Vandals

Question	Answer
Current definition of the word Vandal	A person who deliberately causes damage to personal or public property
Vandals	Come from the Northern tribes of Europe Wandal meaning “Wanderers” or travellers By first century AD they were on the margins of Roman Empire
Late 3rd Century AD Feddersen Wierde, Germany	Settlement of longhouses, the main one called the “Great House”, where humans and animals shared same space-security/ warmth Artifacts found there from around that time include jewellery and precious stone, pottery and burials but cannot identify if these are Roman or Barbarian origins
Vandal Migration	May have started to move southward because the Goths and Huns were moving into their land. Roman Empire attractive to Vandal tribes because of: Wealth, Trade prospects, Rich soils, Employment prospects, Security
Vandals could become Foederati A subsidized tribe invited into the Empire and pledged to provide men to fight	e.g. AD 380s Handover of Roman territory to Visigothic (and some Vandalic) Federates in the Balkans
Romans invited Vandals	Just as Romans previously invited Visigoths they now invited Vandals, and their tribes moved en masse. Existing populations were dispossessed of their land creating disquiet
Flavius Stilicho	was descended from Vandals and became Magister Militum (General) and more powerful than Emperor in some circumstances
Reasons for Vandal Migration	AD c. 200 Goths affected by migrating Hunnic tribes Vandals / Franks affected by migrating Gothic tribes Jordanes wrote about the Gothic race saying, by their strong right arm the Vandals were often laid low,
AD 270	Aurelian gothic tribes cross the Danube and advance towards Italy
AD 376	Visigoths invited across the Danube by the Eastern Empire Valens
395 AD	When the Empire was split into three under Honorius, Alaric (Visigoths) and Arcadius the Vandals, Franks, Alans and Suebi were still north of the Roman Empire
AD 406 31st December	The Rhine freezes so the Vandals and other tribes migrate en masse
AD 407	Three rulers Constantine III in Gaul/Britain, Honorius in Western Empire and Arcadius in Eastern Empire Constantine III's sent his son Constans, who he had already nominated as Caesar and afterwards proclaimed him emperor, into Spain
AD 410	Emperor Honorius, seeing that no action could be taken against the barbarians with so many usurpers rising up against him, ordered that the usurpers themselves be disposed of as a first move
AD 411	Constantine’s son Constans was killed at Vienne by his Count Gerontius, who then set up a certain Maximus in Constan’s place. Gerontius himself was slain by his own soldiers
Gerontius	supported barbarians in Gaul to rise against Constantine. Constantine could not hold out against these -his troops mainly in Spain so barbarians from beyond the Rhine overran everything, killing inhabitants of the British Island and some of the peoples in Gaul, to the point they had to throw off Roman rule and live independently, no longer subject to Roman laws
Britons and Gallic provinces fight Barbarians	The Britons fought and freed their cities from the barbarians threatening them. Amorica [Brittany] and the other Gallic provinces did the same, expelled their Roman rulers and set up their own governments
Rise of Bagaudae	Name of rebels who broke away from Rome. Their dissatisfaction with the State can be traced back to Constantine the Great who had reorganised the empire’s provinces into: DIOECESES Massively increasing bureaucracy
Dissatisfaction with the state	Landowners prevented from becoming Senators / Magistrates / Civil Servants or joining Church or Army (So that tax assessment and collection continues)
Children required to stay in their parent’s profession (So that the economy continues)	So, social mobility ceases, People ‘chained’ to the land, Little prospect to ‘better oneself’, Taxation increases to pay for troops, Taxation increases to subsidize barbarian federates, Germanic tribes settled in Romanised areas Landowners become disenfranchised
Salvian comments on Bagaudae	'For by what other causes were they made Bagaudae save by our unjust acts, the wicked decisions of the magistrates, the proscription and extortion of those who have turned the public exactions to the increase of their private fortunes and made taxation their opportunity for plunder?
Salvian continues	'They desert their homes to avoid being tortured in them, and go into voluntary exile to escape heavy punishment. To such men the enemy are kinder than the tax collectors. This is proved by their actions, for they flee to the enemy to avoid the oppression of the levies'.
AD 409	Vandals and Alans migrate across the Pyrenees into Spain with assistance of Bagaudae Whilst in Spain the Vandals are converted to Arian Christianity
ARIANISM	Popular in the western provinces as Christ was not identified with the State whilst Orthodox Catholicism incorporates the ‘warrior’ Christ into the imperial system
AD 417	Wallia, King of the Visigoths, makes peace with Honorius Visigoths granted their own kingdom
AD 417	Visigoths now become major element of Rome’s anti-Bagaudae army Visigoths also employed to keep the Vandals and Alans quiet in Spain
AD 423	Bonifacius was the 'general' in charge of the African dioceses. He fell out of favour with the regent of the Western Empire who was egged on by Aetius the 'general' in charge of the North. He therefore asked the Vandals to come across from Spain to join his army.
AD429 Vandals cross to Africa	Led by Gaiseric, king of the Vandals, the whole tribe of 150,000 men, women and children, crossed over the straits from Spain (Hibernia) to Libya (Africa) that were only 7 miles across. This included 80,000 warriors
Type of Settlements in North Africa at that time	• Punic and Greek cities along northern coast • Rapid urbanization on Punic cities • Little attempt to Romanize beyond the coast
Africa The "granary of the empire"	North Africa produced 1 million tons of cereals every year • One-quarter was exported • Other crops included fruit, figs, olives and grapes
Military presence in Africa at that time	Roman military presence relatively small: 28,000 auxiliary troops in Numidia and Mauretania 1 Legion (III Augusta) stationed in Africa There was some fortification of oases to protect Roman coastal investments from nomadic tribes.
AD 432	Bonifacius wanted Vandals out of Libya. They refused, felt insulted so he fought them and lost. Bonifacius then recalled to Rome and made Magister Militum (chief General) by regent Galla Placidia and her son Valentinian III
Battle of Ravenna AD 432	Bonificius fought against Aetius at battle of Ravenna. He won but was mortally wounded and died several months later. His son took over from him. Aetius returned with a Gothis army and killed the son and took over as General of the whole of the Roman Empire
Vandals in Africa under Gaiseric	Upheld Roman ways but replace Catholic hierarchy with Arian Christianity Gaiseric also reduces taxation, allows farmers to remain in place, removes wealthy elite, retains legal system and stops grain supply to Rome
AD 452 Vandals and continuity of Roman life	Coins from the period and mosaics and other Roman imagery showed that the Vandals maintained the continuity of the Roam lifestyle. Gaiseric now recognised as legitimate ruler of North Africa and an ally of Rome. Grain supplies to Roam Empire resumed
Carthage	Vandal Capital in Africa
Effects of events of AD 454 and AD455 on Vandals	AD 454 Valentinium III murdered his general Aetius. He was then killed in AD455 by two Hunnic friends of Aetius. That year Petronius Maximus seizes power and forcibly marries Valentinian’s widow Eudoxia, the mother of Eudocia who was engaged to Huneric, Gaiseric's son.
Eudoxia's plea to Gaiseric and its result	Eudoxia asks Gaiseric for help and in AD455 he leads the Vandal fleet across the mediteraneum to Italy. This led to the Sack of Rome in AD455, the third time it had been sacked.
Sack of Rome in AD455	Petronius Maximus killed by a Roman mob No buildings known to have been destroyed Catholic Christian and Pagan treasures removed Vandals were Christian, therefore did not attack churches
Gaiseric's plunder	Gaiseric took Eudoxia captive, with her children from Valentinian, Eudocia and Placidia. He took huge amounts of gold, bronze and other imperial treasure on his ships to Carthage.
Result of the Vandal attack on Rome	Final nail in coffin! Rome had lost control of Britain, Gaul, Spain and Africa, all previously part of the Roman Western Empire Rome had lost the ability to pay its armies and so Rome was now controlled by the ‘barbarians’
What of Eastern Empire?	At that point in time Eastern Empire were still able to contain the Barbarians

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