Vandăli, Vandalii
or
Vindalii. A confederacy of German peoples, who dwelt originally on
the northern coast of Germany, but were afterwards settled north of the Marcomanni in the
Riesengebirge, which are hence called Vandalici Montes. They
subsequently appear for a short time in Dacia and Pannonia; but at the beginning of the fifth
century (A.D. 409) they traversed Germany and Gaul, and invaded Spain. In that country they
subjugated the Alani, and founded a powerful kingdom, the name of which is still preserved in
Andalusia (Vandalusia). In A.D. 429 they crossed over into Africa, under their king
Genseric (q.v.) and conquered all the Roman dominions
in that country. Genseric subsequently invaded Italy, and took and plundered Rome in 455. The
Vandals continued masters of Africa till 535, when their kingdom was destroyed by Belisarius,
and annexed to the Byzantine Empire. See Papencordt,
Geschichte der vandalischen
Herrschaft (Berlin, 1837); Hodgkin,
Italy and her Invaders,
vols. ii. and iii.; and on their language, Wrede,
Ueber die Sprache der
Wandalen (Strassburg, 1886).
