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1.1. The Roman sources 1.1.1. The origin of the Heruls 
In many Danish history books the Heruls are mentioned as the original people of Sealand and Scania from where they should have been expelled by Swedish Danes in the first centuries AD. The source for that theory is entirely the Gothic historian Jordanes in his work "Getica" from 551 AD. The Danish archaeologists immediately combined the expulsion of the Heruls with the alliances of the warrior elite indicated by the finds in Himlingoeje in the Roman Iron Ages. However, first of all Jordanes did not write that the Danes were Swedish. His words were that both people were of the same stock, the unknown Vinoviloth - maybe the Vinnili also mentioned as the ancestors of the Lombards. Secondly the contemporary Roman historians did neither mention Danes nor Heruls in Denmark - they was first mentioned by Jordanes 400 years later. As the third the idea about the Danish origin of the Heruls was entirely based on 5 bungled words in his geographical introduction about the Danes "expelling the Heruls from their settlements" - words which were probably misunderstood. Thus Jordanes later wrote about their etymology which he connected with the swamps at the Black Sea. Modern linguists read these words in the introduction as a description of an event of his own time.The names of people in the Migration Ages change rapidly in the sources all the time, as many constellations consisted of semi-nomads following a successful leader - regardless of family or tribe connections. Probably the Heruls were established in the third century at the eastern bank of the Russian river Dnieper as an ethnogenesis between Germanic tribes, Sarmatian/Alanic nomads and Bosporanians - with Eastgermanic as their language. Many of these people were probably Eastgermanic Goths. At the same time a group showed up in Northern Frisia – the Western Heruls. The similarity in names may just indicate that they had their royal dynasty in common. None of the groups were mentioned by Ptolemeus around 150 AD, but a connection has been suspected with the two earlier people, Harii and Harudes, based on name and character. Under all circumstances the origin of the Heruls is unknown - just like the origin of the Goths being today connected with the area around the mouth of the Polish river Vistula – not with Scandinavia. 1.1.2. The migrations of the Heruls The Eastern Heruls were first time mentioned in 267-269 AD when they attacked Greece and the coasts of Asia Minor as pirates. They were together with the Goths using the navy of the Bosporanes. The most spectacular event was the looting of Athens from where we have our historical sources. Also the defeat of their leader, Naulobates, to the Roman emperor Gallianus at Thessaloniki was mentioned. Afterwards Naulobates was appointed a Roman "consular insignia". Consequently the Western Heruls being first time mentioned in 286 AD may in the theory have been his soldiers being resettled in Frisia as mercenaries. According to Jordanes the king of the Eastern Heruls, Alaric, was later defeated by the legendary Gothic king, Ermaneric. From around 375 AD the Heruls joined many other Eastgermanic and Sarmatic people in the Hunnic campaign through Europe, and as most of the other followeres they were not mentioned in those years. After the defeat and death of Attila these Eastgermanic followers rised in rebellion in 454 AD against the sons of Attila at Nedao - except many of the Ostrogoths. Most of the Huns were driven back to the Black Sea. 
Most of the Eastgermanic and Sarmatic people established their new kingdoms at the northern bank of the Danube, while the Ostrogoths found place in Roman territory in Southern Pannonia. There is no reason to discuss exact borders as these horseriding nomads were not tied by the local agriculture. For decades the Ostrogoths waged wars against their earlier companions. In 468 AD the Ostrogoths succeeded in that way to destroy the Sciri. The Eastern Heruls established a strong kingdom in Moravia (Mähren) and Marchfeld (at Brno and Vienna) by subduing and tributing all their neighbours - even the Lombards. The Western Heruls - and from 454 AD also the Eastern Heruls - were feared as Roman mercenaries and sometimes as pirates too. The Roman historians regarded these foot soldiers as "swift on their feet" and light-armed, but that was primarily the Western Heruls. The Eastern Heruls became also cavalry like the Huns and Ostrogoths they followed. They were even told to be the strongest group supporting Odoaker when he replaced the last Emperor of Rome in 476 AD. Odoaker was afterwards elected as king of Italy by his own Germanic soldiers - called Rex Herulicus. Odoaker himself was a prince of the Sciri, but his father was a Thuringian of birth. The rich princely tomb in Blucina, which is from that time, is regarded to be a royal Herulian grave - very similar with the tomb of the Frankish king Childeric in Tournais, who was an allied of Odoaker. Both kings had probably been Roman foederati.Later the Ostrogothic king, Theodoric, agreed with the East Roman emperor to remove Odoaker. Theodoric had grown up in Constantinopel and was an Arian Christian. He besieged Odoaker in Ravenna for several years and when celebrating the following peace in 493 AD he murdered Odoaker by his own hand. Most of the Herulian mercenaries of Odoaker must have returned to Mähren, were Theodoric ten years later proclaimed their king as "his son of arms". The Heruls appear in this way to have ended up as a kind of subjects to Theodoric, who also asked the Heruls, the Thuringians and the Varni to join an alliance against the Francs. Our historical sources regarding the Heruls consist of scattered remarks from the Roman and Byzanteen historians and authors, as the people did not have their own historians. An exception is the Byzanteen historian Procopius, who as a secretary and juridical advisor of the superior East Roman general Bellisarius must have known the Herulian mercenary officers personally. He spend two chapters of his work about the Gothic Wars on the Heruls - a work which he finished in 553 AD. He told that the Heruls "were superior all the barbarians who dwelt about them both in power and number", but due to arrogance and disregarding of their gods their king, Hrodolphos, suffered a serious defeat against the Lombards and was killed himself. The defeat, which is dated to 508 or 509 AD, is also known from much later Lombardic sources in a more anecdotal form. 1.1.3. The arrival of the royal family to Scandinavia According to Procopius many of the Heruls went north to the Scandinavian Peninsula led by "many of the royal blood". First they went to the Varni living in the Elb-/Mecklenburg-area. From here they passed the nations of the Danes without meeting violence and crossed the sea. Arriving to the Scandinavian Peninsula they settled "at that time" at the Goetes ("Gautoi"). As the Danish expulsion of the Heruls mentioned by Jordanes is today regarded to be a contemporary description from the 6th century his information will also be an independent confirmation of the telling by Procopius about the Herulic presence in Scandinavia. We shall be careful about the use of information from Jordanes and Procopius as they had no general idea of the geography of Northern Europe. Furthermore their sources regarding events 40 years before their time could be handled uncritical and circumstantial. As they had opposite motives to describe the arrival of the Heruls their way to describe it can be interpreted as the Heruls first settled between the Danes and the Goetes from where they were later expelled further north - in two steps. This is maybe confirmed by Procopius' use of the expression "at that time". 1.1.4. The Heruls in Illyria 
Their remaining kinsmen at the Danube drifted around until they were received by the East Romans in Illyria, where they settled near Beograd. Their mercenaries later became an important element in the army of Justinian, but his condition was that they were baptized. Lead by Mundus they assisted Justinian during the Nika-revolt in Konstantinopel, which resulted in the rebuilding of the current Hagia Sophia church in 537 AD. Procopius emphasized several Herulic officers - especially Phara, who had a leading role in the defeat of the Vandals, and Suartuas. Procopius wrote that these Heruls around 548 AD searched for a new king - and found him in Scandinavia, where they opposite in Illyria found "many of the royal blood". Therefore they sent back the candidate of Justinian, Suartuas, who instead became his commander of Konstantinopel. Three years later Jordanes finished his work in Byzans and two years later also Procopius finished his work at the same place. This telling about the return of Datius, Aordus and 200 young Herulian soldiers at the time and presence of Procopios and Jordanes is decesive for the value of our information. Procopius in this situation from a position close to the Byzantine court received information from this Herulian embassy, which had just returned from Scandinavia 38 years after their arrival. He also told that they were much delayed as their first candidate died on their way back at the Danes - telling in this way that they lived far north of the Danes, who lived at Sealand and in Scania. He even told that he had interviewed withnesses from Scandinavia about the midnightsun. Unfortunately he did not mention the rule of their royal family in Scandinavia in the first 38 years. His purpose was to "prove" that the new king and his supporters in Illyria were faithless and "utterly abandoned rascals" - a people impossible to rule, as they dismissed the royal candidate of Justinian. Among these words he also indicated that they were homosexuals - raging words used today in connections which this uncertain kind of historical foundation does not support.Regarding the number of Heruls, who settled in Scandinavia with the royal family, it is worth to notice that the Illyrian group made up an important unit in the Byzanteen army. This in spite of a massacre on the people in Illyria after 512 AD. Procopius counted around 448 AD 3.000 soldiers in the army of Datius and 1.500 in the Roman army, and in 553 AD he counted 3.000 soldiers in the Roman army – around 12%. The position of Datius in opposition to Justinian inside the empire was impossible and he was soon expelled to the Gepides north of the Danube. Both people were in 567 AD destroyed by the Romans and the Avars. A daughter of Hrodolphos, Silinga, was married to the Lombardic king Wacho and her son, Valthari, was crowned as king of the Lombards. He died young and the only Herulian dynasty which was later mentioned in Southern Europe was a branch of the descendents of Phara, who was one of the royal dynasties of the Bavarians at the Upper Danube. 1.2. The Scandinavian connections before 509 AD The migration of the royal family to Scandinavia was no coincidence as the Heruls had a close connection with Scandinavia, which had nothing to do with their origin. The connection can be divided into several stages based on archaeology combined with history: 1.2.1. The Eastern Heruls 375-454 AD (Phase A1) 
Remains from Hunnic burial rites in Soesdala indicate that a group of Hunnic horsemen and their Eastgermanic followers (ae. Heruls and Ostrogoths) operated at the Scandinavian Peninsula in the first half of the 5th century before or during the campaign of Attila. As the same type of sacrified horse equipment is found in great numbers in the Scandinavian war booties in the bogs of Finnestorp and Vennebo some of these horsemen were probably killed, when they tried to intrude into Vestergoetland. The character and the number indicate that they were no returning mercenaries.1.2.2. The Eastern Heruls 454-509 AD (Phase A2) After the Heruls established their kingdom in Moravia around 454 AD several archaeological finds indicate a connection between Scandinavia and the Eastgermanic people in South Eastern Europe - ae. Bornholm, Scania, Finnestorp and Hoegom in East Scandinavia and Eveboe and Snartemo at the western coast of Norway. Among these artefacts are Hunnic/Eastgermanic saddles and their type of arrow heads. A special kind of a swordpommel with animalheads in Scandinavian Style I is only found similar in the South in the above mentioned Herulian grave in Blucina, Moravia, and in another version in the tomb of Childeric in Tournais, but several pieces are found in graves and sacrifices in Scandinavia near the trade route. More generally the Scandinavian fibulas in the region of the Baltic Sea are influenced by Eastgermanic stylistic elements like rosettes and curved heads with three knops. Opposite the curved fibulas with more than three knops from the Allemanni and the Franks never reached Scandinavia. The Heruls probably used their knowledge from the early raids and decided to be in control with the Amber Route through the Moravian Gate in the Carpathes when they established their new kingdom - rather by taxation than as merchants. According to Procopius that was also the way they treated their neighbours. Some of the Heruls should in that case be expected to ride north in order to inspect the possibilities and negotiate deals about trade and protection - or as mercenaries in Scandinavian service. It is important to be aware of the mixture of people being initially mentioned. This makes it impossible to separate them by archaeology from the other Eastgermanic people following the Huns. Probably the population in the Herulian kingdom included besides Heruls ao. Sarmatic Alans, Huns, Thuringians, Sciri and the earlier population of Swebes. Ostrogoths and Rugians may have taken part, but their own dynasties waged war on the Heruls until some time after 493 AD. We must therefore expect the Heruls to block the Gothic and Rugian access to the trade route through the Moravian Gate. It is therefore most likely that the Scandinavian connection at that time were the followers of the Herulian dynasty. When the Ostrogoths later became superior of the Heruls they were Christians and buzy in Italy. They had no reason to settle in Scandinavia before their defeat around 550 AD - and hardly at that time either. The archaeology can not tell us with certainty if the style and items were brought to Scandinavia by Heruls, by Scandinavians or by trade, but the history can tell us that they controlled the key area passed by the route along which the spread took place - giving in one way or the other the contact against north, which will explain their expectations and the later events. Due to their blurred archaeological profile and their missing historical writing some scholars have claimed that the Heruls were just a band of warriors. That must be due to insufficient study of texts like the one of Procopius as it is obvious that they were an ordinary migration people with women and children and with their own dynasty, gods and traditions - keeping together for 300 years. 1.2.3. The Western Heruls 286-509 AD (Phase B) As a more or less independent parallel the Western Heruls living at the North Frisian coast probably harried the south westerly Scandinavian coasts - just as they according to the sources harried Gallia in 409 AD and Spain in the 450'ies AD. These Heruls had served as Roman mercenaries - mostly in England in the 4th century - but after the Romans left England and the emperor was removed their mercenaries had to find other sources of income. They were mentioned for the last time in the historical sources in 478 AD. It is obvious to suspect that many of them went to England together with their Anglosaxon neighbours, but some of them may have turned north against the Scandinavian kingdoms as military advisors and mercenaries. These suggestions, however, are hypotheses which will be discussed in a later chapter. 
This shield painting is known from the Westherulian mercenaries in the Italian infantry unit "Herules Seniores". It was found in a medieval copy of Notitia Dignitatum from the beginning of the 5th century AD. Consequently we cannot be sure of this picture - and we do not know which symbol is behind the circles. The circle was ao. a symbol of the sun in the soldiers' Mithras Cult - worshipped in temples along the Wall of Hadrian in England, where the Heruls were posted together with the Bataves. It is unknown whether the Eastern Heruls used the same symbols, but circles and half circles are recognised at many artefacts found in their tracks.1.3. Conclusion regarding the history The archaeological Scandinavian connections mentioned above are indications explaining why the Heruls, who did not want asylum at the East Roman or Gothic Christians, went north with their pagan royal family. The explanation is supporting the contemporary, independent second hand reports by Jordanes and Procopius regarding the presence of the Heruls in Scandinavia in the 6th century. This will lead us to the simple conclusion: There is no reason to doubt that a group of high-ranking Heruls with their followers settled somewhere at the Scandinavian Peninsula around 510 AD. The open question is: Where, how and how many? As a historian the leading expert in the Heruls, professor Andreas Schwarcz from the University of Vienna, has agreed in this final conclusion regarding Scandinavia. He has suggested that they were integrated in one or more Scandinavian people, but has left that question open for the archaeologists and speculation in Norse literature. How could the leading dynasty of this strong and feared people of warriors disappear in Scandinavia without a trace in archaeology or legends? This is one of the many neclegted questions the conclusion should lead to.
2.1. Five questions by Aake Hyenstrand 
Scandinavian historians and archaeologists have - with a few exceptions - ignored "the return" of the Heruls only being interested in their "Scandinavian origin". That in spite of the fact that only their arrival in the 6th century is confirmed by history. Instead the substantial development in Scandinavian culture in the end of the Migration Ages (especially in Sweden) has been regarded as an internal expansion - in spite of its obviously international character. In modern times first of all Birgit Arrhenius has pointed out the clear Eastgermanic influences on the first stages of the Vendel Culture, which probably made Aake Hyenstrand to ask his five questions about the Heruls in 1996 (both professors in archaeology at the University of Stockholm):Which connections exist - Between Heruls and Svear? - Between Heruls and the god Eric? - Between Heruls and the powerful elite later called Earls? - Between Heruls and Boat graves? - Between Heruls and Runes? Of course the questions about the Scandinavian hypotheses being indicated here may not be fully answered. We can not, however, avoid them if we want to describe the development in Scandinavia at this time of change leading to the famous Vendel Era. Hyenstrand himself found that idea obvious, but no official answers have ever been published. Below the intention is to answer the questions as well as possible - but in another order. Afterwards the question about their settlement will be answered in the form of the most likely scenario. 2.1.1. Heruls and Runes? 2.1.1.1. The first runes The first inscription in runes, "HarjaR", was from around 160 AD. It was at a comb, probably from Northern Germany, but it was found in a war booty in Viemose at Fyen. Most of the runes in the Roman Iron Ages until 375 Ad are concentrated around South Western Norway, Fyen and Eastern Sealand - if we ignore the war booties in Jutland having a foreign origin. Maybe this picture indicate a connection with the Western part of the culture connecting Himlingoeje at Eastern Sealand, Avaldsnes in Norway and Badelunda in the Maelar Valley. Opposite there are no early runic finds in the Herulic areas of that time except a single one in Moldavia. Consequently there is no reason to refer the origin of the runes to the Heruls. 2.1.1.2. The ErilaR inscriptions 
Turned against the south westerly coasts of Denmark, Norway and Sweden 9 runic inscriptions with "ek erilaR" ("I the Eril") are found from around 450-550 AD. With this kind of spread the inscriptions are probably connected with the Western Heruls - if the inscriptions have anything with the Heruls to do. For many years the historians were convinced that "erilaR" simply meant "Herul". Later this was opposed by dogmatic linguists though they accepted that it could have been the background for the title "earl"/"jarl". The rejection of the connection between Herul and ErilaR is according to the Russian runologist, Makaev, done on wrong premisses as the transferral of names between different language groups does not follow the rules of linguistic evaluation. However "the missing link" between the Latin/Greek (H)erul and the Germanic Eril is found in the old kingdom of the Heruls at the Danube in shape of the place names "Herilungoburg" (832 AD) and "Herilungowelde". Runologists have interpreted ErilaR as "runemaster", but the title "earl" is more likely taking the military role and qualifications of the Heruls into consideration.2.1.1.3. The Maerings and the Roek Stone From the 5th century two runic inscriptions are known from the Danubian region where the Eastern Heruls were operating. Totally 5 runic inscriptions have been connected with the Ostrogoths due to the syllable "s" and words used by Wulfila, but as the Heruls probabaly spoke the same language and the Goths had got another alphfabet at that time it is more likely that the runes are Herulic. The Pietrossa Ring is mentioning the name Goths, but may have been a gift or written by a Herul or Scandinavian as the other find. This find - a buckle in Pannonia opposite the mouth of River March - has the inscription "Marings". The scholars have combined Marings with the Old English poem "Deor" which tells: "Theodoric held in 30 years Maeringa Burg". Maerings have by this reason been regarded as the Goths as the stronghold must be Ravenna - though nobody could explain the origin of "Mar". Simple logics regarding naming, however, will tell us that the Maerings must be the Heruls who were besieged for more than a year in Ravenna by Theodoric before he got the town as his headquarters. They were the people living in Maehren/Moravia - a region getting its name from River March, which already Tacitus called Mar(us). The name does like the "Eloi" og Jordanes mean marsh areas, corresponding in this way even with the later Slavic names Morava/Moravia. 
The scholars could hav used this as a key to the interpretation of the
Roek Stone
in Oestergoetland, which according to the official reading by Riksantikvarämbetet is mentioning Theodoric as "chief of seawarriors" (which is unknown as a Gothic label) and "first of Maerings". The riddle before this inserted stanza, however, can be answered with the king of the Heruls, Hrodolphus, who 9 generations earlier was appointed "weapon son" under the protection of Theodoric. In that way the two expressions will suddenly make sense as the Heruls had been either Maerings or pirates. In that way also the next inserted stanza between the numbered riddles will give us 8 names being together with the father, Varin, the 9 generations, who must be the 9 missing riddles indicated by the numbers at the stone. The first father in this matrix of 8 names is Radulf - Procopios' Hrodolphos - and thereby the circle is closed. The name combinations correspond in all directions. In the first 11 numbered riddles at the stone Varin simply traced his family back to the weapon son of the Germanic hero, Theodoric, and his family going to Scandinavia. In this way it became a very traditional element at the memorial for a dead son - and set up according to the culture which a few decades earlier had emerged at the court of Charlemagne. It has to be mentioned that the interpretation of the Roek Stone is still eagerly discussed among the runologists.It is all very simple in that way. The pieces of the puzzle have been wrongly combined - with the result that the scholars nowhere were able to explain names and connections. When the Eastern Heruls arrived to River Mar(us) they must have got the byname Marings/Maerings to distinguish them in the West from their kinsmen - the Western Heruls, who in Scandinavia were known as ErilaR. In Scandinavia names and legends indicate that the Eastern Heruls were also confused with Huns. 2.1.1.4. The rune stones in Blekinge 
In Blekinge the three rune stones at Lister and the Björketorp-stone have traditionally been combined with the Heruls. They are from the transition period between the 24- and 16-sign futharks, and they are consequently dated to the time 500-700 AD. The connection with the Heruls has primarily been based on the repeated combinations of the names Hariwulf - Hathuwulf - Heruwulf. In that way we do not have the same certainty as on the Roek Stone, but the odd sentence "put staves 3 fff" at the Gummarp Stone will explain a sign at the Roek Stone, which according to the runologists is unexplained though they agree it should be a "th". The sign is combined by fff og a reverse fff, which can mean "th" (3,3 in ciffercode). "fff" must be a religious incantation like the word "futhark" where the "f" is the first sign - and in that way it will be a common cultic feature between the stones in Blekinge and Roek.2.1.1.5. Other runes after 509 AD After the Heruls arrived to Scandinavia the spread of the runes changed. They were now spread in Scandinavia, England, Frisia and north of the upper Danube - correlating the areas where the Eastern and Western Herulian dynasties established after the defeats in Southern Europe. 2.1.1.7. Answer Based on the arguments above we must conclude that there is no reason to believe that the Heruls invented the runes, but the pattern of spread indicates that the Heruls were some of the later users, who spread the runes. 2.1.2. Heruls and Earls? 2.1.2.1. Niels Lukman and Barði Guðmundson The Danish scholar, Niels Lukman, elaborated in 1943 in his doctoral thesis on the theory that the Heruls became earls in the Danish kingdoms. He suggested that their families brought the many legends from Central and South Eastern Europe to Scandinavia. He wrote in German during the German occupation of Denmark giving his theories no future in Denmark in the following decades. In 1959, however, he was supported by the national Icelandic antiquarian, Barði Guðmundsson, who connected a transfer of Herulic legends to the Icelandic sagas with East Scandinavian settlers at Western Iceland. Since then no scholars have used these theories as the folklorists are of the opinion that legends cannot be remembered for so many years. As we er talking about distorted fragments this argument will only work as a rejection of the sagas as historical sources, but that problem shall not be the topic here. 2.1.2.2. A likely explanation 
Without using the legends as an argument it must be a fact that the West Herulian officers and mercenaries lost an important source of income when the West Roman emperor left England and his empire later collapsed. They had to find work elsewhere. In the 450'ies AD they performed the viking raids against Spain, but such ships could just as likely bring them north. At that time the new Scandinavian kingdoms emerged with an obvious market for the experienced Herulic officers as military advisors and army commandors. Those, who did not join the Anglosaxons to England in the same role, would hardly leave out that possibility. Probably the "Ek erilaR" inscriptions shall be regarded as their "carte de visite". Their role leads to the titles "jarl" in Scandinavia and "eorl" in England - and in that way the wellknown cultural connection between these areas may have been established. After the defeat of Odoaker also Eastern Herulian mercenaries may have followed the trade route against north playing the same role as their kinsmen. An example of such a role model in the legends could be the Starkad figure - Sterkedius was even the name of an Eastgermanic officer in Rome. In the Vendel Era in Uppland a more formalized structure of earls was apparently established - symbolized by the ring swords (an earlier Frankish tradition) and the golden rings, as shown above at the helmet plate (matrice) from Thorslunda.2.1.2.3. Answer It is very likely that the title jarl/earl has a background in Herulian mercenary officers - even without using the linguistic background as an argument - but it is not possible to prove that. 2.1.3. Heruls and Svear? 2.1.3.1. The general development in Scandinavia 400-600 AD In the first half of the 5th century the golden bracteates appeared. Some of the C-bracteates were apparently connected with the cult of Odin. Soon after the sacrifices disappeared from the bogs and the burial customs were changed to flat burials and especially cremations directly in the field. Together these changes could indicate a change in religion, where the Germanic Wothen during the next two centuries spread from south west and became the Norse god Odin. In the 6th century new greater kingdoms emerged - ao. the Danes were now mentioned for the first time by Southern historians in 3 cases. The military equipment became more uniform and was more rapidly and contemporary changed. The burial mounds had in a few cases been used in Norway and Hoegom, but now the big royal mounds were raised in Sweden - with the mounds in Uppsala as the greatest. Also Lejre was established in the 6th century as a small copy of Uppsala making now Uppaakre, Lejre and maybe Gudme the most important centres of the Danes. Also the first boat graves came in the second part of the 6th century - especially in Uppland, where they are supposed to represent a new structure of vassals or earls. They are a symbol of the Vendel Culture, where Uppland emerged as the power centre of Scandinavia. In this period of change Europe was also hit by a climatic catastrophe with "the three dark years" 536-538 followed by "the disease of Justinian". In that period especially the Scandinavian famine must have weakened the old dynasties connected with the fertility gods - being an advantage to the new Odinistic warrior dynasties as the Heruls. Archaeology indicates a connection between the Vendel Culture, the Anglian part of England, Southern Germany and Lombardia - such as identical pictural motives at the helmets, Animal Style II and runes (no runes in Lombardia). That spread is identical with the last places where we heard about Herulic dynasties outside Scandinavia. The spread could indicate dynastical connections between these places. Opposite the military equipment was nearly the same in all the Germanic societies. 2.1.3.2. Blekinge/Vaerend - The place of arrival? 
As mentioned the Heruls arrived to Scandinavia from the Varni. Probably they were sailed directly to the Scandinavian Peninsula by their earlier allied, and it is most likely that the landed in Scania or Blekinge without any fight against the Danes. The text could imply that they simply passed the Danes in Scania by boat. When reading the combination Jordanes/Procopios the explantion will be, that they first settled in Blekinge/Vaerend between Danes and Goetes - which already von Friesen pointed out based on archaeology. Beside the many Eastgermanic finds in the area the archaeologists first of all paid attention to the runestones in Blekinge and the first Scandinavian boat grave in the Migration Ages, which is situated near the runestones. More important is probably the globe stone on Inglingehoeg at Thorsjoe, as the ornamentation is similar with Eastgermanic fibulas - and the Soesdala-mount from Vennebo shown above. Maybe the symbolism even point at the big monolith at the Mausoleum of Theodoric. A similar stone is found in a mound beside to the chieftain in Hoegom. The way to cut the hard stone was hardly done by Scandinavians as no similar work is known at that time in Scandinavia (the Gotlandic stones are of another kind). Close to Inglingehoeg the legendary Blotberg (blot=sacrifice) is found with 12 mounds from the Iron Ages at the small location "Odensjoe".It is possible that the Heruls had a temporary settlement in Blekinge/Vaerend, but as they were no farmers they had no chance to live there - except if they began looting and tributing the Danes. This may be the reason why the Danes formed a stronger alliance expelling the Heruls - and became for the first time known in the South. Such an event may even be reflected in Beowulf, Widsith, Snorre and Saxo - though the names were mixed up so long time later. According to the history we shall look for a place further north of the Danes where the development indicates the arrival of such a strong people in the beginning of the 6th century. It has to be a place generating values which could be picked up by the Heruls, who according to Procopius had lived of warfare, looting and payment for protection. 2.1.3.3. Norway, Goetaland and the islands The Norwegean west coast could have been a target due to the connections in the 5th century, but these small isolated societies flourished already in the 5th century and no substantial expansion is realised in the beginning of the 6th century pointing at an arrival of the Heruls. Also Vestergoetland flourished already in the 5th century with rich golden treasures and the famous golden neckrings. The finds pointing at Eastgermanic people are war booties indicating that the local people there were able to keep the intruders out, because these people at the Swedish plains according to Jordanes were used of a pressure on their borders. Just like the Gudme area they had contacts with the Black Sea in the beginning of the Migration Ages. The later sacrifices in Finnestorp have a clear Eastgermanic touch, but the culture in the area still appear to be local - even though Herulian earls may have supported the development at a later stage. The Sparloesa Stone is now by a few scholars attempted to be dated in the 6th century, but that interpretation does hardly work as both the runic text, the house and the ship indicate a dating in the late 8th century. Therefore the stone can not be used as a proof of an early dating of a connection. Neither in Halland and Oestergoetland we know centres indicating the arrival of such a people. Even though the Roek Stone is found in Oestergoetland it may be caused by a branch of the royal family moving there some time in the following 300 years - and the text of the Sparloesa Stone even indicate such a movement from Uppsala. At Oeland the impressing and unusual strongholds of stone were erected, but that too was in the 5th century - as the above mentioned civilisations. If the strongholds had anything with the Heruls to do they were rather provoked by the Hunnic and Eastgermanic horsemen in the 5th century. Besides Procopius told the remained in Thule, and the Eastern Heruls were horsemen - leaving out the islands. All the places mentioned above may have received Herulian mercenaries - or for that sake Ostrogoths who believed Scandinavia was their original home. This may be one of the reasons behind the uniform military development in the 6th century. 2.1.3.4. The Maelar Valley 
Already from a superficial point of view the Maelar region appear to be the right place based on the general development. Uppsala and the Vendel Culture was archaeologically characterized as the power centre of the Scandinavian Peninsula from the 6th century - a culture being initially strongly influenced by an Eastgermanic culture with contact to the regions where the Herulian dynasties still appeared to live. Here Birgit Arrhenius emphasized especially the shield boss, a buckle and a mount from the Vendel boat grave XIV, which is regarded to be the first of the boat graves. Identical items are found at River Tizsa in Romenia, to where Datius escaped to the Gepides. The shield boss is of a type which is typical for Vendel in those years. Another identical shield boss is found in a tomb at the Rhine containing also items of Gepidic character. The time connections may indicate that it belonged to the Datius-group where the survivors probably may have escaped towards the west after the destruction of the Gepides and the Illyrian Heruls in 565 AD. Vendel XIV also contained one of the famous helmets for parades. They were made in Scandinavia but looked like Roman cavalry helmets from the 5th century - belonging to people who played on and had a strong veneration for a past as Roman mercenaries.
The content and character of the Ottars' Mound in Vendel and maybe Sami-DNA in a boat grave may indicate a connection with the society of Hoegom in Norrland being influenced by Eastgermanic culture. This society appear to have been left in the beginning of the 6th century. Opposite Hoegom the mound contained a cremation. In the ashes was found a very seldom coin from the East Roman emperor Basiliscus ruling only in the year 476 AD, when Odoaker dismissed West Roman Emperor. This coin is also known from the tomb of Childeric. Maybe the dynasty from Hoegom met their Herulic allies in Uppland and joined them. Here in Uppland a new center of richness emerged based on the fur trade route via Helgoe and the new iron extraction in Bergslagen - activities which without any doubt would attract the Herulian warrior kings. This was exactly what they needed.The three royal mounds in Uppsala are dated inside the interval 500-625 AD - which was the time when the Heruls established in the area. The eldest mound in the middle is not excavated, but it is known to contain a cremation packed with stones as the two other mounds. The East Mound contains a woman and maybe also a boy burned at temperatures so high that nearly everything in the mound was destroyed. Among the fragments was a helmet for a woman or a child with a helmet plate identical with some of the plates in Sutton Hoo in East Anglia. The motive is two dancing Sassanidian (Persian) warriors which must be connected with the international society of East Roman mercenaries. In the mound also two simple female articles for daily use were found - a make up palette and a mirror with an eye to be hanging in the belt. Both belong to the women of the nomads in South Eastern Europe, and the mirror is found in 100 examples at the Danube and at the Black Sea. North of the Danubian Bassin only two such mirrors are found - one in Thuringia and the one in Uppsala. Therefore the East Mound of Uppsala must contain a woman of Eastgermanic/Sarmatian family - the Herulic mixture of people. The West Mound is the youngest containing fragments of glass from the Black Sea, ivory gaming pieces from South Eastern Europe and Sassanidian camees. 
The new cremation customs in the Maelar region are quite opposite the old burial customs of the Heruls as no cremations are found where they operated in Sountern Europe. As Procopius could tell about pagan Heruls burning their dead in big fires, he must have described the habits the Heruls in Scandinavia being referred by followers of Datius. The Heruls must have changed their burial customs, when they were integrated in Scandinavia, which may have been a part of the general changes of the burial customs being observed at that time by archaeology.No characteristics of the Heruls are known in the areas where they lived in South Eastern Europe - except maybe the burial mounds from the 5th century in Moravia/Marchfeld being connected with Uppsala by Czeckish archaeologists. The Heruls were etnically so mixed and had joined so many other people that they cannot be separated from other Eastgermanic people following the Huns. Taking into consideration the very limited material being left from the cremations in Uppland we can conclude that we have found all the traces we could expect to find after a Herulian dynasty and their followers being integrated as a minority with the local people. Most of the mounds and boat graves being excavated are from more than 50 years after they left Moravia. Even when the contacts after the destruction of the Eastgermanic people turned against the Franks - or rather their pagan easterly neighbours - the content of the boat graves is still of the same character as the other rich European princely graves. Only local patriots - or people caught by the promissing ideas of Olof Rudbeck - can claim that the Vendel Culture is based on an internal Swedish development. Of course the flourishing of Uppsala is not an argument which can stand alone, as such a people in the theory could arise as a reaction on the arriving Heruls - as the Danes. Opposite no places are found with a development substantial enough to match this dominating Eastgermanic people. If this was the case too much Eastgermanic influence is found in Uppsala and the boat graves. As late as in the 11th century this centre in Uppsala was described by Adam of Bremen as the centre of of Odin, where Odin, Thor and the old Vanegod Frej were worshipped side by side. 2.1.3.6. Answer In the theory the Vendel culture may have arised as an alliance against the Herulian dynasty supported by other Herulian earls. Consequently the conclusion is based on the fact that no other place is found with substantial changes matching this strong people of warriors. This does not exclude that such a place has existed, even though it should have been indicated by mounds. Therefore the conclusion regarding the connection between Heruls and Svear should be: The most probable explanation is that the Eastern Heruls settled in the Uppsala region and that their dynasty as kings or earls became a part of the dynasty of the Svear. The archaeology does show the necessary tracks of that. 2.1.4. Heruls and boat graves? 
Boat graves are unknown in the areas where the Heruls lived in the South and they do not make much practical or symbolic sense regarding the East Heruls. Boat graves are known from Bornholm in the Roman Iron Ages and must be regarded as a Scandinavian development. The boat graves were hardly a Herulian idea.The content of the boat graves in Uppland is similar with the content of the other pagan princely graves in Europe. These customs were probably in Scandinavia combined with the boats as a mixed burial custom. As mentioned Birgit Arrhenius has emphasized the Eastgermanic connection with the early Vendel Culture - hereunder Vendel XIV - where the spread of the boat graves appear to be connected with a structure of earls. 2.1.4.3. Answer The connection between Heruls and boat graves will therefore be an indirectly consequence of the earlier questions about Earls and Svear. 2.1.5. Heruls and Eric - the god? 2.1.5.1. The god Eric This question by Aake Hyenstrand referred to the biography of Ansgar by Rimbert who in the second part of the 9th century visited Birca and mentioned the considerations about raising the dead king Eric to a god. Hyenstrand referred to the royal names Eric, Alric and Rolf as Herulic, but no Herul is known by the name Eric and all these royal names are formed by general Germanic words. Therefore the name itself can not be used to identify any Heruls, but it is relevant to discuss the more general connection between the ancestor gods and the pagan Germanic people like the Heruls. 2.1.5.2. Heruls and ancestor gods? Procopius told about the Illyrian Heruls that these reckless barbarians worshipped a host of gods. Jordanes on his side told that the migrating Goths earlier - before they were baptised as Arian Christians - worshipped the heroes among their ancestors. He told that the Gothic word for ancestor gods was "ansis", which appear to be the background for the rune name "ansuZ" (God) and the divine group of "Ases". One of the first ancestors in "Getica" was Gapt. In the early royal genealogies in England from the 7th century Geat and Wothen were placed in front - indicating a similar connection between the gods and the royal ancestors there. Gapt and Geat were possibly identical with the god named Gaut, who in the ON poem Grimnismal was mentioned as an earlier name for Odin - the maingod of the Ases. In spite of the mentioning of ancestor gods Jordanes also told that the wargod of the Goths was earlier Mars, just as Procopius told that the maingod in Scandinavia was a wargod (Ares/Mars). A wargod as maingod was probably Odin. Earlier the gods in Scandinavia were Mercurius, Tyr, Nerthus and Ing according to tacitus. The two last gods may have been fertility gods of the old society of independent farmers - the Vanes. When the warrior elite emerged the importance of the gods changed too. The maingod of the Scandinavian warrior elite, Odin, probably first arrived as the Westgermanic god Woden/Wothan in the 5th century. Maybe he had a parallel in a North- or East Scandinavian cousin Gaut. Some of his shamanistic features could even together with the animal styles point back against the Scythic/Sarmatic (or Samic) nomads. The Heruls may have brought with them some of these elements of the maingod, but he existed in Scandinavia before their royal family arrived. The mixed Pantheon is mainly known from the Norse literature and will be discussed in a later chapter, as it cannot be used as arguments regarding the Heruls. 2.1.5.3. Answer Apparently the Germanic people regarded their royal families as descendents of the gods - at least when the Ases were introduced. Obviously they used to raise heroes to gods as Jordanes and Rimbert told, but they also manipulated the royal lists by putting existing main gods in front of their royal genealogies - maybe a part of the change of religion. Under all circumstances the development of the pagan religion with its mixture of ancestors, Ases and Vanes appear to be Germanic in general and was hardly caused by the Heruls alone. 2.2. A possible scenario Based on the most probable answer a possible scenario can be that the Eastern Heruls sailed from the Varni to Blekinge and passed the Danes without suffering violence. At the arrival they settled in Blekinge/Vaerend - maybe around Thorsjoe/Odinsjoe. As they were no farmers and the local farmers were few they began their usual plundering and threat. Consequently the Danes made an alliance and threatened to do like the Lombards. The Heruls focussed instead on the economical and strategical position of the Swedes - if this was not the final target from the very start. Two possibilities will now lead to the same result. The king of the Svear may have called on the Heruls as mercenaries against threatening neighbours and made the usual kind of alliance where his son married the daughter of the Herulian king - and afterwards the Heruls took over as Gilda and Bede told about the Continental Barbarians in England. Alternatively the Heruls and their allied from Hoegom simply attacked the Svear and took power. They established a new structure of earls at the Tuna-centres and planned an efficient integration of the two people, where ao. burial customs and religion were harmonized. A part of the model for such a successful establishment of power they had learned from Theodoric 10 years earlier, and they themselves had been used to change customs after the people they served or followed. The difference between the fiasco in Illyria and a possible success in Scandinavia was probably the monoteistic characther of the Christian religion. The arian Theodoric accepted the Catholics, but it is obvious by reading Procopius that the Heruls in Illyria could not be accepted as true Christians. Opposite Widukind told much later that the Scandinavians accepted foreign gods in their religion side by side with their own gods. The gods of the warrior elite, the Ases, could in this way be mixed up with the old fertility gods of the Svear, the Vanes - a development which had started before the Heruls arrived. As in the other Germanic people Woden and Frej were placed in front of the royal genealogy to secure the family's exclusive right to the throne - and at a later time the god Woden/Odin found his way into fragments of their old legends about the migrations of the people. Centuries later the dynasty spread their power to other kingdoms - or escaped that way - where the rune stones in Sparloesa and Roek were raised 300 years later. In the same way Ynglingetal and Ynglingesaga were later written. It is possible to put more details into the scenario above by reading Ynglingasaga by Snorre and the legends about Frode and Gylfe. This shall, however, be regarded as literature and not as historical sources as described below. Other possible scenarios can be set up leading to the same result. 2.3. Conclusion about the settlement in Scandinavia The questions by Aake Hyenstrand could not be answered without any doubt, but the main question about Heruls and Svear lead to the most probable explanation, which also indirectly answered most of the other questions. The answer based on a combination of history and archaeology without any use of legends leads to the following conclusion about Scandinavia: There is no doubt that the Herulian dynasty was operating in Scandinavia in the 6th century and that there were connections between the Heruls and Scandinavia in the 5th century. The most probable explanation is that the Moravian Heruls settled in the Uppsala region and that their dynasty as kings or earls became a part of the dynasty of the Svear. The archaeology does show the necessary tracks of that, but archaeology will probably never constitute a proof. The usual attitude has been that Uppsala and Vendel is only an internal development until the opposite is proven - with an articel by the professor in English, Alvar Ellegaard, as the historical alibi. This attitude is irresponsible as the risk is that the most likely explanation regarding the Heruls will be left out of most archaeological research and examinations - just as it is hardly mentioned in the literature.
In Northern Europe a rich literature is found about the past in Scandinavia, but it is common for nearly all these works that they were written down 1000-1300 AD - long time after the events. Accordingly they can never be regarded as historical sources as such, but they contain invaluable information about the Viking Culture. In Iceland Snorri Sturlasson wrote in the Edda a dialog between the Svea-king Gylfe and the god Odin, but initially in the work he told the traditional story about the origin of the gods and the royal family in Troy - a late Christian version. After travelling around in Scandinavia Snorri later told in Ynglingesaga another legend about a king, Odin, and his "men from Asia", who came from the surroundings of Tanais - just like the Eastern Heruls believed they did according to Jordanes. Though the description of the route was based on the geography and travel routes of the Mediaval Ages, and over the span of years probably melted together, it is possible to recognize the history of the Heruls. This "Odin" first time settled at one of the several places called "Odinsey" - which could as well be Odinsjö in Sweden as at the Danish Odense as Snorre believed. From here the king negotiated with Gylfe and later he moved to Sigtuna and got a temple in the town of Gylfe - Uppsala. A settlement in two stages like the Heruls' as described above - ending in Uppsala. Snorri told about the mixture of Ases and Vanes - the Wothan cult of the warriors and the old Scandinavian fertility cult, where Tacitus' Nerthus and Ing were succeded by Njord and Frej. He also told how the king “Odin” was raised as a god - in accordance with Jordanes and Rimbert - a natural proces in the history of religions. Then he told about a successful Scandinavian integration project, including new burial customs with cremation (except Frej - the ancestor of the Ynglings). We are not able to decide today how much of the work are reconstructions and how much are fragments of old legends about the kings, where the gods in the traditional way were placed in the front. Rabid scholars have accused Snorri for inventing it all as a Christian in the 13th century in order to throw suspicion on the pagan religion as euhemeristic. The case is that he did not need to invent that as the Germanic ancestor cult and the cult around the Roman emperors by nature were euhemeristic. Quite opposite a lot of the material used by Snorri is known from earlier historians and poems. There is no doubt that the sources behind the sagas have been changed over the years – which the Icelanders were not able to see through. The Pantheon of Snorri is as example a frozen picture which only indirectly reflects the many differences locally and over time in a dynamic proces - but most religious people regard their religion in that way too. Snorri told a.e. about the changes in burial customs in the 6th century which the archaeologists reveal in our time - just as Beowulf (and Snorri) described the boar helmets of the 6th century, which are now escavated. It is more likely that he got this information from old poems than he invented such information. Neither could the Scandinavians have invented the Eastgermanic touch in many of the legends. Maybe do the manipulated and unreliable Scandinavian sagas and cronicles in this way contain fragments of the history of this vagrant royal family - which can never be used as historical evidence, but which can inspire to set up explaining scenarioes around events and connections in the past.
Under all circumstances the Heruls arrived to Scandinavia where they must have been an important catalyst in the development proces leading to the the greater kingdoms of the Vendel Culture and the later Viking Culture. They are even the most likely explanation of the earls of Uppland. But the looting and tributing of the Heruls was not the only element in the expansion proces of the vikings - it was a general backside of the culture around the warrior elite until a new combination of kingship and church changed this way of life in the Mediaval Ages. These hypotheses cover an area where it is normally impossible to prove anything according to usual scholarly criterias - except if new techniques as DNA-analyzes can help us. Unfortunately the historians have not (like other scholarly areas) found a methode of reporting uncertainty - though all historical reports and analyzes contain uncertainty. The Scandinavian historians therefore avoid the Iron Ages. The purpose of this article by an outsider is to combine the fragmentary historical and archaeological information in a more probable and coherent way - in the hope one day to inspire a scholar to find a convincing way out of the dead ends. Detailed article The old article was marked by current changes from more than ten years of research and discussions. It is now substituted by a new detailed pdf-article (heruls.pdf) with the same index as above. It provides the reader with notes and references, which are still under construction. November 29th 2009
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