Page:Bury J B The Cambridge Medieval History Vol 1 1911.djvu/381

Rh as well as from Carthage, and the vacant places were given over to the Arian clergy with the whole of the church property. In the other parts of the kingdom few or no Arian priests were to be found; only under Huneric who presented the whole of the Catholic churches to the Arians (a measure which certainly was never wholly carried out) were they installed in greater numbers. The bishop residing in Carthage bore the title of Patriarch and exercised as metropolitan a supreme power over the whole of the Arian clergy. Since the Arian church-service was held in the vernacular as among the other Germans, the clergy were mostly of German nationality.

The position of the Catholic Church was, as has been already remarked, very varied under the different rulers and very largely dependent on the state of foreign politics. In Africa, after the tumult of the conquest had passed over and the endowment of the Arian Established Church was put into effect, Gaiseric only proceeded against those adherents of orthodoxy from whom danger to the State was to be feared. The clergy beyond the Vandal allotment were closely supervised, but they were not molested if they did not oppose the royal will but confined themselves to the execution of their pastoral duties. The real persecutions began first under Huneric and were continued, after an interval of peace, by Gunthamund and Thrasamund, though in a milder form. Hilderic gave the Catholic Church its complete freedom again; his successor Gelimer, an ardent Arian, was too much occupied with political com- plications to be able to be active in that sphere. Ecclesiastical conditions suffered therefore only temporary not permanent disturbance and sustained no material hurt; rather, the persecutions contributed largely to temper the inner strength of the African Church.

When the Vandals occupied Africa they were undoubtedly still in the same primitive stage of civilisation in which they had lived in their homes in Hungary. Their political position as conquerors, the settlement in an enclosed district, the sharp religious opposition must certainly have hindered a rapid acceptance of the Roman influence. But under Gelimer they quite adopted the luxurious mode of life of the Romans, i.e. of the rich nobility ; they lived in magnificent palaces, wore fine clothes, visited theatres, gave themselves up to the pleasures of an excellent table and did homage with great passion to Aphrodite. Roman literary culture had just made its appearance in the royal Court and among the nobility. Gaiseric was himself certainly, at least at first, not skilled in Latin, but one of his grandsons was famous for having distinguished himself in the acquisition of manifold know- ledge. The same is said of Thrasamund, and we may assume it of Hilderic.

Latin was the language of diplomatic intercourse and legislation, as it was in the other German kingdoms; the Vandal language was quite supplanted, and only remained in use in popular intercourse and in