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{{short description|Ancient Germanic people}}
{{redirect|Rugians|the Slavic tribe|Rani (tribe)}}[[File:Rugii.PNG|thumb|right|300px|Places and peoples associated with Rugi-like names in different historical periods, including [[Rogaland]], [[Rugiland]] (5th century); [[Rügen]]]]

The '''Rugi''', '''Rogi''' or '''Rugians''', called the '''Rugii''' in the first century, were one of the smaller [[Germanic peoples]] of [[Late Antiquity]] who are best known for their short-lived 5th-century kingdom upon the Roman frontier on the [[Danube]] river in what is now [[Lower Austria]], west of [[Vienna]]. This kingdom first appeared in records after the death of [[Attila]] in 453. There is evidence that these Rugi had moved from the southern [[Baltic Sea]] coast in the third or fourth century, and there may even have been a continuing presence of Rugian groups in that area, and also Scandinavia, into early medieval times. However, the best-known Danubian Rugi eventually lost their kingdom, and were forced to regroup. They continued to be identifiable within the [[Ostrogoth|Ostrogothic]] [[Kingdom of Italy]] until it was destroyed by the eastern Roman emperor [[Justinian]] in 554.

The Rugi are one of the so-called "disappearing and reappearing tribes" listed by historian [[Peter Heather]], appearing in early Roman records in one place, only to reappear centuries later in records concerning another place.{{sfn|Heather|1998|p=96}} Despite their very different location, it is generally accepted that the Danubian Rugi were descended from the "Rugii" who were mentioned by [[Tacitus]] in the first century, in his ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]''. He described these "Rugii" living near the south Baltic shore, as neighbours of the [[Lemovii]] and [[Gutones]]. Various other records mentioning places or peoples with similar names have been associated with the Baltic Rugi as possible relatives. These similar names all appear to be related to [[Indo-European]] words for the grain [[rye]]. In the 2nd century, [[Ptolemy]] mentioned the ''Rutikleioi'', and a place known as Rougion, near the southern Baltic coast. In the 6th century [[Jordanes]] listed the "Rogas" as an Eastern European people of the 4th century who were one of the tribes ruled by the gothic King [[Ermanaric]], whose empire supposedly stretched from the [[Black Sea]] to regions near the [[Baltic Sea]]. The Rugi are also associated with the ''Ulmerugi'' mentioned by Jordanes. This name probably means "island Rugi", and he described them as a people who had many centuries before him lived on the Baltic coast near the Vistula, at the time when he believed the [[Goths]] arrived by boat from Scandinavia. A similar island name, ''Holmrygir'', is known from southwestern Norway, around the [[Boknafjord]], where [[Rogaland]] was also named after a people called the [[Rygir]]. Jordanes also listed "Rugi" among the tribes supposedly living in Scandinavia in the 5th century, near the Dani ([[Danes]]) and ''Suetidi'' ([[Swedes (tribe)|Swedes]]).

In 454, after the death of Attila, the Rugi, [[Heruli]], [[Sciri]] and other peoples who had been allies within Attila's Hunnic empire were able to create short-lived, independent kingdoms in the Middle Danube region after they defeated an alliance of Attila's sons and the [[Ostrogoths]] at the [[Battle of Nedao]]. In 469 they were part of a similar alliance which lost to the Ostrogoths at the [[Battle of Bolia]], weakening their kingdom significantly. Many Rugi, once again along with Sciri, Heruli and other Danubians, joined the Roman military in Italy, and subsequently participated in [[Odoacer]]'s overthrow of the emperor and takeover of Roman Italy in 476. Odoacer nevertheless invaded the Danubian Rugian kingdom in 487 and 488, and the Rugian lands were then settled by the [[Lombards]] from the north. Rugi from the Danubian region who did not join Odoacer eventually joined the Ostrogoth [[Theoderic the Great]], who invaded Italy and killed Odoacer. The Rugi based in Italy played an important role in the Ostrogothic Italian kingdom . One of the last kings of the Gothic kingdom of Italy was the Rugian [[Eraric]] who was killed in 541. After the defeat of the kingdom in 554, these Rugi disappear from history.

The name of the Rugi continued to be used after the sixth century to refer to Slavic-speaking peoples near the Danube where their kingdom had been. Similar names were also used to refer to the slavic [[Rujani]] what is now north-eastern Germany, near the German coastal island known today as [[Rügen]]. The name was also occasionally used as a Latin name for the [[Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia|Rus]] people of eastern Europe.

==Etymology==
The tribal name  is commonly proposed to be derived from the name of the cereal [[rye]] and would therefore have meant "rye eaters" or "rye farmers".{{sfn|Andersson|2003}} The [[Proto-Germanic]] word for rye has been reconstructed as ''[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/rugiz|*rugiz]]'', and versions of the word exist in both [[West Germanic]] (reconstructed as ''*rugi''), and [[North Germanic]] languages (Old Norse ''[[wikt:rugr#Old_Norse|rugr]]''), but are not known from [[East Germanic]]. They are also known in the other language families of the [[Baltic region]]: [[Finnic languages|Finnic]] (reconstructed in Proto-Finnic ''[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Finnic/rugis|*rugis]]'');  [[Baltic languages|Baltic]]; and [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] (''[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/rъžь|rŭžĭ]]''). Andersson notes that etymology limits the possible places that we might expect the Rugii to have had their original homeland. For example, the cultivation of rye, which began in the Middle East, is not known in Norway in the Roman era, which implies that the later Rygir of Norway were not living in the original Rugian homeland.{{sfn|Andersson|2003}}

Written forms of the name are attested in two types of form in classical texts, ''Rugii'' and ''Rugi'', corresponding to the ja-stem and a-stem forms of the original Germanic. Greek and Latin records concerning the Rugians in the 4th-6th centuries use the later form ("Rugi", implying a Germanic [[Proto-Germanic grammar#a-stems|a-stem]]) but the earliest attestation of the Rugians by Tacitus is "Rug'''ii'''" implying a "ja-stem", and related forms have been reconstructed for the precursors of the Rygir who lived in Norway, and the Holmryge mentioned in Widsith.{{sfn|Malone|1964|p=41}}{{sfn|Andersson|2003}}

Many similar historical terms have been associated with the Rugii, although the connections of all or most of these to the Rugi are contested by some scholars:
*The 2nd century geographer [[Ptolemy]] located a place called Rugion on the southern Baltic coast between the Vidua, possibly the Oder river, and Vistula.<ref name=ptol>{{harvnb|Andersson|2003}} citing Ptolemy II,11,12</ref>
*Ptolemy also mentioned a people called the ''Rutikleioi'' in the same region and this has been interpreted by some scholars as a scribal error for ''Rugikleioi'' (in Greek). The meaning of the second part of this name form is unclear.{{sfn|Andersson|2003}}
*The ''Ulmerugi'', were a people who anciently lived on the coast near the Vistula, according to the 6th century history of the Goths written by Jordanes. Scholars have traditionally interpreted this name as "island Rugi", containing the Proto-Germanic word reconstructed as ''[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/hulmaz|*hulmaz]]'' (English ''[[wikt:holm#English|holm]]'', Old Norse ''holmr''). An equivalent word in Old Norse ''holmrygir'' is found in Norway, near the tribe who were called the Rygir.{{sfn|Andersson|2003}}
*In the 6th century Jordanes also listed "Rugi" among the tribes supposedly living in Scandinavia in his own time, near the Dani ([[Danes]]) and ''Suetidi'' ([[Swedes (tribe)|Swedes]]), but his list is difficult to interpret. There is a word before Rugi in the manuscripts with many variants including taetel, aetel, hethel, gethel, ethel, some of which are merged with Rugi. It was interpreted by [[Josef Svennung]] not to be another tribe, but rather a Germanic adjective connected to the Rugi: *[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/aþalą|aþala-]] (nobility, race), related to English [[atheling]]), which he believed could mean “chief, principal, main” in some contexts.<ref>{{harvnb|Andersson|2003}} citing Jordanes, ''Getica'', [https://archive.org/details/gri_33125006532622/page/n137/ III.24]</ref>
*In the medieval ''Widsith'' king list a king named Hagena is named as the ruler of people whose name (dative plural ''holm rycum'' in the [[Exeter Book]] manuscript) is reconstructed to be the ''Holmryge'', which could be a literary reminiscence of a more ancient people such as the Ulmerugi mentioned by Jordanes.{{sfn|Pohl|2003}}
*The Isle of [[Rügen]] on the southern Baltic coast in modern Germany is frequently associated with the Rugii of Tacitus, being in approximately the same region. However, medieval evidence indicates that Rügen's name is most likely derived from the medieval Slavic tribal name of the [[Rani (tribe)|Rugiane]], and any connection between the two names is unclear and disputed.{{sfn|Udolph|2003}}
*The medieval ''Rugini'' are listed in a list of pagan tribes living in [[Germania]], which was drawn up by the English monk [[Bede]] in his {{lang|la|Historia ecclesiastica}} of the early 8th century.<ref name=Fraesdorff55/><ref name=bede/> They are generally identified with the Slavs of Rügen, though this has also been disputed.{{sfn|Udolph|2003}}
*The existence of a Norwegian people called the Holmrygir is implied in one medieval poem, ''[[Hákonarmál]]'' which mentions their soldiers being called upon by the 10th-century Norwegian king [[Haakon the Good]].{{sfn|Andersson|2003}}
*The medieval region of Rygjafylke in south west Norway, equivalent to modern [[Rogaland]], is interpreted as "Land of the Rygir", and the term ''Rygir'' can be explained as the same term as Rugii, if it evolved according to the normal changes which happened to the [[Norse language]].{{sfn|Andersson|2003}}

==Origins==
===Southern Baltic coast===
[[File:Roman Empire 125.png|thumb|right|300px|The [[Roman Empire]] under [[Hadrian]] (ruled 117–138): the Rugi inhabited a region in or near [[Pomerania]], now divided between Germany and Poland]]
The earliest clear record of the "Rugii" is by [[Tacitus]] writing about 100 AD. He described them as living on the southern [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] coast ("ocean") near the [[Lemovii]], probably west of the [[Vistula]] estuary. Tacitus grouped these Rugii and Lemovii together with their inland neighbours the [[Gutones]] as a group of Germanic peoples ({{lang|la|germanorum gentes}}) who were distinguishable from other Germanic peoples because they used round shields and short swords, and obeyed kings.<ref>{{harvnb|Pohl|2003|p=455}} citing Tacitus, ''Germania'', 44 ([https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0083:chapter=44&highlight=rugii English], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0090%3Achapter%3D43 Latin])</ref> 

Other debatable mentions of these Baltic Rugi according to some scholars include Ptolemy's description of ''Rugion'' and a tribe named the ''Routikleioi'' in roughly the same area as the Rugi mentioned by Tacitus, and the ''Ulmerugi'' mentioned by Jordanes.<ref>{{harvnb|Andersson|2003}} citing Ptolemy II,11,12 and Jordanes, ''Getica'', [https://archive.org/details/gothichistoryofj00jorduoft/page/56/mode/2up?q=scandza IV.26]</ref>

In archaeology the [[Oksywie culture]] (or {{langx|de|Oxhöft-kultur}}) and its successor the [[Wielbark culture]] are sometimes associated with the Rugi and [[Lemovii]], as is the [[Gustow group]] to its west in [[Western Pomerania]], named after a site on Rügen. The Gustow group existed during the Roman imperial period from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD, and it was influenced by cultures further west near the [[Elbe river]].<ref>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}}</ref><ref>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</ref> It was succeeded by the archaeological [[Dębczyn culture]].{{sfn|Machajewski|2003|p=282}}

Modern scholars have speculated that in the 2nd century AD eastern Germanic peoples 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, which led to a major collapse of old trade networks. Given the coincidence of the same name on the Baltic and Danube, the Rugi 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.{{sfn|Heather|2009|pages=96-107}}

In his ''Getica'' Jordanes claimed that the 4th-century Gothic king [[Ermanaric]], who was one of the first rulers west of the [[Don river]] to confront the [[Huns]] as they entered Europe, ruled an empire stretching from the [[Baltic Sea]] to the [[Black Sea]]. In a list of the peoples conquered by him the name "Rogas" appears.{{sfn|Christensen|2002|loc=ch. 6}}

===Scandinavia===
According to an old proposal which was once widely accept among scholars, the "Rugii" reported by Tacitus on the Baltic coast around 100 AD had recently migrated from southwest Norway.<ref>{{harvnb|Andersson|2003}}, {{harvnb|Pohl|2003}}. For example of references works see {{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/512463/Rugi |title=Rugi (people) |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |access-date=8 September 2012}} and {{citation|last=Waldherr|first= G. H. |year=2006| title=Rugi |encyclopedia=Brill's New Pauly Online| publisher=Brill| doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1025660}}</ref> The evidence for this is the existence in the Middle ages of Rygjafylke in south west Norway, the land of the "Rygir", whose name is interpreted as an equivalent to "Rugi".{{sfn|Andersson|2003}}

Scholars such as Thorsten Andersson have regarded it as very unlikely that the name meaning "rye-eaters" or "rye-farmers" was invented twice, implying that all peoples with this name are one and the same. He cites the sixth century claim of Jordanes that Scandinavia was the "womb of nations", and also his apparent mention, in a list of names which scholars find difficult to interpret, of Rugi who were still living in Scandinavia in the 6th century.<ref>{{harvnb|Andersson|2003}} citing Jordanes, ''Getica'', III.24-IV.25 [https://archive.org/details/gothichistoryofj00jorduoft/page/56 English], [https://archive.org/details/gri_33125006532622/page/n137 Latin]</ref> Alternatively, the Rugi might have migrated in the other direction, from the Baltic coast to Norway, while [[Rudolf Much]] proposed that the original homeland may have been on the islands of Denmark in between these two regions. However, Andersson noted that rye does not seem to have been cultivated in Norway or Denmark during Roman times, although it had begun to appear near the Baltic coast by then.{{sfn|Andersson|2003}}

More recently, scholars such as [[Walter Pohl]] have argued that in older scholarship the similarity of names has been uncritically interpreted to indicate proof of tribal kinship or identity, feeding debates about the locations of "original homelands" and the chronologies of migrations and tribal divisions, which are not based on any historical evidence apart from the similar names. Pohl noted that there is no evidence for an immigration of the Rugii from a south Norwegian “Rogaland” into eastern Germania. He also noted that an alternative approach which still accepts the existence of links between similarly named tribes is that of [[Reinhard Wenskus]] and the [[Vienna School of History]] which proposes that the name and a "core tradition" ({{lang|de|Traditionskern}}) of the Rugii could have been spread by small elite groups who moved around, rather than mass migration.{{sfn|Pohl|2003}}

==Danubian and Italian Rugii==
[[File:Europe and the Near East at 476 AD.png|thumb|right|300px|Europe at the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD]]
[[File:Roman Austria.png|thumb|Roman provinces in the region of modern Austria]]
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 Danubian neighbours the Heruli, but in a part of the list between the Scottish barbarians and the tribes north of the lower Rhine. Their position is therefore unclear in this period. Unlike the Heruli, they do not appear in other such 4th-century lists.{{sfn|Liccardo|2023}}

The Rugii were listed by [[Sidonius Apollinaris]] 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. 

While the best known group of Rugi, subsequently ruled a kingdom north of the Danube, west of modern Vienna, another group of Rugi were settled near Constantinople after Nadao, in [[Bizye]] and [[Lüleburgaz|Arcadiopolis]] where they provided troops to the empire.<ref>{{harvnb|Steinacher|2017|p=114}} citing Jordanes, ''Getica'', [https://archive.org/details/gothichistoryofj00jorduoft/page/126/mode/2up?q=rugi L.266] and other records</ref> 

In 468/9 the Danubian kingdom of the Rugii, along with neighbouring kingdoms of Sarmatians and [[Gepids]], sent forces to the [[Battle of Bolia]] in support of two other neighbouring kingdoms, the Suavian kingdom, and the remnants of the [[Sciri]], against their powerful southern neighbours the [[Ostrogoths]], who were ruling in what had been the Roman province of Pannonia. The Ostrogoths won, led by [[Theodemir]] the father of [[Theoderic the Great]]. Leading the Sciri in this disastrous battle were [[Edeko]] and [[Onoulphus]], the father and brother respectively of [[Odoacer]].<ref>{{harvnb|Steinacher|2017|pp=112-113}} citing Jordanes, ''Getica'', 273-279, especially [https://archive.org/details/gothichistoryofj00jorduoft/page/130/mode/2up?q=rugi 54.277]</ref>

By 470, Odoacer was a Roman military leader in Italy, commanding a mixed group of Danubian peoples including Heruli, Sciri, [[Turcilingi]] and Rugii. In 476 Odoacer and his forces took control of Roman Italy. He removed the last Roman emperor to rule in Italy from power, [[Romulus Augustulus]], and killed the emperor's father [[Orestes (father of Romulus Augustulus)|Orestes]], who was himself a Pannonian Roman had once worked for Attila. In one passage Jordanes described Odoacer as being "of Rugian descent, strengthened by crowds of [[Thorcilingi]], Sciri and Heruli" ({{lang|la|genere Rogus Thorcilingorum Scirorum Herolorumque turbas munitus}}).<ref>Jordanes, ''Romana'', [https://archive.org/details/gri_33125006532622/page/n121/mode/2up?q=rogus 344]</ref> and in another as the king of the Thorcilingi and of the Rugi ({{lang|la|sub regis Thorcilingorum Rogorumque tyrranide fluctuatur}}).<ref>Jordanes, ''Getica'', LVII.291 [https://archive.org/details/gothichistoryofj00jorduoft/page/134/mode/2up?q=torcilingi English], [https://archive.org/details/gri_33125006532622/page/n209/mode/2up?q=lvii Latin]</ref> 

The independent Rugian kingdom continued to exist in what is now [[Lower Austria]]. [[Paul the Deacon]] referred to their core territory as "[[Rugiland]]" and says it was a fertile region.<ref>Paul the Deacon, ''History of the Lombards'', [https://archive.org/details/historyoflangoba00pauluoft/page/32/mode/2up?q=rugii 19]</ref> As it was north of the Danube, it was outside the old Roman border, but the descriptions of [[Eugippius]] show that by his time they also controlled the Romanized population south of the Danube in the northern of the Roman province of [[Noricum]]. The Rugian king [[Flaccitheus]] died in 482.{{sfn|Martindale|1980|p=473}} The Rugii of Rugiland were subsequently led by his son, king [[Feletheus]], also called Feva, and his wife Giso. He was an [[Arianism|Arian]] christian.{{sfn|Martindale|1980|p=457}} Giso was noted for her cruelty and harshness.{{sfn|Martindale|1980|p=513}} Arianism, the religion of most Goths, was considered to be a heresy within the Roman empire.

In 486 the emperor Zeno encouraged Feletheus to attack Odoacer, and Odoacer defeated the Danubian Rugians in 487. His own forces also included many Rugii. King Feletheus and his wife Giso were brought to Italy and executed. [[Frideric]], the son of Feletheus, attempted to retake Rugiland with Ostrogothic support, but Onoulphus the brother of Odoacer led a new force from Italy in 488, and defeated the Rugii a second time. Odoacer ordered the evacuation of the Romanized population from Noricum, undermining the economic foundation of the Rugian kingdom.{{sfn|Steinacher|2017|p=129}}

Danubian Rugi who did not join Odoacer in Italy, later joined the Ostrogoths, who subsequently also went to Italy to defeat Odoacer and take control of Italy.{{sfn|Steinacher|2017|p=129}} Rugiland was subsequently settled by the [[Lombards]], but according to [[Procopius]] the neighbouring [[Heruli]] became dominant in this region.

Rugi were with the [[Ostrogoths|Ostrogothic]] king [[Theodoric the Great]] when he invaded Italy in 489. According to Procopius Theoderic convinced the Rugians and other nations, to join him in alliance, "and they were absorbed into the Gothic nation and acted in common with them in all things against their enemies. But since they had absolutely no intercourse with women other than their own, each successive generation of children was of unmixed blood, and thus they had preserved the name of their nation among themselves".<ref>Procopius, ''Wars'', [https://archive.org/details/b24750281_0004/page/166/mode/2up?q=rogi VII.2]</ref>

Rugi settled in the area of [[Ticino]], where they became unpopular with the local population. Frideric, apparently still in control of this group, joined [[Tufa (general)|Tufa]] in rebellion against Theoderic.{{sfn|Martindale|1980|p=485}} Tufa was a former general of Odoacer who had switched to the side of Theoderic, and then back to Odoacer, and then apparently remained at large in northern Italy. Frideric and Tufa eventually fell out, and Tufa was killed in a battle between Verona and Trento in 493.{{sfn|Martindale|1980|p=1131}}

The Eastern Roman empire invaded Ostrogothic Italy, initiating the long-running [[Gothic War (535–554)]]. In 541, after the death of King [[Ildibad]], no suitable Gothic candidate was found. A Rugian named [[Eraric]] was declared king by the Rugians and accepted by the Ostrogoths for a time. He was killed in the same year, supposedly having plotted to come to terms with the empire. The historian [[Walter Goffart]] described "this moment of leadership" as "the last Rugian gasp".{{sfn|Goffart|2006|p=113}} He was replaced by the goth [[Totila]], the nephew of Ildibad, who ruled 10 years before the final defeat of the Ostrogothic kingdom.{{sfn|Martindale|1997|pp=447-448}}

In the Middle Danubian region not only the Rugi, but also the Heruli and Lombards, eventually either entered Italy or merged into other peoples. The Middle Danubian region itself came under the control of the [[Pannonian Avars]], who were newcomers from the east, and the region became largely [[Slavic languages|Slavic]]-speaking.

==Possible continuations==
In the early Middle Ages, the name of the Rugi continued to be used both to refer to the Slavic people of Rügen, and to people from the old Rugiland in Lower Austria. There are also indications of the ongoing existence of one or more peoples with names similar to the Ulmerugi mentioned by Jordanes, who were possible relatives of the Rugi. The ninth-century [[Old English]] [[Widsith]], a compilation of earlier oral traditions, mentions the tribe of the ''holm rycum'' (dative plural) without localizing it.{{sfn|Andersson|2003}} A Norwegian people called the ''Holmrygir'' are mentioned in an [[Old Norse]] [[skaldic]] poem, ''[[Hákonarmál]]'' and maybe also in the [[Haraldskvæði]].{{sfn|Andersson|2003}} 

The 8th century English writer [[Bede]] mentioned the "Rugini" in a list of peoples who lived in ''Germania'' "from whom the Angles or Saxons, who now inhabit Britain, are known to have derived their origin; for which reason they are still corruptly called "Garmans" by the neighbouring nation of the Britons". He listed the [[Frisians]], the ''Rugini'', the [[Danes]], the "[[Huns]]" ([[Pannonian Avars]] in this period, whose influence stretched north to Slavic-speaking areas in central Europe), the "old Saxons" (''antiqui Saxones''), and the "''Boructuari''" who are presumed to be inhabitants of the old lands of the [[Bructeri]], near the [[Lippe (river)|Lippe]] river.<ref name=bede>Bede's ''Ecclesiastical History'', [https://archive.org/details/CompleteWorksOfVenerableBedeV03/page/n201/mode/2up?q=rugini V.9].</ref> Whether these Rugini were remnants of the Rugii can only be speculated.{{sfn|Andersson|2003}} However, scholars typically associate them with the medieval Slavic people of Rügen, the [[Rani (tribe)|Rujani (or Rani)]].<ref name=Fraesdorff55>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}}</ref><ref>Joachim Herrmann, ''Welt der Slawen: Geschichte, Gesellschaft, Kultur'', C.H. Beck, 1986, p.265, {{ISBN|3-406-31162-8}}</ref>

The Latin word "Rugi"  was also used to refer to a people from the region of [[Pomerania]], also apparently the Rujani at Rügen. [[Widukind of Corvey]] listed the ''Ru[gi]ani'' among the ''Sclavi'' peoples who lived between the [[Elbe]] and [[Oder]] rivers.{{sfn|Mühle|2023|p=324}} Later, [[Otto of Freising]], who also described Odoacer as a Rugian, also used the term when mentioning that in 1135, Holy Roman Emperor [[Lothair III]] demanded that the "duke of the Poles" should pay homage to him for the Pomeranians and Rugians ({{lang|la|Pomeranis et Rugis}}).<ref>{{harvnb|Pohl|2003}} citing Otto of Freising ''Chronica'' 7.19 [https://archive.org/details/twocitieschronic0000otto/page/426/mode/2up?q=rugii English], [https://archive.org/details/ottonisepiscopif45otto/page/336/mode/2up Latin].</ref>

The name of the Rugi continued to be used from the 10th century onwards in the lower Austrian area, but this was apparently also used to refer to Slavic-speaking people.<ref>{{harvnb|Pohl|2003}} refers to the Raffelstetten customs regulations, shortly after 900.</ref> The [[Raffelstetten customs regulations]] mentions traders who were Slavs from Bavaria ({{lang|la|Bawari vel Sclavi istius patrie}}) who were clearly distinguished from Slavs coming from Bohemia and from the land of the Rugi ({{lang|la|Sclavi vero, qui de Rugis vel de Boemannis mercandi}}). This land of the Rugi could have been a reference to the land where the Rugii once lived, which lies next to Bohemia, or to Russia.{{sfn|Zehetmayer|2019|pp=53-54}} 

Doubt about this is possible because the word Rugi was one of the many variant spellings sometimes used to refer to the [[Rus' people]], who, as traders of slaves did have connections to this market.<ref>{{harvnb|Pohl|2003}} citing ''Continuatio Reginonis'' under the years 959-60.</ref> [[Adalbert of Magdeburg|Adalbert of Trier]], in his ''[[Continuatio Reginonis]]'', referred to a queen of the Rus, as "{{lang|la|regina Rugorum}}" under the year 959. Soon after, under 960, 961, 962 and 966 he used the term again to refer the Rus people and a bishop ordained for them.{{sfn|Van den Bercken|1996|pp=262,273}}

==References==
{{reflist}}
==Bibliography==
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==Further reading==
*{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/507905/ancient-Rome/26693/The-barbarian-invasions |title=Ancient Rome: The barbarian invasions |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |access-date=January 16, 2015}}
*{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/195896/history-of-Europe/58257/Barbarian-migrations-and-invasions |title=History of Europe: The Germans and Huns |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |access-date=January 16, 2015}}
*{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/231063/Germanic-peoples |title=Germanic peoples |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |access-date=January 16, 2015}}
*{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/231186/Germany/58075/The-press |title=Germany: Ancient History |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |access-date=January 16, 2015}}

{{Germanic peoples}}

[[Category:Rugii| ]]
[[Category:West Slavs]]
[[Category:Early Germanic peoples]]
[[Category:History of Western Pomerania]]
[[Category:Iron Age Scandinavia]]
[[Category:Prehistory of Norway]]