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Gelimer
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Flourished:
6th century
Flourished:
c.501 - c.550
Title / Office:
king (530-534), Africa
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Gelimer

king of Vandals
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History

Gelimer (flourished 6th century) was the last Vandal king (ruled 530–534) of the area called by the Romans “Africa” (roughly, modern Tunisia).

The great-grandson of the Vandal leader Gaiseric (ruled 428–477), Gelimer deposed King Hilderic, his pro-Roman cousin, in 530 and usurped the throne despite protests from the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. In June 533, Justinian sent an expeditionary force commanded by Belisarius against him. Landing in Africa in September 533, the Byzantines defeated Gelimer’s army at Decimum, near Carthage, and then occupied the city. As a result of his tactical blunders, Gelimer was decisively defeated (mid-December 533). He fled to Numidia, near the edge of the Sahara, but was forced to surrender in March 534. Thus the Vandal kingdom was destroyed and Roman rule returned to Africa. After the defeat Gelimer was sent to Constantinople, and Justinian gave him an estate in Galatia.

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