Justin II

Justin II (; ; died 5 October 578) was Eastern Roman emperor from 565 until 578. He was the nephew of Justinian I and the husband of Sophia, the niece of Justinian's wife Theodora.

Justin II inherited a greatly enlarged but overextended empire, with far fewer resources at his disposal compared to Justinian I. He ended the payment of tributes and adopted a hardline stance against the empire's neighbors, which resulted in rekindling of war with the Sassanid Empire, and in a Lombard invasion which cost the Romans much of their territory in Italy.

Family

He was a son of Vigilantia and Dulcidio (sometimes rendered as Dulcissimus), respectively the sister and brother-in-law of Justinian. His siblings included Marcellus and Praejecta. With Sophia he had a daughter Arabia and possibly a son, Justus, who died young. He also had a niece named Helena.

Early life

Justin's early years are largely obscure. A thirteenth-century chronicle suggests 511 as Justin's birth date, but its reliability is not known with certainty. Historian Ernst Stein assumes he was born by 520 at the latest, as his contemporary Corippus compliments his "excellent" age at his accession in 565. At some point, he married Sophia, possibly in the 540s.

During Justinian's reign, he served in the position of ''curopalates'' at the court. He is first attested in the contemporary sources from 552 and 553 as being part of the embassy to Pope Vigilius during the Three-Chapter Controversy.

In 559, he was sent by Justinian to escort the Kutrigur raiders retreating across the Danube. In 562 and 563, he was in charge of dissipating the urban riots caused by the circus factions in Constantinople.

Over time, he built a network of supporters in the court. In the early 560s, his wife Sophia and his supporters were said to have pleaded with Justinian to name him ''caesar'', albeit unsuccessfully. Historian Sihong Lin writes that early on, Justin was seen as an "energetic, even well-liked individual."

Reign

Accession

Justinian I died childless on 14 November 565. , the ''praepositus sacri cubiculi'', seems to have been the only witness to his dying moments, and claimed that Justinian had designated Justin, his nephew, as his heir in a deathbed decision. This sidelined another relative and candidate for the throne, also named Justin, who was son of Germanus, cousin of Justinian. Modern historians suspect Callinicus may have fabricated the last words of Justinian to secure the succession for his political ally. As historian Robert Browning observed: "Did Justinian really bring himself in the end to make a choice, or did Callinicus make it for him? Only Callinicus knew."

In any case, Callinicus started alerting those most interested in the succession, originally various members of the Senate. Then they jointly informed Justin and Sophia, offering the throne. Justin accepted after the traditional token show of reluctance, and with his wife Sophia, he was escorted to the Great Palace of Constantinople. The Excubitors blocked the palace entrances during the night, and early in the morning, John Scholasticus, Patriarch of Constantinople, crowned the new ''Augustus''. Only then was the death of Justinian and the succession of Justin publicly announced in the Hippodrome of Constantinople. Justin's coronation was written in detail by Corippus in his panegyric ''In laudem lustini Augusti minoris (In praise of Justin the Younger)''.

Both the Patriarch and Tiberius, commander of the Excubitors, had been recently appointed, with Justin having played a part in their respective appointments, in his role as Justinian's ''curopalates''. It is thus seen that they were willing to elevate their patron and ally to the throne.

Justin's first address to the senate contained criticisms of Justinian: "Let the world rejoice that whatever was not done or put into practice because of our father's old age has been corrected in the time of Justin." In the speech, he vowed to repay debts, restore the emptied treasury and promised not to confiscate senatorial properties.

Early reign

In the early days of his reign, Justin took a sharp about-turn from his uncle's policies. He repaid the treasury's debts and took a more reconciliatory stance toward the senatorial class. On 1 January 566, he became a consul, thereby reviving a post Justinian had discontinued since 541. Justin and Sophia initially promised to make peace with Justin's cousin and rival to the throne, Justin (son of Germanus), but had him assassinated in Alexandria not long after. According to a hostile source, the imperial couple kicked his severed head.

In 566 he reversed Justinian's ban on divorce by mutual consent, declaring that it resulted in spouses hating each other. Under the pretext of not understanding the fragile human nature:

Administration and financial policy

After Justin paid off the debts, he burned the bonds of the treasury. He additionally remitted his subjects' tax arrears back to 560. The contemporary John of Ephesus notes a rumour that his successor Tiberius II discovered piles of money Justin and Sophia gathered, possibly meaning that his reign generated a surplus.

He conceded greater control to the provincial elites. In 569, he allowed them to nominate their own governors, and if the nominees pleased the court, eliminated their appointment fees, resulting in decreased imperial oversight of the provinces.

Foreign policy

He discontinued Justinian's practice of buying off potential enemies. Immediately after his accession, Justin halted the payment of subsidies to the Avars, ending a truce that had existed since 558. This move upset the delicate balance of power in the Pannonian Basin, since the Avar elites were forced to seek new sources of wealth to maintain their position and client networks. At first, this was agreeable for the Romans, since the Avars decided to raid the Franks instead of going into the Roman territory. But after the Avars and the neighbouring tribe of the Lombards had combined to destroy the Gepids, from whom Justin had obtained the Danube fortress of Sirmium and the Gepid treasury, Avar pressure caused the Lombards to migrate West, and in 568 they invaded Italy under their king Alboin. They quickly overran the Po Valley, and within a few years acquired a vast share of the Italian peninsula. The Avars themselves crossed the Danube in 573 or 574, when the Empire's attention was distracted by troubles on the Persian frontier. They were only placated by the payment of a subsidy of 80,000 solidi by Justin's successor Tiberius.Norwich, John J. ''Byzanptium: the Early Centuries'' (London:Penguin 1988) p.571 gives this subsidy to Avars as 80,000 silver pieces.

The North and East frontiers were the main focus of Justin's attention. Justin began to cement an alliance with the Turks, the new Central Asian power that threatened both the Avars and Persia from the mid 6th century. In line with his policies against subsidies, he rejected Arab demands of payments. In 572 his refusal to pay tribute to the Persians in combination with overtures to the Turks led to a war with the Sassanid Empire. After two disastrous campaigns, in which the Persians under Khosrow I overran Syria and captured the strategically important fortress of Dara, Justin became inflicted with a severe mental illness. During his incapacitation, his wife Sophia reversed his tributary policy by attaining a one-year truce from Persia with a payment of 45,000 gold coins. This was followed by a three-year truce when Tiberius reached an agreement to pay 30,000 coins annually. Further negotiations had the Romans recognizing Persian dominance of Eastern Armenia and Iberia, though the wars continued in Armenia.

Shortly after the smuggling of silkworm eggs into the Byzantine Empire from China by Nestorian Christian monks, the 6th-century Byzantine historian Menander Protector writes of how the Sogdians attempted to establish a direct trade of Chinese silk with the Byzantine Empire. After forming an alliance with the Sassanid ruler Khosrow I to defeat the Hephthalite Empire, Istämi, the Göktürk ruler of the Western Turkic Khaganate, was approached by Sogdian merchants requesting permission to seek an audience with the Sassanid king of kings for the privilege of traveling through Persian territories in order to trade with the Byzantines.Howard, Michael C., ''Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies'', the Role of Cross Border Trade and Travel, McFarland & Company, 2012, p. 133. Istämi refused the first request, but when he sanctioned the second one and had the Sogdian embassy sent to the Sassanid king, the latter had the members of the embassy poisoned to death. Maniah, a Sogdian diplomat, convinced Istämi to send an embassy directly to Constantinople, which arrived in 568 and offered not only silk as a gift to Justin, but also proposed an alliance against Sassanid Persia. Justin agreed and sent an embassy to the Turkic Khaganate, ensuring the direct silk trade desired by the Sogdians.

His foreign policy has received unfavorable modern assessments. In 1937, historian Previte-Orton criticized Justin as lacking realism, having overestimated Roman strength against foreign enemies.

Succession and death

After 572, Justin was reported to have fits of insanity. John of Ephesus, whose Monophysite sect suffered persecutions under Justin, offered a vivid description of Justin's madness, in which he behaved like a wild animal, was wheeled about on a mobile throne and required organ music to be played day and night.

Despite moments of clarity, Justin was no longer able to govern. Eastern Roman sources report that Tiberius, the commander of the Excubitors, directed the government from this point, alongside Sophia. In 574, about a year after his incapacitation, Justin elevated Tiberius as ''caesar'' at Sophia's suggestion and adopted him as his son.Gibbon, Edward, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', Chapter XLV, Part II On 7 December, according to Theophylact Simocatta, Justin remained sufficiently clear-minded to make an eloquent speech as he passed the crown:

Four years later, on 26 September 578, he elevated Tiberius as ''Augustus''. Justin died only nine days later, on 5 October 578.''Chronicon Paschale'' 578; John of Ephesus
3.5

Footnotes

References

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Primary sources

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Justin 02
6th-century births
578 deaths
6th-century Byzantine emperors
6th-century eastern Roman consuls
Justinian dynasty
Kouropalatai
People of the Roman–Sasanian Wars
Royalty and nobility with disabilities