Turcilingi

The Turcilingi (also spelled Torcilingi or Thorcilingi) were an obscure barbarian people who first appear in historial sources as living in Gaul in the mid-fifth century and last appeared in Italy during the reign of Romulus Augustulus (475–76). Their only known leader was Odoacer (Odovacar).

Primary sources

The Turcilingi are mentioned in only two independent sources: three times in the Getica of Jordanes and once in the Historia Miscella of Landulf Sagax. They are also mentioned once in the Historia Langobardorum of Paul the Deacon in a passage that is a derivative of Jordanes. Johann Kaspar Zeuss, followed by Karl V. Müllenhoff, believed that the 'Ρουτίχλειοι mentioned in the Geographia of Ptolemy (II.11.7) were the Turcilingi, but this thesis requires a complex etymology. Landulf Sagax lists them together with the Scirii among the nations which participated on the side of Attila and the Huns at the Battle of Châlons. Landulf is the unique source for this information; though he is a very late source (tenth century), it is probable that he had access to now lost sources and there is nothing inherently improbable about the Turcilingi being present at Châlons along with the Scirii as Hunnic allies.