Jordanes makes a references to a people called the Rugii still living in Scandinavia in the sixth century, in the area near the Dani, who are normally presumed to be the Danes.
According to an old proposal, the Rugii possibly migrated from southwest Norway to Pomerania in the 1st century AD. 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.
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. None of those theories is so far backed by archaeological evidence. 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.
Scholars such as Andersson regard it as very unlikely that the name meaning "rye-eaters" or "rye-farmers" was invented twice. In favour of a Scandinavian origin, despite doubts about the early cultivation of Rye, he cites the sixth century claim of Jordanes that Scandinavia was the "womb of nations". Others such as Pohl have argued that the similarity of names has been uncritically interpreted to indicate tribal kinship or identity, feeding a debate about the location of an "original homeland" without any reference to historical sources. Pohl also suggests that one possibility suggested by the work of Reinhard Wenskus and the Vienna School of History is that the name of the Rugii could have been spread by small elite groups who moved around, rather than mass migration.
According to an old proposal, in the 2nd 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. Given the coincidence of the same name on the Baltic and Danube, 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.
One of the first clear records of the Rugii interacting with the Roman empire is in the Laterculus Veronensis of about 314. In a list of barbarians under the emperors it lists them together with their future neighbours the Heruli, but in a part of the list between the Scottish barbarians and the tribes north of the lower Rhine. Unlike the Heruli, they do not appear in other such 4th-century lists.
The Rugii are listed as one of the northern peoples who were led by Attila over the Rhine, to invade Gaul, and eventually fight the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains in 451. After Attila's death in 453, the Rugii were among the Hunnic confederates who successfully rebelled against his sons, defeating them and the Ostrogoths at the Battle of Nedao in 454. Whether or not the Rugian kingdom existed before then, and in what form, is unknown.
With Roman power now also weakened along the Danube, the majority of the Rugii became part of the independent Rugian kingdom, ruled by Flaccitheus in Rugiland, a region presently part of lower Austria (ancient Noricum), north of the Danube. After Flaccitheus's death, the Rugii of Rugiland were led by king Feletheus, also called Feva, and his wife Gisa. Yet other Rugii had already become foederati of Odoacer, who was to become the first king of Italy in 476.
By 482 the Rugii had converted to Arianism.
Feletheus' Rugii were utterly defeated by Odoacer in 487; many came into captivity and were carried to Italy; and Rugiland was settled by the Lombards. Records of this era are made by Procopius, Jordanes and others.
According to Pohl, the name was taken up in a historicising 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).
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... 9780191744457
See for example Wolfram (2005, p. 77) and Steinacher (2017, p. 28). - Wolfram, Herwig (2005). The Roman Empire and Its Germanic Peoples. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520244900. https://books.google.com/books?id=_7EwDwAAQBAJ
Steinacher, Roland [in German] (2010). "The Herules: Fragments of a History". In Curta, Florin (ed.). Neglected Barbarians. ISD. ISBN 9782503531250. pp.43-44. 9782503531250
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
J. B. Rives on Tacitus, Germania, Oxford University Press, 1999, p.311, ISBN 0-19-815050-4 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
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 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
Jordanes, Getica, L,261.266; LIV,277
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
"Rugi (people)". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 8 September 2012. https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/512463/Rugi
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
Pohl 2003. - Pohl, Walter (2003), "Rugier § 2. Historisches", in Beck, Heinrich; Geuenich, Dieter; Steuer, Heiko (eds.), Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), ISBN 978-3-11-017733-6
Tacitus, Germania, Germania.XLIV https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Germania#XLIV
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
J. B. Rives on Tacitus, Germania, Oxford University Press, 1999, p.311, ISBN 0-19-815050-4 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
The Works of Tacitus: The Oxford Translation, Revised, With Notes, BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008, p.836, ISBN 0-559-47335-4 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
J. B. Rives on Tacitus, Germania, Oxford University Press, 1999, p.311, ISBN 0-19-815050-4 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
The Works of Tacitus: The Oxford Translation, Revised, With Notes, BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008, p.836, ISBN 0-559-47335-4 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
J. B. Rives on Tacitus, Germania, Oxford University Press, 1999, p.311, ISBN 0-19-815050-4 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
Ptolemaeus II,11,12
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
J. B. Rives on Tacitus, Germania, Oxford University Press, 1999, p.311, ISBN 0-19-815050-4 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
Jordanes, Getica, IV,26
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J. B. Rives on Tacitus, Germania, Oxford University Press, 1999, p.311, ISBN 0-19-815050-4 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
J. B. Rives on Tacitus, Germania, Oxford University Press, 1999, p.311, ISBN 0-19-815050-4 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
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 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
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
Machajewski 2003, p. 282. - Machajewski, Henryk (2003), "Pommern", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 23, Walter de Gruyter, p. 282, ISBN 3-11-017535-5 https://books.google.com/books?id=9LGgd3UGdf0C
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.96-107 978-0-19-989226-6
Christensen 2002, ch. 6. - Christensen, Arne Søby (2002). Cassiodorus, Jordanes and the History of the Goths. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 9788772897103. https://books.google.com/books?id=AcLDHOqOt4cC
Liccardo 2023. - Liccardo, Salvatore (2023), "The Laterculus Veronensis"", Old Names, New Peoples: Listing Ethnonyms in Late Antiquity, Brill, pp. 37–97, doi:10.1163/9789004686601_004, ISBN 9789004686601 https://doi.org/10.1163%2F9789004686601_004
Steinacher 2017, p. 114. - Steinacher, Roland (2017), Rom und die Barbaren. Völker im Alpen- und Donauraum (300-600), Kohlhammer Verlag, ISBN 9783170251700 https://books.google.com/books?id=RIt4DwAAQBAJ
William Dudley Foulke, Edward Peters, History of the Lombards, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1974, pp.31ff, ISBN 0-8122-1079-4 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
William Dudley Foulke, Edward Peters, History of the Lombards, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1974, pp.31ff, ISBN 0-8122-1079-4 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
William Dudley Foulke, Edward Peters, History of the Lombards, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1974, pp.31ff, ISBN 0-8122-1079-4 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
"Rugi (people)". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 8 September 2012. https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/512463/Rugi
William Dudley Foulke, Edward Peters, History of the Lombards, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1974, pp.31ff, ISBN 0-8122-1079-4 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
Procopius, Bellum Gothicum VI,14,24; VII,2,1.4
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
"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 http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsEurope/BarbarianRugii.htm
"Rugi (people)". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 8 September 2012. https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/512463/Rugi
"Rugi (people)". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 8 September 2012. https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/512463/Rugi
Machajewski 2003, p. 282. - Machajewski, Henryk (2003), "Pommern", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 23, Walter de Gruyter, p. 282, ISBN 3-11-017535-5 https://books.google.com/books?id=9LGgd3UGdf0C
Andrew H. Merrills, History and Geography in Late Antiquity, Cambridge University Press, 2005, p.325, ISBN 0-521-84601-3 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
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 /wiki/Mayke_de_Jong
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 /wiki/Mayke_de_Jong
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 /wiki/Mayke_de_Jong
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
Skj, B I,57
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Campbell, James (1986). Essays in Anglo-Saxon history. London: Hambledon Press. ISBN 090762832X. OCLC 458534293. 090762832X
Campbell, James (1986). Essays in Anglo-Saxon history. London: Hambledon Press. ISBN 090762832X. OCLC 458534293. 090762832X
Andersson 2003. - Andersson, Thomas (2003), "Rugier 1. Namenkundliches", Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), Walter de Gruyter, pp. 452ff, ISBN 3-11-017733-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=j7cXiqNmd1EC
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 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
Joachim Herrmann, Welt der Slawen: Geschichte, Gesellschaft, Kultur, C.H. Beck, 1986, p.265, ISBN 3-406-31162-8 /wiki/ISBN_(identifier)
Pohl 2003. - Pohl, Walter (2003), "Rugier § 2. Historisches", in Beck, Heinrich; Geuenich, Dieter; Steuer, Heiko (eds.), Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, vol. 25 (2 ed.), ISBN 978-3-11-017733-6