Editing History of Austria (section)

== After Adrianople, approximately 300–500 ==
After centuries of tension and war on the Danube border which ran through present day Austria, the power of the Marcomanni seems to have been broken by 300 AD. Many, perhaps most of them, had been moved within the empire. It seems that the [[Rugii]] and [[Heruli]] may have already moved into the Marcomanni's traditional region north of the Danube soon afterwards. The ''[[Laterculus Veronensis]]'' shows that Heruli and Rugii were already present somewhere in western Europe in about 314. Similar listings from later in the 4th century, the ''Cosmographia'' of [[Julius Honorius]], and probably also the ''Liber Generationis'', both listed the Heruli together with the Marcomanni and Quadi, in whose traditional region the Herule kingdom would later be found.<ref>{{citation|title=Who in the world are the Heruli?|first=Salvatore |last=Liccardo| year=2024|journal= Early Medieval Europe|doi=10.1111/emed.12712|issue=  3|volume= 32|url=https://www.academia.edu/118109410|doi-access=free |pages=296-298}}</ref>

In 380 AD, Roman forces suffered a major defeat to the Goths, Alans and Huns at the [[Battle of Adrianople]], which was caused by a sudden movement of peoples coming from present-day Ukraine. The Romans recovered control, but the Romans were apparently forced to try new approaches to settling newcomers in large numbers.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Halsall|first=Guy|title=Barbarian Migration and the Roman West, 376-568|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-521-43491-1|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511802393|url=https://archive.org/details/barbarianmigrati0000hals |pages=180-185}}, {{citation|last=Kulikowski |first= Michael|title= Rome's Gothic Wars: From the Third Century to Alaric|series=Key Conflicts of Classical Antiquity| publisher=Cambridge University Press|year= 2007|doi=10.1017/CBO9781139167277|isbn= 978-0-521-84633-2 |pages=152-153}}</ref> One of the armed groups responsible for the defeat, led by [[Alatheus and Saphrax]], were settled into the Pannonian part of the Roman empire, including the east of Austria, and expected to do military service for Rome. 

As the Roman Empire's control over these border regions crumbled, the ability of Raetia, Noricum, and Pannonia to defend themselves became increasingly problematic. The Gothic leader [[Radagaisus]] overran part of the country in 405.{{Sfn|Alföldy|1974|pp=213–214}} After several raids on Italy, the [[Visigoths]] arrived in Noricum in 408, under [[Alaric I]].<ref name="ReferenceA">[[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]], ''Historia Nova'', Book five, 1814 translation by Green and Chaplin. For which, see [[Thermantia]]</ref> 
As described by [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]], Alaric set out from [[Emona]] (modern [[Ljubljana]]) which lay between [[Pannonia Superior]] and [[Noricum]] over the [[Carnic Alps]] arriving at Virunum in Noricum, as had been agreed to by the Roman general [[Stilicho]], following several skirmishes between the two. Alaric was voted a large amount of money to maintain peace, by the Roman Senate, at [[Stilicho]]'s instigation.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> From there he directed his operations against Italy, demanding Noricum among another territory, finally sacking Rome in 410 but dying on the route home that year.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bury |first=John Bagnell |author-link=J. B. Bury |title=The Invasion of Europe by the Barbarians. Lecture 6 The Visigoths in Italy and Gaul |url=http://rbedrosian.com/Ref/Bury/ieb6.htm}}</ref> During this period, in 409, Saint Jerome wrote a letter mentioning that many of the peoples from around the region east of Austria, even from within the empire, were occupying Gaul at that time: "Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Alans, Gepids, Herules, Saxons, Burgundians, Allemanni and—alas! for the commonweal!—even Pannonians".<ref>Jerome's [[wikisource:Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume_VI/The Letters of St. Jerome/Letter_123|letter 123]] to Ageruchia</ref>

There was a short period of stability around 431.{{Sfn|Alföldy|1974|pp=214}} In 427 the chronicle of [[Marcellinus Comes]] says that the provinces of Pannonia, "which had been held by the Huns for fifty years, were reclaimed by the Romans". However, in 433 [[Flavius Aëtius]] effectively ceded Pannonia to [[Attila]].<ref>{{citation|first=Helmut |last=Castritius |title=Sweben |encyclopedia=Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde |volume=30| edition=2 | editor1-first=Heinrich |editor1-last=Beck| editor2-first=Dieter |editor2-last= Geuenich| editor3-first=Heiko |editor3-last=Steuer |publisher=De Gruyter |year=2005 |isbn=978-3-11-018385-6 |page=197}}</ref> In 451 the [[Huns]] and their allies, now under the command of Attila must have poured through the area on their way to Gaul where they were defeated the [[Battle of the Catalaunian Plains]] that year. Attila died a few years later in 453, and this was followed by the [[Battle of Nedao]] in 454, when the sons of Attila and their [[Ostrogoths|Ostrogothic]] allies were defeated, The victors were able to consolidate independent kingdoms north of the Middle Danube. North of the Danube in present day Austria where the Marcomanni had been were the Rugii, and Heruli. 

In 468 the Ostrogoths won the [[Battle of Bolia]], giving them hegemony over the Pannonian kingdoms. During the cold winter of 469/470, the Ostrogoths unexpectedly attacked [[Hunimund]], a king of [[Suevi]], by crossing the frozen Danube from the east. These Suevi were at this time in a confederation with the [[Alemanni]], in an Alpine region with streams that flowed loudly into the Danube, [[Baiuvarii]] (early Bavarians) on the east, Franks on the west, Burgundians on the south, and Thuringians on the north. This is one of the first mentions of the early Bavarians. They subsequently came to dominate the western alpine parts of present day western Austria.

In 476 [[Odoacer]] became ruler of Italy with barbarian forces including Heruli and Rugii, and other peoples from the Danubian region. Remnants of the Roman organization survived south of the Danube in the form of fortified strongholds, but the barbarians raided frequently, as described in the biography [[Severinus of Noricum]] by [[Eugippius]]. Noricum was eventually abandoned in 488,{{Sfn|Beller|2006|p=11}} while Raetia was abandoned by the Romans to the [[Alamanni]]. In 493 [[Theoderic the Great]], an Ostrogothic king, killed Odoacer and took control of Italy. By 500 the Herulian kingdom on the Danube, apparently by now under a king named Rodulph, had conquered their neighbours the Rugii, and become allies with Theoderic in Italy. In 508 Rodulph was killed by the [[Langobards]], a Germanic people who had been moving southwards in several steps, and had occupied the Rugian territory.