Europe in the Roman age (1st–5th c.)Politics and state

Theodosian Code

Theodosius II published an official collection of the general laws issued by the Christian emperors since Constantine, in sixteen books. In force from 1 January 439 in both halves of the empire, the Theodosian Code kept Roman law alive in the barbarian West and prepared the way for Justinian’s codification.

Date: 15 February 438exact dateDate in the Julian calendar
Place: Constantinopletoday: Istanbul, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
Participants: Theodosius II, Byzantine Empire, Western Roman Empire
Threads: Europe in the Roman age (1st–5th c.)
Also known as: Codex Theodosianus; Кодекс Феодосия; Феодосиев кодекс

Imperial constitutions had become the main source of law, but they were scattered and often contradictory, and the Gregorian and Hermogenian codes of the 290s were private collections. On 26 March 429 Theodosius announced to the senate of Constantinople a commission to collect all general laws issued since Constantine; the plan proved too ambitious, and in 435 an enlarged commission limited the task to the imperial constitutions, editing them and leaving out obsolete provisions.

The code, published on 15 February 438 and in force from 1 January 439 in the East and the West alike, contains more than 2,500 constitutions in sixteen books, from the early years of Constantine to 437. It covers the government, economy and society of the 4th and 5th centuries and — in its last book — the Church, heretics, pagans and Jews. It was presented to the senates of both Constantinople and Rome; laws issued after it were called novels (novellae).

The code outlived the Western Empire. About a quarter of its text is also found in the Breviary of Alaric, issued by the Visigothic king Alaric II in 506, and through such collections it remained a source of Roman law in the early medieval West; in the East it was a basis for the Code of Justinian a century later. Its first five books survive only in part.

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Connections

Consequences

Corpus Juris Civilis7 April 529 – 16 November 534 · Balkans and AnatoliaJustinian’s codification a century later built on the Theodosian Code

Part of

Reign of Theodosius II1 May 408 – 28 July 450 · Balkans and Anatolia

Related events

Edict of Thessalonica27 February 380 · Balkans and Anatoliathe edict of 380 is preserved in the Code (XVI.1.2)
Imperial school in the Capitol of Constantinople27 February 425 · Balkans and Anatoliathe founding law is preserved in the Code (XIV.9.3)

Same participants

Council of Ephesus22 June – 31 July 431 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Theodosius II
Vandal conquest of Roman AfricaMay 429 – 442 · Africavia Western Roman Empire
Attila’s invasions of the Balkans441 – between 447 and 448 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Theodosius II
Battle of the Catalaunian Plains20 June 451 · Western and Central Europevia Western Roman Empire

Same place

Founding of Constantinople11 May 330 · Balkans and Anatolia
Theodosian Walls of Constantinoplebetween 404 and 408 – 413 · Balkans and Anatolia
Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451 · Balkans and Anatolia
Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537 · Balkans and Anatolia
Plague of Justinian541–549 · 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

Saint Patrick’s mission in Irelandbetween 432 and 461 – between 461 and 493
Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britainbetween 410 and 449 – between 550 and 625

Middle East and Egypt

Simeon Stylites on his pillarc. 423 – 2 September 459
Reign of Bahram V Gurbetween 420 and 421 – 438
Jerusalem Talmudbetween 360 and 450

North America

Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500

Latin America

Burial of the Lady of Cao at El Brujobetween 400 and 500
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

5th century

Sources

Wikipedia (English): Codex Theodosianus
Wikipedia (English): Breviary of Alaric
Wikipedia (Russian): Кодекс Феодосия
Matthews J. F. Laying Down the Law: A Study of the Theodosian Code. — New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
Harries J., Wood I. (eds.) The Theodosian Code: Studies in the Imperial Law of Late Antiquity. — London: Duckworth, 1993.
Pharr C. (tr.) The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions. — Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952.
Wikidata: Q4300