is generally accepted that this people could be connected
to the mythical Odinistic "wild hunt" and "Harlequin" - the ghostly
army in the lore of Northern Europe. The hunt is often connected
to "Harling-"names.
As earlier mentioned my idea is, that the Harii were a part of the
Heruls, which would make sense as both people were known as barbarian
warriors - making also sense regarding the words "Harjaz" and "Jarl".
This could place the Western Heruls in Harlingerland in Frisia and
the Eastern Heruls as an integrated warrior-class in Scandinavia.
I know that a part of this is a repetition for some of you. I ask
once more because the name of the first Herul - Naulobates - shows up
to be the name of a Bosporan co-ruler 35 years earlier. This
indicates that groups of Bosporans joined the Heruls - which makes
sense as the Heruls and Goths used the Bosporan navy. Therefore the
Bosporan language may have had a role in the development of the name
of the Heruls - especially as the first Roman contact had a Bosporan
name.
This description is already too long, but further can be read at my
website:
http://www.geocities.com/troels_brandt/heruls.html
Some of these connections are of course coincidences, but I hope that
some of you can show me the probable connections and the obvious
mistakes.
Troels Brandt