Yves Modéran died on 1 July 2010. Michel-Yves Perrin prepared the unfinished manuscript of this book for publication (see the ‘Avertissement au lecteur’ with biographical and other background notes). Everybody knowing the work of Yves Modéran respected and admired his diligence, his prudence, and the high quality of every line, footnote, and conclusion. This volume, however, ends abruptly at the point where the author was not able to continue the text. Many of us expected an important book from the man who authored Les Maures et l'Afrique romaine in 2003, nothing more or less than a new Les Vandales et l'Afrique by Christian Courtois published as early as 1955 (Courtois Reference Courtois1955; Modéran Reference Modéran2003). Courtois was, as Perrin puts it in the Introduction (11), ‘un interlocuteur posthume’ for Modéran at many different levels. Their discourse will inspire us, too, in years to come.

Now for the book itself. Roughly speaking, Modéran was able to finish the chapters he had planned for a history of the Vandals from their earliest appearance in the sources till shortly before Geiseric's death in AD 477. The second part of a history of the Vandal century is missing. Modéran had foreseen 12 chapters as well as an epilogue; seven of these are included in the Éditions Errance volume (see the list of the planned chapters on page 13). The book as it is represents a work in progress and is a high-level text of one half of the Vandals’ history.

What is there is most valuable and ranges amongst the best and most critical scholarly works on Vandal prehistory: the Rhine crossing of AD 406, the years in Gaul till 409 (63–75), the 20 years in the Iberian peninsula (76–92), and, finally, the conquest of the African provinces between 429 and 439 (93–130). Chapter 5 discusses the treaties with the Roman empire of 435 and 442 and the likely borders of the provinces taken over by the Vandals in different steps till 442 (131–54). Finally, there is Chapter 6 on the sortes Vandalorum and a possible explanation for this institution (155–79). Chapter 7 (181–200) bears the title ‘Les Vandales et les autres’ (The Vandals and the Others). It examines the dominance of Vandal ships in the Western Mediterranean, the sack of Rome in 455, the Roman military disaster of 468, and the possible backgrounds and implications of these events and structures. Finally, an appendix scrutinises the rostra Vandalica in Rome and suggests many new ideas on the historical background and our understanding of the inscription (201–205).

I would like, as an example of the quality and innovative character of Modéran's work, to emphasise two chapters on the ‘invasion’ of Africa in 429 (95–100) and the Romano-African military before the arrival of the Vandals (101–14). An analysis of the available sources shows that Bonifacius, the Roman commander in Africa, needed soldiers, who were fighting in a Roman civil war. For this reason, he used the Vandal army in Spain and, at a later point, Geiseric took the opportunity to take over. Modéran asked why there are no reports of heavy fighting and puts together prudently what we have. The master narrative of a migration of peoples has been replaced by a more sophisticated explanation. Needless to say that Modéran's view of Vandal identity is far more developed, due to the status of international research on Barbarian identity, than what existed before in French scholarship.Footnote ¹ The situation of the Roman forces is the second point necessary to understand for developing a new historical narrative. Like many other pieces of this book, the author had published an article to start the discussion in 2006.Footnote ² The version printed in this book contains additional thoughts, materials, and conclusions. The poor military performance of the Roman armed forces after 429 was due to earlier conflicts and Roman civil wars, which had considerably weakened the African army.

Throughout the 300 pages of the book, Modéran constantly discusses the work of Walter Goffart, Jean Durliat, Michael Kulikowski, Javier Arce, and many others. It is impossible to examine here all the hypotheses and arguments, the author's agreement or disagreement, as well as his own innovative suggestions.Footnote ³ The notes (205–87) refer to many problems in considerable detail and also present analyses of the available sources. I personally partly disagree with Modéran on the idea of the settlement of Vandal soldiers in the Proconsular province and on the so-called sortes Vandalorum.

At the moment, there are, roughly speaking, two different ways to explain the allotment of the Vandal army in the African provinces. Has sortes been a term for a certain part of the taxes used to fund the armed forces, ‘une assiette fiscale attribuée aux Vandales’, as Durliat put it (Durliat Reference Durliat, Wolfram and Schwarcz1988, 45)? Walter Goffart published an article in 2010 pleading for a continuing use of the Roman fiscal system in Vandal Africa.Footnote ⁴ His arguments were based on a debate with Modéran during a round table at Rome in 2009. The chapter ‘L’établissement territorial des Vandales’ (155–79) represents Modéran's latest view. Again, an article of 2002 was the starting point; again, the text of the chapter now available shows what would have been possible had Modéran had the time to finish the manuscript. He used new material and new points for the book. Basically speaking, Modéran argued that sors implied a territorial meaning, that each Vandal soldier was given land as private property (Modéran Reference Modéran2002).

Understanding the sortes is decisive in explaining Vandal North Africa. First, it is sad that a dialogue on this complicated problem is no longer possible now; second, Modéran's ideas on the allotment process are in many ways a necessary counter-argument to what Goffart and Durliat had developed. It is our duty to continue these debates, to consider Modéran's arguments, and to find new solutions together. The book we all awaited has not been written. However, what remains is to be grateful for Yves Modéran's scholarly achievements and to remember and honour a great colleague.