THE CAMBRIDGE MEDIEVAL HISTORY I 167
The Persecution of Catholics in the Vandal Empire
11-6. The Persecution of Catholics in the Vandal Empire
The decline was already noticeable under Gaiseric's eldest son and successor, Huneric, the husband of the imperial princess Eudoxia. The Moorish tribes living in the Aures mountains, after fighting for some time with varying fortune, succeeded at last in shaking off the Vandal rule. In a quarrel with the Eastern Empire over the surrender of Eudoxia's fortune, Huneric early gave in; he was even willing to permit the episcopal see at Carthage to be filled again (481) and grant the Catholics in his Empire still greater freedom of movement. Only when he learned that he had not to fear hostilities from Byzantium did he shew himself in his true colours, a tyrant of the worst, most bloodthirsty type. Then he raged against the members of his own house and against his father's friends. Some of them he banished, others he murdered in a horrible manner in order to secure the succession to his son Hilderic. When nothing more remained for him to do in this direction he proceeded to oppress his Catholic subjects.
Among some of the measures taken by him the most important is the notorious Edict of 24 January 484, in which the king ordered that the edicts made by the Roman Emperors against heresy should be applied to all his Catholic subjects unless they adopted Arianism by 1 June in that year. Next, orthodox priests were forbidden to hold religious services, to possess churches or build new ones, to baptise, consecrate, and so forth, and they were especially forbidden to reside in any towns or villages. The property of all Catholic churches and the churches themselves were bestowed on the Arian clergy. Laymen were disabled from making or receiving gifts or legacies; court officials of the Catholic creed were deprived of their dignity and declared infamous. For the several classes of the people graduated money-fines were established according to rank; but in case of persistence all were condemned to transportation and confiscation of property. Huneric gave the execution of these provisions into the hands of the Arian clergy, who carried out the punishments threatened with the most revolting cruelty, and even went beyond them. Repeated intervention on the part of the Emperor and the Pope remained quite ineffectual, for they confined themselves to representations. Perhaps Catholicism might have been quite rooted out in Africa if the king had not died prematurely on 23 December 484.
Under his successor Gunthamund, better times began for the oppressed orthodox Church. As early as the year 487 most of the Catholic churches were opened again and the banished priests recalled. The reason for these changed circumstances lay partly in the personal character of the king, partly in the Emperor's separation from the Roman Church which appeared to debar Gunthamund's Catholic subjects from conspiring with Byzantium, and partly in the now ever-increasing dimensions of Moorish rebellion. Gunthamund was very fortunate in driving back these last to their haunts, but he did not succeed in completely defeating them. He absolutely failed when he attempted to regain possession of Sicily during the struggle between Odovacar and Theodoric the Great. The expedition sent thither was expelled by the Ostrogoths, and the king was compelled even to relinquish the tribute which had hitherto been paid to him (491).
Gunthamund died 3 September 496; Thrasamund his brother, distinguished for his beauty, amiability, wisdom, and general culture, succeeded him on the throne. He pursued yet a different course from that of his predecessors with regard to the Catholics. He tried, like Huneric, to spread Arianism in his kingdom, yet as a rule he avoided the violent measures to which that king had recourse. Thus several bishops, among whom was the bishop of Carthage, were once more banished, but they were well treated in their exile. His action was mainly due to religious fanaticism, for there was no ground for political suspicion, at least during the greater part of his reign; the king was on friendly terms with the schismatical Emperor Anastasius. After the accession of the orthodox Emperor Justin (518) Thrasamund's aversion to the Catholics is easier to understand, especially when the Emperor took steps to improve the position of the orthodox episcopate in Africa.
The Vandal kingdom found a real support in the alliance with the Ostrogoths in Italy Theodoric the Great, swayed by the desire to bring about an alliance of all German princes of the Arian faith, wedded his widowed sister Amalafrida to Thrasamund, whose first wife had died childless; she came to Carthage with a retinue of 1000 distinguished Goths as her bodyguard as well as 5000 slaves capable of bearing arms, and brought her royal husband a dowry of the part of the island of Sicily round Lilybaeum (500). A temporary interruption occurred in the alliance between the two States in 510-511, because Thrasamund gave pecuniary support to Gesalech the pretender to the Visigothic throne, who was not recognised by Theodoric; but on the representation of his brother-in-law he repented and apologised.
Serious difficulties occurred in the Vandal kingdom once more through the Moors. The tribes of Tripolis really succeeded in making themselves independent. At the end of his reign the king himself took the field against them, but suffered defeat.
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