The
Vandals were an
East Germanic tribe that entered the
late
Roman Empire during the 5th
century. The
Goth Theodoric the Great, king of the
Ostrogoths and regent of the
Visigoths, was allied by marriage with the Vandals
as well as with the
Burgundians and the
Franks under .
The Vandals are perhaps best known for their
sack of Rome in 455. Although they were
not notably more destructive than others, the high regard which
later European cultures held for ancient Rome led to the
association of the name of the tribe with
vandalism: senseless destruction, particularly in
diminution of aesthetic appeal or destruction of objects that were
completed with great effort.
Origins and early history
Some archaeologists and historians identify the Vandals with the
Przeworsk culture, and controversy
surrounds potential connections between the Vandals and another,
possibly a mixture of
Slavic and
Germanic tribes, the
Lugii (Lygier, Lugier or Lygians), which is referred
to as inhabiting the area by Roman writers. Some academics believe
that either Lugii was an earlier name of the Vandals, or the
Vandals were part of the Lugian federation, which was composed of
Germanic and Slavic tribes.
Jordanes refers
to Vandals as
Gothic (East Germanic)
speakers, and name etymologies support the notion of
Vandalic being near related to Gothic. The
bearers of the Przeworsk culture (possibly the Lugii) had the
custom of
cremation. Cremation is
characteristic to Baltic Prussian tribes. In Prussia both cremation
and inhumation burials were found, which Germanic tribes practised.
The remains of the Przeworsk culture is mainly traced in the areas
which were marshes, when Romans mentioned the Lugii tribe.
Similarities of names
have led to appointing homelands for the Vandals in Norway
(Hallingdal
), Sweden
(Vendel
), or
Denmark
(Vendsyssel
). The Vandals are assumed to have crossed the
Baltic
into what is
today Poland somewhere in the 2nd century
BC, and to have settled in Silesia from
around 120 BC. This tradition
supports the identification of the Vandals with the Przeworsk culture, since the Gothic
Wielbark
culture
seems to have replaced a branch of that
culture.
Some
Medieval authors used the ethnonym
"Vandals" applying it to
Slavic
peoples:
Wends,
Lusatians or
Poles.
Introduction into the Roman Empire
Simplified map of the various incursions into the Roman Empire,
showing the Vandals' migrations (in blue) from Germany through
Dacia, Gaul, Iberia, and into North Africa, and their raids
throughout the Mediterranean, including the eventual sack of Rome
in 455.
The Vandals were divided in two tribal groups, the
Silingi and the
Hasdingi. At
the time of the
Marcomannic Wars
(166–180) the Silingi lived in an area recorded by
Tacitus as
Magna Germania. 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. In about 271 the Roman Emperor
Aurelian was obliged to protect the middle course
of the Danube against them. They made peace and settled in western
Dacia and
Pannonia.
According to
Jordanes'
Getica, the Hasdingi came into
conflict with the
Goths around the time of
Constantine the Great. At the
time, the Vandals were living in lands later inhabited by the
Gepids, where they were surrounded "on the
east [by] the Goths, on the west [by] the
Marcomanni, on the north [by] the
Hermanduri and on the south [by] the Hister
(
Danube)." The Vandals were attacked by the
Gothic king
Geberic, and their king
Visimar was killed. The Vandals then migrated to
Pannonia, where after
Constantine the Great (about 330)
granted them lands on the right bank of the Danube, they lived for
the next sixty years.
In
400 or
401, possibly
because of attacks by the
Huns, the Vandals,
under king
Godigisel, along with their
allies (the
Sarmatian Alans and Germanic
Suebians)
moved westwards into Roman territory. Some of the Silingi joined
them later. Around this time, the Hasdingi had already been
christianized. During the Emperor
Valens's reign (364–78) the Vandals accepted,
much like the
Goths earlier,
Arianism, a belief that was in opposition to that
of
Nicene orthodoxy of the Roman
Empire. Yet there were also some scattered orthodox Vandals, among
whom was the famous
magister
militum Stilicho, the chief
minister of the Emperor
Honorius.
In Gaul
In 406 the Vandals advanced from Pannonia travelling 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, which they devastated terribly.
Under Godigisel's son
Gunderic, the Vandals plundered their way
westward and southward through Aquitaine
.
In Hispania
On October
13, 409 they crossed the Pyrenees
into the Iberian peninsula
. There, the Hasdingi
received land from the Romans, as foederati, in Gallaecia
(Northwest) and the Silingi in 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").
The
Vandals may have given their name to the region of Andalusia
, which according to one of several theories of its
etymology which would be the source of
Al-Andalus
— the Arabic name of Iberian Peninsula), in
the south of present day Spain
, where they
settled before pushing on to North
Africa - though this theory is disputed (see Al-Andalus: Older
proposals).
The Vandal Kingdom in North Africa
Establishment

The Vandal kingdom, along with the
other Germanic kingdoms in the West, ca. 526
The Vandal conquest of
North Africa is
considered a strategic move.
The Vandals took North Africa as a base for
raiding the Mediterranean
Sea, much like the Vikings. They settled mainly in the lands
corresponding to modern Tunisia
and northeastern Algeria
. It was under the reign of king
Geiseric (Genseric, Gaiseric),
Gunderic's half brother, when Vandals started
building a fleet to plunder the Mediterranean.
In 429, political maneuvering in Rome was to change the landscape
forever. Rome was ruled by the boy emperor
Valentinian III (who rose to power at the
age of 8), and his mother
Galla
Placidia. However, the Roman General
Flavius Aëtius, in vying for power,
convinced Galla Placidia that her General
Boniface was plotting to kill her and her son to
claim the throne for himself. As proof, he implored her to write
him a letter asking him to come to Rome so that she would see that
Boniface would refuse. At the same time Aëtius sent Boniface a
letter stating that he should disregard letters from Rome asking
him to return for they were plotting to kill him. When Boniface saw
the letter from Rome, and believed there was a plot to kill him, he
enlisted the help of the Vandal King Geiseric. He promised the
Vandals land in North Africa in exchange for their help. However,
when it was known that the whole thing was a plot on the part of
Aëtius, and Boniface was once again in Rome's favour, it was too
late to turn back the Vandal
invasion.
Geiseric
crossed the Strait of
Gibraltar
with the entire tribe of 80,000 and moved east,
pillaging and looting as they went and driving more and more
refugees toward the walled city of Hippo Regius
. Geiseric realized that they wouldn't be
able to take the city in a direct assault, so began a months long
siege on the walls of Hippo Regius. Inside
Saint Augustine and his priests prayed
for relief from the invaders, knowing full well that the fall of
the city would spell conversion or death for many Roman Christians.
On 28 August 430, three months into the siege, St. Augustine (who
was 75 years old) died, perhaps from
hunger or stress, as the wheat fields outside the
city lay dormant and unharvested. After 14 months, hunger and the
inevitable
diseases were ravaging
both the city inhabitants and the Vandals outside the city
walls.
Peace was made between the Romans and the Vandals by means of a
grant in 435 of territory in Northern Africa.
In 439, the Vandals
took and plundered Carthage
without a fight, entering the city while most of
the inhabitants were attending the races at the hippodrome.
Geiseric made it his capital, and styled himself the King of the
Vandals and
Alans, to denote the inclusion of
the Alans of northern Africa into his alliance.
Conquering Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica
and the Balearic Islands
, he built his kingdom into a powerful
state.
Sack of Rome
During the next thirty-five years, with a large fleet, Geiseric
looted the coasts of the Eastern and Western Empires. After
Attila the Hun's death, however, the
Romans could afford to turn their attention back to the Vandals,
who were in control of some of the richest lands of their former
empire.
In an effort to bring the Vandals into the fold of the Empire,
Valentinian III offered his
daughter's hand in marriage to Geiseric's son. Before this "treaty"
could be carried out, however, politics again played a crucial part
in the blunders of Rome.
Petronius
Maximus, the usurper, killed
Valentinian III in an effort to control the
Empire.
Diplomacy between the two factions broke
down, and in 455 with a letter from the Empress Licinia Eudoxia, begging Geiseric's son to
rescue her, the Vandals took Rome
, along with
the Empress Licinia Eudoxia and her daughters Eudocia and Placidia.
The chronicler
Prosper of
Aquitaine offers the only fifth-century report that on 2 June
455, Pope
Leo the Great received
Geiseric and implored him to abstain from murder and destruction by
fire, and to be satisfied with pillage. Whether the pope's
influence saved Rome is, however, questioned.
The Vandals departed
with countless valuables, including the spoils of the Temple in
Jerusalem
booty brought to Rome by Titus.
Consolidation
In 468 the Vandals destroyed an enormous
East Roman fleet sent against them.
Following
up the attack, the Vandals tried to invade the Peloponnese
but were driven back by the Maniots at Kenipolis with heavy losses.
In
retaliation, the Vandals took 500 hostages at Zakynthos
, hacked them to pieces and threw the pieces
overboard on the way to Carthage. Nevertheless, after
Geiseric was able to conclude a "perpetual peace" with
Constantinople in 476, relations between the two states assumed a
veneer of normality.
Domestic religious tensions
Differences between the
Arian Vandals and
their
Trinitarian subjects (including both
Catholics and
Donatists) were a constant
source of tension in their African state. Catholic bishops were
exiled or killed by Geiseric and laymen were excluded from office
and frequently suffered confiscation of their property. He
protected his Catholic subjects when his relations with Rome and
Constantinople were friendly, as during the years 454–57, when the
Catholic community at Carthage, being without a head, elected
Deogratias bishop.
The same was also the case during the years
476–477 when Bishop Victor of Cartenna
sent him, during a period of peace, a sharp
refutation of Arianism and suffered no punishment. Generally
most Vandal kings, except
Hilderic,
persecuted Trinitarian Christians to a greater or lesser extent,
banning conversion for Vandals, exiling bishops and generally
making life difficult for Trinitarians.
Decline

Mediterranean in 475 AD, showing the
Vandal Kingdom and its neighbours.
Geiseric, one of the most powerful personalities of the "era of the
Migrations," died on 25 January 477, at the great age of around 88
years. According to the law of succession which he had promulgated,
the oldest male member of the royal house was to succeed. Thus he
was succeeded by his son
Huneric (477–484),
who at first tolerated Catholics, owing to his fear of
Constantinople, but after 482 began to persecute
Manichaeans and Catholics in the most terrible
manner.
Gunthamund (484 – 496), his cousin and
successor, sought internal peace with the Catholics and ceased
persecution once more. 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
autochthonous Moors.
While
Thrasamund (496–523), owing to his
religious fanaticism, was hostile to Catholics, he contented
himself with bloodless persecutions.
The turbulent end
Hilderic (523 – 530) was the Vandal king
most tolerant towards the Catholic Church. He granted it religious
freedom; consequently Catholic synods were once more held in North
Africa. 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,
raising the banner of national Arianism, and his cousin
Gelimer (530 – 533) became king. Hilderic, Hoamer
and their relatives were thrown into prison. Hilderic was deposed
and murdered in 533.
Byzantine Emperor
Justinian I reacted to this by declaring war on
the Vandals. The armies of the Eastern Empire were commanded by
Belisarius, who, having heard that the
greatest part of the Vandal fleet was fighting an uprising in
Sardinia, 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 (16 km) south of Carthage at the
Battle of Ad Decimum; the Vandals were
winning the battle until Gelimer's brother Ammatas and nephew
Gibamund fell in battle. Gelimer then lost heart and fled.
Belisarius quickly took Carthage while the surviving Vandals fought
on.
On December 15, 533, Gelimer and Belisarius clashed again at
Tricamarum, some 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.
North Africa became a Roman province, from which the Vandals were
expelled.
The surviving Vandal
men were enslaved, put into
imperial service or fled to the two Gothic kingdoms (Ostrogothic
Kingdom
and Visigothic
kingdom), while the captured Vandal women married Byzantine
soldiers. The choicest Vandal
warriors were formed into five cavalry regiments,
known as Vandali Iustiniani, and stationed on the
Persian frontier. Some entered the
private service of Belisarius. Gelimer was honourably treated and
received large estates in
Galatia. He was
also offered the rank of a patrician but had to refuse it because
he was not willing to change his
Arian
faith.
Kings

"Hands of God", symbol of the early
ethnic religions of the Slavs and Germanic Vandals.
- Wisimar (d.335)
- Godigisel (359–406)
- Gunderic (407–428)
- Geiseric (428–477)
- Huneric (477–484)
- Gunthamund (484–496)
- Thrasamund (496–523)
- Hilderic (523–530)
- Gelimer (530–534)
Vandalic language
Very little is known about the
Vandalic language, which was of the
East Germanic linguistic branch,
closely related to
Gothic (known
from
Ulfilas's Bible translation), both
completely extinct.
Modern words associated with Vandals
From c.
1540, the Swedish
king had been styled, Suecorum, Gothorum et
Vandalorum Rex: King of the Swedes, the Goths and the
Vendes. The fact that the Latin word for the Vendes is
similar to the English Vandal has caused some confusion regarding
the word's meaning. The present king,
Carl XVI Gustaf, dropped the title in 1973
and now styles himself simply as
King of
Sweden.
Although "
vandalism" has come to mean
senseless destruction as a result of the Vandals' sack of Rome
under King
Geiseric in 455, historians
agree that the Vandals were no more destructive than other invaders
of ancient times.
John Dryden wrote:
Till Goths, and Vandals, a rude Northern race, Did all the
matchless Monuments deface (1694). The word "goth" has gained
architectural and
other associations since Dryden's
time, but "vandal" has not. During the
Enlightenment, Rome was idealized, and
the
Goths and Vandals were disparaged.
"Vandalism" is from the French
vandalisme, which
originated during the
French
revolution. On August 31, 1794, there was an explosion of the
powder mill of Grenelle in Paris. The Abbot Grégoire denounced
vandalism (it was the first time that this term is
employed).
The
Arabic term for Muslim Spain Al Andalus
, and its derivative Andalusia
, may be derived from the Berber pronunciation of Vandal:
"Wandal".
See also
References
Notes
- Mallory & Adams "Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture
- Annales Alamannici, 795 ad
- Gesta Hammaburgensis
ecclesiae pontificum by Adam Bremensis 1075 ad
- Roland Steinacher under Reiner Protsch" Studien zur vandalischen Geschichte. Die
Gleichsetzung der Ethnonyme Wenden, Slawen und Vandalen vom
Mittelalter bis ins 18. Jahrhundert", 2002
- Newadvent.org
- Prosper's account of the event was
followed by his continuator in the sixth century, Victor of
Tunnuna, a great admirer of Leo quite willing to adjust a date
or bend a point (Steven Muhlberger, "Prosper's Epitoma
Chronicon: was there an edition of 443?" Classical
Philology 81.3 (July 1986), pp 240-244).
- Greenhalgh and Eliopoulos, Deep into Mani: Journey into the
Southern Tip of Greece", 21
- J.B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire (1923),
Vol. II, p.125
- J.B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire (1923),
Vol. II, p.131
- J.B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire (1923),
Vol. II, pp.133-135
- J. B. Bury: History of the Later Roman Empire •
Vol. II Chap. XVII
- J.B. Bury, History of the Later Roman Empire (1923),
Vol. II, pp.138
- Roman-empire.net
- Evolpub.com
- Etymonline.com
- Uibk.ac.at
- Uibk.ac.at
Works cited
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Handwerker. [Publikation zur Ausstellung "Die Vandalen"; eine
Ausstellung der Maria-Curie-Sklodowska-Universität Lublin und des
Landesmuseums Zamość ...; Ausstellung im Weserrenaissance-Schloss Bevern...
Nordstemmen 2003. ISBN 3-9805898-6-2
- John Julius Norwich,
Byzantium: The Early Centuries
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Afrika
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1993 (Collected studies series 401), ISBN 0-86078-354-
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und Ethnogenese der Vandalen (Historische Studien 489, Husum 2007),
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class. Altertumswissenschaft (RE Suppl. X, 1965), S. 957-992.
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(Antiquité Tardive 10), ISBN 2-503-51275-5.
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(Antiquité Tardive 11), ISBN 2-503-52262-9.* Lord Mahon Philip Henry Stanhope,
5th Earl Stanhope, The Life of Belisarius, 1848.
Reprinted 2006 (unabridged with editorial comments) Evolution
Publishing, ISBN 1-889758-67-1.* Ludwig Schmidt: Geschichte der
Wandalen. 2. Auflage, München 1942.
- Online Etymology Dictionary: Vandal
- Pauly-Wissowa
- Pierre Courcelle: Histoire littéraire des grandes invasions
germaniques. 3rd edition Paris 1964 (Collection des études
Augustiniennes: Série antiquité, 19).
- Roland Steinacher: Vandalen - Rezeptions- und
Wissenschaftsgeschichte. In: Hubert Cancik (Hrsg.): Der Neue Pauly,
Stuttgart 2003, Band 15/3, S. 942-946, ISBN 3-476-01489-4.
- Roland Steinacher: Wenden, Slawen, Vandalen. Eine
frühmittelalterliche pseudologische Gleichsetzung und ihr Nachleben
bis ins 18. Jahrhundert. In: W. Pohl (Hrsg.): Auf der Suche nach
den Ursprüngen. Von der Bedeutung des frühen Mittelalters
(Forschungen zur Geschichte des Mittelalters 8), Wien 2004, S.
329-353.
- Stefan Donecker; Roland Steinacher, Rex Vandalorum - The
Debates on Wends and Vandals in Swedish Humanism as an Indicator
for Early Modern Patterns of Ethnic Perception, in: ed. Robert
Nedoma, Der Norden im Ausland - das Ausland im Norden. Formung und
Transformation von Konzepten und Bildern des Anderen vom
Mittelalter bis heute (Wiener Studien zur Skandinavistik 15, Wien
2006) 242-252.* Victor of Vita, History of the Vandal
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- Walter Pohl: Die Völkerwanderung. Eroberung und Integration.
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External links