The Gepids were an East Germanic tribe closely related to the Goths. According to the Sixth Century Gothic historian Jordanes, they were originally a sub-tribe of the Gothic people. The legend Jordanes recounts says that when the Goths crossed from Scandinavia under their ancient king Berig they arrived at the mouth of the Vistula in Poland in three ships. The third ship was the slowest, so the other Goths referred to the descendants of those on it as the "Gepanta" or 'sluggish ones'. This is, according to Jordanes, the origin of the name "Gepid".
The Gepids certainly seem to have lived on the Vistula near the Goths in the First and Second Centuries AD. And like the Goths, they found their way down the rivers of central Europe and settled east of the River Tisza in Hungary. They raided the Roman Empire several times in the Third Century and fought a series of wars against the Ostrogoths, Visigoths and Burgundians. But in the 370s, along with the Ostrogoths and several other tribes of the region, they fell under the domination of the Huns.
Their greatest king was Ardaric, who ruled the tribe in the years of the Hunnic domination. He was a trusted and loyal lieutenant of Attila, and the Gepids formed the right wing of Attila's army at the Battle of Chalons in 451 AD. After Attila's death Ardaric led the rebellion of several Germanic and Indo-Iranian subject tribes against Attila's son Ellac. This war reached its climax at the Battle of the Nedao River in 454 AD, where the rebel tribes defeated the Huns and their remaining allies and won their freedom.
The victory gave the Gepids new power and territory, making them a force to be reckoned with. The Eastern Empire agreed to a treaty with them and the Ostrogoths found their old rivals more troublesome than ever. In 469 AD an alliance of Gepids, Rugians, Skirians and some Eastern Roman troops met the Ostrogoths in battle on the River Bolia, but were defeated. This did not seriously reduce their power however and in 471 AD they captured the city of Sirmium.
This placed them in control of the approaches to northern Italy, so when Theodoric led his people against Odoacer's Italian kingdom, he was forced to pass through Gepid territory. The two rival tribes met in battle once again and the first Ostrogoth assault failed, but then Theodoric himself led a charge and the Gepids were defeated.
Once the Ostrogoths had passed into Italy, the Gepids reasserted themselves, retaking Sirmium, and remained a threat to the northern borders of Theodoric's new Italian Ostrogothic kingdom. Under Thraustila and his son Trarasich they consolidated their control of the western Balkans until they were attacked by one of Theodoric's generals, Pitzia, and defeated, with Sirmium being occupied by the victorious Ostrogoths. Sirmium was later retaken by the Gepid king Elemund, who took advantage of the Goths' desperate wars in Italy against the East Roman generals Belisarius and Narses.
But as the Ostrogothic threat diminished a new one grew. The Lombards arrived in northern Pannonia, conquered the Herulians and were soon attacking the Gepids with the aid of the Eastern Emperor. From 546 to 567 AD the two tribes fought a series of bitter wars. These ended when the Lombards arraged with the Avars - a newly arrived tribe of steppe nomads to the east of the Gepids - to attack their common enemy simultaneously. The famous Lombardic king Albion killed the Gepid king Kunimund and between them the Avars and Lombards destroyed the Gepidic kingdom.
The Gepids survived as subjects of the Avars and are last mentioned as a separate people in the Ninth Century.
A Brief History of the Gepids
