Hilderic, King of the Vandals & Alans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilderic

Ben M. Angel's summary:

Relationships:

Parents:

• Huneric (d. 484), King of the Vandals in Africa (477-484)
• Eudoxia "the Younger" (d. c 472)

Spouse: Unknown

Children: Unknown number of sons were known to have existed, all presumed killed after their father was deposed.

Basic information and justifications:

Birth: c469. Events tied to the birth - mother leaving the Vandal Kingdom for Jerusalem, mother dying sometime between 464 and 474 (most non-English Wikipedia sources suggest 471/472 as her death date, and FMG places Hilderic's birth around 480, which appears to be a chronological error). English Wikipedia suggests that he was in his late 50s and early 60s when he took power in 523 without citing the source for this suggestion. It may be simply the presumption that he could have been born anywhere after the marriage of his parents (456 onward) and before his mother's death in the Byzantine Oriens province of Palaestina I, with added speculation that someone his age wouldn't be interested in military campaigns. No sources are cited to back either the assertion of his late ascension nor the reason he didn't take part in military campaigns.

Marriages: Unknown. No information survives on the name of his wife. (Please list sources for any names of wives of Hilderic - include primary sources for any secondary sources listed)

Death: 534. Events tied to death: Deposition in a religious civil war, with the Arian side lead by Gailamir/Gelimir in 530. Executed after the Byzantine Empire declared war on the Vandal Kingdom in 533 and before the kingdom fell in 534.

Burial: Unknown

Occupation: King of the Vandals in Africa 523-530

Alternate names: Hilderic, Ilderich.

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From the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy Medlands page on Vandals, Suevi, and Visigoths (including coverage of his parents and children):

http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/VANDALS,%20SUEVI,%20VISIGOTHS.htm#_...

HUNERIC (-484).

• The Victoris Vitensis Historia names "Huniricus maior filius [Geiserici]" when recording that he succeeded on the death of his father[27].
• He lived as a hostage at Ravenna in 442[28].
• He succeeded his father in 477 as HUNERIC King of the Vandals in Africa. The Victoris Tonnennensis Epsicopi Chronicon records that "Hugnericus filius eius" succeeded his father in 464 and reigned for 7 years and 5 months[29]. The Victoris Vitensis Historia names him "rex Hunirix Wandalorum et Alanorum" when recording his exploits in Africa[30].

m secondly ([455]) as her second husband, EUDOXIA, widow of PALADIUS, daughter of Emperor VALENTINIAN III, Emperor in the West & his wife Eudoxia.

• The Chronicon of Bishop Idatius records that Maximus arranged the marriage of “filio suo ex priore coniuge Palladio” and “Valentiniani filiam” in 455[33]. After the death of her father, his successor forced Eudoxia to marry his son, but she was captured by Genseric King of the Vandals during his attack on Rome and taken back to north Africa with her mother and sister[34].
• Procopius names "Eudocia and Placidia" as children of "Eudoxia…and Valentinian", recording that Eudoxia was married to Huneric, the older son of Gaiseric, while the other daughter was the wife of Olybrius, a Roman senator[35]. The Chronicon of Bishop Idatius records that one daughter of Valentinian married “Gentoni Gaiserici filio” and the other “Olybrio Senatori Urbis Romæ”[36]. The Victoris Tonnennensis Epsicopi Chronicon records that "Hugnericus" married "Valentiniani filiam" who had been abducted from Rome in captivity[37].

Huneric & his second wife had one child:

a) HILDERIC ([480]-murdered 534).

Iordanes names "Ilderich" as fifth Vandal king in Africa but does not specify his relationship to Thrasamund, his predecessor[38].

The Victoris Tonnennensis Epsicopi Chronicon records the succession in 523 of "Hilderix, qui ex Valentiniani imperatoris filia…et Ugnerico iuncta natus est" and that he reigned for 7 years and 3 months[39]. He succeeded [his presumed cousin] in 523 as HILDERIC King of the Vandals in Africa 523.

He broke the Vandal alliance with Theodoric King of Italy, supporting the emperor at Constantinople instead[40].

He was deposed by his cousin Gailamir in 530. Iordanes records that Hilderic was deposed by "Gelimer" but does not specify the relationship between the two[41].

The Victoris Tonnennensis Epsicopi Chronicon records that Hilderic was deposed by "Gerlimer" in 531, imprisoned with his sons, and killed in 534 "cum quibusdam generis eius affinibus"[42].

m ---. The name of Hilderic's wife is not known.

Hilderic & his wife had --- children:

i) sons (-murdered 534).

• The Victoris Tonnennensis Epsicopi Chronicon records that Hilderic was deposed by "Gerlimer" in 531, imprisoned with his sons, and killed in 534 "cum quibusdam generis eius affinibus"[43].
• The number of sons is not known.

References:

• [27] Victoris Vitensis Historia, Liber II, I, MGH Auct. ant., p. 13.
• [28] Wolfram (1998), p. 177.
• [29] Victoris Tonnennensis Episcopi Chronicon 464, MGH Auct. ant. XI, p. 187.
• [30] Victoris Vitensis Historia, Liber III, II, MGH Auct. ant., p. 40.
• [33] Idatii Episcopi Chronicon, España Sagrada III, p. 369.
• [34] Zosso, F. and Zingg, C. (1995) Les Empereurs Romains (Editions Errance, Paris), p. 192.
• [35] Procopius, History of the Wars, Book III, c. 7, available at <http://Procopius.net/contents.html> (23 Sep 2006).
• [36] Idatii Episcopi Chronicon, España Sagrada III, p. 379.
• [37] Victoris Tonnennensis Episcopi Chronicon 464, MGH Auct. ant. XI, p. 187.
• [38] Iordanes Getarum, MGH Auct. ant. V.1, p. 102.
• [39] Victoris Tonnennensis Episcopi Chronicon 523, MGH Auct. ant. XI, p. 197.
• [40] Wolfram (1998), p. 308.
• [41] Iordanes Getarum, MGH Auct. ant. V.1, p. 102.
• [42] Victoris Tonnennensis Episcopi Chronicon 531 and 534, MGH Auct. ant. XI, p. 198.
• [43] Victoris Tonnennensis Episcopi Chronicon 531 and 534, MGH Auct. ant. XI, p. 198.

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From the English Wikipedia page on Hilderic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilderic

Hilderic (460s – 533) was the pentultimate king of the Vandals and Alans in North Africa in Late Antiquity (523–530). Although dead by the time the Vandal kingdom was overthrown in 534, he nevertheless played a key role in that event.

Hilderic was a grandson of the legendary King Geiseric, founder of the Vandal kingdom in Africa. His father was Geiseric's son Huneric, and his mother was Eudocia, the daughter of the Roman emperor Valentinian III and Licinia Eudoxia. Despite his bloodline, he was deeply unpopular with many of his subjects.[citation needed] Most of the Vandals were Arians and had persecuted Catholics, but Hilderic favored it as the religion of his mother, making his accession to the throne controversial. Soon after becoming king, Hilderic had his predecessor's widow, Amalafrida, imprisoned; he escaped war with her brother, the Gothic king Theodoric the Great, only by the latter's death in 526.

Hilderic's reign was noteworthy for the kingdom's excellent relations with the Byzantine Empire, as the emperors Justin I and Justinian I approved of his support for Catholicism and his familial ties with the old Roman Empire. He allowed a new Catholic bishop to take office in the Vandal capital of Carthage, and many Vandals began to convert to Catholicism, to the alarm of the Vandal nobility.

He was quite old, at least into his fifties, by the time he assumed the crown, and probably over 60 years old. For this reason, he was uninterested in the military operations of the Vandals and left them to other family members, which created further dislike.

After seven years on the throne, Hilderic fell victim to a revolt led by his cousin Gelimer, an Arian, who led the people in a religious rebellion. Gelimer then became King of the Vandals and Alans, and restored Arianism as the official religion of the kingdom. He imprisoned Hilderic, but did not kill him.

Justinian, an ally of Hilderic, protested against Gelimer's actions and demanded that Gelimer return the kingdom to Hilderic. When Gelimer refused, he declared war on the Vandals in 533. Gelimer then had Hilderic murdered.

Reference: http://familytrees.genopro.com/318186/jarleslekt/default.htm?page=t...

Pedigree of Hilderic King of the Vandals:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jamesdow/s070/f91...

References

• https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilderich “When Emperor Justinian Gelimer did not recognize as a rex and opened the war against the vandals in 533 after some hesitation to have Hilderich reinstated, Gelimer had Hilderich and his nephew Hoamer and Euageis executed by his brother Ammatas in Carthage in September after the imperial general Belisar had landed 5]”
  • John Robert Martindale: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1980, p. 564f. (Online preview). < GoogleBooks >
• SOBRE ESTA RUÍNA EDIFICAI OS VOSSOS REINOS”: A IDENTIDADE VÂNDALA PARA AS NARRATIVAS ROMANAS DOS SÉCULOS V E VI Geraldo Rosolen Junior. (2021) < link > Page 217