Gaiseric

Gaiseric or Genseric , c.390-477, king of the Vandals and Alani (428-77), one of the ablest of the barbarian invaders of the Roman Empire. He led (429) his people from Spain into Africa, possibly at the request of Boniface , and quickly subdued a large territory, which was later (435) ceded to him by treaty. He took Carthage in 439, sent a fleet to raid Sicily in 440, and gained recognition of his independence in 442. He then dispossessed many Roman landowners and persecuted the Roman Catholic clergy, meanwhile gaining control of the Mediterranean through his pirate fleets. In 455 he sacked Rome. In 460 he caused the failure of an expedition sent against him by Majorian , and in 468 he undermined a similar attempt by Leo I . By the time of his peace (476) with Zeno , his lands included Roman Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Islands.

Genseric (or Gaiseric) (c.390–477 AD) King of the VANDALS from 428. An ARIAN Christian, he was ousted by the GOTHS from his lands in Spain and took his entire nation of 80,000 across to North Africa in 429. He besieged Hippo just after the death of AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. Carthage fell ten years later and from there he declared an independent kingdom. Three times he defeated the Roman armies. With a fleet he took Sicily and Sardinia. Rome nicknamed the campaign the “Fourth PUNIC WAR”. In 455 he took Rome and indulged in a fortnight of looting. Fleets sent against the Vandals in 457 and 468 were defeated, and, at his death Genseric was in possession of all of his conquered territories.