Justin was noted for his stronglyChalcedonian Christian views. This facilitated the ending of theAcacian schism between the churches of Rome and Constantinople, resulting in good relations between Justin and the papacy. Throughout his reign, he stressed the religious nature of his office and passed edicts against various Christian groups seen at the time as non-Orthodox. In foreign affairs, he used religion as an instrument of state. He endeavoured to cultivate client states on the borders of the Empire, and avoided any significant warfare until late in his reign.
As a young man, he and two companions left Dardania in order to escape the poverty of the region.[18] Taking refuge inConstantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, they possessed nothing more than the ragged clothes on their backs and a sack of bread among them.[19] Illiterate at the time of his arrival there,[19] Justin joined the newly formed palace guard, theexcubitors. He served in various positions, campaigning against the Isaurians and theSassanian Persians and was noticed for his bravery. Because of his ability he was successively appointed atribune, acomes, asenator and, under the EmperorAnastasius I Dicorus, the influential position ofcomes excubitorum, commander of the palace guard.[20][21] During this period he marriedLupicina; no surviving children are recorded from this marriage. According to contemporary historianProcopius, Lupicina was abarbarianslave who had been Justin'sconcubine before their marriage.[22]
During the night of 8–9 July 518, Anastasius died and hissilentarii, a senior servant, summoned Justin andCeler to his deathbed. Celer was themagister officiorum (master of offices) and commander of the palace regiments of theScholae Palatinae, a force of parade-ground display troops. By morning the event had been announced throughout the capital, Constantinople. The high officials, includingJohn of Cappadocia, the recently appointedpatriarch of Constantinople, were summoned to theGreat Palace for the election of a new emperor. Meanwhile, the people gathered in theHippodrome of Constantinople and awaited the proclamation of the name of the new emperor.[23]
Anastasius had died childless but had a host of known relatives.[25] This extensive family included several viable candidates for the throne.[23] His brotherPaulus had served asconsul in 496.[26] According toJohn Malalas, thepraepositus sacri cubiculi (grand chamberlain),Amantius, had intended to haveTheocritus, commander of an elite guard unit, elected to the throne.[27] Theocritus and Amantius were relying on their control of a large military force and on buying the support of the other officials. Amantius was said to have given a substantial sum of money to Justin in order to buy his support. However, Justin controlled a smaller, but higher-quality group of soldiers, and used the money to buy support for himself. He was elected as the new emperor by the council and was proclaimed emperor in the Hippodrome.[23]
Justin cemented his position by assassinating potential opponents, especially anti-Chalcedonian supporters of Anastasius. Both Amantius and Theocritus were executed nine days after the election.[23] Early in his reign, he also dismissed a number of officials that served emperor Anastasius, includingMarinus, the praetorian prefect.[29]
In his time, Justin was viewed as an illiterate career soldier with little knowledge of statecraft.[30][31][29] He surrounded himself with trusted advisors, the most prominent being his nephew Flavius Petrus Sabbatius, whom he adopted as his son and invested with the name Iustinianus (Justinian).[32] Another was thequaestor Proclus.[33]
The extent of the Byzantine Empire under Justin I is shown in brown. (The light orange shows the conquests of his successor, Justinian.)
Justin endeavoured to cultivate client states on the borders of the Empire, and avoided any significant warfare until late in his reign.[34]
In 497 Anastasius had agreed withTheoderic, theOstrogothic king of Italy, that he would rule Italy as Anastasius' deputy. This preserved Italy as nominally a part of the Empire, and neutralised a potentially dangerous neighbour. The arrangement suited Theodoric, as the Ostrogoths were a small aristocratic minority in Italy and the blessing of Constantinople helped reconcile the majority of the population to their rule. The feelings of the majority of Italians towards the Empire were mixed, as Anastasius was a Miaphysite, while they were Chalcedonian. The Ostrogoths were Arians, and there was a tendency to consider both them and Miaphysites as different breeds of heretics. With a strongly Chalcedonian emperor on the throne and the Italian-based papacy formally healing the rift the situation became less stable. Initially relations were friendly. Theodoric's son-in-lawEutharic was appointed consul in Constantinople in 519 and confirmed as Theodoric's heir. Eutharic died in 522, by which time Justin's policies, possibly influenced by Justinian, had become more anti-Arian. In 526 Theodoric died, leaving Eutharic's ten-year-old sonAthalaric as heir to the throne.[35][36]
Justin I (left) persecuting Miaphysites, miniature from the 12th centuryManasses Chronicle
A number of initiatives in respect of neighbouring states were founded on religious motives, and were usually developed by Justinian as he assumed more power towards the end of Justin's reign.Kaleb I ofAksum was probably encouraged to aggressively enlarge his empire by Justin. Contemporary chronicler John Malalas reported that Byzantine merchants were robbed and killed by the Jewish king of the south Arabian kingdom ofHimyar, causing Kaleb to claim, "You have acted badly because you have killed merchants of the Christian Romans, which is a loss both to myself and my kingdom."[37] Himyar was a client state of the Sassanian Persians, perennial enemies of the Byzantines. After Kaleb invaded Himyar around 523, Justin saw what is now Yemen pass from Sassanian control to the rule of an allied Christian state.[37]
A number of small states on the borders of the Byzantine Empire and of Sassanian Persia were constant areas of contention between the two powers. The GeorgianPrincipality of Iberia was in the Sassanian sphere of influence, but was Christian. Iberian bishops were sent toAntioch in the Byzantine Empire to beconsecrated.Vakhtang I of Iberia was encouraged into war with the Sassanians. A "fervent Christian", his religious policies were "part and parcel of his larger strategic aims".[37] After a lengthy struggle he was defeated and Iberia subjugated as a Sassanian province in 522.[37]
Lazica was another border state; it was Christian, but in the Sassanid sphere. Its king,Tzath, wished to weaken Sassanid influence. In 521 or 522, he went to Constantinople to receive the insignia and royal robes of kingship from Justin's hand and to make his submission. He was alsobaptized as aChristian and married a Byzantine noblewoman, Valeriana. After having been confirmed in his kingdom by the Byzantine emperor, he returned to Lazica. Shortly after Justin's death, the Sassanids attempted to forcibly regain control, but were beaten off with assistance from Justin's successor.[38][39]
In 524, the Sassanid emperorKavadh I approached Justin asking that he formally adopt his youngest son,Khosrow, in order to secure his succession over his elder, but less favoured, brothers. Justin was agreeable, but, aware that, being childless himself, an adopted Persian son would have a claim on the Byzantine throne, offered adoption according to barbarian custom. The Persians were insulted and broke off all negotiations.[40] In 526, the Byzantines raided Persian Armenia at Justinian's initiative. Justinian was increasingly taking control of policy from his aging uncle. The raiding parties were led by two of Justinian's up-and-coming military protégees,Sittas andBelisarius. The raids achieved little, other than to make a statement of intent.[36]
Justin's reign is noteworthy for the resolution of theAcacian schism between the eastern and western branches of the Christian church. On ascending the throne Justin invitedPope Hormisdas to Constantinople for negotiations. Justinian sent a similar, but separate, invitation; said to have been closer to a summons. Hormisdas promptly despatched a delegation to Constantinople with instructions to state the orthodox position rather than to negotiate. Carrying out a policy developed by his nephew Justinian, the future emperor, Justin endorsed Rome's view on the question of the dual nature of Christ. On 28 March 519, in the cathedral of Constantinople in the presence of a great throng of people, a reluctantPatriarch John II accepted the formula of Pope Hormisdas and the end of the schism was concluded in a solemn ceremony.[36]
For the first three years of his reign Justin persecuted the Miaphysites, even serving soldiers. Thereafter he adopted a more pragmatic approach. In 523 Justin issued a strict edict againstArianism. Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths and ruler of Italy, was an Arian himself, as were most Ostrogoths. He despatchedPope John I, Pope Hormisdas' successor, to Constantinople with firm instructions to obtain a policy reversal. John received an exceptionally warm welcome; the population of Constantinople applauded him, Justin laid on celebrations, prostrated himself at the Pope's feet and insisted on being re-crowned by the Pope's hands. John did not succeed in having the edict overturned, it seems that he did not press the matter. On his return to Italy an enraged Theodoric had him flung into prison, where he shortly died.[36][41][42]
Again encouraged by Justinian, Justin increasingly expressed his position as emperor as a religious one. He claimed that "we have been elected to the empire by favour of the indivisibleTrinity.[43][44] Edicts were endorsed with "We continuously commit ourselves to all plans and actions in the name of Jesus Christ".[45] In either 519 or 522 Justin abandoned the tradition of depicting pagan symbols on the reverse of his coins and seals. "During the reign, the characteristic identifying the reverse female figure as Victory, a high girdle below the breasts, was substituted by a tunic, therefore identifying the figure as an angel."[34] This was a very public and widespread restatement of the Empire as a Christian state.[34]
The later years of the reign of Justin were marked by increased tension with the Empire's neighbours, especially the Ostrogoths, and the Sassanids. In 526 Antioch was destroyed byan earthquake with an estimated 250,000 deaths. Justin arranged for sufficient money to be sent to the city for both immediate relief and to start reconstruction. The rebuilding of the Great Church and many other buildings was overseen byEphraim, thecomes Orientis, whose efforts saw him replace Euphrasius as theChalcedonian patriarch of Antioch. Many of the buildings erected after the earthquake were destroyed by another major earthquake in November 528, although there were far fewer casualties.[46][47][48]
Procopius of Caesarea's Byzantine historia indicate that Justin I's mental faculties had begun todecline in his old age, going as far as to write "the Emperor, as an idiot and advanced in age, caused the laugh of the environment, and was also accused of delays in decisions and inability for his duties."[49]
During his uncle's reign Justinian successively occupied the positions ofcandidatus, patrician, a consul (in 521), and then a general. In 525, Justin passed a new law that effectively allowed a member of the senatorial class to marry reformed actresses, paving the way for Justinian to marryTheodora, a formermime actress. In 525, Justin elevated Justinian ascaesar. Justin's health began to decline and he formally named Justinian as co-emperor and, on 1 April 527, as his successor. On 1 August Justin died and was succeeded byJustinian.[50]
TheCilician city ofCaesarea was renamed Justinopolis in 525, in honour of Justin I. The name persisted until the 12th century whenThoros I, king ofArmenian Cilicia, made it his capital and renamed itAnazarbus.[51]
^His name is sometimes given asAnicius Iustinus in older scholarship,[5] but this is not corroborated by contemporary sources. The name probably derives from the fact thatGermanus (cousin of Justinian I) was supposedly related to theAnicii according to theGetica, although the veracity of this statement is unknown.[6]
^His companions and relatives—Zimarchus, Dityvistus, and Boraides—bore a Thracian name.[13][failed verification]
Ostrogorsky, George (1957).History of the Byzantine State. Translated by Hussey, Joan. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.OCLC2221721.
Procopius (1927).The Secret History of Procopius. Translated by Atwater, Richard. Chicago: P. Covici.OCLC2528665.
Russu, Ion I. (1976).Elementele traco-getice în Imperiul Roman și în Byzantium (in Romanian). Vol. veacurile III-VII. Bucharest: Editura Academiei R. S. România.OCLC181135507.
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