Justin I
Flavius Iustinus (c. 450–August 1, 527), known in English as Justin I, was an Eastern Roman Emperor (518–527) of the Justinian Dynasty, who rose through the ranks of the army of the Byzantine Empire and ultimately became its emperor, in spite of the fact he was illiterate[1] and almost 70 years old at the time of accession. His reign is significant for the founding of a dynasty that included his eminent nephew Justinian I and laws that de-emphasized the influence of the old Byzantine nobility.
Justin was born of Macedonian peasant stock [2][1][3][4][5][6][7] in a hamlet near Bederiana in the Roman province of Macedonia Salutaris. As a teenager, he and two companions fled from a barbaric invasion, taking refuge in Constantinople. Justin soon joined the army, and because of his ability, rose through the ranks to become a general and commander of the palace guard under the Emperor Anastasius I decades later. Thanks to his position (he commanded the only troops in the city) and gifts of money, Justin was able to secure election as emperor in 518.
A career soldier with little knowledge of statecraft, Justin wisely surrounded himself with trusted advisors. The most prominent of these men, of course, was his nephew Flavius Petrus Sabbatius, whom he adopted as his son and invested with the name Iustinianus (Justinian). It is common now to say that Justinian ruled the empire in his uncle's name during this time, thanks to the accounts of the historian Procopius, but there is much evidence to the contrary. In fact, Justinian was not named as successor until less than a year before Justin's death.
In 525, Justin repealed a law that effectively prohibited a member of the senatorial class from marrying a woman from a lower class of society, including the theatre, which was considered scandalous at the time. This edict paved the way for Justinian to marry Theodora, a former mime actress, and eventually resulted in a major change to the old class distinctions at the Imperial court.
The latter years of his reign were marked by strife between the empire and the Ostrogoths and Persians. In 526, Justin's health began to decline and he formally named Justinian as co-emperor and his successor on April 1, 527. On August 1 of that year, Justin died and was succeeded by Justinian.
The town of Anazarbus was re-named Justinopolis in 525, in his honour.
Notes
- ^ a b H. John Chapman (1971). Studies on the Early Papacy. Kennikat Press, University of Michigan . pp. p.210. ISBN ISBN 0804611394.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help); Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help) - ^ Ross William Collins, 1936 A History of Medieval Civilization in Europe - Ginn and company, p.138 Justinian
- ^ Norman Hepburn Baynes, Henry St. Lawrence Beaufort Moss (1961). Byzantium: An Introduction to East Roman Civilization. Clarendon Press, University of Michigan. pp. p.7.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help) - ^ Hobart Chatfield Chatfield-Taylor (1935). Charmed Circles: A Pageant of the Ages from Apasia's Day to Ours. Houghton Mifflin company. pp. p.70.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help) - ^ George Frederick Young (1916). East and West Through Fifteen Centuries: Being a General History from B.C. 44 to A.D. 1453. Longmans, Green and Co. pp. p.162.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help) - ^ Thomas Hodgkin (1891). Theodoric the Goth: The Barbarian Champion of Civilisation. G.P.Putnam's Sons, University of Michigan. pp. p.69.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help) - ^ Leighton PULLAN (1930). From Justinian to Luther: A.D. 518-1517. The Clarendon press, University of Michigan. pp. p.1.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help)
External links
Media related to Justin I at Wikimedia Commons
- Bury, John Bagnall, History of the Later Roman Empire, Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1923
- Evans, James Allan, "Justin I (518-527 A.D.)", De Imperatoribus Romanis, 1998
- Gibbon, Edward, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 4, chapter xl.
- Smith, "Justinus I.", Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1870, v. 2, p. 677