Rodulf (petty King)

Rodulf (petty King)

Rodulf, sometimes spelled Rodvulf or Rodwulf (fl. c. 500), is the name of two possibly identical Germanic chieftains or petty kings of the Migration Period, who briefly appears in Roman sources. In both accounts, Rodulf is principally notable for his relationship with the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great.

The first Rodulf (Latin: Roduulf rex, Old Norse: Hrodulfr, Norwegian: Rodulv), a king of the Ranii tribe of Norway, appears in the Getica of Jordanes, which built on the Historia Gothorum of Cassiodorus. Possibly a king of several other Norwegian tribes as well, Rodulf left his former kingdom, which he is said to have spurned, to seek the sanctuary of Theodoric the Great.

The second Rodulf, described as a king of the Heruli, appears as an adopted "son in arms" of Theodoric around 507. Having become an ally to Theodoric, he died in battle against the Lombards the following year, in 508. It is not impossible that an originally Norwegian king, migrating southwards, could later have been associated with the Heruli. Due to the similarity of the name and the circumstances, it has been suggested that these two accounts actually describes the same individual.