Hilderic

Hilderic (Latin: Flavius Hildericus; original form possibly Hildirix) (c. 460–533) was the penultimate king of the Vandals and Alans in North Africa in Late Antiquity, ruling from 523–530. Although dead by the time the Vandal Kingdom was overthrown in 534, he nevertheless played a key role in that event. Hilderic was the grandson of king Gaiseric, founder of the Vandal kingdom in Africa. His father was Gaiseric's son Huneric, and his mother was Eudocia, the daughter of the Roman Emperor Valentinian III and Licinia Eudoxia. Most of the Vandals were Arians and had persecuted Chalcedonians, but Hilderic favored Chalcedonianism as the religion of his mother, making his accession to the throne controversial. Soon after becoming king, Hilderic had his predecessor's widow, Amalafrida, imprisoned; he escaped war with her brother, the Gothic king Theoderic the Great, only by virtue of the latter's death in 526. Hilderic's reign was noteworthy for the kingdom's excellent relations with the Eastern Roman Empire. Procopius writes that he was "a very particular friend and guest-friend of Justinian, who had not yet come to the throne", noting that Hilderic and Justinian exchanged large presents of money to each other. Hilderic allowed a new Chalcedonian bishop to take office in the Vandal capital of Carthage, and many Vandals began to convert to Chalcedonianism, to the alarm of the Vandal nobility. By the time he assumed the crown, Hilderic was at least into his fifties, if not more than 60.