Initially possessing little more than Italy, Dalmatia, and some territory in northern Gaul, Majorian campaigned rigorously for three years defeating the Vandals, the Goths under Theodoric, the Burgundian Kingdom, and the Suebic Kingdom in northwest Hispania. It seemed he would soon restore the Western Empire to its former glory. He built a new navy to take back North Africa from the Vandals but, betrayed by a spy, the fleet was ambushed and destroyed in port. After his grand plan crumbled, Majorian's subjects turned on him. He was deposed and several days later found dead. The gold coins of Majorianus are rare, the brass still rarer. The historian Edward Gibbon wrote Majorian "presents the welcome discovery of a great and heroic character, such as sometimes arise, in a degenerate age, to vindicate the honor of the human species."