- Geiseric
Geiseric the Lame (c. 389 –
January 25 ,477 ), also spelled as Gaiseric or Genseric, was theKing of theVandals andAlans (428–477) and was one of the key players in the troubles of theWestern Roman Empire in the 5th century. During his nearly 50 years of rule, he raised a relatively insignificant Germanic tribe to the status of a major Mediterranean power — which, after he died, entered a swift decline and eventual collapse.Early life and accession
Gaiseric, whose name means "spear-king", was an illegitimate son of King
Godigisel ; he is assumed to have been born nearLake Balaton around 389. After his father's death, Gaiseric was the second most powerful man among the Vandals, after the new king, his half-brotherGunderic .After Gunderic's death in 428, Gaiseric was elected king. He immediately began to seek ways of increasing the power and wealth of his people, who then resided in the Roman province of
Hispania Baetica in southernSpain . The Vandals had suffered greatly from attacks from the more numerousVisigoths , and not long after taking power, Gaiseric decided to leave Spain to this rival Germanic tribe. In fact, he seems to have started building a Vandal fleet even before he became king.Africa
Taking advantage of a dispute between Boniface, Roman governor of
North Africa , and the Roman government, Geiseric ferried all 80,000 of his people across to Africa in 429. Once there, he won many battles over the weak and divided Roman defenders and quickly overran the territory now comprising modernMorocco and northernAlgeria . His Vandal army laid siege to the city ofHippo Regius (where Augustine had recently been bishop — he died during the siege), taking it after 14 months of bitter fighting. The next year, Roman EmperorValentinian III recognized Geiseric as king of the lands he and his men had conquered.In 439, after casting a covetous eye on the great city of
Carthage for a decade, he took the city, apparently without any fighting. The Romans were caught unaware, and Geiseric captured a large part of the western Roman navy docked in the port of Carthage. TheCatholic bishop of the city,Quodvultdeus , was exiled toNaples , since Geiseric demanded that all his close advisors follow the Arian form ofChristianity . Nevertheless, Geiseric gave freedom of religion to the Catholics, while insisting that the regime's elite follow Arianism. The common folk had lowtax es under his reign, as most of the tax pressure was on the rich Roman families and the Catholicclergy .Added to his own burgeoning fleet, the Kingdom of the Vandals now threatened the Empire for mastery of the western
Mediterranean Sea . Carthage, meanwhile, became the new Vandal capital and an enemy of Rome for the first time since thePunic Wars .With the help of their fleet, the Vandals soon subdued
Sicily ,Sardinia ,Corsica and theBalearic Islands . Geiseric strengthened the Vandal defenses and fleet, and regulated the positions of Arians and Catholics. In 442, the Romans acknowledged the Carthaginian conquests, and recognised the Vandal kingdom as an independent country rather thansubsidiary to Roman rule. The area inAlgeria that had remained for the larger part independent of the Vandals turned from a Roman province into an ally.For the next 30 years, Geiseric and his soldiers sailed up and down the Mediterranean, living as pirates and raiders. One legend has it that Geiseric was unable to vault upon a horse because of a fall he had taken as a young man; so he assuaged his desire for military glory on the sea.
Consolidation and later life
In 455, Roman emperor
Valentinian III wasmurder ed on orders ofPetronius Maximus , whousurp ed the throne. Geiseric was of the opinion that these acts voided his 442 peace treaty with Valentinian, and on May 31, he and his men landed on Italian soil and marched on Rome, wherePope Leo I implored him not to destroy the ancient city or murder its inhabitants. Geiseric agreed and the gates of Rome were thrown open to him and his men.Maximus, who fled rather than fight the Vandal warlord, was killed by a Roman mob outside the city. Although history remembers the Vandal sack of Rome as extremely brutal — making the word
vandalism a term for any wantonly destructive act — in actuality the Vandals did not wreak great destruction in the city; they did, however, takegold ,silver and many other things of value. He also took with him EmpressLicinia Eudoxia , Valentinian's widow, and her daughters, Eudocia andPlacidia . Many important people were taken hostage for even more riches. Eudocia married Geiseric's sonHuneric after arriving in Carthage,In 468, Geiseric's kingdom was the target of the last concerted effort by the two halves of the Roman Empire. They wished to subdue the Vandals and end their pirate raids. Geiseric, against long odds, defeated the eastern Roman fleet commanded by
Basiliscus off Cap Bon. It has been reported that the total invasion force on the fleet of 1,100 ships, counted 100,000 soldiers. Geiseric sent a fleet of 500 Vandal ships against the Romans, losing 340 ships in the first engagement, but succeeded in destroying 600 Roman ships in the second. The Romans abandoned the campaign and Geiseric remained master of the western Mediterranean until his death, ruling from theStrait of Gibraltar all the way toTripolitania .Following up the Byzantine defeat, the Vandals tried to invade the
Peloponnese but were driven back by theManiots at Kenipolis with heavy losses. In retaliation, the Vandals took 500 hostages atZakynthos , hacked them to pieces, and threw the pieces over board on the way to Carthage.Greenhalgh and Eliopoulos, "Deep into Mani: Journey into the Southern Tip of Greece", 21]In 474, Geiseric made peace with the
Eastern Roman Empire . Finally, onJanuary 25 ,477 , Geiseric died at Carthage.References
*cite book|first=Hans-Joachim|last=Diesner|title=Das Vandalenreich. Aufstieg und Untergang|publisher= Kohlhammer|location=Stuttgart|year=1966
*cite book|title=Antiquité Tardive - L'Afrique vandale et byzantine|publisher=Brepols|location=Turnhout|year=2002–2003
* [http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/VANDALS,%20SUEVI,%20VISIGOTHS.htm#GensericB FMG on Genseric the Lame]Footnotes
Persondata
NAME = Geiseric the Lame
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Gaiseric or Genseric
SHORT DESCRIPTION =King of theVandals andAlans
DATE OF BIRTH = c. 389
PLACE OF BIRTH = assumed to have been born nearLake Balaton
DATE OF DEATH =January 25 ,477
PLACE OF DEATH =Carthage
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