Reign of Justinian I
For 38 years Justinian I set out to restore the Roman Empire: his generals won back Africa, Italy and part of Spain, his lawyers codified Roman law and his builders raised Hagia Sophia. Wars with Persia, revolt and plague marked the reign, and some historians believe that the reconquest overstrained the empire’s resources.
- Date
- 1 August 527 – 14 November 565exact date · duration: ≈ 38 yearsDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Constantinopletoday: Istanbul, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Justinian I, Theodora, Belisarius, Narses, Khosrow I Anushirvan, Byzantine Empire
- Threads
- Early medieval Europe (500–1000)
- Also known as
- Age of Justinian; Эпоха Юстиниана; Renovatio imperii; Justinianic era
Justinian, born in 482 at Tauresium in the Balkans, was the nephew of Justin I, the commander of the palace guard who became emperor in 518; by the end of his uncle’s reign it was increasingly Justinian who shaped policy. Crowned co-emperor on 1 April 527, with his wife Theodora as Augusta, he ruled alone from Justin’s death on 1 August. A native Latin speaker — possibly the last Roman emperor who was — he saw himself as the restorer of the Roman Empire. His commissions codified Roman law (529–534); the Nika riots of January 532 almost cost him the throne, and the rebuilding of the burnt city gave Constantinople the new Hagia Sophia. In matters of faith he upheld the Council of Chalcedon, persecuted pagans and heretics and, by the traditional account, closed the Neoplatonic Academy of Athens in 529, while trying in vain to reconcile the Miaphysites, whom Theodora protected: the condemnation of the “Three Chapters” at the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553) did not win them over.
After buying the “Perpetual Peace” of 532 from Khosrow I for 11,000 pounds of gold, Justinian turned west: Belisarius destroyed the Vandal kingdom in Africa (533–534), the Gothic War (535–554) restored imperial rule in Italy, and in 552 an expedition gained a foothold in southern Spain. But in 540 Khosrow broke the peace, and the war with Persia went on until the fifty years’ peace of 562; the plague that broke out in 541–542 struck at the height of these efforts, and the emperor himself fell ill but recovered. Raids across the Danube recurred, and in 559 Kutrigurs and Slavs under the khan Zabergan threatened Constantinople and were driven off by the aged Belisarius.
Justinian died childless on 14 November 565 and was succeeded by his nephew Justin II. His conquests proved fragile — the Lombards invaded Italy only three years later — and some historians argue that he dangerously overstretched the empire’s resources, while others stress that under him the empire reached its greatest extent (555). Procopius, the historian of his wars, praised his buildings in a panegyric but in the Secret History portrayed him as cruel, venal and incompetent, and Theodora no more kindly.
Connections
Includes
- Nika riots13–18 January 532 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Corpus Juris Civilis7 April 529 – 16 November 534 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Vandalic WarJune 533 – March 534 · Africa
- Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Gothic War (535–554)535–554 · Western and Central Europe
- Plague of Justinian541–549 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Silkworm eggs are smuggled to Constantinoplebetween 552 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
Related events
- Theodosian Code15 February 438 · Balkans and AnatoliaIn 528 Justinian’s commission began to rework the earlier compilations, the Theodosian Code among them, into a single code
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451 · Balkans and AnatoliaJustinian upheld Chalcedon but tried in vain to reconcile its Miaphysite opponents
- Deposition of Romulus Augustulus4 September 476 · Western and Central EuropeJustinian’s wars were meant to win back the western provinces lost in the 5th century
- Sack of Antioch by Khosrow IJune 540 · Middle East and EgyptKhosrow broke the Perpetual Peace he had made with Justinian in 532
- The first Avar embassy to Justinianbetween 557 and 558 · Eastern EuropeJustinian received the Avar envoys and paid them to fight the empire’s enemies in the steppe
- Christianization of the Nubian kingdoms543–580 · Africarival missions to Nubia were sent by Justinian and by the empress Theodora
Same participants
- Breach of the Marib Dam and its repair by AbrahaJuly 547 – between 548 and 549 · Middle East and Egyptvia Justinian I
Same place
- Founding of Constantinople11 May 330 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Theodosian Walls of Constantinoplebetween 404 and 408 – 413 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Imperial school in the Capitol of Constantinople27 February 425 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Reign of Theodosius II1 May 408 – 28 July 450 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Avar–Persian siege of Constantinople29 June – 7 August 626 · Balkans and Anatolia
- First Arab siege of Constantinople674–678 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Second Arab siege of Constantinoplebetween 15 July and 15 August 717 – 15 August 718 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’ attack on Constantinople18 June – 4 August 860 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium11 June 941 – 944 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Sack of Constantinople12–13 April 1204 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Reconquest of Constantinople25 July 1261 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Fall of Constantinople29 May 1453 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Accession of Suleiman the Magnificent30 September 1520 · Balkans and Anatolia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Gothic War (535–554)535–554
- Volcanic winter of 536between 535 and 536 – 537
- Benedict of Nursia founds Monte Cassinobetween 529 and 530
- Boethius writes The Consolation of Philosophybetween 523 and 526
- Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britainbetween 410 and 449 – between 550 and 625
Eastern Europe
- The first Avar embassy to Justinianbetween 557 and 558
- The Avars ravage the lands of the Antesbetween 560 and 562
- Early Slavic cultures: Prague-Korchak, Penkovka and Kolochinc. 450 – c. 700
- Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv: the legendary founding of Kyivbetween 500 and 700
Middle East and Egypt
- Breach of the Marib Dam and its repair by AbrahaJuly 547 – between 548 and 549
- Sack of Antioch by Khosrow IJune 540
- Reign of Khosrow I Anushirvan531–579
- Abraha’s expedition against Mecca: the Year of the Elephantbetween 552 and 571
- Suppression of the Mazdakitesbetween 524 and 529
+ 1 event
Africa
- Vandalic WarJune 533 – March 534
- Christianization of the Nubian kingdoms543–580
- Reign of Kaleb of Aksumbetween 510 and 514 – between 530 and 542
Central and Northern Asia
- Bumin overthrows the Rouran: the Turkic Khaganate is foundedbetween February and March 552
- The Turks and Sasanians destroy the Hephthalite Empire (Battle of Gol-Zarriun)between 557 and 567
- The Rouran Khaganate dominates the steppe402–552
South Asia
- Varahamihira compiles the Pancha-siddhantikabetween 505 and 587
- Pulakeshin I fortifies Vatapi: the rise of the Chalukyas of Badami543
- Yashodharman defeats the Huna king Mihirakulabetween 525 and 532
- The Alchon Huns invade India: Toramana and Mihirakulabetween 496 and 500 – between 528 and 534
- The later caves of Ajanta under the Vakataka king Harishenabetween 460 and 480 – between 480 and 550
East Asia
- Buddhism reaches Japan from Baekjebetween 538 and 552
- The rebellion of Hou Jing and the fall of Jiankang27 September 548 – between 20 May and 7 June 552
- Jia Sixie writes the Qimin yaoshubetween 533 and 544
- The Northern Wei splits into the Eastern and Western Wei22 August 534 – 18 February 535
- Silla conquers Daegaya, the last of the Gaya states562
+ 1 event
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Lý Bí’s rising against the Liang and the kingdom of Vạn Xuânbetween 541 and 542 – 548
- Funan’s embassy of 539 and the hair of the Buddha539
- The inscriptions of Purnavarman, king of Taruma in western Javabetween 400 and 600
- Chenla absorbs Funanbetween 550 and 600 – between 627 and 637
- Gold pendant copying a coin of Antoninus Pius at Óc Eobetween 152 and 600
+ 1 event
North America
- Basketmaker III: pottery, beans and the bow on the Colorado Plateauc. 500 – c. 750
- The Late Woodland period in eastern North Americac. 500 – c. 1000
Latin America
- Tikal is defeated in the ‘star war’ of 562between 27 April and 29 April 562
- The great drought of 563–594 and the crisis of the Mochec. 563 – c. 594
- The burning of Teotihuacan’s ceremonial centrebetween 550 and 650
- Teotihuacan at its height: the largest city of the Americasc. 250 – c. 550
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Justinian I
- Wikipedia (English): Byzantine Empire under the Justinian dynasty
- Wikipedia (English): Perpetual Peace (532)
- Wikipedia (Russian): Юстиниан I
- Wikipedia (Russian): Вечный мир (532)
- Maas M. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian. — Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
- Moorhead J. Justinian. — London: Longman, 1994.
- История Византии: в 3 т. / отв. ред. С. Д. Сказкин. — Т. 1. — М.: Наука, 1967.