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Thomas Nugent

"The History Of Vandalia", Thomas Nugent, 1766

Of the KINGs of the VANDALS, from Anthyrius I. in the year 323 before Christ, to the division of that Kingdom under Corfico and Godegefilus, in the year of Christ 407.

A N T H Y R I U S I.
The First KING of the V A N D A L S.

H E first prince or leader mentioned in the history of the Vandals is Anthur or Anthyrius I. That he was a warrior of great renown, we cannot affirm with any certainty: but if we may depend on the accounts which make him the founder of the cities of Mecklenburg, Butzow, Werle, Rhene, Kiffin, (now Rostock) and Stargard, he must rather have endeavoured to fignalize his name by the arts of peace. His reign is supposed to have been at the time of Alexander the Great ; which may have given rife to the following tale of Anthyrius and Symbulla.

T H e populous country of Scandinavia had been over-
whelmed, long before the Trojan war, by an inundation,
which obliged great numbers of the inhabitants to defert their
native foil, in fearch of new fettlements. Among the rest were
the Vandals and the Heruli, who pushed on their discoveries to-
wards the east, till at length they fixed their refidence on the
banks of the Palus Moeotis. Here they continued till Alexander
the Great began his expedition against the Perfians, when they aćted as auxiliaries to that prince ; and Anthyrius, a captain or leader of their nation, fought in perfon under the banners of the Macedonian conqueror. Among other exploits, he recovered the famous horfe Bucephalus out of the hands of the barbarians, and restored him to his master. So greatly was Alexander pleased with this instance of valour, that he loaded him with presents ; and to prevent the memory of the exploit from being loft, he ordered Anthyrius to have the head of Bucephalus painted on his fhield. But upon the death of that hero, which happened in 323 before Christ, Anthyrius difcontented at feeing himself neglećted, and deprived of his due share of Alexander's conquests, determined to go in search of new adventures. In this expedition he had the pleasure of being accompanied by prince Baruan, for whom he had conceived the strongest regard, and whose father was fovereign of the isle of Gothland : he was also attended by a few foldiers, who were resolved to encounter all dangers in defence of their favourite commander. After a long and perilous navigation, they landed in the above-mentioned island, where the king received his fon with extreme joy, and behaved to Anthyrius with the utmost benevolence and generofity. But as a state of subjećtion no-way fuited the ambition of this commander, and he had been informed that at a small distance from thence there was a nation of the Vandals or Heruli, from whom those on the Palus Moeotis were descended, he croffed over to that country; where he met with a kind reception, and ingratiated himself in fuch a manner with the people, that they thought proper to raife him to the regal dignity. AFTER he was fettled upon the throne, he feemed willing to indulge a pastion which he had conceived at the king of Gothland's court, for the daughter of that monarch, a princess of exquifite beauty and rare accomplishments, the incomparable Symbulla : he therefore asked her in marriage, and was successful in his fuit. This princess must have been as greatly beloved by her subjects as by Anthyrius; for after her decease they
ranked her among their deities by the name of Siva ; and the feat of worship was at the town of Ratzeburg. As the foldiers who attended Anthyrius wore party-coloured habits, from thence came the name of Obotrites, which was afterwards extended to the whole nation ; and as he had caused the head of Bucephalus * to be painted on the pavilion of the veffel in which he embarked for Gothland, and as on his own fhield he had a griffin in an azure field, hence it was that these came to be afterwards the arms of Mecklenburg. TH1s pleasant tale being unsupported by ancient authority, meets at present with little or no credit. Who was the first inventor of it is very uncertain : Crantzius takes no notice of it ; neither is it mentioned by the Danish and other writers, who have given us fome accounts of the ancient Vandals, which appear at least as fabulous as the story of Anthyrius and Symbulla. They pretend to trace the fettling of the Vandals in this country fo early as the grandfons of Noah, not long after the deluge. They tell us, that from the family of Askenafis, the grandfon of Japhet, was descended a prince named Suevus, who reigned lord of all the Baltick from the Elbe to the northern extremity of Europe ; and that his fon Vandalus took to his fhare the country fituated between the Trave and the Vistula, and gave his name to the first inhabitants. They further relate, that Scalcus, a king of the Vandals, waged an unsuccessful war against Helgo king of Denmark, who is faid to have reigned about the year 6oo before Christ. They also take notice of a war between the Vandals and king Roric, who ascended the Danish throne in the year 483 of the Christian æra. Scarce had this prince, itis faid, affumed the reins of government, when Courland, Sweden, and Vandalia, which had been subdued by king Helgo, took up arms to affert their independency. Roric finding himself unable to withstand fo many enemies at once, diffembled his refentment. The Vandals equipped a fleet, which was attacked and defeated by the Danish monarch. Upon which, a Vandal, fuperior in strength and stature to the rest of his countrymen, offered, in the name of his fovereign, to engage any Dane in fingle combat, in order to decide the quarrel between the two nations. The success of this combat was of immenfe confequence to the Vandals, as the liberty of their country was to be determined by the vićtory of their champion. The Vandal eafily triumphed over the first antagonist who entered the lifts with him ; but Ubbo, one of the principal officers of the Danish army, accepting a fecond challenge from this doughty champion, brought him to the ground, and Vandalia became once more tributary to Denmark. This has evidently the air of a fable ; as it can hardly be supposed that the Vandals would fuffer their champion to hazard the regained liberty of their country on the success of a fecond combat. Befides the story is taken from Saxo Grammaticus, whose history, at leaft the earlieft part of it, is compiled from old fongs and fabulous legends. BUT to return to Anthyrius, those who would fain establish the antiquity of their nation by forced etymologies, affirm, that this prince called the city of Mecklenburg by the Greek name of Megapolis, and the town of Butzow by that of Bucephalea. They likewife pretend, that the appellation of Obotrites * was given to the foldiers whom he brought with him out of Afia, from the costly and party-coloured garments which they received from Alexander, in the fame manner as the Argyraspides. But not to mention that the word Obotrites bears no fuch fignification in the Greek language, it is very certain that these people who in the annals of the Franks are fre
abled to explain the origin of the arms of Mecklenburg, which fome inventive heads have lately deduced from Alexander's Bucephalus. For notwithstanding those arms may not be fo ancient as the time of Anthyrius, yet it is possible that the coun

try of the Vandals being famous for pasturage, in which their

chief wealth and substance confifted, as the other Germans af

fumed different figns or arms, the Vandalic tribe chofe an ox's

head for their emblem. To corroborate this conjećture, it
may be observed, that in the camp of the Teutones, who must
have been the fame people as the Vandals, the Romans among
the plunder took a brazen bull, which with good grounds
they looked upon as an idol of that nation, as appears from
Plutarch in the life of Marius. Thus the ox or buffalo's head in
the Vandalic arms, seems to bear an analogy to the horfe in
the old Saxon arms, as that country was then and still is famous
for horfes. The griffin certainly comes from the Venedi, and is
borrowed from the arms of Pomerania and Wenden. Some
pretend it is taken from the Goths; but this is not at all pro-
bable, fince there is no griffin but a war-horfe on the Gothic
coins *.
AccoRDING to Chemnitz, and other modern writers, An-
thyrius had ten fons by his wife Symbulla, viz. Anavas, Si-
cher, Anthur, Borram, Domich, Brandobard, Frefebald, Wife-
bert, Tenerich, and Radegast +.

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II. A NAVAS,

II. A N A V A S,
The Second K I N G of the VA N D A L S.

O F the sons of Anthyrius two are worthy of notice, Sichar From 323 to
and Anavas. The former is faid to have undertaken an expedition to Finland, where he attained the fovereignty of that country. The latter succeeded his father in the government of the Vandals, and espoused Orithia, daughter of the king of
Sarmatia. But of the other brothers nothing is mentioned *.

III. A L I M E R,
The Third K I N G of the V A N D A L S.

NAVAS was succeeded by his fon Alimer, who lived in the year 1 1 1 before Christ, when the Cimbri and the Teutones invaded Italy. It is not at all improbable + that the Vandals were also concerned in this expedition, fince the name of Teutones comprehended all the northern Germans; and hence it is that fome modern historians make Alimer a warlike prince. Some have conjećtured that this Alimer was the fame with Teutoboch king of the Teutones, fo famous in the Roman history. The nations refiding at that time on the Baltic were called by the Romans neither Vandals nor Heruli, but by the common appellation of Teutones or Cimbri. In the camp of this nation the conful Catulus found the brazen bull or ox, which, in all probability, was consecrated to their religious worship. Tacitus informs us, that the Germans made ufe of the like infignia on their standards or colours, which were taken from

1 1 1 before Christ.

IV, A N T H Y R I U S II.
The Fourth King of the v A N D A L S.

From 111 be- ALIMER left two fons behind him, Anthyrius II. who ft to fucceeded in the kingdom of the Vandals ; and Rugiland, Christ. who is faid to have been king of Rugen. This principality he obtained by means of his mother Ida, who was the daughter of the king of Rugen ; on which account this tribe chofe her fon for their king or leader, yet subjećt to the authority or jurifdićtion of the supreme governor or ruler of the whole Vandalic nation. This ruler was his elder brother Anthyrius II. who is faid to have married Marina, a daughter of the king of Denmark *.

v. H o T E R or H O TE RUS,
The Fifth KING of the V A N D A L S.

: HOTË R succeeded his father Anthyrius II. in the kingdom Vandalia. of the Vandals. This prince is supposed to be the fame whom Saxo Grammaticus distinguishes by the name of Strunicus. In regard to the tranfaćtions of his reign, we know no more of them than what is mentioned by the Danish historians. By these we are informed, that Hoter, impatient of the Danish yoke, equipped a great fleet, with which he made a descent on

the coast of Jutland. This is faid to have happened in the
reign of Frotho III. king of Denmark, whose prime minister
and general, Eric the Norwegian, affembled a body of forces,
and repulsed the Vandals with great flaughter. Eric not con-
tent with this success, prevailed with the king to raise a nu-
merous army, and to carry the war into the heart of Vandalia.
Frotho having laid waste the country with fire and fword, was
met at length by Hoter with a much inferior force ; and an en-
gagement ensuing, the Vandals were intirely defeated. Hoter
himself perished in the general flaughter, and the whole coun-
try was thrown into the utmost consternation. After this yictory
Frotho is faid to have committed many cruelties, and among the
rest to have put a great number of Vandalic failors to death,
whom he had enticed into his fervice by the promife of extraor-
dinary rewards. Thus the country being overpowered, Frotho
affumed the title of king of the Vandals, which he transmitted
to his posterity *.
TH 1 s story is also taken from that credulous writer Saxo
Grammaticus, who produces no authority in fupport of fo ex-
traordinary a revolution. The fleets and armies raised on this
occafion by the Danish monarch might be compared for num-
bers to those of Xerxes ; and yet no mention is made of fo
great an armament, and of fo important a victory, by any of the
Greek or Roman historians. We therefore think that very little
credit is to be given to the above relation. To this king's reign,
or to that of his father, we must refer the Suevian princes men-
tioned by Cæsar, namely, Nafua and Cimberius, who, as bro-
thers-in-law to Ariovistus, attended him in his expedition to
Gaul with a body of auxiliary troops.
HOTER is faid to have lived till the year of Christ 35 +. In
his reign flourished the great hero Winus, a Vandalic prince or
commander, from whom the Vinuli are faid to have taken their
appellation. The Danish legends of those times relate many of
his exploits among the Curetes, the Sangalli, and the Sembi,

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VI. W I S I L A U S I.
VII. W IT IS LAUS F.
VIII. A L A R I C,
IX. D I ET E R I C,
X. T E N E R I C,
XI. A L B E R I C,

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Fragmenty:

XII. W I S I M A R,

The Twelfth Ki N g of the V A N D A L S.

WI S I MAR, the fon and heir of Alberic, is known in hi-
ftory for his bad success against the Goths, with whom
the Vandals were still at variance. The former were com-
manded by king Gerberich, a prince renowned for his military
abilities. After a long contest, fortune declared itself in favour
of the Goths ; for the Vandal army, under king Wifimar, was
intirely defeated on the banks of the river Moeroz. Whether
Wifimar was taken prisoner, is not mentioned by Jornandes ;
but we are informed, that the remains of his army put them-
felves under the protećtion of Constantine, who affigned lands
to them in Pannonia. Here they continued forty years, with-
out giving any disturbance to the empire.
The preceding account of the tranfaćtions of king Wifimar
is taken from Jornandes ; but we have further particulars of
this prince's reign from Saxo Grammaticus, and the rest of the
Danish historians. By these we are informed, that in the reign
of Siward I. king of Denmark, Othar king of Sweden fent a
deputation to that monarch to demand his fifter in marriage.
Siward looking upon this alliance as a means of restoring har-
mony between two kingdoms which had been always at variance,
complied with the propofal, and Halland was the place appointed
for folemnizing the nuptials. But the Swedish monarch finding
himself befet by ruffians on the road to that place, broke off
the match ; and suspecting Siward to have been the author of that violence, he immediately declared war against Denmark. The two armies met on the confines of the spot appointed for a more friendly intercourse, and an engagement ensuing, Siward was defeated, and obliged to retreat to Cimbria, now Jutland. The Swedes made themselves masters of Halland and Schonen, and their king carried off with him the princess of Denmark, to whom he was afterwards joined in wedlock. The Vandals, ever ready to feize a favourable opportunity of annoying the Danes, took advantage of this war between the two northern crowns, and invaded Cimbria, under the command of their king Ismar or Wismar. They had laid the whole country waste, when Siward, alarmed at the enemy's progress, led an army against them, and attacking them by surprize, obtained a complete victory. Not discouraged with this alloy of ill fortune, the Vandals made a fecond irruption into Cimbria with a more powerful army, and defeated the Danes in their turn. Jarmeric, the fon of Siward, and the two daughters of that unfortunate monarch, were taken prifoners : the former they closely confined, but fold the two princeffes by public fale, and made themfelves masters of all Cimbria. Siward's spirit however was not broke: he raised fresh forces, and led them against the Swedes in Schonen ; but the governor of that province, whose name

was Simon, made a gallant defence ; and Siward at length was
and the Swedes of Schonen and Halland. But what proved still a greater mortification to the Danes, Jarmeric, a most gallant

prince, and the presumptive heir of the crown, was in the hands of Wismar king of the Vandals. In this distrefs, Buthl, a weak prince, but brother to the late king, was placed on the throne, where he performed not one aćtion either for his own glory, or

the good of the monarchy. Jarmeric, after having undergone

a very fevere fervitude, fo as even to be obliged to till the ground with common flaves, was raised to fome confiderable employment

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XIII. M I C E S L A U S, The Thirteenth K I N G of the V A N D A L S.

MIC ESLAUS + followed his father Wifimar in the government ; and is the last of the family that confined themfelves within the ancient boundaries of the Vandals. The nation being grown too populous for the country to maintain, their princes new began to march at the head of large armies in fearch of foreign fettlements, and particularly to invade the Roman territories: they were likewife, for the most part, more fortunate than Wifimar. TH E RE are other Vandalic princes in this period, of whom mention is made in the Roman historians; and an account of them may be feen at length in count Bunau, part I. lib. 3. but it is a question whether they reigned on the Baltick coast. That our princes were all of the fame line appears very probable,

From 336 to 388.

* See Jorn. Kluver, Crantz. Bunau, Spener.

+ We shall here observe, that although the names of fome of the Vandal princes were of the termination in Slau, peculiar to the Sclavonians, who did not at that time reside on the Baltick, still this can be no objećtion to their reality: for Slau may also be a Vandalic termination, and fignify the fame as Lob, which in the Teutonic tongue denotes Praife, and, by corruption of the Low German, might be changed into Lov, Loff, Loffen, Lauen. But we shall give this only as a conjećture, laying no stress on forced etymologies. Besides, no mention of Miceslaus is made in any of the ancient historians.
- when
when we confider that the elećtions among those people were feldom made in prejudice to the family of the deceased. Be that as it may, Miceslaus is faid to have been at war with the Goths, and to have married Bulga, daughter of the king of Triers. But Triers at that time was a colony belonging to the

Romans; and therefore we can hardly allow her father to have enjoyed the regal title.

XIV. RHAD AGAI SUS or RHADAGASTUS I.

The Fourteenth K I N G of the V A N D A L S.

HADAGAISUS * or RHADAGASTUS I. succeeded to the kingdom of Vandalia about the year 388, and is celebrated in history for his military atchievements. Being a declared enemy to the Roman name, he formed a project of subverting the western empire. With this view he is faid to have raised an army of 2oo,ooo men out of the different people that inhabited the countries beyond the Rhine and the Danube ; or of 4oo,ooo, according to Zozymus, who undoubtedly must have included men, women, and children. At the head of this formidable host he made a sudden irruption into Italy, vowing to sacrifice all the Roman blood he could shed to his angry deities. Upon the news of his approach, Rome was thrown into the utmost consternation. As he was known to be a zealous worshipper of the gods, the Pagans in that capital propagated a report, that he would certainly prevail ; not fo much by his numerous forces, as by the affistance and protećtion of those gods whom the Romans had fo shamefully deferted. They concluded, that the only means of preferving that great city, was to restore the ancient religion, and abolish Christianity, to the introduction of which they ascribed all the calamities of the empire. But Stilico having affembled the Roman forces at Pavia, and reinforced his army with a great number of Goths, Huns, and Alani, under the command of Sarus a Goth, and Uldin, a prince of the Huns, fell unexpećtedly upon Rhadagastus, who was then employed in the fiege of Florence. The town was almost reduced to the last extremity, when the Roman general ordered the Huns and other auxiliaries to attack one of the three bodies into which Rhadagastus's army was divided : his orders were obeyed, and * this numerous host was intirely defeated. Rhadagastus, with the scattered remains of his forces, retired to the neighbouring mountains of Fesulæ, where he was taken prifoner by Stilico +, who barbarously put him to death. His men being obliged to furrender to the Romans for want of provisions, the greatest part of them were fold for flaves, and the remainder miferably perished. This happened in the reign of the emperor Honorius, and in the year of Christ 4o5. TH E progress of this prince's arms, which had struck such a terror into the Roman empire, might have induced his followers to look upon him as more than mortal, and to pay him divine honours. He seems to have been adored as one of their principal deities after his decease ; and the place of worship was a wood consecrated to his memory. The Venedi were afterwards accustomed to sacrifice their chief prifoners to this deity. The town of Gadebufch is faid to have been built on that very spot, as appears by the name, which fignifies the Wood of God. It is washed by a little river still called the Rhadegast, in which the priests of that deity used to bathe themselves before they entered the facred grove. In the nighbourhood there are ftones at equal distances, of a prodigious fize, which in all probability ferved them instead of altars. . .

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XV. C O R S I C O,
The Fifteenth K 1 N G of the V A N D A L S.

SO far was the death of Rhadagastus from discouraging the

Vandals in their attempt to subdue the Romans, that they rather grew the more emboldened by their late expedition. They resolved, therefore, to continue the war with all their might ; in which they were direćted by their two leaders Corfico and Godegifilus. The former governed his paternal kingdom on the Baltick; the latter commanded the Vandalic armies in the great migration of those people when they invaded the Roman empire.

BUT whether Corfico only, or both these princes, were fons of Rhadagastus, or whether Godegifilus was the fon of Corfico, we shall not now dispute : for fo many writers, fo many different opinions; and at fuch a distance of time, it is impofble to reconcile them: the historians of Mecklenburg are unanimous in making Corfico the fon of Rhadagastus ; and they further observe, that the Vandals in the choice of their princes or leaders feldom departed from the royal line. It is probable that these princes reigned jointly as collegues, fince they both lived at the fame time, and waged war against the Romans. Some will have it they were Rhadagastus's fon and grandfon; but Godegifilus could not by any means have been the fon of Corfico; for he would have been too young to perform the mighty exploits ascribed to him at this time by ancient historians. Corfico is by Crantzius called the king of the Burgundian Vandals, by the name of Crofcus ; by others he is stiled Crocus, and also Carocus *.

THEse two princes oblige us to divide the Vandalic history, as their kingdom and nation became now separated into two branches ; one foreign, or that of the emigrants ; and the other domestic, or that of the Vandals who remained in their mother country. The latter we shall hereafter examine; the former we must now take under confideration, as it made the
Of the Kings of the Foreign Vandals, and first of those who fettled in Gaul and Spain.

Inundation of the northern nations. Gaul and Spain invaded by the

Vandals. Kings of the Burgundians. Kings of the Suevi.

H I S prince continued the grand fcheme of Rhadagastus against the Romans, and founded the kingdom of the foreign Vandals, or of those emigrants who spread themselves into different parts of the Roman empire. Having collećted a mighty army of Burgundians, Alani, and Suevi, he broke into Gaul, from whence he penetrated into Spain, and fettled in the province of Bætica, now Andalufia. Before he marched into Spain, he left part of his people in Gaul, who founded the kingdom of Burgundy. This may be called the beginning of the great revolution in the fifth century, when a fwarm of northern nations invaded the fouth of Europe, and subverted the Roman empire. IN regard to the numerous forces affembled under this prince's ftandard, by the name of Burgundians, Alani, and Suevi, it is probable + they were all one people, or properly different tribes of the fame nation, known by the general appellation of Vandals or Suevi. Those tribes, it is true, did not acknowledge an common chief or fovereign ţ ; yet it may be held for certain, that they were united together by a general confederacy, and that the principal or mother tribe had the superintendency and direction in domestic affairs, and in foreign wars the fupreme
command. With regard to the Burgundians, it is well known that they originally came from Pomerania, which beyond all doubt was inhabited by the Vandals. And fince the Alani are faid by fome * to have been natives of Prussia, they may very well be supposed a tribe of the Vandals, especially as they would hardly have joined with the latter, unless they had been one and the fame nation : as for the Suevi, it is very certain that under this name were included the Vandals. TH I s irruption of Godegifilus was at the instigation of Stilico the Roman general : his aim in inviting that prince was to depose Honorius, and to raise his own fon Eucherius, who had married that emperor's fifter, to the imperial throne. As for the motive that tempted the Vandals, and other German nations bordering on the Danube, to plunder the provinces of Gaul, it was the fame as that which had induced the Gauls themselves under Brennus to invade Italy at a time when their own country was not fo well cultivated. The defire of booty was their common incentive to war : they feldom aimed at preserving the conquered lands; their incursions and invafions being only fo many robberies, to which they were perhaps rather instigated by necessity than ambition, as the coldness of their climate, joined with their ignorance in agriculture, prevented the earth from yielding them a plentiful support. But they were partícularly prompted to thefe invasions by the defire of drinking the delicious wines, and eating the exquisite fruit, which their own country was incapable of producing. They had at all times the fame pastion for wine as the negroes and American favages have for fpirituous liquors. Hence it is that the Romans, finding by experience this to be the real cause of the many incursions of the northern nations, prohibited the exportation of their wines and fruit, in order to prevent those people from taking a liking to them, and coming to procure by the fword what they hadit IlOt in their power to purchase with money +. Procopius indeed

being well acquainted with the distaćted state of that country. Having paffed the Pyrenees without any opposition, they foon made themselves masters of feveral strong holds, and obtained a vićtory over Constans, whom Constantine his father had fent to quell the revolt of Gerontius. In consequence of this defeat, Constans himself was obliged to retire to his father, who then resided at Arles. With regard to Gerontius, he concluded a kind of alliance with the Vandals, Alani, and Suevi, against Constantine their common enemy: upon- which these northern nations, having nothing to oppose them, poured their troops into Spain, where they committed great ravages, and postested themselves of the whole country in 409 or 41o *. We have given this account of the invasion of Gaul and Spain from Roman writers, who are not however very confistent with one another. Procopius + fays, that the Vandals, under the command of Godegifilus, after breaking into Gaul, penetrated as far as Spain. Frigeridus, quoted by Gregory of Tours, affirms, that Godegifilus was killed in his attempt to pass the Rhine, and that Gundericus led the Vandals into Spain ; but I apprehend the preference is to be given to the authority of Procopius. It appears from that author, and from Gregory of Tours and others, that Godegifilus was still living in 412, and fettled in the conquest of Spain. Some modern writers † make this prince the fon of Corfico, without any authority, and affirm Gunderic and Genferic to have been his fons. There are others who suppose § these to have been the fons of Fredebald, and randfons of Corfico. But we must acknowlege that this part of the genealogy of the Vandalic princes is very intricate. The most probable opinion is that which affirms Godegifilus to have been the brother of Corfico, and the fon of Rhadagastus, and the father of Gunderic and Genferic.