GAISERIC or GENSERIC (c. king of the Van dals, son of King Godegisel (d. 406) and king on the death of his brother Gonderic in 428. In 428 or 429 he led a host of Vandals from Spain into Roman Africa, and took Mauretania, and later Hippo. Having pillaged and conquered almost the whole of Roman Africa, the Vandal king concluded a treaty with the emperor Valentinian III. in 435, by which he retained his con quests. This peace was broken, and in Oct. 439 he captured Carthage, which he made the capital of his kingdom. In 455 he plundered Rome and returned to Africa laden with spoil. Among his captives was the empress Eudoxia, who is said to have invited the Vandals into Italy. The Romans made two unsuccessful attempts to avenge themselves, one by the Western emperor, Majorianus, in 46o, and the other by the Eastern emperor, Leo I., eight years later. Gaiseric brought Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica and the Balearic Islands under his rule, and even extended his con quests into Thrace, Egypt and Asia Minor. Having made peace with the Eastern emperor Zeno in 476, he died on Jan. 477 Gaiseric was a cruel and cunning man, possessing great military talents and superior mental gifts. Though the effect of his vic tories was afterwards neutralized by the successes of Belisarius, his name long remained the glory of the Vandals. (See VAN DALS.) See also T. Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders, vol. ii. (1892) ; E. Gib bon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (ed. J. B. Bury, 1896 igoo) ; L. Schmidt, Geschichte der Vandalen (Leipzig, 1901) ; and F. Martroye, Genseric; La Conquete vandale en A f rique (1907) .