Ermanaric [key], d. c.375, king of the Ostrogoths. He extended his power over other barbarian tribes and thus built up in eastern Europe an empire stretching from the Dneister River north to the Don and east to the headwaters of the Volga. He committed suicide as his empire was being overrun by the Huns. He was a legendary figure in medieval European literature, where his name appears variously as Ermenrichus and Hermeneric; in old Norse literature he was known as Jörmunrekkr.
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