Spouse Eudocia (m. 460 AD) Uncles Gunderic Grandparents Godigisel Name Huneric Huneric | Children Hilderic Parents Genseric | |
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Died December 23, 484 AD, Carthage Similar People Genseric, Licinia Eudoxia, Valentinian III | ||
Huneric or Hunneric or Honeric (died December 23, 484) was King of the (North African) Vandal kingdom (477–484) and the oldest son of Genseric. He abandoned 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. The couple had one child, a son named Hilderic.
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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, Huneric did not have the prestige that his father Genseric had enjoyed with other states.
King huneric of the vandals
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 Western emperor Valentinian III. 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 persecution of members of the orthodox Christian Church in his dominions. Eudocia, daughter of Valentinian III, was Huneric's wife.
His reign
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. 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.
However, not long after the ordination of Eugenius, Huneric reversed himself and began to once again persecute Catholics. 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 executed, including the former proconsul Victorian along with Frumentius and other wealthy merchants, who were killed at Hadrumetum after refusing to become Arians. 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.
Towards the end of his reign, the Moors in the Aurès Mountains (in modern-day Algeria) successfully rebelled from Vandal rule.
Upon his death on December 23, 484, Huneric was succeeded by his nephew Gunthamund (reigned 484–496).