Everything about Justin I totally explained
Flavius Iustinus (c.
450–
August 1,
527), known in English as
Justin I, was an
Eastern Roman Emperor (518–527), 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 and almost seventy years old at the time of accession. His reign is significant for the founding of the
Justinian Dynasty that included his eminent nephew
Justinian I and for the enactment of
laws that de-emphasized the influence of the old Byzantine nobility. His
consort was Empress
Euphemia.
Justin was an
Illyrian peasant named
Istok from the
Latinophone region of
Dardania, which is part of the province of
Illyricum. He was born in a
hamlet near Bederiana in
Naissus (modern
Niš, South
Serbia).
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 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, it often has been said that Justinian ruled the empire in his uncle's name during the reign of Justin, however, there's much evidence to the contrary. The information from the
Secret History 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 wasn't 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525, Justin repealed a law that effectively prohibited a member of the senatorial class from marrying a woman from a lower class of society, including the theatre, which was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, a former
mime 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.
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.
The town of
Anazarbus was re-named Justinopolis in
525, in honour of Justin I.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Justin I'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://justin_i.totallyexplained.com">Justin I Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
