of her spouse, she summoned the Vandal Gai-
seric, king of Africa, against Maximus, who was
ruling Rome. He came suddenly to Rome with
his forces and captured the city, and having de-
stroyed Maximus and all his forces, he took ev-
erything from the palace, even the bronze statues.
He even led away as captives surviving senators,
accompanied by their wives; along with them he
also carried off to Carthage in Africa the empress
Eudoxia, who had summoned him; her daughter
Placidia, the wife of the patrician Olybrius, who
then was staying at Constantinople; and even the
maiden Eudocia. After he had returned, Gaiseric
gave the younger Eudocia, a maiden, the daugh-
ter of the empress Eudoxia, to his son Huneric
in marriage, and he held them both, the mother
and the daughter, in great honor.Eudoxia and her daughter were held by Gaiseric at Car-
thage until 462, a period of seven years, after which they
were released when the Eastern Roman emperor Leo I
paid Gaiseric and the Vandals a large ransom.
Following the plunder of Rome, Gaiseric’s forces
moved east, sacking Greece and Dalmatia. Several rul-
ers, including Leo I, the Eastern Roman emperor, and
Majorian, the Western Roman emperor, tried to defeat
Gaiseric, but they were unsuccessful. (Majorian was mur-
dered in a mutiny by the chief Roman general Ricimer
after his failure to defeat Gaiseric.) Leo I’s campaign in
468 against Gaiseric and the Vandals led to the battle
of Cape Bona, where, historian George Bruce writes,
“the Roman fleet of 1,100 galleys and transports under
Basiliscus [fought] the fleet of Vandals under Genseric.
The Romans were lying at anchor, having landed their
troops, and Genseric, taking advantage of a favorable
wind, sent in a fleet of fireships following them up by
a determined attack. More than half the Roman ships
were destroyed.” Because of this, the Eastern Roman
emperor Zeno was compelled by necessity to sign a
treaty of peace with Gaiseric in 476.
Gaiseric died in 477 and was succeded by his son
Hunneric. However, without Gaiseric’s leadership, the
Vandal hold on power waned, and they became a power-
less group within a few years. Despite his numerous vic-
tories and lengthy rule, Gaiseric remains barely known
today. His descendant Gelimer (also known as Geilamir,
fl. 530–34), the last king of the Vandals, was defeated by
belisarius in 533.
References: Bigelow, Poultney, Genseric: King of the Van-
dals and First Prussian Kaiser (New York: G. P. Putnam’s
Sons, 1918); “Gaiseric,” in The Hutchinson Dictionary of
Ancient and Medieval Warfare (Oxford, U.K.: Helicon
Publishing, Ltd., 1998); Procopius, History of the Wars,
Books I and II, translated by Henry Bronson Deweing
(London: W. Heinemann Ltd., 1914), II:23–73; Gordon,
Colin Douglas, The Age of Atilla: Fifth-Century Byzantium
and the Barbarians (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press, 1960); Bruce, George, “Cape Bona,” in Collins Dic-
tionary of Wars (Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins Pub-
lishers, 1995), 49.Gates, Horatio (ca.1728–1806) American general
Horatio Gates was born about 1728 (some sources report
1727) in Maldon, Essex, England. Historians have noted
the theory that Gates was the illegitimate son of Sir Rob-
ert Walpole, prime minister of England (1721–42); this,
however, is now commonly discounted. Gates joined the
English army and, in 1755, was sent to Halifax, Canada,
where he served under Governor-General Edward Brad-
dock, first in Canada and then in Braddock’s campaign
against Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
as part of the French and Indian War (1754–63). During
that campaign, Gates was shot and badly wounded, but
he recovered after a long rehabilitation. He was then sent
to Fort Pitt, where he served as a brigade major under his
friend, Brigadier General Robert Monckton. In 1762, he
was part of Monckton’s successful expedition to the West
Indies, resulting in the capture of Martinique. Follow-
ing this action, Gates returned to England, where he was
appointed a major and attempted to purchase a lieuten-
ant colonelcy. Unsuccessful, he returned to America in
August 1762, only to find he had lost his commission as
a major, whereupon he and his family went back to En-
gland. He resigned from the army in 1769 and in 1772
returned to America once more and purchased a planta-
tion in what is now West Virginia.
When the colonies broke off from England in 1775
and declared their independence, Gates offered his ser-
vices not to his homeland but to his adopted country. In
July 1775, he was appointed as adjutant general, and the
following year, he was made commander of the northern
Continental army. In August 1777, he was named to
succeed General Philip Schuyler as commander of the
entire Northern Department of the Continental army.
Leading his forces into battle, Gates defeated General gAteS, hoRAtio