Justinian I

Life

Justinian was born around 482 at Tauresium in the region of Dardania in the Balkans, the son of a Latin-speaking peasant family. His maternal uncle Justin, a former commander of the imperial guard, became emperor in 518 as Justin I. Adopted by his uncle, Justinian received an education and, because his uncle lacked formal learning, effectively managed the affairs of state on his behalf. He served as consul in 521.

In 525 he married Theodora. As empress, Theodora is regarded as having acted as a virtual co-ruler rather than merely presiding over the court. Justinian became co-emperor on April 1, 527, and when Justin I died on August 1 of that year, he became sole emperor. Early in his reign he nearly lost the throne during the Nika riots in the capital, and in the early 540s he contracted, but survived, the plague that swept the Mediterranean world. Theodora predeceased him in 548. Justinian died childless on November 14, 565, and was succeeded by his nephew Justin II.

Work and Achievements

• Codification of law: From 529 to 534 he commissioned Tribonian and other jurists to systematize Roman law. The resulting body of law consists of the Codex, a collection of imperial enactments; the Digest, a compilation of the opinions of jurists; and the Institutes, a textbook for law schools. It is commonly called the Corpus Juris Civilis, though Justinian himself did not give it that name.
• Wars of reconquest: From 533 to 554 he sent generals such as Belisarius and Narses to recover former territories of the Western Roman Empire, including those of the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa and the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy.
• Church construction and public works: He rebuilt the Hagia Sophia (the Church of Holy Wisdom) in Constantinople. He also undertook the large-scale construction of churches, monasteries, orphanages, fortresses, bridges, and aqueducts.
• Policy of church unity: Before his accession, while assisting his uncle, he brought an end to the Acacian Schism between the churches of Rome and Constantinople. As emperor he continued to pursue union with the Western church. He also dealt with the question of Monophysitism (the view that Christ has only one nature, the divine), which rejected the Christology of the Council of Chalcedon. He is said to have taken a particular interest in theology from his youth.

Assessment

Justinian is counted among the most important rulers of late antiquity. The legal code he produced governed Eastern Roman society for centuries and exerted a major influence on the law of medieval Europe. The Orthodox Church venerates him as a saint in recognition of his zeal and devotion to the church and calls him "the Great."

He has also been criticized. His rule was not always welcomed, as the Nika riots showed, and in 562 a plot against his life was uncovered. During his long illness in his final years the state's finances deteriorated, and later generations sometimes described him as a "spendthrift emperor." Moreover, most of the territory he had recovered was lost again not long after his death.