The Herul kingdom was centred on Lower Austria and Moravia, north of the Middle Danube. It had existed there since 454, after the Battle of Nedao. Rodulf is the first known king of this kingdom, and the first mention of him which can be associated with a date is the remark of Procopius that implies he was ruling already in the early 490s. This was in the period after Theoderic the Great, took over the Kingdom of Italy from Odoacer. In Italy, Odoacer had been named as a king over the Heruli, and other Danubian peoples who had followed him there. After his murder in 493, the Herules still ruled a kingdom north of the Danube: