Archaeologists associate the early Vandals with thePrzeworsk culture, which has led to some authors equating them to theLugii, who were another group of Germanic peoples associated with that same archaeological culture and region. Expanding intoDacia during theMarcomannic Wars and toPannonia during theCrisis of the Third Century, the Vandals were confined to Pannonia by theGoths around 330 AD, where they received permission to settle fromConstantine the Great. Around 400, raids by theHuns from the east forced many Germanic tribes to migrate west into the territory of the Roman Empire and, fearing that they might be targeted next, the Vandals were also pushed westwards,crossing theRhine intoGaul along with other tribes in 406.[2] In 409, the Vandals crossed thePyrenees into theIberian Peninsula, where theHasdingi and theSilingi settled inGallaecia (northwest Iberia) andBaetica (south-central Iberia).
Renaissance andearly-modern writers characterized the Vandals as prototypicalbarbarians, due to their 14-day Sack of Rome,[3] leading to the use of the term "vandalism" to describe any pointless destruction, particularly the "barbarian" defacing of artwork. However, some modern historians have emphasised the role of Vandals as continuators of aspects ofRoman culture, in the transitional period fromLate Antiquity to theEarly Middle Ages.[4]
Theethnonym is attested asWandali andWendilenses bySaxo, asVendill inOld Norse, and asWend(e)las inOld English, all going back to aProto-Germanic form reconstructed as *Wanđilaz.[5][6] The etymology of the name remains unclear. According to linguistVladimir Orel, it may stem from the Proto-Germanic adjective *wanđaz ('turned, twisted'), itself derived from the verb *wenđanan (or*winđanan), meaning 'to wind'.[6] Alternatively, it has been derived from a root *wanđ-, meaning 'water', based on the idea that the tribe was originally located near theLimfjord (asea inlet in Denmark).[5] The stem can also be found inOld High Germanwentilsēo and Old Englishwendelsǣ, both literally meaning 'Vandal-sea' and designating theMediterranean Sea.[5][7]
The Germanic mythological figure ofAurvandill has been interpreted byRudolf Much to mean 'Shining Vandal'. Much forwarded the theory that the tribal nameVandal reflects worship of Aurvandil or theDivine Twins, possibly involving anorigin myth that the Vandalic kings were descended from Aurvandil (comparable to the case ofmany other Germanic tribal names).[8]
Somemedieval authors equated two classical ethnonyms, "Vandals" andVeneti, and applied both toWest Slavs, leading to the termWends, which has been used for various Slavic-speaking groups and is still used forLusatians. However, modern scholars derive "Wend" from "Veneti", and do not equate the Veneti and Vandals.[9][10][11][12]
The name of the Vandals has been connected to that ofVendel, the name of a province inUppland, Sweden, which is also eponymous of theVendel Period of Swedish prehistory, corresponding to the lateGermanic Iron Age leading up to theViking Age. The connection is considered tenuous at best and more plausibly the result of chance, thoughScandinavia is considered the probable homeland of the tribe prior to theMigration Period.[13]
Classification
Once the Vandals came to live outside ofGermania, they were no longer consideredGermani byancient Roman authors.[14]
Germanic and Proto-Slavic tribes of Central Europe around 3rd century BC.Tribes of Central Europe in the mid-1st century AD. The Vandals/Lugii are depicted in green, in the area of modern Poland.
Early classical sources
The earliest mention of the Vandals is fromPliny the Elder, who used the termVandili in a broad way to define one of the major groupings of allGermanic peoples. Tribes within this category whom he mentions are theBurgundiones,Varini, Carini (otherwise unknown), and theGutones.[16]
Tacitus mentioned theVandilii, but only in a passage explaining legends about the origins of the Germanic peoples. He names them as one of the groups sometimes thought to be one of the oldest divisions of these peoples, along with theMarsi,Gambrivii, andSuebi, but does not say where they live, or which peoples are within this category. On the other hand, Tacitus andPtolemy give information about the position of Varini, Burgundians, and Gutones in this period, and these indications suggest that the Vandals in this period lived between theOder andVistula rivers.[17]
Ptolemy furthermore mentioned theSilingi, who were later counted as Vandals, as living south of theSemnones, and who were Suebians living on theElbe, and stretching to the Oder.[18]
TheHasdingi, who later led the invasion of Carthage, do not appear in written records until the 2nd century and the time of the Marcomannic wars.[19] TheLacringi appear in 3rd century records.[20]
The Lugii, who were also mentioned in early classical sources in the same region, are likely to have been the same people as the Vandals.[21][22] The Lugii are mentioned byStrabo, Tacitus, and Ptolemy as a large group of tribes between the Vistula and the Oder. Strabo and Ptolemy do not mention the Vandals at all, only the Lugii. Tacitus mentions them in a passage about the ancestry of the Germanic peoples without saying where they lived, and Pliny the Elder in contrast mentions the Vandals but not the Lugii.[17]Walter Pohl andWalter Goffart have noted that Ptolemy seems to distinguish the Silingi from the Lugii, and in the 2nd century the Hasdings, when they appear in the Roman record, are also distinguished from the Lugii.[23]Herwig Wolfram notes that "In all likelihood the Lugians and the Vandals were one cultic community that lived in the same region of the Oder inSilesia, where it was first underCeltic and then under Germanic domination."[22] This may account for the differentiation between the Celtic Lugii and their more Germanic successors the Vandals.
In archaeology, the Vandals are associated with the Przeworsk culture, but the culture probably extended over several central and eastern European peoples. Their origin, ethnicity, and linguistic affiliation are heavily debated.[24][25][26] The bearers of the Przeworsk culture mainly practicedcremation and occasionallyinhumation.[26]
The Roman empire underHadrian (ruled 117–38), showing the location of the Vandilii East Germanic tribes, then inhabiting the upperVistula region (Poland).
In the 2nd century, two or three distinct Vandal peoples came to the attention of Roman authors: the Silingi, the Hasdingi, and possibly the Lacringi, who appear together with the Hasdingi. Only the Silingi had been mentioned in early Roman works, and are associated with Silesia.
These peoples appeared during theMarcomannic Wars, which resulted in widespread destruction and the first invasion of Italy in the Roman Empire period.[28] During the Marcomannic Wars (166–180) theHasdingi (or Astingi), led by the kings Raus and Rapt (or Rhaus and Raptus) moved south, enteringDacia as allies of Rome.[29] However they eventually caused problems in Dacia and moved further south, towards the lowerDanube area. Together with the Hasdingi were the Lacringi, who were possibly also Vandals.[30][31]
In about 271 AD, the Roman EmperorAurelian was obliged to protect the middle course of theDanube against Vandals. They made peace and stayed on the eastern bank of the Danube.[29]
In 278,Zosimus reported that EmperorProbus had defeated the Vandals and Burgundians near a river (sometimes proposed to be theLech, and sent many of them toBritain. During this same period, the 11thpanegyric toMaximian, delivered in 291, reported two different conflicts outside the empire wherein Burgundians were associated withAlamanni, and other Vandals, probably Hasdingi in theCarpathian region, were associated withGepids.
According toJordanes'Getica, the Hasdingi came into conflict with theGoths around the time ofConstantine the Great. At the time, these Vandals were living in lands later inhabited by the Gepids, where they were surrounded "on the east [by] the Goths, on the west [by] theMarcomanni, on the north [by] theHermanduri and on the south [by] the Hister (Danube)." The Vandals were attacked by the Gothic kingGeberic, and their kingVisimar was killed.[32] The Vandals then migrated to neighbouringPannonia, where, afterConstantine the Great (in about 330) granted them lands on the right bank of the Danube, they lived for the next 60 years.[32][33]
In the late 4th century and early 5th, the famousmagister militumStilicho (died 408), the chief minister of the EmperorHonorius, was described as being of Vandal descent. Vandals raided the Roman province ofRaetia in the winter of 401/402. From this, historianPeter Heather concludes that at this time the Vandals were located in the region around the Middle and Upper Danube.[34] It is possible that such Middle Danubian Vandals were part of the Gothic kingRadagaisus' invasion of Italy in 405–406 AD.[35]
While the Hasdingian Vandals were already established in the Middle Danube for centuries, it is less clear where the Silingian Vandals had been living,[36] though it may have been inSilesia.[37][38][39]
In Britannia
In AD 278, Emperor Probus, on defeating the Vandals and Burgundians, transferred many of them to Britain. It is unknown where they were settled, thoughSilchester seems to be a likely candidate. The city bears the name of the Silingi, is only one of six that existed in Roman Britain that did not survive thesub-Roman era,[40] and appears to have been ritually cursed – likely by the Anglo-Saxons – before being abandoned.[41][42]
In Gaul
In 405 AD, the Vandals advanced from Pannonia travelling west along the Danube without much difficulty, but when they reached theRhine, they met resistance from theFranks, who populated and controlled Romanized regions in northernGaul. According to the Frigeridus fragment cited byGregory of Tours, around 20,000 Vandals, including Godigisel himself, died in thisVandal-Frankish war, but then with the help of theAlans they managed to defeat the Franks, and on December 31, 405[43] the Vandalscrossed the Rhine, probably while it was frozen, to invade Gaul, which they devastated terribly. Under Godigisel's sonGunderic, the Vandals plundered their way westward and southward throughAquitaine.[44]
In Hispania
Migrations of the Vandals from Scandinavia through Dacia, Gaul, Iberia, and into North Africa. Grey: Roman Empire. N.b.: a. C. = BC («después de Cristo» in Spanish) and d. C. = AD («antes de Cristo» in Spanish).
On October 13, 409, they crossed thePyrenees into theIberian peninsula. There, the Hasdingi received land from the Romans, asfoederati, inAsturia (Northwest) and the Silingi inHispania Baetica (South), while theAlans got lands inLusitania (West) and the region aroundCarthago Nova.[45] TheSuebi also controlled part ofGallaecia. TheVisigoths, who invaded Iberia on the orders of the Romans before receiving lands inSeptimania (Southern France), crushed the Silingi Vandals in 417 and the Alans in 418, killing the western Alan kingAttaces.[46] The remainder of his people and the remnants of the Silingi, who were nearly wiped out, subsequently appealed to the Vandal kingGunderic to accept the Alan crown. Later Vandal kings in North Africa styled themselvesRex Wandalorum et Alanorum ("King of the Vandals and Alans"). In 419 AD, the Hasdingi Vandals were defeated duringAsterius campaign by a joint Roman-Suebi coalition. Gunderic fled toBaetica, where he was also proclaimed king of the Silingi Vandals. In 422, Gunderic decisively defeated a Roman-Suebi-Gothic coalition led by the RomanpatricianCastinus in theVandal war of 422.[47][48] It is likely that many Roman and Gothic troops deserted to Gunderic following the battle.[48] For the next five years, according toHydatius, Gunderic created widespread havoc in the westernMediterranean.[48] In 425, the Vandals pillaged theBalearic Islands,Hispania, andMauritania, sackingCartagena andSeville in 425.[48] The capture of the maritime city of Cartagena enabled the Vandals to engage in widespread naval activities.[48] In 428, Gunderic captured Seville for a second time but died while laying siege to the city's church.[48] He was succeeded by his half-brotherGenseric, who, although he wasillegitimate (his mother was a slave), had held a prominent position at the Vandal court, rising to the throne unchallenged.[49] In 429, the Vandals departed Spain, which remained almost totally in Roman hands until 439, when the Suebi, confined to Gallaecia, moved south and capturedEmerita Augusta (Mérida), thesee city of Roman administration for the whole peninsula.[50]
Genseric is often regarded by historians as the most able barbarian leader of the Migration Period.[51]Michael Frassetto writes that he probably contributed more to the destruction of Rome than any of his contemporaries.[51] Although the barbarians controlled Hispania, they still comprised a tiny minority among a much largerHispano-Roman population, approximately 200,000 out of 6,000,000.[45] Shortly after seizing the throne, Genseric was attacked from the rear by a large force of Suebi under the command ofHeremigarius, who had managed to take Lusitania.[52] This Suebi army wasdefeated nearMérida and its leader Heremigarius drowned in theGuadiana River while trying to flee.[52]
It is possible that thenameal-Andalus (and its derivativeAndalusia) is derived from the Arabic adoption of the name of the Vandals.[53][54]
The Vandal Kingdom at its greatest extent in the 470sCoin ofBonifaciusComes Africae (422–431 CE), who was defeated by the Vandals.[55] Legends: DOMINUS NOSTRIS / CARTAGINE.
The Vandals under Genseric (also known as Geiseric)crossed to Africa in 429.[56] Although numbers are unknown and some historians debate the validity of estimates, based on Procopius' assertion that the Vandals and Alans numbered 80,000 when they moved to North Africa,[57] Peter Heather estimates that they could have fielded an army of around 15,000–20,000.[58]
According to Procopius, the Vandals came to Africa at the request ofBonifacius, the military ruler of the region.[59] Seeking to establish himself as an independent ruler in Africa or even become Roman Emperor, Bonifacius had defeated several Roman attempts to subdue him, until he was mastered by the newly appointed Gothiccount of Africa,Sigisvult, who captured bothHippo Regius andCarthage.[51] It is possible that Bonifacius had sought Genseric as an ally against Sigisvult, promising him a part of Africa in return.[51]
Advancing eastwards along the coast, the Vandals were confronted on theNumidian border in May–June 430 by Bonifacius. Negotiations broke down, and Bonifacius was soundly defeated.[60][61] Bonifacius subsequently barricaded himself inside Hippo Regius with the Vandalsbesieging the city.[56] Inside,Saint Augustine and his priests prayed for relief from the invaders, knowing full well that the fall of the city would spellconversion or death for many Roman Christians.[citation needed]
On 28 August 430, three months into the siege, St. Augustine (who was 75 years old) died,[62] perhaps from starvation or stress, as the wheat fields outside the city lay dormant and unharvested. The death of Augustine shocked the Regent of theWestern Roman Empire,Galla Placidia, who feared the consequences if her realm lost its most important source of grain.[61] She raised a new army in Italy and convinced her nephew inConstantinople, theEastern Roman EmperorTheodosius II, to send an army to North Africa led byAspar.[61]
Around July–August 431, Genseric raised the siege of Hippo Regius,[60] which enabled Bonifacius to retreat from Hippo Regius toCarthage, where he was joined by Aspar's army. During the summer of 432, Genseric soundly defeated the joint forces of both Bonifacius and Aspar, which enabled him to seize Hippo Regius unopposed.[61] Genseric and Aspar subsequently negotiated a peace treaty of some sorts.[60] Upon seizing Hippo Regius, Genseric made it the first capital of the Vandal kingdom.[63]
The Romans and the Vandals concluded a treaty in 435 giving the Vandals control of the Mauretania and the western half of Numidia. Genseric chose to break the treaty in 439 when he invaded the province ofAfrica Proconsularis andseized Carthage on October 19.[64] The city was captured without a fight; the Vandals entered the city while most of the inhabitants were attending the races at the hippodrome. Genseric 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.[citation needed] His forces also occupiedSardinia,Corsica, and theBalearic Islands. His siege of Palermo in 440 was a failure as was the second attempt to invade Sicily near Agrigento in 442 (the Vandals occupied the island from 468 to 476 when it was ceded to Odovacer).[65] Historian Cameron suggests that the new Vandal rule may not have been unwelcomed by the population of North Africa as the great landowners were generally unpopular.[66]
The impression given by ancient sources such asVictor of Vita,Quodvultdeus, andFulgentius of Ruspe was that the Vandal take-over of Carthage and North Africa led to widespread destruction. However, recent archaeological investigations have challenged this assertion. Although Carthage's Odeon was destroyed, the street pattern remained the same and some public buildings were renovated. The political centre of Carthage was the Byrsa Hill. New industrial centres emerged within towns during this period.[67] Historian Andy Merrills uses the large amounts ofAfrican Red Slip ware discovered across the Mediterranean dating from the Vandal period of North Africa to challenge the assumption that the Vandal rule of North Africa was a time of economic instability.[68] When the Vandals raided Sicily in 440, the Western Roman Empire was too preoccupied with war with Gaul to react. Theodosius II, emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, dispatched an expedition to deal with the Vandals in 441; however, it only progressed as far as Sicily. The Western Empire underValentinian III secured peace with the Vandals in 442.[69] Under the treaty the Vandals gainedByzacena,Tripolitania, and the eastern half of Numidia, and were confirmed in control of Proconsular Africa[70] as well as the Vandal Kingdom as the firstbarbarian kingdom was officially recognized as an independent kingdom in former Roman territory instead offoederati.[71] The Empire retained western Numidia and the two Mauretanian provinces until 455.
During the next 35 years, with a large fleet, Genseric looted the coasts of the Eastern and Western Empires. Vandal activity in theMediterranean was so substantial that the sea's name inOld English wasWendelsæ (i. e. Sea of the Vandals).[72] AfterAttila 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 Genseric's son. Before this treaty could be carried out, however, politics again played a crucial part in the blunders of Rome.Petronius Maximus killed Valentinian III and claimed the Western throne. Petronius then forced Valentinian III's widow, empressLicinia Eudoxia, to marry him.[73] Diplomacy between the two factions broke down, and in 455, with a letter from Licinia Eudoxia begging Genseric's son to rescue her, the Vandals took Rome, along with the Empress and her daughtersEudocia andPlacidia.
The chroniclerProsper of Aquitaine[74] offers the only 5th century report that, on 2 June 455, PopeLeo the Great received Genseric 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. Eudoxia and her daughter Eudocia were taken to North Africa.[70]
Consolidation
Barbarian kingdoms and tribes after the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476
In 456, a Vandal fleet of 60 ships threatening both Gaul and Italy was ambushed and defeated atAgrigentum andCorsica by the Western Roman generalRicimer.[75] In 457, a mixed Vandal-Berber army returning with loot from a raid inCampania were soundlydefeated in a surprise attack by Western EmperorMajorian at the mouth of theGarigliano river.[76]
As a result of the Vandal sack of Rome and piracy in theMediterranean, it became important to the Roman Empire to destroy the Vandal kingdom. In 460, Majorian launched an expedition against the Vandals, but was defeated at theBattle of Cartagena. In 468, the Western and Eastern Roman empires launched an enormous expedition against the Vandals under the command ofBasiliscus, which reportedly was composed of 100,000 soldiers and 1,000 ships. The Vandals defeated the invaders at theBattle of Cap Bon, capturing the Western fleet, and destroying the Eastern through the use offire ships.[69] Following up the attack, the Vandals tried to invade thePeloponnese, but were driven back by theManiots at Kenipolis with heavy losses.[77] In retaliation, the Vandals took 500 hostages atZakynthos, hacked them to pieces and threw the pieces overboard on the way to Carthage.[77] In 469, the Vandals gained control of Sicily but were forced byOdoacer to relinquish it in 477, except for the western port of Lilybaeum (lost in 491 after a failed attempt on their part to re-take the island).[78]
In the 470s, the Romans abandoned their policy of war against the Vandals. The Western generalRicimer reached a treaty with them,[69] and in 476, Genseric was able to conclude a "perpetual peace" with Constantinople. Relations between the two states assumed a veneer of normality.[79] From 477 onwards, the Vandals produced their own coinage, restricted to bronze and silver low-denomination coins. The high-denomination imperial money was retained, demonstrating in the words of Merrills "reluctance to usurp the imperial prerogative".[80]
Although the Vandals had fended off attacks from the Romans and established hegemony over the islands of the western Mediterranean, they were less successful in their conflict with theBerbers. Situated south of the Vandal kingdom, the Berbers inflicted two major defeats on the Vandals in the period 496–530.[69]
Domestic religious tensions
Adenarius of the reign ofHilderic. Legends: D[OMINUS] N[OSTRIS] HILDIRIX REX / KART[A]G[INE] FELIX.
Differences between theArian Vandals and theirTrinitarian subjects (including both Catholics andDonatists) were a constant source of tension in their African state. Catholic bishops were exiled or killed by Genseric and laymen were excluded from office and frequently suffered confiscation of their property.[81] He protected his Catholic subjects when his relations with Rome and Constantinople were friendly, as during the years 454–457, when the Catholic community at Carthage, being without a head, electedDeogratias bishop. The same was also the case during the years 476–477, when BishopVictor of Cartenna sent him, during a period of peace, a sharp refutation of Arianism and suffered no punishment.[82]Huneric, Genseric's successor, issued edicts against Catholics in 483 and 484 in an effort to marginalise them and make Arianism the primary religion in North Africa.[83] Generally, most Vandal kings, exceptHilderic, persecuted Trinitarian Christians to a greater or lesser extent, banning conversion for Vandals, exiling bishops, and generally making life difficult for Trinitarians.[citation needed]
Decline
According to the 1913Catholic Encyclopedia: "Genseric, 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 sonHuneric (477–484), who at first tolerated Catholics, owing to his fear of Constantinople, but after 482 began to persecuteManichaeans and Catholics."[82]
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 Genseric's death, and Gunthamund lost early in his reign all but a small wedge of western Sicily to theOstrogoths which was lost in 491 and had to withstand increasing pressure from theautochthonousMoors.
According to the 1913Catholic Encyclopedia: "WhileThrasamund (496–523), owing to his religious fanaticism, was hostile to Catholics, he contented himself with bloodless persecutions".[82]
Hilderic (523–530) was the Vandal king most tolerant towards theCatholic 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 theMoors, the Arian faction within the royal family led a revolt, raising the banner of national Arianism, and his cousinGelimer (530–534) became king. Hilderic, Hoamer, and their relatives were thrown into prison.[84]
Byzantine EmperorJustinian I declared war, with the stated intention of restoring Hilderic to the Vandal throne. The deposed Hilderic was murdered in 533 on Gelimer's orders.[84] While an expedition was en route, a large part of the Vandal army and navy was led byTzazo, Gelimer's brother, to Sardinia to deal with a rebellion. As a result, the armies of the Byzantine Empire commanded byBelisarius were able to land unopposed 10 miles (16 km) from Carthage. Gelimer quickly assembled an army,[85] and met Belisarius at theBattle of Ad Decimum; the Vandals were winning until Gelimer's brotherAmmatas and nephew Gibamund fell in battle. Gelimer then lost heart and fled. Belisarius quickly took Carthage while the surviving Vandals fought on.[86]
On December 15, 533, Gelimer and Belisarius clashed again at theBattle of Tricamarum, approximately 20 miles (32 km) from Carthage. Again, the Vandals fought well but eventually broke, this time when Gelimer's brother Tzazo fell in battle. Belisarius quickly advanced toHippo, second city of the Vandal kingdom, and in 534, Gelimer surrendered to the Byzantine conqueror, which marks the end of the Vandal kingdom.
Vandal cavalryman,c. AD 500, from amosaic pavement atBordj Djedid near Carthage
North Africa, comprising northern Tunisia and eastern Algeria in the Vandal period, became a Roman province again, from which the Vandals wereexpelled. Many Vandals went toSaldae (today calledBéjaïa in north Algeria) where they integrated with the Berbers. Many others were put into imperial service or fled to the two Gothic kingdoms: the Ostrogothic and theVisigothic. Some Vandal women married Byzantine soldiers and settled in north Algeria and Tunisia. The choicest Vandal warriors were formed into five cavalry regiments, known asVandali Iustiniani, stationed on the Persian frontier. Some entered the private service of Belisarius.[87] The 1913Catholic Encyclopedia states that "Gelimer was honourably treated and received large estates inGalatia. He was also offered the rank of a patrician but had to refuse it because he was not willing to change his Arian faith."[82] In the words of historian Roger Collins: "The remaining Vandals were then shipped back toConstantinople to be absorbed into the imperial army. As a distinct ethnic unit they disappeared."[85] Few Vandals remained in North Africa, while more migrated back to Spain.[2] In 546 the VandalicDux ofNumidia,Guntarith, defected from the Byzantines and raised a rebellion with Moorish support. He was able to capture Carthage, but was assassinated by the Byzantines shortly afterwards.[citation needed]
All Vandals that modern historians know about were able to speakLatin, which also remained the official language of the Vandal administration (most of the staff seem to have been native Berber or Roman).[88] Levels of literacy in the ancient world are uncertain, but writing was integral to administration and business. Studies of literacy in North Africa have tended to centre around the administration, which was limited to the social elite. However, the majority of the population of North Africa did not live in urban centres.[89]
Judith George explains that "Analysis of the [Vandal] poems in their context holds up a mirror to the ways and values of the times".[90] Very little work of the poets of Vandal North Africa survives, but what does is found in theLatin Anthology; apart from their names, little is known about the poets themselves, not even when they were writing. Their work drew on earlier Roman traditions. Modern scholars generally hold the view that the Vandals allowed the Romans in North Africa to carry on with their way of life with only occasional interference.[91]
The Vandals' traditional reputation: a coloured steel engraving of the Sack of Rome (455) byHeinrich Leutemann (1824–1904), c. 1860–80
Since the Middle Ages, kings of Denmark were styled "King of Denmark, theGoths and theWends", the Wends being a group ofWest Slavs formerly living inMecklenburg and easternHolstein in modern Germany. The title "King of the Wends" is translated asvandalorum rex in Latin. The title was shortened to "King of Denmark" in 1972.[92] Starting in 1540, Swedish kings (following Denmark) were styledSuecorum, Gothorum et Vandalorum Rex ("King of theSwedes,Geats, andWends").[93]Carl XVI Gustaf dropped the title in 1973 and now styles himself simply as "King of Sweden".
The modern termvandalism stems from the Vandals' reputation as the barbarian people who sacked and looted Rome in AD 455. The Vandals were probably not any more destructive than other invaders of ancient times, but writers who idealized Rome often blamed them for its destruction. For example, EnglishRestoration poetJohn Dryden wrote,Till Goths, and Vandals, a rude Northern race, / Did all the matchless Monuments deface.[94]The termVandalisme was coined in 1794 byHenri Grégoire, bishop ofBlois, to describe the destruction of artwork following theFrench Revolution. The term was quickly adopted across Europe. This new use of the term was important in colouring the perception of the Vandals from later Late Antiquity, popularizing the pre-existing idea that they were a barbaric group with a taste for destruction. Vandals and other "barbarian" groups had long been blamed for the fall of the Roman Empire by writers and historians.[95]
^Contrasting articles in Frank M. Clover and R.S. Humphreys, eds,Tradition and Innovation in Late Antiquity (University of Wisconsin Press) 1989, highlight the Vandals' role as continuators: Frank Clover stresses continuities in North African Roman mosaics and coinage and literature, whereas Averil Cameron, drawing upon archaeology, documents how swift were the social, religious and linguistic changes once the area was conquered by Byzantium and then by Islam.
^Corazza, Vittoria Dolcetti (1986).Il mare dei Germani. Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. p. 487.
^R. Much,Wandalische Götter, Mitteilungen der Schlesischen Gesellschaft für Volkskunde 27, 1926, 20–41. "R. Much has brought forth a relatively convincing argument to show that the very nameVandal reflects the worship of the Divine Twins." Donald Ward,The divine twins: an Indo-European myth in Germanic tradition, University of California publications: Folklore studies, nr. 19, 1968, p. 53.
^Wolfram 1997, p. 4 "Goths, Vandals, and other East Germanic tribes were differentiated from the Germans... In keeping with this classification, post-Tacitean Scandinavians were also no longer counted among the Germans...."
Darvill, Timothy, ed. (2009)."Vandals".The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (3rd ed.).Oxford University Press.ISBN9780191727139. RetrievedJanuary 25, 2020.Vandals. Germanic people, perhaps originally from the Baltic region, who invaded Gaul in ad 406, and established a kingdom in Spain.
^Clarke, S. 1997: ‘Abandonment, rubbish disposal and “special” deposits’, in Meadows, K., Lemke, C. and Heron, J. (eds), TRAC 96. Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference Sheffield 1996, Oxford, 73–81.
^Goffart, Walter (2006).Barbarian Tides: The Migration Age and the Later Roman Empire. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 94–95.ISBN978-0-8122-3939-3.
^Ralph W. Mathisen, Petronius Maximus (17 March – 22 May 455)
^Prosper's account of the event was followed by his continuator in the 6th century,Victor of Tunnuna, a great admirer of Leo quite willing to adjust a date or bend a point (Steven Muhlberger, "Prosper'sEpitoma Chronicon: was there an edition of 443?"Classical Philology81.3 (July 1986), pp. 240–244).
^Dryden, John, "To Sir Godfrey Kneller", 1694. Dryden also wrote of Renaissance Italyreviving from the trance/Of Vandal, Goth and Monkish ignorance. ("To the Earl of Roscommon", 1680).
Cameron, Averil (2000). "The Vandal conquest and Vandal rule (A.D. 429–534)".The Cambridge Ancient History. Late Antiquity: Empire and Successors, A.D. 425–600. Vol. XIV. Cambridge University Press. pp. 553–559.
Collins, Roger (2000). "Vandal Africa, 429–533".The Cambridge Ancient History. Late Antiquity: Empire and Successors, A.D. 425–600. Vol. XIV. Cambridge University Press. pp. 124–126.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Löffler, Klemens (1912). "Vandals". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Christian Courtois: Les Vandales et l'Afrique. Paris 1955
Clover, Frank M: The Late Roman West and the Vandals. Aldershot 1993 (Collected studies series 401),ISBN0-86078-354-5
Die Vandalen: die Könige, die Eliten, die Krieger, die Handwerker. Publikation zur Ausstellung "Die Vandalen"; eine Ausstellung der Maria-Curie-Sklodowska-Universität Lublin und des Landesmuseums Zamość ... ; Ausstellung imWeserrenaissance-Schloss Bevern ... Nordstemmen 2003.ISBN3-9805898-6-2
F. Papencordt's Geschichte der vandalischen Herrschaft in Afrika
Guido M. Berndt, Konflikt und Anpassung: Studien zu Migration und Ethnogenese der Vandalen (Historische Studien 489, Husum 2007),ISBN978-3-7868-1489-4.
Hans-Joachim Diesner: Vandalen. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der class. Altertumswissenschaft (RE Suppl. X, 1965), S. 957–992.
Hans-Joachim Diesner: Das Vandalenreich. Aufstieg und Untergang. Stuttgart 1966. 5.
Helmut Castritius: Die Vandalen. Etappen einer Spurensuche. Stuttgart u.a. 2007.
Ivor J. Davidson,A Public Faith, Chapter 11,Christians and Barbarians, Volume 2 of Baker History of the Church, 2005,ISBN0-8010-1275-9
L'Afrique vandale et Byzantine. Teil 1. Turnhout 2002 (Antiquité Tardive 10),ISBN2-503-51275-5.
L'Afrique vandale et Byzantine. Teil 2, Turnhout 2003 (Antiquité Tardive 11),ISBN2-503-52262-9.
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,ISBN3-476-01489-4.
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.Uibk.ac.at
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.Uibk.ac.at
Victor of Vita,History of the Vandal PersecutionISBN0-85323-127-3. Written 484.
Walter Pohl: Die Völkerwanderung. Eroberung und Integration. Stuttgart 2002, S. 70–86,ISBN3-17-015566-0.
Westermann,Grosser Atlas zur Weltgeschichte(in German)
Robert Kasperski, Ethnicity, ethnogenesis, and the Vandals: Some Remarks on a Theory of Emergence of the Barbarian Gens, „Acta Poloniae Historia” 112, 2015, pp. 201–242.
External links
Look upVandals in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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