Changes

Today, most people are familiar with the term “vandalism” and its meaning. Generally speaking, vandalism usually refers to wanton acts of mayhem and destruction, usually directed toward property and those who engage in such acts are termed “vandals.” A historical examination of the term reveals that its history is much more interesting and important than some broken windows or graffiti; it originated with the name of a Germanic tribe that wrought destruction across Europe and North Africa in the fifth and sixth centuries AD.  For a brief period in world history, the Vandals were one of the most important peoples in late antiquity as they established kingdoms in Spain and North Africa and threatened the very existence of Rome, even going so far as to sack the city in AD 455. Despite only being around for a short period historically speaking, the Vandals deeply influenced the psyche of Europe, which ultimately resulted in their name being forever associated with acts of craven property destruction.

"But Gizeric took Eudoxia captive, together with Eudocia and Placidia, the children of herself and Valentinian, and placing an exceedingly great amount of gold and other treasures in his ships and sailed to Carthage, having spared neither bronze nor anything else whatsoever in the palace. He plundered also the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and tore off half of the roof. Now this roof was of bronze of the finest quality, and since gold was laid over it exceedingly think, it shone as a magnificent and wonderful spectacle. But of the ships with Gizeric, one, which was bearing the statues, was lost, they say, but with all the others the Vandals reached the port in the harbour of Carthage."<ref> Procopius of Caesarea. <i>History of the Wars.</i> Translated by H. B. Dewing. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1916), III, v. 1-5</ref>

After the collapse of their dynasty in AD 534, knowledge of the Vandals receded into the depths of Europe’s collective psyche, only to be rekindled in the eighteenth century. It was during the eighteenth century in France – the period known today as the “Enlightenment” – when scholars, known as savants, became interested in a factual history of the ancient world. Scholars believed that by studying the ancient world, such as the fall of Rome, they could identify historical processes that were taking place in the present. Many in France’s elite circles, especially members of the Church, saw the French Revolution as bearing all the hallmarks of Rome’s decline: it was replete with degeneracy, a lack of order and civility, and most of all a propensity towards extreme acts of violence. In  It was in this social and political milieu of eighteenth century France when Henri Grégoire, the Bishop of Blois, wrote a report about the effects of the French Revolution titled, <i>Rapport sur les destructions opérées par le vandalism, et sur les moyens de le réprimer</i> in 1794. <ref> Merrills, A. H. “The Origins of ‘Vandalism.’” <i>International Journal of Classical Tradition</i> 16 (2009) p. 155</ref> Since the Vandals did not stay in Gaul very long and were there mainly to pillage, they came to be viewed by the modern French in an extremely negative way. The term caught on quickly with <i>”Vandalisme”</i> being an entry in the fifth edition of the <i>Dictionnaire de l’académie française</i> in 1798.<ref>Merrills (2009) p. 156</ref> From eighteenth century France, the word eventually made it into English where it became the pejorative “vandalism” that it is today, forever associating acts of property destruction with a once great kingdom.{{Mediawiki:Roman History}} ===References===<references/>