 | Vandals: Encyclopedia II - Vandals - History
Vandals - History
The Vandals were divided in two tribal groups, the Silingi and the Hasdingi. The Silingi lived in an area recorded for centuries as Magna Germania, now Silesia. In the 2nd century, the Hasdingi, led by the kings Raus and Rapt (or Rhaus and Raptus) moved south, and first attacked the Romans in the lower Danube area, then made peace and settled in western Dacia (Romania) and Roman Hungary.
In 400 or 401, possibly because of attacks by the Huns, the Vandals along with their allies, (the Sarmatian Alans and Germanic Suebians), started to move westward under king Godigisel. Some of the Silingi joined them later. Around this time, the Hasdingi had already been Christianized. Much like the Goths earlier, the Vandals adopted Arianism, a belief that was in opposition to that of the main Trinitarian Christianity in the Roman Empire, which later grew into Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
Vandals - Gaul
The Vandals travelled west along the Danube without much difficulty, but when they reached the Rhine, they met resistance from the Franks, who populated and controlled Romanized regions in northern Gaul. Twenty thousand Vandals, including Godigisel himself, died in the resulting battle, but then with the help of the Alans they managed to defeat the Franks, and on December 31, 406 the Vandals crossed the frozen Rhine to invade Gaul. Under Godigisel's son Gunderic, the Vandals plundered their way westward and southward through Aquitaine.
Vandals - Iberia
In October 409 they crossed the Pyrenees into the Iberian peninsula. There they received land from the Romans, as foederati, in Gallaecia (Northwest) and Hispania Baetica (South), while the Alans got lands in Lusitania (West) and the region around Carthago Nova. The Suebi also controlled part of Gallaecia. The Visigoths, who invaded Iberia before receiving lands in Septimania (Southern France), crushed the Alans in 426, killing the western Alan king, Attaces. The remainder of his people subsequently appealed to the Vandal king Gunderic to accept the Alan crown. Later Vandal kings in North Africa styled themselves Rex Wandalorum et Alanorum ("King of the Vandals and Alans").
Vandals - Africa
Gunderic's half brother Geiseric proved to be the one great Vandal king. He started building a Vandal fleet. In 429, after becoming king, Geiseric crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and moved east toward Carthage. In 435 the Romans granted them some territory in Northern Africa, yet in 439 Carthage fell to the Vandals. Geiseric then built the Kingdom of the Vandals and Alans into a powerful state with a capital at Saldae); he conquered Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Islands.
Differences between the Arian heresy adhered to by the Vandals and Rome's Catholics or Donatists was a constant source of tensions in their African state. Most Vandal kings, except Hilderic, more or less persecuted Catholics. Clergy was exiled, monasteries were dissolved, and general pressure was used on non-conforming Catholics. Although Catholicism was rarely officially forbidden (the last months of Huneric's reign being an exception), they were forbidden from making converts among the Vandals, and life was generally difficult for the Catholic clergy, who were denied bishoprics.
Vandals - Sack of Rome
In 455, the Vandals took Rome and plundered the city for two weeks starting June 2. They departed with countless valuables, including spoils of the Temple in Jerusalem brought to Rome by Titus, and the Empress Licinia Eudoxia and her daughters Eudocia and Placidia. By 468 they destroyed an enormous Byzantine fleet sent against them.
Vandals - Decline
At Geiseric's death in 477, his son Huneric became king. Huneric's reign was mostly notable for its religious persecutions of the Manichaeans and Catholics. Gunthamund (484–496) sought internal peace with the Catholics. Externally, the Vandal power had been declining since Geiseric's death, and Gunthamund lost large parts of Sicily to the Ostrogoths, and had to withstand increasing pressure from the Moors.
Hilderic (523–530) was the most Catholic-friendly of the Vandal kings. However, he had little interest in war, and left it to a family member, Hoamer. When Hoamer suffered a defeat against the Moors, the Arian faction within the royal family led a revolt, and Gelimer (530–533) became king. Hilderic, Hoamer and their relatives were thrown into prison.
The Byzantine emperor Justinian I declared war on the Vandals. The action was led by Belisarius. Having heard that the greatest part of the Vandal fleet was fighting an uprising in Sardinia, he decided to act quickly, and landed on Tunisian soil, then marched on to Carthage. In the late summer of 533, King Gelimer met Belisarius ten miles south of Carthage at the Battle of Ad Decimium. The Vandals were winning the battle at first, but when Gelimer's nephew Gibamund fell in battle, the Vandals lost heart and fled. Belisarius quickly took Carthage while the surviving Vandals fought on.
On December 15, 533, Gelimer and Belisarius clashed again at Ticameron, some 20 miles from Carthage. Again, the Vandals fought well but broke, this time when Gelimer's brother Tzazo fell in battle. Belisarius quickly advanced to Hippo, second city of the Vandal Kingdom, and in 534 Gelimer surrendered to the Roman conqueror, ending the Kingdom of the Vandals.
Vandals - List of kings
- Godigisel (—407)
- Gunderic (407–428)
- Geiseric (428–477)
- Huneric (477–484)
- Gunthamund (484–496)
- Thrasamund (496–523)
- Hilderic (523–530)
- Gelimer (530–534)
Other related archives120 BC, 19th century, 2nd century, 2nd century BC, 400, 401, 406, 409, 429, 435, 439, 455, 468, 477, 484, 496, 523, 530, 533, 534, 5th century, 795, 796, AD 98, Africa, Alans, Ancient Germanic peoples, Ancient Roman enemies and allies, Andalusia, Andalusian dialect, Annales Alamanici, Annales Sangallenses, Aquitaine, Arian, Arianism, Articles lacking sources, Auriwandalo, Avars, Balearic Islands, Battle of Ad Decimium, Belisarius, Burgundians, Byzantine, Carthage, Carthago Nova, Catholicism, Catholics, Christianized, Clovis I, Corsica, Dacia, December 15, December 31, Denmark, Donatists, East Germanic, East Germanic tribe, Eastern Orthodoxy, Ethnic groups in Europe, Eudocia, Franks, Gallaecia, Gaul, Geiseric, Gelimer, Genseric, Germanic tribe, Godigisel, Goth, Gothic, Goths, Gunderic, Gunthamund, Hasdingi, Hilderic, Hippo, Hispania Baetica, History of the Germanic peoples, Huneric, Hungary, Huns, Iberian peninsula, Jordanes, June 2, Justinian I, Late Antiquity, Licinia Eudoxia, Lugii, Lusitania, Manichaeans, Migrations period, Moors, North Africa, Norway, Oder, Ostrogoths, Pepin, Placidia, Przeworsk culture, Pyrenees, Rhine, Roman Empire, Romania, Romans, Rome, Rugians, Saldae, Sardinia, Septimania, Sicily, Silesia, Silingi, Spain, Spanish, Strait of Gibraltar, Suebi, Suebians, Sweden, Tacitus, Temple in Jerusalem, The western Alans and Vandals, Theodoric the Great, Thrasamund, Ticameron, Timeline of Portuguese history - Germanic Kingdoms (5th to 8th Century), Titus, Ulfilas, University of Idaho, Vandal history, Vandalic language, Vendel, Vendsyssel, Venedes, Visigoths, Vistula, Wielbark culture, citation needed, connection between Poles and Vandals, foederati, mascot, medieval times, vandalism
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
