Emperor Justinian - Short Biography

Justinian I (also known as Justinian the Great) was one of the greatest emperors of the Byzantine Empire and the creator of the Justinian dynasty. Next, in this lesson from a TEACHER we offer you a brief short biography of Emperor Justinian, who fought tirelessly to transform the Eastern Roman Empire by taking the territories of the West from the barbarian peoples after having occupied them.

Index

1. Justinian - Historical Context
2. Justinian's domestic policy
3. Foreign policy
4. Religious policy of the Emperor Justinian

We start this short biography of Emperor Justinian speaking of the historical context. Justinian, was born into a humble Illyrian family of Roman origin in 482 led by his uncle and emperor Justin, who ended up adopting him, giving him a solid and brilliant training in the city of Constantinople, appointing him consul in the year 522.

Before Justinus passed away, he named Justinian as his successor and heir to the throne, since he had no descendants, without anyone opposing this proposition, so that

Already on the throne he surrounded himself with faithful and royal servants who, like him, belonged to the lower classes of society, among them, his wife Teodora, who also participated in government affairs, the General Narses Y Belisarius, the great Tribonian jurist... among others.

Justinian's goal was to create a strong empire, which was based on a centralized administrative system, an entrepreneurial economic policy with the construction of large buildings as well like the Basilica of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, with an administration of justice that was unique, just as he also opted for a unity religious.

Three were the main objectives of Justinian regarding domestic policy:

• 1. Reform the administration system so that it works as efficiently and fairly as possible.
• 2. Strengthen the economy through the opening of new trade routes.
• 3. Establish the religious unity that at that time was divided after the Monophysite struggle.

Based on the political system, the structure of a absolute monarchy, in which Justinian in the first person was in charge of coordinating the court, the army and the civil administration.

Thanks to the highly regulated functioning of the bureaucratic apparatus, we could say that the territories that were part of the Byzantine empire of Justinian were divided into four central departments on which the provinces and dioceses depended in order to avoid that all power was concentrated in the hands of a single person, that is, control of the different territories was assigned to a person faithful (official) to Justinian although he as a whole was the one who controlled the power absolute.

This reform was carried out around the year 535 and what was done in the first place was to abolish corruption existing between the different officials since this was considered the main problem of the administration Byzantine.

Other reforms carried out were in the legislative part, with the drafting of the Corpus Juris Civilis, a code of laws in which all were applied equally.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we will reveal a summary of the Byzantine Empire so that you know better the history of this great empire.

Image: Slideshare

One of the first threats that Justinian had to face as soon as he began his reign was that of the Sassanids, like that of the Persians who tried to take control of the peoples of the Caucasus and that finally ended with the signing of a perpetual peace treaty in 532.

Later, Belisarius, one of the main generals of Justinian's army, received the order to invade North Africa, which at that time was being controlled by the vandals, finally forming part of a Byzantine possession more for the empire in AD 534.

Another objective was to conquer the kingdom of the Ostrogoths of Italy, a task that was also entrusted to Belisarius. By 535 Naples surrendered to their constant struggles and the Goths were expelled from Sicily. In northern Italy, resistance was even greater and it was not until 540 that Ravenna was conquered.

On the other hand, the Ostrogoths tried to reconquer their lost territories, but Justinian sent an army under the command of Narses another of his generals making himself master of Italy again with the sum that he also managed to expel the Alemanni and Franks from Liguria who were where they were established.

Also intervened in Spain with the Visigothic kingdom before the help requested by King Atanagildo against Agila, and after the victory obtained in return he received the cities of Malaga, Cordoba, Cartagena and Seville. So many were the expenses involved in maintaining Justinian's war policy that it was his own general, Belisarius, the one who revolted in response to his entire population, leading to a great revolt, the Nika's revolt, which ended up failing because Justiniano continued to rule until his death, at the age of 82.

We finish this short biography of Emperor Justinian speaking now of religious politics. Justinian, being an absolute monarchy, had powers in everything related to the Church, so he could decide at any time questions related to rite, dogma and ecclesiastical orderHence, he even composed liturgical songs and treatises.

Being a faithful supporter of the most absolute orthodoxyHis policy served to settle the last strongholds of paganism, but not with the Monophysite schism. There were many negotiations that he wanted to carry out, but none came to fruition, because despite the various brutal persecutions in front of The Monophysites, his wife Theodora, supported this faction which forced him to have a conciliatory attitude between Orthodox and Monophysites established in the II Council of Constantinople of the year 553.

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