Huneric

Huneric or Hunneric or Honeric (died December 23, 484) was King of the Vandals (477–484) and the oldest son of Genseric. He dropped the imperial politics of his father and concentrated mainly on internal affairs. He was married to Eudocia, daughter of western Roman Emperor Valentinian III (419–455) and Licinia Eudoxia. She left him, probably in 472. She had one son by him, Hilderic.

Huneric was the first Vandal king who used the title King of the Vandals and Alans. Despite adopting this style, and that the Vandals maintained their sea-power and their hold on the islands of the western Mediterranean Sea, Huneric did not have the prestige that his father Genseric had enjoyed with other states.

Biography

Huneric was a son of King Gaiseric, and was sent to Italy as a hostage in 435, when his father made a treaty with the emperor Valentinian III. After his return to the Vandal court at Carthage, he married a daughter of Theodoric I, king of the Visigoths; but when this princess was suspected of attempting to poison her father-in-law, she was mutilated and was sent back to Europe. Huneric became king of the Vandals on his father's death in 477. Like Gaiseric he was an Arian, and his reign is chiefly memorable for his cruel persecution of members of the orthodox Christian Church in his dominions. Licinia Eudoxia was Huneric's second wife.[1]

His reign

coin of Huneric

Huneric was a fervent adherent to Arianism. Yet his reign opened with making a number of positive overtures towards the local Roman population. Following the visit of a diplomatic mission from the Eastern Roman Empire led by Alexander, Huneric restored properties seized by his father from the merchants of Carthage.[2] He also lifted the policy of persecuting the local Catholics, allowing them to hold a synod wherein they elected a new Catholic bishop of Carthage, Eugenius, after a vacancy of 24 years.[3]

However, not long after the ordination of Eugenius, Huneric reversed himself and began to once again persecute Catholics.[4] Furthermore, he tried to make Catholic property fall to the state, but when this caused too much protest from the Eastern Roman Emperor, he chose to banish a number of Catholics to a faraway province instead. On February 1, 484 he organized a meeting of Catholic bishops with Arian bishops, but on February 24, 484 he forcibly removed the Catholic bishops from their offices and banished some to Corsica. A few were martyred, including the former proconsul Victorian along with Frumentius and other wealthy merchants, who were killed at Hadrumetum after refusing to become Arians.[5] Among those exiled was Vigilius, bishop of Thapsus, who published a theological treatise against Arianism.

Additionally, Huneric murdered many members of the Hasdingi dynasty and also persecuted Manichaeans,[6] a dualist heresy.

Towards the end of his reign, the Moors in the Aurès Mountains (in modern-day Algeria) successfully rebelled from Vandal rule.[7]

He was succeeded by his nephew Gunthamund (reigned 484–496), and because of his cruelty was little mourned by either the Vandals or their subjects.

References

  1. ↑  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hunneric". Encyclopædia Britannica. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 932.
  2. ↑ Malchus, fragment 13. Translated by C.D. Gordon, Age of Attila: Fifth Century Byzantium and the Barbarians (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1966), p. 125f
  3. ↑ Victor of Vita, 2.3-6; translated by John Moorhead, Victor of Vita: History of the Vandal Persecution (Liverpool: University Press, 1992), pp. 25f
  4. ↑ Victor of Vita, 2.23-46; translated by Johp Moorhead, pp. 32-40
  5. ↑ Saint Patrick's Church: Saints of March 23
  6. ↑ Persecution of the Hasdingi: Victor of Vita, 2.12-17; translated by John Moorhead, pp. 28-30. Persecution of the Manichaeans: Victor of Vita, 2.1-2; translated by John Moorhead, p. 24
  7. ↑ Procopius, De Bellus III.8.5. Translated by H.B. Dewing, Procopius (Cambridge: Loeb Classical Library, 1979), vol. 2 p. 75

See also

Regnal titles
Preceded by
Genseric		 King of the Vandals
477–484 		Succeeded by
Gunthamund
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