A Berber king identified by the historian Procopius of the Eastern Roman Empire as "Massonas" (often assumed to be the same person as Masuna) allied with the forces of the Eastern Roman Empire in 535 AD against the Vandal Kingdom during the Vandalic War. When Belisarius and the Eastern Roman forces arrived in Northern Africa to invade and restore Roman rule over the region, local Berber rulers willingly submitted to Imperial rule, only demanding in return the symbols of their offices; a silver crown, a staff of silver gilt, a tunic and gilded boots. Essentially client kings, many of the Berber rulers would prove recalcitrant. Those rulers that were not directly adjacent to Imperial territories were more or less independent, though nominally still Imperial subjects, and were treated with larger amounts of courtesy than the ones directly bordering the Empire, as to keep them in line.