Europe · The successor kingdoms
Kingdom of the Gepids
454–567
The Kingdom of the Gepids (Gepidia) was founded by the East Germanic Gepids after the fall of the Hunnic Empire. Their king Ardaric — Attila's most trusted vassal, who had commanded a wing at the Catalaunian Plains (451) — led the coalition of subject peoples that shattered Hunnic power at the Battle of Nedao (c. 454).
- Existed
- 454–567
- Shown on the map
- AD 510–566
- Peak area
- 152k km²
- Region
- Europe
Overview
The Kingdom of the Gepids (Gepidia) was founded by the East Germanic Gepids after the fall of the Hunnic Empire. Their king Ardaric — Attila's most trusted vassal, who had commanded a wing at the Catalaunian Plains (451) — led the coalition of subject peoples that shattered Hunnic power at the Battle of Nedao (c. 454). The Gepids thereby won the former Roman province of Dacia (north of the lower Danube), establishing an independent kingdom.
History
Their power peaked in the 6th century when they seized the great city of Sirmium (modern Sremska Mitrovica) from Byzantium in 536 and settled the rich lands around Belgrade (Singidunum); Cunimund minted gold coins there. But the Gepids were locked in a long, bitter rivalry with the Lombards. King Thurisind (r. c. 548–560) fought the Lombard king Audoin; at the Battle of Asfeld (551/552) the Lombard prince Alboin killed Thurisind's son Turismod, deepening the enmity. Byzantium played the two peoples against each other.
Decline and legacy
The end came under the last king, Cunimund (r. c. 560–567). Alboin allied with the Avars under Bayan I and in 567 the combined Lombard–Avar assault destroyed the Gepid kingdom; Alboin killed Cunimund in battle and (per legend) made a drinking-cup of his skull, and took his daughter Rosamund as a wife. The Avars seized most of Gepidia; the Lombards, wary of their new neighbours, departed for Italy the following year (568). Surviving Gepids were absorbed by the Avars, Lombards, and Byzantines. The kingdom thus vanished as a political entity, though Gepid communities persisted for a time in the Carpathian basin. Our sources include Jordanes, Procopius, and Paul the Deacon.
Common questions
- What was the Kingdom of the Gepids?
- The Kingdom of the Gepids (Gepidia) was founded by the East Germanic Gepids after the fall of the Hunnic Empire. Their king Ardaric — Attila's most trusted vassal, who had commanded a wing at the Catalaunian Plains (451) — led the coalition of subject peoples that shattered Hunnic power at the Battle of Nedao (c. 454).
- When did the Kingdom of the Gepids exist?
- The Kingdom of the Gepids existed 454–567. On this map it is drawn AD 510–566.
- How large was the Kingdom of the Gepids?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Kingdom of the Gepids covered about 152,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
- Who ruled the Kingdom of the Gepids?
- Their power peaked in the 6th century when they seized the great city of Sirmium (modern Sremska Mitrovica) from Byzantium in 536 and settled the rich lands around Belgrade (Singidunum); Cunimund minted gold coins there. But the Gepids were locked in a long, bitter rivalry with the Lombards.
- How did the Kingdom of the Gepids end?
- The end came under the last king, Cunimund (r. c. 560–567). Alboin allied with the Avars under Bayan I and in 567 the combined Lombard–Avar assault destroyed the Gepid kingdom; Alboin killed Cunimund in battle and (per legend) made a drinking-cup of his skull, and took his daughter Rosamund as a wife.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each territory and its key figures as the primary basis, with Encyclopædia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia, and academic and primary sources — Jordanes, Procopius, Gregory of Tours, Bede, Ammianus and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, read through the secondary literature. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Gepids en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gepids
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
See the Kingdom of the Gepids in its world
Open the atlas at AD 538 and every neighbour, rival and successor is on screen with it — then drag the slider and watch what happens next.
Open the map at AD 538 →