Gepids

Kingdom of the Gepids
454–567
Gepid kingdom in Europe following the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD
Common languages	East Germanic (possibly Gothic) among elite.
Religion	Germanic paganism, Arianism (among elite)
Government	Monarchy
King
• c. 454	Ardaric
• c. 560-567	Cunimund
History
• Ardaric established an independent Gepid kingdom following the Hunnic defeat at the Battle of Nedao	454
• The kingdom is destroyed by the Lombards and Avars	567
Preceded by Succeeded by Hunnic Empire Ostrogothic Kingdom Pannonian Avars Kingdom of the Lombards
Today part of	Romania, Hungary, Serbia

The Gepids (Latin: Gepidae, Gipedae; Ancient Greek: Γήπαιδες, romanized: Gḗpaides) were an East Germanic tribe who lived in the area of modern Romania, Hungary, and Serbia, roughly between the Tisza, Sava, and Carpathian Mountains. They were said to share the religion and language of the Goths and Vandals.

They are first mentioned by Roman sources in the third century. In the fourth century, they were among the peoples incorporated into the Hunnic Empire, within which they formed an important part. After the death of Attila, the Gepids under their leader Ardaric, led an alliance of other peoples who had been in the empire, and defeated the sons of Attila and their remaining allies at the Battle of Nedao in 454. The Gepids and their allies subsequently founded kingdoms on the Middle Danube, bordering on the Roman Empire. The Gepid Kingdom was one of the most important and long-lasting of these, centered on Sirmium, and sometimes referred to as Gepidia.^[2] It covered a large part of the former Roman province of Dacia, north of the Danube, and compared to other Middle Danubian kingdoms it remained relatively uninvolved with Rome.

The Gepids were defeated by the Lombards and Avars a century later in 567, when Constantinople gave no support to them. Some Gepids joined the Lombards in their subsequent conquest of Italy, some moved into Roman territory, and other Gepids still lived in the area of the old kingdom after it was conquered by the Avars.

Few archaeological sites remain that can be attributed to them with certainty. After their settlement of the Carpathian Basin, their population was mostly centred on the Someș and Körös rivers, but they did not intermingle with other nations.^[3]