History

The Vandals were divided in two tribal groups, the Silingi and the Hasdingi. At the time of the War of the Marcomanni (166-181) 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, 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 (Romania) and Roman Hungary.

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.

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").

Africa

From 427 their king was Geiseric (Genseric, Gaiseric), Gunderic's half brother, arguably the greatest Vandal king, who started building a Vandal fleet, landed in 429 in North Africa with about 80,000 of his followers. It is a disputed point whether he was called to Africa by the Roman governor Boniface on account of the intrigues of Aetius. In 429, after becoming king, Geiseric crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and moved east toward Carthage. Peace was made between the Romans who in 435 granted them some territory in Northern Africa, but it was broken by Geiseric, who in 439 made Carthage his capital. The Vandals took and plundered the city without a fight, entering the city while most of the inhabitants were attending the races at the hippodrome. Geiseric then built the Kingdom of the Vandals and Alans into a powerful state with the capital at Saldae; he conquered Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Islands.

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. Diplomacy between the two factions broke down, and 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. It is asserted that the Empress Eudoxia had asked him to free her from her hated marriage with the Emperor Petronius Maximus, the murderer of her husband Valentinian III.

Temporary consolidation

From 462, the Vandal kingdom included North Africa and the islands of the Mediterranean, including Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Islands. However, like the other Germanic kingdoms on Roman soil, the African kingdom of the Vandals soon began to decay from the lack of religion and racial unity between the two populations.

Decline

Geiseric, one of the most powerful personalities of the era of the Migrations, had been the terror of the seas. He died at a great age on 25 January, 477. According to the law of succession which he had promulgated, not the son but the oldest male member of the royal house was to succeed to the throne (law of seniority). He was succeeded by his incompetent son Huneric (Hunerich, 477- 484), who at first protected the Catholics, owing to his fear of Constantinople. But from 482 Huneric's reign was mostly notable for its religious persecutions of the Manichaeans and Catholics in the most terrible manner.

The turbulent end

Hilderic (Hilderich, 523–530) was the most Christian-friendly of the Vandal kings, who favoured them and granted religious freedom; consequently Christian 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. Hilderich was deposed and murdered in 533.

List of kings

1. Godigisel (—407)
2. Gunderic (407–428)
3. Geiseric (428–477)
4. Huneric (477–484)
5. Gunthamund (484–496)
6. Thrasamund (496–523)
7. Hilderic (523–530)
8. Gelimer (530–534)

Vandalic language

Main article: 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. Some traces may remain in Andalusian dialect^{[citation needed]}, the southernmost group of Spanish dialects, which is however far more strongly permeated with Arabic from the later Moors (711 to 1492, first and last Muslim rule in Iberia).

Modern use of the word Vandal

• The term "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. During the Enlightenment, Rome was idealized, so the Goths and Vandals were disparaged. John Dryden writes: 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. "Vandalism" is from the French vandalisme, which originated during the French revolution. The verb vandalize is first recorded in 1800.
• The name Andalusia (Spain's southernmost region) is possibly derived from the ethnic name "Vandal", (Vandalusia).
• The Vandals are the mascot of the University of Idaho.
• The Vandals is the name for a Los Angeles area punk rock band.
• Vandals RFC is a Rugby Union Football Club in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
• Robin Hemley's short short story, The Liberation of Rome^[1] depicts a conversation between a professor of Roman History and a hostile student of "over half" Vandal ancestry.
• A skit in the popular television series Saturday Night Live featured Steve Martin as a Roman general and depicted Vandals "TP'ing" the Roman camp and ordering pizzas in the general's name.

See also

• Migrations period
• Auriwandalo
• The western Alans and Vandals
• Connection between Poles and Vandals
• Timeline of Portuguese history - Germanic Kingdoms (5th to 8th Century)