Gunderic ( la, Gundericus; 379–428),

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

of Hasding

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...

(407-418), then King of Vandals and

Alans The Alans (Latin: ''Alani'') were an ancient and medieval Iranian nomadic pastoral people of the North Caucasus – generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae. Modern historians have connected the A ...

(418–428), led the Hasding Vandals, a Germanic tribe originally residing near the Oder River, to take part in the barbarian invasions of the

Western Roman Empire The Western Roman Empire comprised the western provinces of the Roman Empire at any time during which they were administered by a separate independent Imperial court; in particular, this term is used in historiography to describe the period ...

in the fifth century.

History

He was a son of King

Godigisel Godigisel (359–406) was King of the Hasdingi Vandals until his death in 406. It is unclear when or how he became king; however, in 405 he formed and led a coalition of Germanic peoples, including the Hasdingi Vandals, Silingi Vandals, Suebi, and o ...

, the

Hasdingi The Hasdingi were one of the Vandal peoples of the Roman era. The Vandals were Germanic peoples, who are believed to have spoken an East Germanic language, and were first reported during the first centuries of the Roman empire in the area which is ...

's Vandal king when his people breached the Rhine river frontier of the Empire on the last day of 406. During that year, the Vandals had become heavily involved in a war with the

Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...

, who were already settled as allies of the Romans, and who attempted to keep the Vandals out. Godigisel was killed in the fighting and Gunderic succeeded him. Gunderic and his people ultimately crossed the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

into the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

in October 409. With the

portion of the Vandals he established the Kingdom in the Roman province of

Gallaecia Gallaecia, also known as Hispania Gallaecia, was the name of a Roman province in the north-west of Hispania, approximately present-day Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Norte, Portugal, northern Portugal, Asturias and León (province), Leon and the lat ...

(north-western Iberia). They were driven out by the Visigoths in 418 on the orders of the Romans (the Visigoths were recalled and settled as a reward for their service in Aquitania). In 418

Attaces Addac or Attaces (died 418) was king of the western Alans in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, modern Spain and Portugal). In 409, the Alans settled in the provinces of Lusitania and Carthaginiensis: ''Alani Lusitaniam et Carthaginiensem provincias, ...

, the king of the

, fell in battle against the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is ...

, who at the time were allies of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, in Hispania, and most of the surviving Alans appealed to Gunderic who accepted their request and thus became King of the Vandals and Alans. In 420 Comes Hispaniarum attacked the Vandals who had gone to war with the Sueves in Galicia where the tribes were confined after the Visigoths had severely defeated them in 418. The imperial vicar (head of a diocese) defeated Maximus, son of earlier usurper Gerontius (409), in 420–421, but it resulted in the Vandals moving south to Baetica. Conflicts with the Suebi drove him into

Baetica Hispania Baetica, often abbreviated Baetica, was one of three Roman provinces in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula). Baetica was bordered to the west by Lusitania, and to the northeast by Hispania Tarraconensis. Baetica remained one of the basi ...

in the south of

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hisp ...

, where he joined the surviving Silingi portion of the Vandals. The Vandals moved south to Baetica in 420–1. They defeated a Roman army, led by magister militum Castinus, outside the walls of Cordoba in 422. The Vandals attacked Mauretania Tingitana, the Balearics, and sacked Cartagena and Seville in 425. They did not remain in these cities. Gunderic re-took the city in 428. The Vandals departed Spain in 429 and for 10 years Roman Spain was intact except for Galicia under the control of the Sueves.Late Roman Spain and its Cities, Michael Kulikowsi, 2004, pp. 173-180 Hydatius writes that in 428 Gunderic laid "hands on the church of that very city, by the will of God he was seized by a demon and died." It is unclear how Gunderic died, however it is theorized that Hydatius' writing was in reference to Gunderic's attempt to convert a Catholic church to an Arian church. The attempt was short-lived: not long after his attempt to seize the church in Hispalis, he unexpectedly died. After Gunderic died early in 428, the Vandals elected his half-brother

Genseric Gaiseric ( – 25 January 477), also known as Geiseric or Genseric ( la, Gaisericus, Geisericus; reconstructed Vandalic: ) was King of the Vandals and Alans (428–477), ruling a kingdom he established, and was one of the key players in the di ...

as his successor, and Genseric left

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

to the Visigoths in favor of invading Roman

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

References

{{Authority control Kings of the Vandals Vandal warriors 379 births 428 deaths 5th-century monarchs in Europe