Geiserich

Gaiseric

Geiserich, King of the Vandals and Alans in 428-477 AD


(c. 389-477 AD)


One of the most able Germanic chieftains, Geiserich was born around 389, a time when the Vandal tribes were still beyond the Rhine.


In 428 he became king of the Vandals and Alans, who were then residing in Hispania. Geiserich skilfully exploited the disputes between the Western Roman generals. The commander of Roman North Africa, the comes Africae, Bonifatius, was summoned to the West Roman court ([i:aaaa]Bonifatius, an Arian Christian, was plotting against him by Flavius Contantius Felix, who had incited the empress Galla Placidia, a bigoted Catholic, against him) where he was to answer for lax action against the Donatist sect. Bonifatius refused to submit and enlisted the aid of the new king of the Vandals and Alans, Geiserich. The Vandals had earned a reputation as able seafarers (they had conquered, for example, the Balearic Islands, Carthago Nova - today's Cartagena, and Seville) and had a fleet large enough to carry out such an operation.


Geiserich was aware of Bonifacio's weak position (in addition to the attacks of the Western Roman army and their foederati(1) Visigoths, he also faced a revolt of the native Moors). In May 429, 80,000 members of the Vandal tribe and their fellow Alans embarked at the Hispanic port of Iulia Traducta (Tarifa) and came ashore at Tingis, the capital of the Mauretania province of Tingitana. Geiserich did not come to help Bonifatius, but sought new rich territory to settle with his entire tribe.


In Africa, Geiserich advanced eastward along the coast with about 20,000 troops. His target was the "Roman breadbasket" province of Africa proconsularis, centred on Carthage (in what is now Tunisia). Geiserich easily passed through the sparsely populated province of Mauretania Caesarensis (the centre of the province was Caesarea - today's Cherchell in Algeria). The first fierce fighting between Geiserich and Bonifatio did not break out until the province of Numidia (eastern Algeria). Geiserich's assault on the city of Constantine (Cirta in Algeria) failed, and he was unable to fight his way to his main objective, Carthage in proconsular Africa.


On the other hand, he defeated Bonifacio's army in front of the city of Hippo Regio (Bone, Annaba in Algeria) and laid siege to Hippo Regio in May 430. In August 431, Geiserich accepted Bonifatio's conditional surrender. The Vandals captured Hippo Regio, which became their temporary capital in Africa, and Bonifatius was able to retreat to Carthage ([i:aaaa]in Tunisia).


In 432 Bonifatius settled his relations with the Western Roman court and travelled to Italy. This left Geiserich with one less rival and allowed him to increase the pressure on the East Roman armies led by the warlord Aspares. Between 432 and 434 there was fighting between Geiserich and Aspar. In 434 Aspar was withdrawn from Africa by the East Roman emperor Theodosius II. The East Roman Empire was gathering forces against the Persians and the Huns.


The potential danger from Geiserich forced the Western Roman Empire, which was increasingly bound by unrest in Gaul and Hispania, to act. On 11 February 435, a foederate treaty was concluded between Geiserich and the Western Roman Empire (Empress Galla Placidia was induced to conclude a foederate treaty by Flavius Aetius). Geiserich, now a Western Roman ally, controlled part of Roman North Africa (the provinces of Mauretania Tingitana, Mauretania Caesarensis, Numidia) with the consent of Western Rome. Geiserich could begin to consolidate his position. The traditional enemies of the Vandals, the Visigoths, responded to the conclusion of a feudal treaty between the Vandals and the Western Roman Empire by attacking Narbo (Narbonne) in southern Gaul.


On 19 October 439, Geiserich was not content with his previous successes. In 441 the Vandals landed in Sicily. In 442, Geiserich was strong enough to abrogate the feudal treaty between the Vandals and the Western Roman Empire. The West Roman emperor Valentinian III recognized the Vandal kingdom as an independent state. Geiserich sent his son Hunerich to the West Roman imperial court, who became engaged to Valentinian III's daughter, Eudocia. Hunerich was already married to the daughter of the Visigothic king Theoderich I, but after his betrothal to Eudocia, he sent his crippled wife (had her ears and nose cut off) back to Theoderich. That the hatred between the Vandals and the Visigoths increased (the hostility between the Vandals and the Visigoths stemmed from the military campaigns of the Visigoths, the Western Roman foederati, against the Vandals in Hispania in 416-417, during which the Vandals of Silling were exterminated) need not be doubted. Geiserich then resumed the supply of grain to the Western Roman Empire. The East Roman Empire could not react to the declaration of an independent Vandal kingdom, again having to fight the Persian Empire and the Huns.


In the run-up to Attila's campaign into Gaul, the Hunnic Great King relied on the hatred between the Vandal Kingdom and the Tolos Empire of the Visigoths, and hoped for help from the Vandals. In the end, Geiserich wisely did not intervene in the fighting in Gaul. After the assassination of Emperor Valentinian III by the followers of Valentinian's assassinated warlord Flavius Aetius, Petronius Maximus became the new Western Roman emperor. He wanted to betroth Hunerich's fiancée Eudocia to his son Palladius. Geiserich responded by attacking Rome (it was speculated that Geiserich was asked to intervene by Valentinian III's widow, Licinia Eudoxia).


In late May 455, the Vandals defeated the weak Roman fleet, entered the Tiber and anchored in Ostia. Pope Leo I, walking with Geiserich, tried to persuade the Vandal king to spare the people of Rome. Geiserich may have liked this, but after his army penetrated Rome without a fight on June 2, 455, there was bloodshed and pillaging. During the chaos, Emperor Petronius Maximus and his son were also killed by the citizens of Rome. For a fortnight, the Vandals sacked Rome. Thousands of citizens were killed, hundreds more, mostly wealthy Romans, were taken into captivity in anticipation of a rich ransom. Among the noble captives were the empress Licinia Eudoxia, her daughters, Hunerich's fiancée Eudocia and Placidia. The Vandals also plundered and burned, unlike Alaric in 410, the churches. They even tore the golden roof off the temple of Jupiter. They loaded the stolen wealth, including priceless statues, onto ships and sailed to Africa.


Pressure from the East Roman Emperor Marcian for the release of members of the imperial family was unsuccessful. Hunerich married Geiserich to Eudocia (their son Hilderich became king of Vandalia in 523-530). Valentinian's daughter Placidia was married by Geiserich to another of the noble captives, the senator Anicius Olybridus (he briefly became emperor of the Western Roman Empire) in 472.


Only in 461 did Geiserich, at the request of the East Roman emperor Leo, release Licinia Eudoxia and Placidia. During his reign, Geiserich repelled two attacks by Roman emperors against his kingdom. In 461, he defeated Emperor Flavius Valerius Maiorianus at the naval battle of Cartahago Nova (Spanish Cartagena). The puppet ruler had the real ruler of the Western Roman Empire, the Germanic warlord Flavius Ricimer, executed.


A spectacular attack by the East Roman emperor Leo in 468 also ended in failure. The expedition, which cost £130,000 in gold, ended in failure due to the incompetence of the East Roman commanders.


The Vandal king Geiserich died on 25 January 477. The West Roman Empire no longer existed at that time. In 534, the Vandal kingdom was conquered by the outstanding warlord of the East Roman emperor Justinian I, Belisarios.


Notes:
(1) foederati=allies
Geiserich - Papež Lev Veliký se pokouší přesvědčit vandalského krále Geiserich , aby upustil od vyplenění Říma. (miniatura cca 1475)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9915221

Papež Lev Veliký se pokouší přesvědčit vandalského krále Geiserich , aby upustil od vyplenění Říma. (miniatura cca 1475)
commons.wikimedia.org

Geiserich - Geiserich plení Řím, obraz Karla Briullova (1833-1836).
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19262708

Geiserich plení Řím, obraz Karla Briullova (1833-1836).
commons.wikimedia.org

Geiserich - Představa Vandalů ze 16. století, ilustrovaná v rukopise Představení všech lidí a národů země s jejich různými oděvy a ozdobami, starověkými i moderními, pečlivě namalované v jejich přirozeném stavu (Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que modernes, diligemment depeints au naturel)
Universiteitsbibliotheek UGent, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93510310

Představa Vandalů ze 16. století, ilustrovaná v rukopise "Představení všech lidí a národů země s jejich různými oděvy a ozdobami, starověkými i moderními, pečlivě namalované v jejich přirozeném stavu" (Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que modernes, diligemment depeints au naturel)
Universiteitsbibliotheek UGent, CC BY-SA 4.0, commons.wikimedia.org

Geiserich - Vandalská siliqua  (římská stříbrná mince), pravděpodobně z doby Geiserichovy, vydaná jménem Honoria.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5188121

Vandalská siliqua (římská stříbrná mince), pravděpodobně z doby Geiserichovy, vydaná jménem Honoria.
commons.wikimedia.org

URL : https://www.valka.cz/Geiserich-t34947#127040 Version : 0
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