The scientist-explorer Fridtjof Nansen proposed that "Heruli" at first perhaps was a common name for bands of northern warriors, who to a certain degree consisted of Norwegians. In his book In northern mists, Nansen suggested that Rodulf of the Ranii tribe could have migrated south with a band of warriors, and that on arriving at the Danube, pressed by other warlike tribes in the vicinity, he sought alliance with Theodoric. Nansen believed this could have happened before Theodoric's invasion of Italy in 489, at the same time that the Heruli were just north of the Danube, and were the nearest neighbours of the Goths. Although particularly German scholarship have identified the unnamed Heruli king and the Rodulfs as the same person, including the Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde in an entry by Norwegian historian Claus Krag, others such as historian Walter Goffart and archaeologist Dagfinn Skre have questioned at least parts of these identifications. Historian A. H. Merrills, on the other hand, has proposed the possibility that associating Rodulf with the Scandinavian tribes could have been politically motivated: "The Getica may, of course, be correct in its association of Roduulf with the far north, but the possibility that it merely reflects an ideological distortion should not be overlooked.". Aftermath In the early 6th century, the Lombard king Wacho took Silinga as his third wife, who was said to be the daughter of the last king of the Heruls. This has led some scholars to believe that Silinga probably was a daughter of Rodulf. They had the son Walthari. The marriage between Wacho and Silinga functioned to legitimize the Lombards as the successors to the kingdom of the Heruls. It has been debated whether Rodulf may have influenced later heroic poetry, since the causes of the war between the Lombards and the Heruli (as reported by Paul the Deacon) concerns related issues. Some have furthermore argued that Rodulf could be the background for the character Hrólfr Kraki who appears in the later sagas. Evidence for this includes the significant similarities between the traditions of, on the one side, the Scyldings of the Skjöldunga saga and the Scylfings of the Swedish sagas, and on the other, historical knowledge of the environment around the Heruli, Goths and Huns. It has also been speculated that the Ráðulfr mentioned in the Rök runestone (which also mentions Theodoric the Great) could be identical with Rodulf. References Bibliography