“was very fond of good horses, he had the best horses of that time.” He sent a stallion “to Hålogaland to Godgest the king; Godgest the king rode it, and could not hold it, so he fell off and got his death; this was in Ǫmd [Amd] in Hålogaland.”
The original authority for the statement in Jordanes was probably King Rodulf, who perhaps came from the northern half of Norway, and it looks as though the Norwegians even at that time were acquainted with Swedish horses.
Jordanes further mentions five tribes who “dwell in a flat, fertile land [i.e., south Sweden], for which reason also they have to protect themselves against the attacks of other tribes (‘gentium’).” Among the tribes in Sweden are mentioned also the “Finnaithæ”—doubtless in Finn-heden or Finn-veden (that is, either Finn-heath or Finn-wood), whose name must be due to an aboriginal people called Finns—further, the “Gautigoth,” generally taken for the West Göter, who were a specially “brave and warlike people,” the “Ostrogothæ” [East Göter] and many more.
Then he crosses the Norwegian frontier and mentions
“The ‘Raumarici’[of Romerike] and ‘Ragnaricii’ [of Ranrike or Bohuslen], the very mild [peaceful] ‘Finns’ (‘Finni mitissimi’), who are milder than all the other inhabitants of Scandza;[136] further their equals the ‘Vinoviloth’; the ‘Suetidi’ are known among this people [‘hac gente’ must doubtless mean the Scandinavians] as towering above the rest in bodily height, and yet the ‘Danes,’ who are descended from this very race [i.e., the Scandinavians ?] drove out the ‘Heruli’ from their own home, who claimed the greatest fame [i.e., of being the foremost] among the peoples [‘nationes’] of Scandia for very great bodily size. Yet of the same height as these are also the ‘Granii’ [of Grenland, the coast-land of Bratsberg and Nedenes], the ‘Augandzi’ [people of Agder],[137] ‘Eunix’ [islanders, Holmryger in the islands ?], ‘Ætelrugi’ [Ryger on the mainland in Ryfylke], ‘Arochi’ [== ‘arothi,’ i.e., Harudes, Horder of Hordaland], ‘Ranii’ [in other MSS. ‘Rannii’ or ‘Rami,’ Sophus Bugge (1907) and A. Bugge see in this a corruption of ‘*Raumi,’ that is, people of Romsdal], over whom not many years ago Roduulf was king, who, despising his own kingdom, hastened to the arms of Theodoric king of the Goths, and found what he had hankered after. These people fight with the savageness of beasts, more mighty than the Germans in body and soul.”
The small (?), “very mild” Finns must, from the order in which they are named, have lived in the forest districts—Solör, Eidskogen, and perhaps farther south—on the Swedish border. P. A. Munch [1852, p. 83] saw in their kinsmen the “Vinoviloth” the inhabitants of “Vingulmark” (properly “vingel-skog,” thick, impenetrable forest), which was the forest country on Christiania fjord from Glommen to Lier. Müllenhoff agrees with this [ii., 1887, pp. 65 f.], but thinks that “-oth,” the last part of the word, belongs to the next name, Suetidi, and that “Vinovil” may be a corruption of Vingvili or Vinguli (cf. Paulus Warnefridi’s “Vinili” ?). But however this may be, we must regard this people and the foregoing as “Finnish” and as inhabiting forest districts, as hunters, as well as a third Finnish people, “Finnaithæ” in Småland. We shall return later to these “Finns” in Scandinavia. It has been thought that “Suetidi” may be from the same word as “Sviþjoð”; but as Jordanes has already mentioned the Svear (“Suehans”), and as the name occurs among the Norwegian tribes, and there is evidently a certain order in their enumeration, Müllenhoff may be right in seeing in it a corruption of a Norwegian tribal name. He thinks that “Othsuetidi” may be a corruption of “Æthsævii,” i.e., “Eiðsivar” (cf. Eidsivathing), “Heiðsævir” or “Heiðnir” in Hedemarken, who were certainly a very tall people. The mention of the Norwegian warriors has a certain interest in that it is due to the Roman statesman Cassiodorus (or his authority), who glorified the Goths and had no special reason for praising the Northmen.[138] It shows that even at that time our northern ancestors were famed for courage and bodily size, and that too above all other Germanic peoples, who were highly esteemed by the Romans. It is not clear whether Rodulf was King of the “Ranii” (Raumer ?) alone, or of all the Norwegian tribes from Grenland to Romsdal. It may be supposed that he was a Norwegian chief who migrated south through Europe at the head of a band of warriors, composed of men from the tribes mentioned, and that finally on the Danube, hard pressed by other warlike people, he sought alliance and support from the mighty king of the Goths, Theodoric or Tjodrik (Dietrich of Berne). This may have been just before 489, when the latter made his expedition to Italy. Many circumstances combine to make such a hypothesis probable.[139]
We know that about 489 the Eruli were just north of the Danube, and were the Goths’ nearest neighbours. Now, as we shall see later, Eruli was perhaps at first a common name for bands of northern warriors, and these Eruli on the Danube may therefore certainly have consisted to a greater or less extent of Norwegians. We know, further, that at this time there was a king of the Eruli to whom Theodoric sent as a gift a horse, sword and shield, thereby making him his foster-son [cf. Cassiodorus, Varia iii. 3, iv. 2]. Finally, we know from Procopius that the Eruli just at this time had a king, Rodulf, who fell in battle against the Langobards (about 493). When we compare this with what Jordanes says about the Norwegian king Rodulf, who hastened to Theodoric’s arms and found there what he sought, it will be easy to conclude that this Norwegian chief is the same as the chief of Eruli here spoken of. Rodulf, or “Hrodulfr,” is a known Norwegian name. “Rod-,” or “Hrod,” is the same as the modern Norwegian “ros” (i.e., praise), and means probably here renowned.
One is further inclined to believe that it was from this Rodulf or his men, of whom some may have come from And in Hålogaland, that Cassiodorus or his authority obtained the information about Scandinavia and northern Norway, which is also partly repeated in Procopius.
Sophus Bugge [cf. 1910, pp. 87 ff.; see also A. Bugge, 1906, pp. 35 f.] has suggested that the “Ráðulfr,” who is mentioned in the runic inscription on the celebrated Rök-stone in Östergötland (of about the year 900), in which Theodoric (“Þiaurikr”) is also mentioned, may be the same Norwegian chief Rodulf who came to Theodoric and who fell in battle with the Langobards. He even regards it as possible that it is an echo of this battle which is found in the inscription, where it is said that “twenty kings lie slain on the field”; in that case the battle has been moved north from the Danube to “Siulunt” (i.e., Sealand). There are other circumstances which agree with this: it is said of the Eruli that they had peace for three years before the battle [cf. Procopius]; on the Rök-stone it is stated that the twenty kings stayed in Siulunt four winters; the latter must have been Norwegian warriors of different tribes: Ryger, Horder, and Heiner (from Hedemarken), perhaps under a paramount king Ráðulfr, who settled in Sealand—while the Eruli were bands of northern warriors, who under a king Rodulf had established themselves on the north bank of the Danube. Bugge’s supposition may be uncertain, but if it be correct it greatly strengthens the view (see [p. 145]) that the Eruli were largely Norwegian warriors, since in that case the king of the Eruli, Rodulf (== Ráðulfr), would have been in command of tribes for the most part Norwegian: Ryger, Horder, and Heiner.
Procopius, circa 552 A.D.