GAISERIC  , or GENSE&

rC (c . 390-•477), king of the Vandals, was a son of King Godegisel (d . 406), and was born about 390 . Though lame and only of moderate stature, he won renown as a warrior, and became king on the death of his brother Gonderic in 428 . In 428 or 429 he led a great host of Vandals from Spain into Roman Africa, and took possession of Mauretania . This step is said to have been taken at the instigation of Boniface; the Roman general in Africa; if true, Boniface soon repented of his action, and was found resisting the Vandals and defending Hippo Regius against them . At the end of fourteen months Gaiseric raised the siege of Hippo; but Boniface was forced to fly to Italy, and the city afterwards fell into the hands of the Vandals . Having pillaged and conquered almost the whole of Roman Africa, the Vandal king concluded a treaty with the emperor Valentinian III. in 435, by which he was allowed to retain his conquests; this peace, however, did not last long, and in October 439 he captured Carthage, which he made the capital of his kingdom . According to some authorities Gaiseric at this time first actually assumed the title of king . In religious matters he was an Arian, and persecuted the members of the orthodox church in Africa, although his religious policy varied with his relations to the Roman empire . Turning his attention in another direction he built a fleet, and the ravages of the Vandals soon made them known and feared along the shores of the Mediterranean . " Let us make," said Gaiseric, " for the dwellings of the men with whom God is angry," and he left the conduct of his marauding ships to wind and wave .

In 455, however, he led an expedition to

Rome, stormed the city, which for fourteen days his troops were permitted to plunder, and then returned to Africa laden with spoil . He also carried with him many captives, including the empress Eudoxia, who is said to have invited the Vandals into Italy . The . Romans made two attempts to avenge themselves, one by the Western emperor, Majorianus, in 460, and the other by the Eastern emperor, Leo I., eight years later; but both enterprises failed, owing principally to the genius of Gaiseric . Continuing his course on the sea the king brought Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Islands under his rule, and even extended his conquests into Thrace, Egypt and Asia Minor . Having made peace with the eastern emperor Zeno in 476, he died on the 25th of January 477 . Gaiseric was a cruel and cunning man, possessing great military talents and superior mental gifts . Though the effect of his victories was afterwards neutralized by the successes of Belisarius, his name long remained the glory of the Vandals . The name Gaiseric is said to be derived from gais, a javelin, and reiks, a king . See VANDALS; also T . Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, vol. ii . (London, 1892) ; E .

Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (ed . J . B . Bury, 1896–1900) ; L . Schmidt, Geschichte der Vandalen (Leipzig, 1901); and F . Martroye, Genseric; La Conquete vandale en Afrique (Paris, 1907) .