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Rugii

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"Rugians" redirects here. For the Slavic tribe, see Rani (tribe).
Settlement areas of the Rugii: Rogaland, Pomerania (since the first century), Rugiland (5th century); Rügen (uncertain)

The Rugii, Rogi or Rugians (Ancient Greek: Ρογοί, romanized: Rogoi), were one of the smaller Germanic people of Late Antiquity who are best known for their short-lived 5th-century kingdom upon the Roman frontier, near present-day Krems in Austria.[1] This kingdom, like those of the neighbouring Heruli and Scirii, first appeared after the death of Attila in 453. His Hunnish empire had dominated the region for more than a generation, and changed its ethnic make-up. The Rugii, Heruli, Scirii are believed to have moved into this region from distant homelands under pressure from the Huns, and been part of Attila's empire at its height. They were also part of the alliance of old allies who defeated Attial's sons at the Battle of Nedao in 454.

It is generally accepted that the Rugii were first clearly recorded by Tacitus in the first century, in his Germania. He mentioned a people called the Rugii living near the south shore of the Baltic Sea, near the Lemovii and east of the Gutones who apparently lived near the mouth of the Vistula. The 6th century writer Procopius included them among the "Gothic peoples", grouping them with Goths, Gepids, Vandals, Sciri, and the non-Germanic Alans, who were mainly associated with Eastern Europe.[2]

Various other records mentioning places or peoples with similar names have been associated with the Danubian Rugii. Another 6th century writer, Jordanes says there were "Rugi" living in Scandinavia in his own time, near the Dani (Danes) and Suetidi (Suedes), although he does not explain if they are related to the Rugii who had been living near the Danube. The medieval Rygir were a tribe residing in Rogaland of southwestern Norway, around the Boknfjord. The Baltic Rugii mentioned by Tacitus are also possibly related to the Rutikleioi, and the place known as Rougion, both mentioned on the southern Baltic coast in the second century by Ptolemy. The coastal island known today as Rügen is also sometimes associated with the Rugii. The Rugii are also associated with the Ulmerugi, whose name probably means "island Rugii", who are mentioned in the sixth century by Jordanes as a people who had lived on the Baltic coast near the Vistula, many centuries earlier when, according to him, the Goths arrived by boat from Scandinavia. A similar island name Holmrygir is known from much later medieval Norway, in the area near Rogaland.

The name of the Rugii continued to be used after the sixth century to refer to Slavic-speaking peoples including even Russians.[3]

Etymology

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The tribal name Rugii is believed to originate from the name of the cereal rye, and would thus have meant 'rye eaters' or 'rye farmers'.[4] The Proto-Germanic form has been reconstructed as *rugiz, and versions of the word exist in both West Germanic (reconstructed as *rugi), North Germanic languages (Old Norse rugr), but are not known from East Germanic. They are also known in the other language families of the Baltic region: Finnic (reconstructed in Proto-Finnic *rugis), Baltic, and Slavic (rŭžĭ). Andersson has noted that this etymology limits the possible places where we might expect the Rugii to have had their original homeland. For example the cultivation rye, which was originally cultivated in the Middle East, is not known in Norway in the Roman era, implying that the later Rygir of Norway were not living in the original Rugian homeland.[4]

Other historical terms associated with the Rugii:

  • Ulmerugi, the coastal region near the Vistula which was mentioned by Jordanes, can be translated as 'island Rugii', containing the Proto-Germanic word reconstructed as *hulmaz (English holm, Old Norse holmr). An equivalent word in Old Norse holmrygir is found in Norway, near the tribe who were called the Rygir.[4]
  • Ptolemy's Rutikleioi have been interpreted as a scribal error for Rugikleioi (in Greek). The meaning of the second part of this name form is unclear, but it has for example been interpreted as a Germanic diminutive.[4]
  • Uncertain and disputed is the association of the Rugii with the name of the isle of Rügen and the tribe of the Rugini. Though some scholars suggested that the Rugii passed their name to the isle of Rügen in modern Northeast Germany, other scholars presented alternative hypotheses of Rügen's etymology associating the name to the mediaeval Rani (Rujani) tribe.[4][5]
  • The Rugini were only mentioned once, in a list of Germanic tribes still to be Christianised drawn up by the English monk Bede in his Historia ecclesiastica of the early 8th century.[4][6]

Origins

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According to an old proposal, the Rugii possibly migrated from southwest Norway to Pomerania in the first century AD.[7] Rogaland or Rygjafylke is a region (fylke) in south west Norway. Rogaland translates "Land of the Rygir" (Rugii), the transition of rygir to roga being sufficiently explained with the general linguistic transitions of the Norse language.[4]

Scholars suggest a migration either of Rogaland Rugii to the southern Baltic coast, a migration the other way around, or an original homeland on the islands of Denmark in between these two regions.[4] None of these theories is so far backed by archaeological evidence.[4] Another theory suggests that the name of one of the two groups was adapted by the other one later without any significant migration taking place.[4] Scholars regard it as very unlikely that the name was invented twice.[4]

Southern Baltic coast

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Further information: Early history of Pomerania
The Roman Empire under Hadrian (ruled 117–138): the Rugii inhabit a region corresponding to modern Pomerania (northern Germany and Poland)

The Rugii were first mentioned by Tacitus[8] in the late first century.[4][5] Tacitus' description of their contemporary settlement area, adjacent to the Lemovii and east of the Gutones (who are generally considered to be early Goths, and also mentioned by Ptolemy, who placed them in Sarmatia, east of the Vistula), at the "ocean". This is generally seen as the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, the later Pomerania.[4][9][5] Tacitus distinguished the Rugii, Gutones and Lemovii from other Germanic tribes, saying they carried round shields and short swords, and obeyed kings.[4][9][5]

The Oxhöft culture is associated with parts of the Rugii and Lemovii.[5] The archaeological Gustow group of Western Pomerania is also associated with the Rugii.[10][11] The remains of the Rugii west of the Vidivarii, together with other Gothic, Veneti, and Gepid groups, are believed to be identical with the archaeological Dębczyn culture.[12]

In 150 AD, the geographer Ptolemy did not mention the Rugii, but he did mention a place named Rhougion (also transliterated from Greek as Rougion, Rugion, Latinized Rugium or Rugia) and a tribe named the Routikleioi in roughly the same area, between the rivers Vidua and Vistula.[13] Both these names have been associated with the Rugii.[4][5]

In the sixth century, Jordanes wrote an origin story (Origo gentis) about the Goths, the Getica, which claims that the Goths and many other peoples came from Scandinavia, the "womb of nations". This contains at least three possible references to the Rugii, although Jordanes himself does not make any connection between them.

  • One is that upon the arrival by boat of the Goths from Scandinavia, in the coastal area of "Gothiscandza", the Goths expelled a people called the Ulmerugi.[14][4][5]
  • Jordanes also makes a references to a people called the Rugii still living in Scandinavia in the sixth century, in the area near the Dani, normally presumed to be the Danes.[15][4]
  • In a list of peoples conquered by the fourth century Gothic king Ermanaric, who ruled north of the Black Sea, the name "Rogas" appears.[16]

According to an old proposal, in the second century AD, eastern Germanic peoples then mainly in the area of modern Poland, began to expand their influence, pressing peoples to their south and eventually causing the Marcomannic Wars on the Roman Danubian frontier. The Rugii are one of the peoples thought to have been involved. While modern authors are sceptical of some elements of the old narrative, the archaeology of the Wielbark culture has given new evidence to support this idea.[17]

Danubian and Italian Rugii

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Europe at the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD

In the beginning of the fourth century, a large group of Rugii settled at the upper Tisza in ancient Pannonia, in what is now modern Hungary.[citation needed] They were later attacked by the Huns[citation needed] but took part in Attila's campaigns in 451, but at his death they rebelled and created under Flaccitheus a kingdom of their own in Rugiland, a region presently part of lower Austria (ancient Noricum), north of the Danube.[18] After Flaccitheus's death, the Rugii of Rugiland were led by king Feletheus, also called Feva, and his wife Gisa.[18] Yet other Rugii had already become foederati of Odoacer, who was to become the first Germanic king of Italy.[18] By 482 the Rugii had converted to Arianism.[7] Feletheus' Rugii were utterly defeated by Odoacer in 487; many came into captivity and were carried to Italy, and subsequently, Rugiland was settled by the Lombards.[18] Records of this era are made by Procopius,[19] Jordanes and others.[4]

Two years later, Rugii joined the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great when he invaded Italy in 489. Within the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy, they kept their own administrators and avoided intermarriage with the Goths.[20][7] They disappeared after Totila's defeat in the Gothic War (535–554).[7]

Legacy

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Possible continuations in the north

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It is assumed that Burgundians, Goths and Gepids with parts of the Rugians left Pomerania during the late Roman Age, and that during the Migration Period, remnants of Rugians, Vistula Veneti, Vidivarii and other, Germanic tribes remained and formed units that were later Slavicized.[12] The Vidivarii themselves are described by Jordanes in his Getica as a melting pot of tribes who in the mid-6th century lived at the lower Vistula.[21][22] Though differing from the earlier Wielbark culture, some traditions were continued.[22] One hypothesis, based on the sudden appearance of large amounts of Roman solidi and migrations of other groups after the breakdown of the Hun empire in 453, suggest a partial re-migration of earlier emigrants to their former northern homelands.[22]

The ninth-century Old English Widsith, a compilation of earlier oral traditions, mentions the tribe of the Holmrycum without localizing it.[4] Holmrygir are mentioned in an Old Norse Skaldic poem, Hákonarmál, and probably also in the Haraldskvæði.[23][4]

James Campbell has argued that, regarding Bede's "Rugini", "the sense of the Latin is that these are the peoples from whom the Anglo-Saxons living in Britain were derived".[24]: 53  The Rugini would thus be among the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons.[24]: 123–124  Whether the Rugini were remnants of the Rugii is speculative.[4] Despite the identification by Bede as Germanic, some scholars have attempted to link the Rugini with the Rani.[6][25]

The continuation of the name

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According to Pohl, the name was taken up in a historicizing manner from the 10th century onwards to refer to Slavic peoples on the lower Austrian Danube (Pohl refers to Raffelstettener customs ordinance shortly after 900), on the Baltic Sea (citing Otto of Freising, Chronica 7, 9), or also the Rus (citing the Continuatio Reginonis a. 959-60).[26]


See also

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References

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  1. ^ Bjornlie, Shane (2018). "Rugians". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191744457. Retrieved January 26, 2020. Rugians. Germanic people prominent in provincial politics of the Danube frontier region during the last half of the 5th century...
  2. ^ See for example Wolfram (2005, p. 77) and Steinacher (2017, p. 28).
  3. ^ Steinacher, Roland [in German] (2010). "The Herules: Fragments of a History". In Curta, Florin (ed.). Neglected Barbarians. ISD. ISBN 9782503531250. pp.43-44.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Andersson 2003.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g J. B. Rives on Tacitus, Germania, Oxford University Press, 1999, p.311, ISBN 0-19-815050-4
  6. ^ a b David Fraesdorff, Der barbarische Norden: Vorstellungen und Fremdheitskategorien bei Rimbert, Thietmar von Merseburg, Adam von Bremen und Helmold von Bosau, Akademie Verlag, 2005, p.55, ISBN 3-05-004114-5
  7. ^ a b c d "Rugi (people)". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  8. ^ Tacitus, Germania, Germania.XLIV
  9. ^ a b The Works of Tacitus: The Oxford Translation, Revised, With Notes, BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008, p.836, ISBN 0-559-47335-4
  10. ^ Magdalena Ma̜czyńska, Tadeusz Grabarczyk, Die spätrömische Kaiserzeit und die frühe Völkerwanderungszeit in Mittel- und Osteuropa, Wydawn. Uniwersytetu Łódź, 2000, p.127, ISBN 83-7171-392-4
  11. ^ Horst Keiling, Archäologische Funde von der frührömischen Kaiserzeit bis zum Mittelalter aus den mecklenburgischen Bezirken, Museum für Ur- und Frühgeschichte Schwerin, 1984, pp.8:12
  12. ^ a b Machajewski 2003, p. 282.
  13. ^ Ptolemaeus II,11,12
  14. ^ Jordanes, Getica, IV,26
  15. ^ Jordanes, Getica, L,261.266; LIV,277
  16. ^ Christensen 2002, ch. 6.
  17. ^ Heather, Peter (2009). Empires and Barbarians: The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-989226-6., pp.96-107
  18. ^ a b c d William Dudley Foulke, Edward Peters, History of the Lombards, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1974, pp.31ff, ISBN 0-8122-1079-4
  19. ^ Procopius, Bellum Gothicum VI,14,24; VII,2,1.4
  20. ^ "At the behest of Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno, Theodoric of the Ostrogoths invades Italy and founds a kingdom based in Rome. Many of the remaining Rugii join Theodoric in his invasion and settle in self-contained communities, refusing intermarriage with the Ostrogoths and other Germanic peoples there. They retain their identity until the fall of the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy. The Langobards migrate into the former Rugii territory to fill this vacuum."Germanic Tribes: Rugii
  21. ^ Andrew H. Merrills, History and Geography in Late Antiquity, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p.325, ISBN 0-521-84601-3
  22. ^ a b c Mayke de Jong, Frans Theuws, Carine van Rhijn, Topographies of Power in the Early Middle Ages, Brill, 2001, p.524, ISBN 90-04-11734-2
  23. ^ Skj, B I,57
  24. ^ a b Campbell, James (1986). Essays in Anglo-Saxon history. London: Hambledon Press. ISBN 090762832X. OCLC 458534293.
  25. ^ Joachim Herrmann, Welt der Slawen: Geschichte, Gesellschaft, Kultur, C.H. Beck, 1986, p.265, ISBN 3-406-31162-8
  26. ^ Pohl 2003.

Biography

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This article contains content from the Owl Edition of Nordisk familjebok, a Swedish encyclopedia published between 1904 and 1926, now in the public domain.

Further reading

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