Germanus (Greek:Γερμανός; died 550) was an Eastern Romangeneral, one of the leading commanders of EmperorJustinian I (r. 527–565). Germanus was Emperor Justinian's cousin, thus also a member of theruling dynasty. He held commands inThrace,North Africa, andthe East againstPersia, and was slated to command the final Byzantine expedition against theOstrogoths. Having married into the GothicAmal royal line through his second wifeMatasuntha and a distinguished service record, at the time of his sudden death, he was considered the probable heir to Emperor Justinian.

Germanus was born before 505, thenephew of EmperorJustin I (r. 518–527) and thuscousin of EmperorJustinian I (r. 527–565), and not hisnephew, as is often erroneously stated.^[1][2] According to a statement inJordanes'sGetica, Germanus was a descendant of the noble Roman clan of theAnicii. The exact nature of his connection, however, if indeed it is anything more than a literary device to indicate noble descent, is unclear.Theodor Mommsen hypothesized that his mother could have been a daughter ofAnicia Juliana.^[3] During the reign of Emperor Justin I, he was raised to high office (he is recorded as avir illustris in a 519 letter addressed to him byPope Hormisdas), eventually being appointed asmagister militum perThraciae. In this capacity, he scored a crushing victory over an invasion of theAntae.^[4]

By 536, he was raised to the honorary consulate and the rank ofpatricius, and held the post ofmagister militum praesentalis. In that year, he was sent toNorth Africa to succeedSolomon as military commander, with the task of suppressing a large-scale mutiny of the Byzantine troops led byStotzas.^[2][4] His tenure there, described byProcopius, was a thorough success.^[5] By appearing conciliatory and paying the arrears, he won over a large part of the mutinous army. He then defeated the remaining rebels under Stotzas at the Battle of Scalas Veteres in the spring of 537 and stabilized the situation by suppressing another conspiracy amongst his troops (cf.Maximinus) and restoring discipline.^[4][6]

Germanus was recalled by Emperor Justinian in 539, and sent toAntioch in 540 at the outbreak of theLazic War withSassanid Persia. Heavily outnumbered by the Persians, he retreated toCilicia and was unable to prevent the catastrophic sack of Antioch in the same year. In the next year, asBelisarius assumed command in the East, Germanus returned toConstantinople.^[4][7]

By 548, he was acknowledged as the most influential of Emperor Justinian's relatives and his heir apparent, although this was never formally recognized. In that year, his position was strengthened further by the death of EmpressTheodora, who disliked him intensely.^[8] His stature at court was such that a plot was hatched by the disaffected generalArtabanes and his kinsman Arsaces to assassinate Emperor Justinian and replace him with Germanus. The conspirators thought Germanus amenable to their plans, since he had been dissatisfied with Emperor Justinian's meddling in the settling of the will of his recently deceased brotherBoraides.^[9]

The conspirators first toldJustin, Germanus's eldest son, of their intentions. He, in turn, informed his father, who then held counsel with thecomes excubitorum,Marcellus. In order to find out more of their intentions, Germanus met the conspirators in person, while a trusted aide of Marcellus, namedLeontius, was concealed nearby and listened in.^[10] Marcellus then informed Emperor Justinian, and the conspirators were arrested, but treated with remarkable leniency. At first, Germanus and his sons too were suspected, until the testimony of Marcellus and the commandersConstantianus andBouzes cleared them.^[11][12]

In the meantime, theGothic War inItaly against theOstrogoths had been going badly for the Byzantine Empire, with the Gothic kingTotila having wrested most of the peninsula back from the Byzantine troops. In 549, Emperor Justinian decided to send a major expeditionary force to Italy with Germanus as its head. Soon, however, he changed his mind and appointed thepatriciusLiberius instead, before cancelling the expedition altogether.^[13]

In 550, however, Emperor Justinian did finally appoint Germanus as commander-in-chief of an Italian expedition. Installing his base atSerdica (modernSofia,Bulgaria), he began assembling an army. According to Procopius, his fame was such that soldiers, both Byzantines and barbarians, flocked to his banner. Even aSlav invasion headed forThessalonica allegedly diverted itself towardsDalmatia at the news of his taking up command in Thrace.^[13] Germanus also took a step that he hoped would significantly decrease the resistance he would face from the Ostrogoths: he took as his second wifeMatasuntha, the former queen of the Goths, granddaughter ofTheodoric the Great and last surviving heir of the royalAmal line.^[14] Contemporary accounts certainly suggest that this move, combined with news of the massive preparations, produced an effect among the Goths in Italy, as well as the numerous Byzantine defectors in their ranks, some of whom sent messages promising to return to Byzantine allegiance upon his arrival.^[14]

In addition, this marriage, which was endorsed by Emperor Justinian himself, marked Germanus out as the heir to both the East Roman and the Gothic realms.^[2] It was not to be, however: only two days before the army was to set out, in the early autumn of 550, he fell ill and died.^[14] His demise dashed any hopes for the reconciliation of Goth and Roman in Italy, and led to further years of bloodshed, until the peninsula was definitively conquered by the Byzantines.^[3]

Germanus is given a very favourable treatment in the work of Procopius, he openly praises him for his virtue, justice, and generosity, as well as for his energy and ability both as a soldier and an administrator.^[2][13]

Germanus had a brother namedBoraides and perhaps also a brother named Justus. From his first marriage to a woman named Passara, he had two sons and a daughter:^[1][15]

• Justin, born probably in circa 525/530, becameconsul in 540 and general towards the end of Emperor Justinian's reign.
• Justinian, general.
• Justina, born in circa 527, who married in 545 the generalJohn, nephew of the general and rebelVitalian.

From his later marriage toMatasuntha, he had a son, also called Germanus, born posthumously (late 550/early 551). Nothing further is known of him with certainty, although he can possibly be identified with thepatriciusGermanus, a leading senator in the reign of EmperorMaurice (r. 582–602) whose daughter married Maurice's eldest son Theodosius.^[16] Michael Whitby identifies the younger Germanus with thecaesarGermanus, a son-in-law ofTiberius II Constantine andIno Anastasia.^[17]

• Bury, John Bagnell (1958).History of the Later Roman Empire: From the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian, Volume 2. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications Incorporated.ISBN 0-486-20399-9.
• Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991).The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
• Martindale, John R., ed. (1980).The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume II, AD 395–527. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 0-521-20159-4.
• Martindale, John R., ed. (1992).The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume III, AD 527–641. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN 0-521-20160-8.
• Whitby, Michael (1988).The Emperor Maurice and his Historian: Theophylact Simocatta on Persian and Balkan Warfare. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-822945-3.