Vandals - Origins, History, Vandalic language

A Germanic people, originally perhaps from the Baltic area, who settled in the Danube valley in the 4th-c. Pushed W by the Huns, they invaded Gaul (406), crossed into Spain, conquered Roman Africa (429–39), and sacked Rome (455). The Byzantine general Belisarius reconquered N Africa in 533–4. The modern word vandalism derives from their name.

The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals may have given their name to the region of Andalusia, which according to one of several theories of its etymology was originally Vandalusia (which would be the source of Al-Andalus - the Arabic name of Iberian Peninsula), in the south of present day Spain, where they temporarily settled before pushing on to Africa.

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 Clovis I.

Origins

Some believe the Vandals were first identified with Przeworsk culture in the 19th century, but controversy surrounds potential connections between the Vandals and another possibly Germanic tribe, the Lugii (Lygier, Lugier or Lygians). Some academics believe that either Lugii was an earlier name of the Vandals, or the Vandals were part of the Lugian federation.

Similarities of names have suggested 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.

In medieval times, there was a popular belief that Vandals were ancestors of Poles. That belief originated probably because of two facts: first, confusion of the Venedes with Vandals and secondly, because both Venedes and Vandals in ancient times lived in areas later settled by Poles. perrexit in regionem Wandalorum, et ipsi Wandali venerunt obvium" ("Pepin went to the region of the Vandals, and the Vandals themselves came out to meet him"). In Annales Sangallenses, the same raid (however, put in 795) is summarised in one short message, "Wandali conquisiti sunt" ("The Vandals are sought out"). This means that early medieval writers gave the name of Vandals to Avars.

History

The Vandals were divided in two tribal groups, the Silingi and the Hasdingi. 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 along with their allies, (the Sarmatian Alans and Germanic Suebians), started to move westward under king Godigisel. Through the Emperor Valens (364-78) the Vandals accepted, much like the Goths earlier, 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, yet there were also some scattered orthodox Vandals, among whom was general Stilicho, the minister of the Emperor Honorius.

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. 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. 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;

Differences between the Arian faith 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, persecuted Catholics to a greater or lesser extent. 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.

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.

It is said 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. moreover, the Vandals had only booty in mind, nor was the plundering as extreme as later tradition and the expression "vandalism" would imply.

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 religious and racial unity between the two populations.

The Arian Vandals treated the Catholics more harshly than other German peoples. 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.

The turbulent end

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

This was taken as an excuse for interference by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, who declared 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. the Vandals were winning the battle till Gelimer's nephew Gibamund fell in battle; Belisarius quickly took Carthage while the surviving Vandals fought on. 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.

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)

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. 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. 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 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. It should be edited to reflect broader and more recent perspectives. Online Etymology Dictionary: Vandal Brian Adam: History of the Vandals Ivor J. Davidson, A Public Faith, Chapter 11, Christians and Barbarians, Volume 2 of Baker History of the Church, 2005, ISBN 0-8010-1275-9 Victor of Vita, History of the Vandal Persecution ISBN 0-85323-127-3.