Rodulf (petty king)

Rodulf was a Germanic chieftain or petty king of the Migration Period, who briefly appears in Roman sources. Although it is not conclusive that the sets of accounts actually refers to the same king, he is always principally notable for his connection to the Ostrogothic king and ruler of Italy, Theodoric the Great.

Rodulf, a Scandinavian-Gaut generally held to be described as king of one or more tribes in Scandza (in modern-day Norway), is mentioned in the Getica of Jordanes to have spurned and left his former kingdom to seek the sanctuary of Theodoric the Great in Ravenna, probably around 500. In other sources, a king of the Heruli tribe appears as an adopted "son in arms" of Theodoric. The Heruli king, in this context called Rodulf, died in battle against the Lombards around 508 after he had become an ally to Theodoric. Due to the similarity of the circumstances, it has been suggested that the various accounts describes the same individual, although this remains a disputed issue among historians.

Another debated issue is whether Rodulf could be the background for certain aspects of later heroic poetry, possibly including the Norse saga character Hrólfr Kraki.

King Rodulf (Roduulf rex) of the Ranii tribe appears in the Getica (De origine actibusque Getarum; "The Origin and Deeds of the Goths") of the Roman historian Jordanes. Building on the now lost Historia Gothorum ("History of the Goths") of Cassiodorus, Jordanes wrote his account at the request of Theodoric the Great, King of the Ostrogoths and ruler of Italy. In the Getica, it is said that Rodulf spurned his own kingdom, namely that of the "Ranii" tribe from Ragnaricii - Ranrike/Ranerike in today's Western Sweden. He therefore fled, likely together with a band of warriors, to seek the sanctuary and support of Theodoric in Ravenna around 500.

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