“Wentilsêo”. Parerga sull’egemonia mediterranea dei Vandali nel V secolo d. C.

The paper analyses the meaning of the term "Wentilsêo," found in the "Hildebrandslied," the oldest heroic composition in the German literary tradition, often translated by many exegetes as "the sea of the Vandals." It investigates its occurrence in other sources such as the Old English Orosius, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the "Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum" by Adam of Bremen, and the "Merigarto," in order to clarify whether it is linked to the memory of Vandal maritime hegemony in the 5th century AD or, alternatively, if it is a geographical name indicating the maritime basins surrounding the Italian and Balkan peninsulas