Sack of Rome (455)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the sack in 455; for sacks at other times, see Sack of Rome.

The second of three barbarian sacks of Rome, the sack of 455 was commissioned by the Vandals, then at war with the usurping Western Roman Emperor Petronius Maximus.

In 455, the Vandal king Geiseric sailed his powerful fleet from the capital in Carthage, up the Tiber, finally sacking Rome. The murder and usurption of the previous Emperor Valentinian III by Petronius Maximus that same year was seen by Geiseric as an invalidation of his 442 peace treaty with Valentinian. Upon the Vandal arrival, Pope Leo I implored Geiseric not to destroy the ancient city or murder its inhabitants. Geiseric agreed and the gates of Rome were thrown open to him and his men. Maximus, who fled rather than fight the Vandal warlord, was killed by a Roman mob outside the city. Although history remembers the Vandal sack of Rome as extremely brutal (and their act made the word 'vandalism' a term for any wantonly destructive act), in actuality Geiseric honored his pledge not to make war on the people of Rome, and the Vandals did not do much destruction (or even any notable destruction) in the city; they did however take gold, silver and many other things of value away from the city. He also took with him Empress Licinia Eudoxia, Valentinian's widow, and her daughters, including Eudocia, who married Geiseric's son Huneric after arriving in Carthage, and many important people were taken hostage for even more riches.