Vandal

The Vandals were a Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire, and created a state in North Africa, centered on the city of Carthage. The Vandals probably gave their name to the province of Andalusia (originally, Vandalusia), in Spain, where they temporarily settled before pushing on to Africa.

They were identified with Przeworsk culture[?] in the 19th century. Controversial connections exist between the Vandals and another Germanic tribe, the Lugii[?] (Lygier, Lugier or Lygians), some scientists believing that either Lugii was an earlier name of the Vandals, or the Vandals were part of the Lugian federation. There is some probability that the Vandals originated in today's Poland, but other suggested homelands are regions in Norway (Hallingdal) Sweden (Vendel) or Denmark (Vendsyssel) (these theories are based usually on similarity of names). The Vandals are assumed to have crossed the Baltic into what is today Poland somewhere in the second century BC, and have settled in Silesia from around 120 BC. Their presence was recorded between the Oder and Vistula rivers in Germania in AD 98 by Tacitus and by later historians.

The two subdivisions of the Vandals were the Silingii[?] and the Hasdingii. The Silingii lived in an area recorded for centuries as Magna Germania, and later called Silesia. In the second century AD, the Hasdingii, led by the kings Raus[?] and Rapt[?] (or Rhaus and Raptus) moved south, and first attacked the Romans in the lower Danube area, then made peace and settled in western Dacia (Romania) and Roman Hungary.

In 400 or 401, possibly because of attacks by the Huns, the Vandals along with their Germanic and Sarmatian allies (namely, Sarmatian Alans and Germanic Suebians), started to move westward under king Godigisel. Some of the Silingii joined them later. Around this time, the Hasingii had already been Christianized. Much like the Goths earlier, the Vandals adopted Arianism, a branch of Christianity that believed that Jesus Christ was not equal to God the Father, but a separate created being directly beneath God. This belief was in opposition to that of the main Christian group in the Roman Empire, which later grew into Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.

The Vandals travelled west along the Danube without much difficulty, but when they reached the Rhine, they met resistance from the Franks, who populated and controlled the Roman possessions in northern Gallia. 20,000 Vandals, among which 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 Rhine to invade Gallia. Under Godigisel's son Gunderic, the Vandals plundered their way westward and southward through Gallia. In October 409 they crossed the Pyrenees mountain range into Spain. There they received land from the Romans: Galicia and (V)Andalusia, while the Alans got Portugal and the region around Cartagena. Still, the Suebi, who also controlled part of Galicia, and the Visigoths, who invaded Spain before receiving lands in southern France, kept causing trouble for Vandals and Alans.

Gunderic's half brother Geiseric started building a Vandal fleet. In 429, after becoming king, Geiseric crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and moved east toward Carthage. In 435 the Romans granted them some territory in Northern Africa, yet the in 439 Carthage fell to the Vandals. Gaiseric then built the Kingdom of the Vandals and Alans into a powerful state, and conquered Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Islands. In 455, the Vandals took Rome, and in 468 destroyed an enormous Byzantine fleet sent against them.

His son Huneric became king at his death in 477. Huneric's reign was mostly notable for its religious persecutions of the Manichaeans and Catholics. Gunthamund (484-496) sought internal peace with the Catholics. Externally, the Vandal power had been declining since Geiseric's death, and Gunthamund lost large parts of Sicily to the Osthrogoths, and had to withstand increasing pressure from the Moors.

Hilderic (523-530) was the most Catholic-friendly of the Vandal kings. 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, and Gelimer (530-533) became king. Hilderic, Hoamer and their relatives were thrown into prison.

The Byzantine emperor Justinian I declared war on the Vandals. The action was led by Belisarius. Having heard that the greatest part of the Vandal fleet was fighting an uprising in Sardinia, he decided to act quickly, and landed on Tunisian soil, then marched on to Carthage. In the late summer of 533, King Gelimer met Belisarius ten miles south of Carthage at Ad Decimium. The Vandals were winning the battle at first, but when Gelimer's nephew Gibamund fell in battle, the Vandals lost heart and fled. Belisarius quickly took Carthage while the surviving Vandals fought on.

On December 15, 533, Gelimer and Belisarius clashed again at Ticameron[?], some 20 miles from Carthage. 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 surrerendered to the Roman conqueror, ending the Kingdom of the Vandals.

Differences between Arianic Vandals and Catholics or Donatists was a constant source of tensions in their African state. Most Vandal kings, except Hilderic, more or less persecuted Catholics. 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.

In medieval times, there was some popular belief that Vandals were ancestors of Poles. In reality, what has happened is, that some Vandals returned to eastern Germany and Silesia. That return move has been recorded as well as later Vandals in regionem Wandalorum in the 796 Annales Alamanici, where Pippin went to the regions of the Vandals and the Vandals came to meet him. The land in Germany has still been called Wandalorum in the second millennium.

The Goth Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths and regent of the Visigoths was allied by marriage with the Vandals and Burgundians, and the Franks under Clovis I.

Genealogy of the Hasdingii kings:

Godigisela (?-406, king)
   |
   +--------- Gunderic (?-428, king 406-428)
   |
   +--------- Geiseric (ca. 389-477, king 428-477)
                 |
                 +-------- Huneric (?-484, king 477-484)
                 |            |
                 |         Eudocia-------- Hilderic (?-533, king 523-530)
                 |
                 +-------- Theoderic (?-ca. 480)
                 |
                 +-------- Gento (died before 477)
                              |
                              +-------- Godagis (died before 484)
                              |
                              +-------- Gunthamund (?-496, king 484-496)
                              |
                              +-------- Thrasamund (?-523, king 496-523)
                              |
                              +-------- Gelaris
                                           |
                                           +-------- Gelimer (?-553, king 530-534)
                                           |
                                           +-------- Tzazo (?-533)
                                           |
                                           +-------- Ammata (?-533)

There are many more members of this family than are shown here; only those whose names and genealogy are known have been shown. Missing are Hoamer and his brother Hoageis; their place in the tree is not known.

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In common English usage, a vandal is someone who maliciously defaces or destroys property (see vandalism); the word was coined by an 18th century Frenchman.

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There is a 1990s punk rock band called The Vandals.

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In some areas of Western America, the term Vandal is derogatorily used by some White racialists as a disparaging term for African Americans. (Blacks) Its definition is African American; a race of people noted for their destructive behavior, lack of a work ethic, filthiness, laziness and demanding more and more priveleges via Affirmative Action in the United States and other White ruled countries. The word for African American(s) was coined by a White racialist youth in the early 1980s and is very slowly becoming popular with other White racialists throughout the cyber-world in America and other places around the world.