Gaiseric

   King of the Vandals (q.v.) from 428-477, and ablest Germanic leader of his time. Under Gaiseric the Vandals crossed from Spain to North Africa (qq.v.), establishing a capital at Carthage (q.v.). An adherent to Arianism (q.v.), Gaiseric began a persecution of his Orthodox (q.v.) subjects that his successors continued, which is vividly documented in the history of Victor of Vita (qq.v.). Gaiseric's craftiness in diplomacy is seen in his negotiations with Attila (q.v.), but it was as a naval strategist that he displayed brilliance. He created a fleet of small, light vessels, as perfectly suited for piracy as for sustained conquest. This fleet attacked Sicily, occupied Sardinia, Corsica (qq.v.), and the Balearic Islands; it menaced the coasts of Greece and Italy (qq.v.), and even pillaged Rome (q.v.) in 455. Leo I's (q.v.) great naval expedition against the Vandals in 468, led by Basiliskos (q.v.), failed, as did earlier attempts in 460 and 461 by the western emperor Majorian (q.v.). These failures only underscored Gaiseric's supremacy in the western Mediterranean (q.v.).