Justin I

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Justin I

Flavius Iustinus (c. 450 – August 1, 527

527

For the political lobbying groups, see 527 groups....
), known in English as Justin I, was a Byzantine Emperor

List of Byzantine Emperors

This is a list of the Emperors of the late Eastern Roman Empire, commonly known as the Byzantine Empire by modern historians. This list does not include numerous co-emperors who never attained sole or senior status as rulers....
(518–527), who rose through the ranks of the army of the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
and ultimately became its emperor, in spite of the fact he was illiterate and almost seventy years old at the time of accession. His reign is significant for the founding of the Justinian Dynasty

Justinian Dynasty

The Justinian Dynasty is a family who ruled over the Byzantine Empire from 518 to 602. It originated with Justin I and ended with Maurice .* Justin I - ...
that included his eminent nephew Justinian I

Justinian I

Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus , AD 482 or 483 ? 13 or 14 November 565, was the second member of the Justinian Dynasty and List of Roman Emperors from 527 until his death....
and for the enactment of laws that de-emphasized the influence of the old Byzantine nobility.

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Flavius Iustinus (c. 450 – August 1, 527

527

For the political lobbying groups, see 527 groups....
), known in English as Justin I, was a Byzantine Emperor

List of Byzantine Emperors

Byzantine Empire

Justinian Dynasty

Justinian I

Queen consort

A queen consort is the title given to the wife of a reigning Monarch. Queens consort usually share their husbands' Royal and noble ranks and hold the feminine equivalent of their husbands' monarchical titles....
was Empress Euphemia

Euphemia (empress)

Empress Euphemia , whose original name was Lupicina, was the consort of Justin I of the Byzantine Empire and founder of the Justinian Dynasty that lasted from 518 to 602....
.

Early career

Justin was an Illyrian

Illyrians

Illyrians has come to refer to a broad, ill-defined "Indo-European languages" group of peoples who inhabited the western Balkans and even possibly Messapia in Southern Italy ....
peasant named Istok from the Latinophone

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
region of Dardania, which is part of the province of Illyricum

Illyricum (Roman province)

The Roman province of Illyricum replaced the formerly independent kingdom of Illyria. It stretched from the Drin River river in modern Albania to Istria in the west and to the Sava river in the north....
. He was born in a hamlet

Hamlet (place)

A hamlet is usually a rural Human settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community....
near Bederiana in Naissus (modern Niš

Niš

Ni? is a city in Ni?ava District, Serbia situated at 43.3? N 21.9? E, on the Ni?ava River. With more than 250,000 inhabitants it is the largest city of South Serbia and third-largest city in the country, after Belgrade and Novi Sad....
, South Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country in Central Europe and Balkans Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central part of the Balkans....
). His father was a Gothic

Goths

The Goths were East Germanic tribes who, in the 3rd and 4th centuries, invasion the Roman Empire and later adopted Arian Christianity. In the 5th and 6th centuries, divided as the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, they established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in the Iberian peninsula and Italy....
farmer and shepherd named Justus. His sister Vigilantia (b. ca 455) married Sabbatius and had three children: Vigilantia (b. ca 490), married to Dulcissimus and had Praejecta (b. ca 520), married to Artabanos (ca 515 - aft. 554), a Magister Militum

Magister militum

Magister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine I . Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer of the Empire....
of Armenian

Armenians

The Armenians are a nation and ethnic group originating in the Caucasus and in the Armenian Highlands. A large concentration of them has remained there, especially in Armenia, but many of them are also scattered elsewhere throughout the world ....
origin, and Justin II

Justin II

Flavius Iustinus Augustus was Eastern Roman emperor from 565 to 578. He was the nephew of Justinian I, and husband of Sophia , the niece of the late empress Theodora , and therefore member of the Justinian Dynasty....
(b. ca 520); Justinian I

Justinian I

Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus , AD 482 or 483 ? 13 or 14 November 565, was the second member of the Justinian Dynasty and List of Roman Emperors from 527 until his death....
; and a son (b. ca 485) who was the father of General

General

A General officer is an Officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is just called general....
Germanus Justinus

Germanus Justinus

Germanus Iustinus was a General of the Byzantine Empire and member of the Justinian Dynasty.The paternal nephew of Justinian I, and whose father was born ca 485, he became Magister Militum for Thracia ca 525, a Roman Patricius in 536 and a Diplomat, and was placed in charge of Imperial forces in the Gothic War in 550....
.

As a teenager, he and two companions fled from a barbaric invasion, taking refuge in Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
. 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

Anastasius I (emperor)

Flavius Anastasius or Anastasius I was Byzantine Emperor from 11 April 491 until his death. He was born at Dyrrhachium not later than 430/431....
decades later. He held the rank of Comes Excubitorum at one time.

Emperor

Thanks to his position commanding the only troops in the city and making 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, of course, was his nephew Flavius Petrus Sabbatius, whom he adopted as his son and invested with the name Iustinianus (Justinian).

Relying upon the accounts of the historian Procopius

Procopius

Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine Empire scholar of the family Procopius . A participant himself in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he was the major historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History....
, it often has been said that Justinian ruled the empire in his uncle's name during the reign of Justin, however, there is much evidence to the contrary. The information from the Secret History

Secret history

A secret history is a Historical revisionism interpretation of either fictional or real history which is claimed to have been deliberately suppressed or forgotten....
of Procopius was published posthumously. Critics of Procopius (whose work reveals a man seriously disillusioned with his rulers) have dismissed his work as a severely biased source, being vitriolic and pornographic, but without other sources, critics have been unable to discredit some of the assertions in the publication. However, contrary to the secret history, Justinian was not named as successor until less than a year before Justin's death and he spent 3,700 pounds of gold during a celebration in 520.

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

Theodora (6th century)

Theodora , was empress of the Byzantine Empire and the wife of Emperor Justinian I. Like her husband, she is a saint in the Eastern Orthodoxy, commemorated on November 14....
, a former mime

Mime artist

A mime artist is someone who uses mime as a theatrical medium or as a performance art, involving the acting out a story through body motions, without use of speech....
actress, and eventually resulted in a major change to the old class distinctions at the Imperial court. She became an equal to Justinian, participating in the governance with significant influence.

Later years

The latter years of the reign of Justin were marked by strife among the empire, the Ostrogoths, and the Persians. In 526, Justin's health began to decline and he formally named Justinian as co-emperor and, on April 1, 527 as his successor. On August 1 of that year, Justin died and was succeeded by Justinian.

Legacy

The town of Anazarbus

Anazarbus

Anazarbus in Ancient Clicia was an ancient Cilician city, situated in Anatolia in modern Turkey, in the Aleian plain about 10 miles west of the main stream of the Pyramus river and near its tributary the Sempas Su....
was re-named Justinopolis in 525, in honour of Justin I.

External links

Gibbon, Edward
Edward Gibbon

Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788....
, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was written by England historian Edward Gibbon and published in six volumes. Volume I was published in 1776, and went through six printings....
, .
Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica

The Encyclop?dia Britannica is a general English language encyclopedia published by Encyclop?dia Britannica, Inc., a privately held company....