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Ardaric Gepids



Family 1: Ascama Der Hunnen,    b. in Hungary    d. 476
Sources:
  1. Title: Wikipedia - Battle of Nedao
    Author: Sources Dıngıl Ilgın, Fatma Aysel. "The Battle of Nedao and its Importance in Eastern European Turkish History". Journal of Old Turkic Studies. 3 (2): 310–320. Mingarelli, Bernardo (2018). Collapse of the Hunnic Empire: Jordanes, Ardaric and the Battle of Nedao (PDF) (MA thesis). University of Ottawa. Herwig Wolfram. History of the Goths, transl. Thomas J. Dunlap., University of California Press, 1990, ISBN 0-520-06983-8.
    Publication: Name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nedao;
    Note: Battle of Nedao Carpathian Basin, Pannonia, Eastern Roman Empire Result Germanic victory[1] End of the Hunnic Empire in Eastern Europe Belligerents Gepids Heruli Rugii Sciri Suebi Huns Alani Commanders and leaders Ardaric Ellac †[2] Strength Unknown Unknown, both armies would be roughly similar in size Casualties and losses Unknown Unknown showvte Germanic-Hunnic Wars The Battle of Nedao was a battle fought in Pannonia in 454 between the Huns and their former Germanic vassals. Nedao is believed to be a tributary of the Sava River.[3] Battle After the death of Attila the Hun, allied forces of the subject peoples under the leadership of Ardaric, king of the Gepids, defeated the Hunnic forces of Ellac, the son of Attila, who had struggled with his brothers Ernak and Dengizich for supremacy after Attila's death. Ellac himself was killed in the battle.[4] According to the 6th-century historian Jordanes: And so the bravest nations tore themselves to pieces. For then, I think, must have occurred a most remarkable spectacle, where one might see the Goths fighting with pikes, the Gepidae raging with the sword, the Rugii breaking off the spears in their own wounds, the Suavi fighting on foot, the Huns with bows, the Alani drawing up a battle-line of heavy-armed and the Heruli of light-armed warriors.[5] Modern views Jordanes claimed that at the Battle of Nedao the Ostrogoths fought against the Huns, but this is rejected by modern historians such as Herwig Wolfram[6] and Hyun Jin Kim. The latter believes that this is a forged story and that the Ostrogoth king Valamir himself fought alongside the Huns.[7] Alternatively, J.R. Martindale and Franz Altheim accept that the Ostrogoths were among the victors of Nedao, while many others, including Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen, believe that they did not participate at all.[8] Aftermath Hunnic dominance in Central and Eastern Europe was broken as a result of the battle. It is hard to reconstruct the exact course of events, but by the early 460s the Hunnic Empire was dissolved with the Gepids, Rugii, Heruli, Suebi, and Ostrogoths achieving independence[9] and eventually becoming federates of the Eastern Roman Empire.[10] The Huns, reorganized under Dengizich, moved to the east, where they attacked the Eastern Roman Empire and were decisively defeated in 469. After that point, the Huns cease to exist in European history.[4]
  2. Title: Wikipedia - Ardaric King of the Gepids
    Publication: Name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardaric;
    Note: Ardaric (Latin: Ardaricus; fl. c. 450 AD) was the king of the Gepids, a Germanic tribe closely related to the Goths. He was "famed for his loyalty and wisdom," one of the most trusted adherents of Attila the Hun, who "prized him above all the other chieftains." Ardaric is first mentioned by Jordanes as Attila's most prized vassal at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (451): "The renowned king of the Gepidae, Ardaric, was there also with a countless host, and because of his great loyalty to Attila, he shared his plans. For Attila, comparing them in his wisdom, prized him and Valamir, king of the Ostrogoths, above all the other chieftains." (Jordanes, Getica, trans. C. C. Mierow, 1915) After Attila's death in 453, Ardaric led the rebellion against Attila's sons and routed them in the Battle of Nedao, thus ending the Huns' dominance in Eastern Europe. Since Attila's death, his eldest son Ellak had risen to power. Supported by Attila's chief lieutenant, Onegesius, he wanted to assert the absolute control with which Attila had ruled, while Attila's other two sons, Dengizik and Ernak, claimed kingship over smaller subject tribes. In 454, Ardaric led his Gepid and Ostrogothic forces against Attila's son Ellak and his Hunnish army. The Battle of Nedao was a bloody but decisive victory for Ardaric, in which Ellak was killed.[1] Ardaric's most immediate achievement was the establishment of his people in Dacia. His defeat of the Huns at the River Nedao reduced the threat of invasion posed to the Eastern Roman Empire. While the Western Roman Empire lay in ruins after AD 476, the Eastern Roman Empire survived for almost another thousand years. The name Ardaricus is assumed to represent Germanic *Hardu-reiks; Schütte (1933) tentatively identified the Heiðrekr of Germanic legend with the historical Gepid king.[2] Ardaric's year of death is unknown. The Gepid king Mundo (Mundonus), who ruled in the early 6th century, was probably his grandson.[3]
  3. Title: The Gepids before the Huns
    Publication: Name: https://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/31.html;
    Note: The cause of that sudden halt in Victoval burials was the arrival of another great Eastern Germanic people: the Gepids. In 269, for the first and the last time, the Roman empire had came under the joint attack of two Eastern Germanic peoples, the linguistically linked Goths and Gepids; the first written mention of the latter dates from this event. The only information concerning the origins of the Gepids comes from malicious and convoluted Gothic legends; between the 1st and the 3rd centuries they must have been the Goths' neighbours around the Vistula River. The Goths occupied Dacia ahead of them, and for a time the Gepids found themselves trapped among the Sarmatians, who maintained their dominance over the northeastern Carpathians (Sub-Carpathia, Tiszahát, Máramaros) and the northern part of the Hungarian Plain. King Fastida — the first Gepidic leader whose name survives — wished to extricate his people from this land 'enclosed by grim mountains and dense forests' ('inclusum se montium queritans asperitate silvarumque densitate constrictum'[8]), and urged the Visigothic King Ostrogotha to peacefully share his domain. The ensuing hostilities probably owed more to the manipulation of Diocletian's co-emperor, Maximianus, who persuaded Fastida, as leader of the Gepids and the Vandals, to attack the Visigoths. The war, as noted earlier, took place before 290; the main battle, as confirmed by the Goths, was cut short when darkness fell, and thus ended somewhat indecisively, whereupon Fastida chose to withdraw his troops to their starting point. Maximianus's crafty tactic of inciting conflict among the Danubian Germans is evoked in an official speech written in 291 as well as by two gold coins, minted under his reign, which had been given to Fastida and are the oldest part of the treasure discovered at Szilágysomlyó. Following their withdrawal, the Gepids had no option but to expand southward, toward the Hungarian Plain. More and more of {1-174.} their burial sites are being discovered north-northeast beyond the Sarmatians' great earthwork; the graves, which hold skeletons, reveal rituals and goods different from those of the preceding Victoval period. The Gepids' graves commonly contain weapons (spears, swords, shields with iron boss) that distinguish them from those of their Gothic cousins. On the other hand, their bronze and silver clasps, bone combs with rounded handles, and fibulae, sheathed in silver and with downward curved pins, resemble those of the Marosszentanna culture. In the middle third of the 4th century, this Gepidic population, which by then had absorbed the Victovals, advanced along the strip of land between the Sarmatic rampart, the Meszes mountains, and the Erzgebirge into the valleys of the rivers Kraszna and Ér, then crossed the branches of the Körös and reached the Maros River. There is clear archaeological evidence of their new settlements at (from north to south) Lázári and Nagykolcs (the latter site being dated by a 4th-century silver fibula); Genyéte, where intact vessels, some {1-175.} with stamped decoration, were found, probably originating in graves; Mezőfény and Domahida (graves containing skeletons); Érdengeleg-Érvölgy-sziget (a grave holding a skeleton on a north-south axis as well as plates, jars, and bone combs with rounded back); Ártánd-Nagyfarkasdomb and Ártánd-Kisfarkasdomb (burial grounds); Érkörtvélyes-Ligetdomb and, in Hajdú-Bihar county, Csökmő (graves holding iron shield bosses and spears); Bihar (a 4th-century bone comb with triangular handle, originating from a settlement or a grave); Nagyvárad-Szalkaterasz-Pece riverbank (a settlement, and a burial ground that remained in use in the Hun period); and Köröstarján-Csordásdomb (burial ground). These sites are dated by a solidus, minted under Honorius (395–424), and found at Székelyhíd. The sites further south include Rippa (an intact bone comb with rounded back and circular punched ornaments, probably from a grave); Muszka-Szászkút (graves, connected to a 4th-century site, containing pottery of the Beregsurány type with stamped decoration); Arad-Földvár and Szentanna (combs with rounded back, pottery of the Marosszentanna type with Sarmatic influences); and, finally, Kisiratos-Kistó, the Körös riverbank at Borosjenő, and Zimándújfalu (intact vessels, mainly jugs, originating in graves). The Gepids' early history is known only from archaeological sources, but it can be inferred from the latter that these people played at least a supporting role in the political events of the Carpathian Basin. In 332, for instance, they must have participated in the ongoing wars; they attacked their longtime enemies, the Visigoths, from the rear, either along the Maros at Arad or from the direction of the Szamos and Kraszna rivers. The finest coins in the first find at Szilágysomlyó were probably minted on the occasion of the victory of Caesar Constantius II over the Goths (the inscriptions read GAVDIUM ROMANORUM and GLORIA ROMANO-RVM) and were sent to the joyful allies along with a triumphal gold medallion depicting Constantine the Great and, on the reverse, two Victorias flanking a shield. This uncommonly large medallion (of which only a Germanic replica survives) commemorates Valens' victory over the Goths, and bears a likeness of the holy emperor, riding over the corpse of a Goth, along with the inscription GLORIA ROMANORVM; it could scarcely have been intended as a present for the defeated Goths. In all likelihood, this and the seven other Valens medallions, along with the two medallions depicting Valentinian and Gratian, respectively, must have been intended as presents for the Gepidic allies' leaders. In the 370s, the Gepids broke through the Sarmatians' earthworks and invaded a region bounded by the rivers Körös, Tisza, and Maros. This is corroborated, inter alia, by the grave at Sajtény, to the north of the Maros, which yielded a jug with typical smoothed decoration, a bronze fibula with downward curved pin, and a cut glass tumbler identical to one found at Hódmezővásárhely. {1-176.} These pieces of evidence must be compared with the perceptive account of Ammianus Marcellinus. He wrote that Athanaric, having fled to 'Caucalanda', 'drove the Sarmatians out of that territory'. Yet no Sarmatians could have settled and survived in Transylvania or in the mountains. When Athanaric observed that Valens' officials had refused the request of the Greutung (Ostrogothic) King Vitheric and his escort (Alatheus and Saphrax) to be admitted, he independently looked for an alternative haven, probably in a part of the empire ruled by Gratian. Athanaric fled along the Maros valley out of Caucalanda; it must have been somewhere near Arad that he encountered, and succeeded in routing, the Sarmatians who lived along the river. And it was probably there that, somewhat later, in the second half of 380, he suffered the unexpected and overpowering onslaught of his deadly enemies, the Gepids. He had no choice but to kowtow to the 'Eastern Romans' and flee across the Lower Danube. Archaeological findings to date do not indicate clearly whether the Gepids set up their princely center near Szilágysomlyó before, or only after the collapse of Visigoth rule in 376. The find at Szilágysomlyó included, in addition to the famous treasure, the grave of a high-ranking warrior (perhaps buried with his mount) who carried battle gear that may date from the turn of the 5th century. The splendid torque discovered a short distance to the north, at Szilágyújlak, is a late-4th century product of the Vandal 'workshop' of Osztrópataka. If it originates from a grave, it points to a 'princely' personage whose manor must have been located in Szilágysomlyó district. Manufactured in a similar workshop, a gold, half-moon shaped pendant, with filigree and granular decoration, that was unearthed near Zilah, points to a similar conclusion. Once the Goths had withdrawn, the Gepids probably tried to move down the Szamos valley and occupy Dacia. Evidence for this early attempt at settlement is scarce. The most indicative pieces are a shield boss (similar to the one at Szilágysomlyó), sword, and {1-177.} earthen jug found in a grave at Budatelke, and a similar east-west grave at Somkerék, near Beszterce, that yielded a sword, a spear, and a vessel. The fibulae, decorated with gems, and discovered in a rich woman's grave at Völc (Velz), near the Kis-Küküllő River, are of the same type as six rather more elaborate pairs in the second trove of Szilágysomlyó; others of equal quality have been found at Rábapordány and in the grave at Moult, in Normandy, while smaller and more modest versions formed part of the Gepidic treasure at Gelénes. The Völc find is unique in Transylvania. The other jewels — a pair of gold earrings ending in a polygonal button with inlaid red stones, a gold shoe buckle, and amber beads — are of an 'international' type that had been prevalent for at least two generations. They may have belonged to Gepids in the period before the Hun invasion, or, alternatively, to a Germanic noblewoman assimilated by the Huns. The grave discovered near the village of Csépán, south of Naszód, is equally difficult to assess. According to its funeral obolus, a solidus, minted in 429-30 under Theodosius II, and bearing the inscription VOT XXX MVLT XXXX, the grave dates from the emergence of the Huns' Danubian empire; this is not belied by other objects in the grave, a gold ring and a solid gold bracelet with expanded ends. The world-famous treasure of Szilágysomlyó marks the end of the pre-Hun, Gepidic period, which was a mere interlude in the history of the region. The splendid gold chain, sixteen gold medals, and other assorted jewels, discovered in a vessel in 1797, are closely related to another find at the same location in 1889: this consisted of a Roman imperial onyx fibula, a Germanic gold ring, three gold cups, and three pairs of beautiful gold fibulae as well as seven....
  4. Title: Wikipedia - The Gepids
    Author: Primary sources[edit] Genethliacus of Maximian Augustus by an Anonymous Orator (291) (Translation and Notes by Rodgers) (1994). In: In Praise of Later Roman Emperors: The Panegyrici Latini (Introduction, Translation, and Historical Commentary with the Latin Text of R. A. B. Mynors by C. E. V. Nixon and Barbara Saylor Rodgers) (1994); University of California Press; ISBN 0-520-08326-1. The Gothic History of Jordanes (in English Version with an Introduction and a Commentary by Charles Christopher Mierow, Ph.D., Instructor in Classics in Princeton University) (2006). Evolution Publishing. ISBN 1-889758-77-9. Secondary sources[edit] Bóna, István (1974). A középkor hajnala: A gepidák és a langobardok a Kárpát-medencében [The Dawn of the Dark Ages: the Gepids and the Lombards in the Carpathian Basin] (in Hungarian). Corvina Kiadó. ISBN 963-13-0491-4. Christensen, Arne Søby (2002). Cassiodorus, Jordanes and the History of the Goths: Studies in a Migration Myth. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 8
    Publication: Name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gepids;
    Note: The Gepids, or Gepidas[2] (Latin: Gepidae, Gipedae, Ancient Greek: Γήπαιδες) were an East Germanic tribe who lived in the area of modern Romania, Hungary and Serbia, roughly between the Tisza, Sava and Carpathian Mountains. They were said to share the religion and language of the Goths and Vandals. They are first mentioned by Roman sources in the third century. In the fourth century, they were among the peoples incorporated into the Hunnic Empire, within which they formed an important part. After the death of Attila, the Gepids under their leader Ardaric, led an alliance of other peoples who had been in the empire, and defeated the sons of Attila and their remaining allies at the Battle of Nedao in 454. The Gepids and their allies subsequently founded kingdoms on the Middle Danube, bordering on the Roman Empire. The Gepid Kingdom was one of the most important and long-lasting of these, centered on Sirmium, and sometimes referred to as Gepidia.[3] It covered a large part of the former Roman province of Dacia, north of the Danube, and compared to other Middle Danubian kingdoms it remained relatively un-involved with Rome. The Gepids were defeated by the Lombards and Avars a century later in 567, Constantinople giving no support to the Gepids. Some Gepids joined the Lombards in their subsequent conquest of Italy, some moved into Roman territory, and other Gepids still lived in the area of the old kingdom after it was conquered by the Avars. The Gepids were medium height, and likely originated from Scandinavia. Few archaeological sites remained that can be attributed to them for sure. After their settlement of the Carpathian Basin, their population was mostly centered around the Szamos and Körös rivers, but didn't intermingle with other nations.[4] ...Before the arrival of the Huns The Gepids were the "most shadowy of all the major Germanic peoples of the migration period", according to historian Malcolm Todd.[29] Neither Tacitus nor Ptolemy mentioned them in their detailed lists of the "barbarians" in the first and second centuries AD. They first appear only in the late 3rd century AD, and by this time they are already living in or near the area where they remained for the rest of their known history. According to the unreliable Augustan History of Emperor Claudius Gothicus (VI.2), Gepids were involved in the "Scythian" invasion of the Roman provinces in the Balkan Peninsula in 269; the emperor routed them. Others listed were Greuthungi, Ostrogoths, Tervingi, Vesi, Peucini, Heruli and Celts.[13][24][30] The same source also says that Emperor Probus, who ruled between 276 and 282, settled Gepid, Vandals, and Greuthungi prisoners of war in the Roman Empire in the Balkans.[24][31].... ....Within the Hunnic Empire[edit] A large group of diverse peoples from the region of the Middle Danube crossed the river Rhine and invaded the Roman Empire in 405 or 406.[38] Although most contemporaneous sources only listed the Vandals, Alans and Sueves among the invaders, according to St. Jerome, who lived in Bethlehem around that time, Gepids also participated in the invasion.[39][40] According to a scholarly theory, the westward migration of the Huns forced the tribes to flee from the Carpathian Basin and seek refuge in the Roman Empire.[41] Whatever the exact sequence of events, the Middle Danube region was subsequently dominated by peoples from the east, associated with Goths and Huns.[42] Jordanes reported that Thorismund, King of the Ostrogoths, who was subjected to the Huns, "won a great victory over" the Gepids, but fell in the battle.[43] Jordanes' report suggests that the Gepids were forced to accept the overlordship of the Ostrogoths, within the emerging Hunnic Empire.[29][13][44] A treasure of gold jewels, which was found at Șimleu Silvaniei, was hidden in the first decades of the 5th century, most probably in connection with the struggles ending with the Gepids' subjection to the Huns, according to István Bóna.[13].... ....Kingdom of the Gepids After the Battle of Nedao, the Hunnic Empire disintegrated and the Gepids became the dominant power in the eastern regions of the Carpathian Basin.[45][47] According to Jordanes, the Gepids "by their own might won for themselves the territory of the Huns and ruled as victors over the extent of all Dacia, demanding of the Roman Empire nothing more than peace and an annual gift"[56] after their victory.[45][57] Emperor Marcian confirmed their status as the allies of the empire and granted them an annual subsidy of 100 pounds of gold.[45][47] The late-5th-century treasures excavated at Apahida and Someșeni show that the Gepid rulers accumulated great wealth in the second half of the century.[53] The Gepids joined a coalition formed by the Suebi, Sciri, Sarmatians and other peoples formed against the Ostrogoths who had settled in Pannonia.[58][59] However, the Ostrogoths routed the united forces of their enemies in the Battle of Bolia in 469.[58] After the Ostrogoths left Pannonia in 473, the Gepids captured Sirmium (now Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia), a strategically important town on the road between Italy and Constantinople.[57]..... List of Gepid kings[edit] Fastida, fl. c. 250 Ardaric, fl. c. 454 Giesmus [fr], fl. early 480s Thraustila, fl. 488 Thrasaric [fr], fl. 505 Mundus, d. 536[70] Elemund, ?–548 Thurisind, 548–c.560 Cunimund, c.560–567 Fall and last records The Gepids were finally overrun by the Avars in the 567 Lombard-Gepid war. Many Gepids followed Alboin to Italy in 568 according to Paulus Diaconus, but many remained in the area of their old kingdom.
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