HERULI, or Eruli, a German tribe, which in latter part of the 3d century appeared on the shores of the Euxine, having joined the Goths in their invasion of the Danubian provinces of the Roman empire. They were afterward conquered by the Ostrogoths, followed Attila on his march to Gaul (451), and after his death, uniting with other German tribes, destroyed the western empire under their leader Odoacer, who assumed the title of king of Italy (476), but finally succumbed to the Ostrogoths under Theodoric (493). Another kingdom of the Heruli, founded in the central part of modern Hungary, was destroyed by the Lombards. Part of them then removed to the south of the Danube, and the others emigrated to the shores of the Baltic.