Vandal Sardinia | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 456–534 | |||||||||
 Vandal Kingdom in 476 | |||||||||
| Capital | Caralis | ||||||||
| Common languages | Vulgar Latin | ||||||||
| Religion | Arianism,Chalcedonian Christianity | ||||||||
| Historical era | Early Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Established | 456 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 534 | ||||||||
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| History of Sardinia |
Vandal Sardinia covers the history ofSardinia from the end of the longRoman domination in 456, when the island was conquered by theVandals, aGermanic population settled inAfrica Proconsularis andMauretania Caesariensis, until its reconquest by the Byzantine Roman EmperorJustinian in 534.
The conquest of the former province ofCorsica and Sardinia by the Vandals occurred between about 456 and 460 AD, the year of the agreement betweenGenseric,king of the Vandals, and the emperorMajorian.[1] It was a partial, limited and short-lived occupation of some coastal cities. In 466, the Roman generalMarcellinus, possibly encouraged byPope Hilarius, succeeded in regaining control of the island. However, between 474 and 482, Sardinia fell again under the rule of the Vandals, perhaps led byGenseric or his sonHuneric.[2]
During these campaigns,Olbia, one of the most prosperous Sardinian cities, was violently attacked by sea and its port destroyed.[4] In some buildings of the city, clear signs of destruction and fragments of collapsed frescoes have been discovered. Interesting is also the discovery of aVisigothic spearhead in a tube, perhaps used during the looting.[5]
The possession of Sardinia guaranteed the Vandals secure maritime trade routes between North Africa and the rest of theMediterranean. The island became the frontier of theVandal Kingdom and assumed an important strategic role.[6]
The Vandal administrative system did not differ much from that of the Roman period. Sardinia was overseen by a governor called apraeses, chosen from the trusted men of the royal family and resident inCaralis, who had both civil and military functions. He was assisted by a multitude of auxiliary officials includingprocurators, tax collectors, andconductors (real estate economists).[7]
The island territory was subdivided into many parts that were assigned partially to the crown and partially to the Vandal warriors. The Sardinian-Roman landowners managed to keep their lands in certain cases, in exchange for the payment of lump sums.[2]Barbagia, the central-eastern mountain area of the island, remained a semi-independent duchy, as it had been in the Roman period and would remain in the first part of the Byzantine period.
According to historian Hermann Schreiber, strong Vandal contingents were present in Sardinia and Corsica with the aim of garrisoning the two islands.[8] The Vandal army was divided intomilles, a variable contingent also operating in Sardinia, made up of around a thousand permanent warriors, many of them on horseback, and commanded by amillenarius.[9]
At the end of the Vandal era, groups ofMauri, who were sent to the island by the Vandals, took refuge in the mountains of Barbagia orGerrei. From here they made raids against the Forum Traiani (Fordongianus) during the Byzantine period. The Byzantine GeneralSolomon organized a military expedition against them in the winter of 537.
In 533, perhaps taking advantage of a remarkable autonomy,Godas, the Vandal governor ofGoth origin, proclaimed himself king of the island,[10] minting his ownbronze coins.
Justinian, Roman Emperor inConstantinople, purportedly to help Godas, decided to intervene and sent an army commanded by GeneralBelisarius and assisted by Duke Cirillus. The Byzantine force led by Belisarius was made up of 16,000 soldiers and 600 ships and headed to Africa while Duke Cyril with some 400 ships headed for Caralis.
Meanwhile, the King of Vandals,Gelimer, who was also facing a revolt inTripoli, sent his brotherTzazo with a large contingent of 120 ships and 5,000 men to Sardinia to suppress Goda's uprising. Tzazo quickly took Caralis (where he left a small contingent), executed Godas and returned immediately toCarthage where the Byzantines had landed. Belisarius had defeated Gelimer on August 30, 533, and occupied Carthage. He was followed by Cirillus, who had failed to reach Sardinia. Tzazo and Gelimer, together with what remained of the army, marched against the Byzantines but were defeated at theBattle of Tricamarum, 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Carthage. Tzazo was killed, and Gelimer escaped capture, surrendered a few months later. Cirillus then went to Calaris, where he showed Tzazo's head impaled on a pike to the Vandals of the garrison, who immediately surrendered.[11] Thus the Vandal era in Sardinia ended in 534 and theByzantine period began.
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The Sardinian dioceses of the Roman period – Caralis, Forum Traiani,Sulci, Turris and Sanafer (and perhapsCornus) – remained operative under the Vandals.Thebishop of Caralis, probably already at the time of theCouncil of Carthage in 484, hadMetropolitan authority over the remaining dioceses of Sardinia and theBalearic Islands.[12]
The Sardinian church was not persecuted and was not forced intoArianism.[7] African Chalcedonian bishops under the Vandals were persecuted and exiled to Sardinia during periods of the most severe oppression of Chalcedonians by Vandals. This had some positive consequences for Sardinia, because the exiles enriched the cultural and religious life during their presence, for example importingmonasticism. Among the bishops deported to the island by the Vandals were the bishop of Carthage,Fulgentius of Ruspe, and Felicianis, bishop ofHippo, who carried with him the relics ofAugustine of Hippo (now preserved inPavia).[7]
It was in this period that two Sardinians ascended to the papal throne:Pope Hilarius andPope Symmachus.
Vandal funerary practices have been documented by the presence of some necropolis and single burials brought to light in several island locations. The most significant information comes from the Cornus-Columbaris necropolis, which consists of 22 tombs where numerous finds from a mixed German-African matrix have been made. The funeral area of Sant'Imbenia atAlghero, the burial in Spina Santa nearSassari, and the tomb discovered atSant'Antioco, where a man wasburied with his horse, also appear to belong to the Vandal age.[13]
The historian Alberto Boscolo attributed to the Vandals the tombs with barrel vaults discovered in several island resorts, mainly in southern Sardinia. The scholar identified them as Germanic elite graves but according to other scholars they would instead be placed in the Byzantine period.[14]
In the Vandal era, some innovations were introduced to the island with regard to clothing. These includefibulae,buckles, and jewellery such as polyhedronearrings originating in the Germanic area.[13]
There is no evidence of aVandalsuperstrate in theSardinian language (except the wordmàrtsu, màrtsiu, màrèu, mràèu, that ismarten, in the dialects ofSulcis, according toMax Leopold Wagner[15]), however some influences of theAfrican Romance could date back to this historical phase such as theiprothesis in words likei-scola (school, from theLatinschola).[16]
The settlement of people of Germanic origin in Sardinia is testified by someanthroponyms such asOthila, owner of alatifundium near Fiume Santo,Iesumundus, a nine-year-old child buried in Cagliari at the beginning of the 6th century AD,Patriga, a young noblewoman buried in Cornus-Columbaris in a "capuchin tomb",[17] andWaldaric, of whom we find news in a letter addressed toPope Gregory the Great asking him to intercede with the ByzantineDux so that he could return to the island to his wife.[18]
In the Byzantine age the minority Germanic element appears fully integrated with the local substratum.[13]
During the rule of the Vandals, Sardinia traded with the other territories of the kingdom, with which cultural relationships were also established. In this phase there was a resumption of the importation, among other goods, ofAfrican red slip ware, found in various sites of the island.
The fall of the Vandal kingdom in Africa around 534 AD led to a progressive decline in exports of African products and important consequences at a political level.[19]
Media related toVandal Sardinia at Wikimedia Commons