Editing Respendial (section)

== Biography ==
=== Vandal–Frankish war ===
Respendial is mentioned in the [[Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus|Frigeridus fragment]],{{#tag:ref|"Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus, whom we have already mentioned, in his story of the capture and destruction of Rome by the Goths, says: "Meantime when Goare had gone over to the Romans, Respendial, king of the Alamanni, turned the army of his people from the Rhine, since the Vandals were getting the worse of the war with the Franks, having lost their king Godegisil, and about 20,000 of the army, and all the Vandals would have been exterminated if the army of the Alamanni [note: Alamanni for Alani] had not come to their aid in time." It is surprising to us that when he [=Frigeridus] names the kings of the other nations he does not name the king of the Franks as well." – Gregory of Tours quoting Frigeridus (the Frigeridus fragment) in ''History of the Franks'' (Book II, Chapter 9).<ref name="Frigeridus fragment"/>|group="note"}} embedded in [[Gregory of Tours]]'s work, describing the [[Vandal–Frankish war]] that preceded the [[Crossing of the Rhine]] (the crossing was dated to 31 December 406 by [[Prosper of Aquitaine]]).<ref name="Goffart 2010">{{Cite book |last=Goffart |first=Walter |date=2010 |title=Barbarian Tides: The Migration Age and the Later Roman Empire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dM3kdRzztiIC |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |pages=95–98 |isbn=9780812200287 |accessdate=2 September 2020}}</ref> According to Frigeridus, the Roman-allied [[Franks]] were inflicting heavy casualties on the Vandals over the course of probably several battles, killing 20,000 Vandal warriors and their king [[Godigisel]]. They were on the verge of exterminating the tribe.<ref name="MacDowall">{{Cite book |last=MacDowall |first=Simon |date=2016 |title=The Vandals |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dM47DAAAQBAJ&pg=PT38 |location=Barnsley |publisher=Pen and Sword |pages=37–43 |isbn=9781473880221 |accessdate=5 September 2020}}</ref> At that point – according to MacDowall (2016) probably in the summer or autumn of 406 – another Alan king, Respendial, came to the Vandals' rescue and defeated the Franks,<ref name="MacDowall"/> "although Goar had gone over to the Romans."<ref name="Frigeridus fragment"/>

=== Into Gaul and Spain ===
After that, the Vandals and Respendial's Alans crossed the Rhine. It's unclear from Frigeridus' account what happened to Goar's Alans, but other sources make clear that they were eventually settled in Gaul near [[Orléans]] by the Romans. At the same time, the Vandals, [[Suebi]], and Respendial's Alans continued into [[Hispania|Spain]].<ref name="MacDowall"/> According to bishop [[Hydatius]]' chronicle, the Vandals (Silings and Asdings) were the first to arrive in Spain in September or October 409,<ref name="Goffart 2010"/> while Gregory notes that Suebi and Alans (presumably those led by Respendial<ref name="Goffart 2010"/>) followed them later.<ref name="Frigeridus fragment">Gregory of Tours, ''[https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/gregory-hist.asp#book2 History of the Franks. Book II]''. Chapter 9.</ref>

Respendial's fate is unknown; by 418, he was no longer king.<ref name="MacDowall"/> He had been succeeded by [[Attaces]], who was killed when the [[Visigoths]] invaded Hispania. This group of Alans after that united with the Asding Vandals, with whom they crossed into [[Africa]] and established an independent kingdom.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}