Emperor St. Justinian the Great passed away on this day in 565. If there is one Byzantine symbolic figure that people have heard of, it is Emperor Justinian. Emperor Anastasios did not leave an heir when he died in 518, so the imperial bodyguards proclaimed their own: the Latin-speaking Justin (518–527). He was a peasant from Thrace, 68 years old, and poorly educated – note the social mobility inherent in this. Justin’s nephew Peter, a second-generation peasant with a good education, adopted the name Justinian in honor of his uncle. Justin had been the first Latin speaker to sit on the throne since Theodosios, and Justinian himself showed more interest in the West. With time, Justinian became a consul and gradually ascended to the throne. One of the leading living Byzantinists, Dr. Warren Treadgold, wrote that he always “labored for what he believed, rightly or wrongly, to be the good of his subjects.” Justinian’s wife, Theodora, was of Greek origin from Alexandria. Much like him, she was an upstart from a humble background. Accordingly, there was a hatred toward them from the old Roman aristocracy, like the court historian Prokopios. Prokopios even believed that she had been engaged in prostitution (ek tou porneiou). Be this as it may, Theodora was street-smart. She introduced the law prohibiting fathers from selling their daughters into prostitution. She became a great empress. Justinian’s story shows that an emperor is only as good as his advisors. The adage that there is a great woman behind every great man rings true for Justinian. At this time, the empire was still culturally Hellenistic, a kind of synthesis between Hellenism and Christianity. Due to the genius of the military commander Belisarius, the empire in the time of Justinian came to stretch from Spain to Jerusalem. However, there weren’t enough resources left after Justinian died, and then the black plague struck. In the words of Warren Treadgold: “Justinian’s reconquests gave the eastern empire more territory to defend and a longer frontier. The western provinces were quite distant, where a message could reach any of their ports in a month, sending an army was much harder, and they mostly had to see their own defenses. In earlier times, the frontiers of the African provinces, marked by the Sahara and the Atlas Mountains, had been secure enough. The Sierra Morena shielded the Byzantine province in southern Spain, and the Alps helped defend Italy.” Thus, Justinian’s military successes were not sustainable in the long term, and his successors inherited an overstretched empire that they would have to defend constantly from military incursions on many fronts. Emperor Justinian the Great’s Miracle (527–565) Agrarian Reforms | Trades & Crafts | Administrative Reform | Finances | Reform of the Law | Development of emphyteusis (long term land leasing) | Prime location of C-ple used extensively. Attempts to control trade routes to India. Renewal of trade with West | Unifying of administrative units into larger provinces to police inside and outside more successfully (536) | John the Cappadocian, a minister of finances, fought against corruption in provinces. Smart system of taxation. | Tribonian, a commissioner in charge of the Corpus Juris Civilis: Codex Justinianeus, Digest, Institutes, Novels. |
Constructions Throughout Empire | Religion | Attitude in C-ple toward Justinian | Foreign Wars | Other: | Hagia Sophia (532–537); Sergius and Bacchus (between 527–536) Many cities rebuilt in N. Africa | Heresy and immorality persecuted Attempts to reconcile with the Monophysites (5thEcumenical Council, 553) Emperor was in charge of the church (symphony) | Nika revolt (532) | Belisarius captured N. Africa from Vandals and Italy from Goths; Italian capital was in Ravenna (554). Unsuccessful wars with Iran | Slavs penetrate the Danube border (550) Black Plague (542) Historian: Prokopios. |
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