See all Flash Point History transcripts on Youtube

Speaker 1

00:26

Previously, on the History of Byzantium, The Eastern Roman Empire was enjoying its first spell of peace, prosperity and relative calm in many a year under the rule of the elderly Emperor Anastasius. Known for his frugality, the Emperor had boosted the Byzantine economy by issuing new coins and was slowly filling the treasury as he felt was his duty. The Emperor's monophysite beliefs began to cause problems towards the end of his reign. With the Bishop of Antioch Severus egging him on, Anastasius tampered with the liturgy in Constantinople's churches, setting off riots and a rebellion in Thrace by 1 of the army commanders, Vitalian.

Speaker 1

01:12

Although Vitalian was defeated when he marched on the capital, he was not killed and remains at large. Then on the night of the 9th of July 518, Anastasius died after a 27 year reign. It's Surprising to learn that the Emperor, so fastidious with much of imperial business, had no succession plan in place. Some of the histories claim that he did have an illegitimate son, but that he died during 1 of Constantinople's major riots.

Speaker 1

01:46

However, Anastasius did have 3 nephews, Probus, Pompeius and Hypatius, the latter we've already met. He was sent out to put down Vitalion after the initial revolt but was defeated, captured and ransomed. This setback can't have hurt Hypatius' standing too much, as by the time of the Emperor's death he was serving as master of the soldiers in the East, 1 of the most important jobs in the empire. However, Hypatius was not to become emperor, nor apparently can he have wanted to be.

Speaker 1

02:25

After all, a man who both had a legitimate claim to the throne and commanded the Eastern Army would surely have been in a position to press his case. In fact, Hypatius and the other nephews continued to take official positions in service of the new regime. Although it's complete speculation on my part, I wonder if Anastasius felt that he perhaps didn't have the right to begin a new dynasty of his own. He was after all only chosen to become Emperor by Zeno's widow Ariadne.

Speaker 1

03:00

He might have felt that he was merely an imperial stopgap. There were still relatives of the Theodosian line alive and just maybe Anastasius felt the crown would return to them. We'll never know of course but what we do know is that once the Emperor was found dead, the palace was gripped with the fever of ambition. The chance to become head of the civilized world was up for grabs and with Hypatia several hundred miles away, The time to act was now.

Speaker 1

03:33

A palace filled with senators and officials jockeying for position, and the 3 key men were Sella, the master of offices, Amantius, the imperial chamberlain, and Justin, count of the ex-cubitors, the Imperial bodyguard. On the morning of the 10th of July, Sella began to hold discussions with the Senate while news filtered around the capital and the Hippodrome filled with an expectant crowd. Sensing an opportunity, Amantius, who was a eunuch, put forward 1 of his men, Theocritus, as a candidate. Theocritus was not well known and so the Chamberlain decided to oil the decision making wheels by spreading some cash around.

Speaker 1

04:18

He needed to secure the support of the imperial guards who would naturally have a key role in the proceedings, and also wanted to get his bribes out to well placed men outside of the palace. He had to make sure that the crowds would not begin chanting anything embarrassing, such as, who is Theocritus? Here Amantius made his big mistake. He decided to hand the cash over to Justin, Count of the Excubators.

Speaker 1

04:46

Who could be better to have on your side at this stage than the man commanding the best troops in the city? Of course Justin, upon receiving a bag full of cash, asked himself the question, who better to become the new emperor than, well, me? Justin dispersed the money as requested, but instead of telling the recipients to support Theocritus, it was his name they were to acclaim. The crowd in the Hippodrome were becoming restless and the guards present in the imperial box began yelling out the names of potential candidates to much booing and cheering.

Speaker 1

05:24

On the other side of the door leading from the box back to the palace, the Chamberlains refused to open up until they had word from the senators as to who they should deliver the imperial regalia to. With pressure growing on Sella and the assembled senate, the name of Justin was dropped into the conversation. Here, surely, was the best compromise candidate. A fellow senator, a well-respected, if hardly noble man, who the palace soldiers would happily support.

Speaker 1

05:57

Justin agreed and made his way through the passageway to the imperial box and emerged dressed in the robes of the emperor. The ex-cubitors lifted him on their shields and placed a gold chain on his head to many cheers. Justin promised good government and a donative to the troops of course, before leading a procession to the Hagia Sophia and then back to the palace for a banquet of celebration. The Byzantines had a new Emperor.

Speaker 1

06:29

We don't know if that's exactly how it happened as the histories have slight variations in the order of events. But what is in little doubt is that when an Emperor dies with no successor, the Imperial bodyguard will more often than not have the final say. Flavius Justinus, known to us in English as simply Justin, was around 66 when he became emperor. He was born about 452 in the Balkans.

Speaker 1

07:00

His hometown was Bediriana in the province of Dardania. He came from a family of peasant farmers and was probably a swineherd. Justin grew up in a changing world. The Western Empire was still around, just, and his hometown was a place where the Pope's influence on church life was strong, and the people spoke Latin rather than Greek.

Speaker 1

07:27

When he turned 20, Justin and 2 friends walked all the way to Constantinople to seek a better life. He joined the army and was able to sign up for the new palace regiment, the Excubators, which had just been formed by the Emperor Leo. He served with distinction in the Isaurian and Persian wars and rose through the ranks to become the leader or count of the elite palace regiment. If Justin's story was the ultimate rags to riches tale, then his wife Lupikina could claim to have topped him.

Speaker 1

08:03

She was an ex-slave, an ex-concubine slave, who Justin had purchased and then married. Now she was the Empress and changed her name to the more imperial sounding euphemia. At first glance, the new emperor would seem distinctly lacking in pedigree. A senator he may have been, but educated he was not.

Speaker 1

08:30

It's possible that he was illiterate, he certainly had no formal education, nor did he have any experience of governing. He might have seemed to some a disastrous choice. However, Justin had several important advantages which helped smooth over his less-than-aristocratic appearance. The first was that he was uncompromisingly orthodox in his beliefs.

Speaker 1

08:57

For those who had risen against Anastasius' monophysitism, Justin was a reassuring sight. Second, he was well respected by the army, 1 of the most important constituencies to please in these situations. Third, Justin was in his 60s, older than Anastasius had been when he donned the purple and he had no son. If Justin turned out to be a terrible administrator, perhaps no 1 would have to suffer for very long.

Speaker 1

09:29

Of course, if the Emperor really was illiterate, then he was going to need an educated colleague to help him manage the affairs of state, and fortunately for Justin he had an energetic, ambitious, and highly educated nephew named Justinian. A member of the palace guards at this stage, we don't know what role Justinian played in the elevation of his uncle, but no 1 would be surprised if he had been wheeling and dealing with the best of them. Justinian was to prove himself a highly motivated campaigner for his uncle's interests and by extension his own. While the older man was settling comfortably into the palace his wily nephew was building a political base of support to make sure that the new regime laid down firm roots.

Speaker 1

10:19

I'll introduce Justinian properly in the next episode, but he was certainly involved in the administration from day 1. On day 2, Justin got to work. The first thing to do was to get rid of Amantius and Theocritus. If Justin really had spectacularly defrauded the Grand Chamberlain, he could hardly leave a bitter and vengeful rival just hanging around.

Speaker 1

10:46

So Amantius was accused of heresy and was executed along with Theocritus, while several of his domestics were exiled. That was the only blood spilt, initially at least. Many of Anastasius' ministers were kept in place, including Marinus, the man behind the most important financial reforms, who now became Praetorian Prefect of the East. Anastasius' nephews were assured of their safety too, and then came the big moment.

Speaker 1

11:17

Vitalian was invited to come to Constantinople and put a formal end to his rebellion. While the message went out to the rogue general, the ground was prepared in the capital. Justin let it be known that he would be happy if pressure was brought to bear on the Patriarch to overturn Anastasius' ecclesiastical policies. A crowd soon gathered around the Hagia Sophia and began agitating for the Patriarch John II to restore the names of the Patriarchs Euphemius and Macedonius, who had been dismissed by the late emperor, and to set a day when the Council of Chalcedon could be commemorated.

Speaker 1

11:58

Chalcedon of course being the ecumenical council which had defined orthodoxy against monophysitism. The patriarch agreed amidst much excitement and chanting, particularly of the Trisagion with no monophysite alterations. 2 days later, John assembled a council of all the bishops he could find and began undoing much of the ecclesiastical legislation since the Council of Chalcedon. In other words, the Henotikon was to be ignored and the Monophysites were not to be appeased.

Speaker 1

12:33

Jesus had 2 natures, 1 human and 1 divine and that was that. So now Justin's Orthodox credentials were seen to be as impeccable as Vitalian's. There was no need for more hostility. The general should abandon his hideout and come home.

Speaker 1

12:55

Doubtless nervous about this invitation, Vitalian asked for some kind of concrete reassurance of his safety. So Justin, Justinian and Vitalian exchanged oaths of allegiance and with that the general was welcomed back into the fold. More than that, Justin greeted him warmly and appointed him commander of 1 of the pre-central armies for good measure. Justin of course wanted more than just the restoration of orthodoxy.

Speaker 1

13:26

He wanted to put an end to the occasion schism and get the church back in communion with the Pope. Growing up as a Latin speaker in the Western Balkans, it was anathema to Justin and his countrymen to be cut off from their spiritual leader. An embassy was sent to Rome to begin negotiations, though this was not as simple as it might sound. 1 of the men who was not happy to see Justin become Emperor was Theodoric over in Italy.

Speaker 1

13:58

Now in his 60s, the great Ostrogoth knew that upon his death, the Byzantines might try to repudiate Gothic rule in Italy and take it back for the Empire. The Roman clergy were not interested in any compromise with heretic monophysites, so as long as the emperors were pushing compromises like the Hannoticon, the Italians might actually prefer to have Goths guarding their churches. However, with a true champion of orthodoxy on the throne, there was every likelihood that the Italians would revert back to seeing the Emperor as their true ruler and the Goths as foreign interlopers. Sensitive to this situation, Justin wooed Theodoric with 2 offers.

Speaker 1

14:45

The first was that Theodoric's chosen successor, his son-in-law Euthyric, would share the consulship with Justin himself the following year. Moreover, Justin would adopt Euthyric according to German custom, so not a legal adoption in Roman law, but still enough to assure his succession to the throne. Euthyric, by accepting the adoption, would also give formal submission of the Gothic state to the Empire. With the diplomatic path cleared, Pope Hormizdas could finally get what he wanted.

Speaker 1

15:23

The Hynoticon was no more and the memories of Acacius, Zeno and Anastasius were all damned for their part in it. They weren't erased from history, as Augustus had once tried to do to Mark Antony, their names would just no longer be remembered by the Orthodox Church during its annual celebrations. The schism was at an end, and Justin set in motion a persecution of Monophysite monks and clergy. Throughout the East, men were asked to either accept the Orthodox Creed as laid out at the Council of Chalcedon or leave their posts.

Speaker 1

16:03

This worked out adequately in the case of the bishops, with only 55 reportedly refusing to accept. However, nothing was done about Egypt, whose monophysite majority were too firmly entrenched to be easily removed. Justin left the patriarch of Alexandria, Timothy, alone to guard his flock, which by now included the agitator Severus, who had fled Antioch upon Justin's accession. Bishops were 1 thing, monks were another.

Speaker 1

16:37

The reason Zeno had come up with the Hanotikon was because attempts to force monophysites to change their views had conspicuously failed. Half a century later and their beliefs were as firmly held as ever. Jesus had warned his followers that there would be pain in store and so the brave or the pious now became martyrs for their monophysite beliefs. 1 monastic community at Omeda were driven from their home but were still campaigning to be reinstated a decade later.

Speaker 1

17:09

Some monks were forced to live amongst the people once more but of course continued to practice and preach their beliefs, in some cases converting citizens who would otherwise have remained orthodox. The persecutions would rumble on for some time, and we will return to them again. As I mentioned earlier, we will deal with Justinian's rapid political rise in the next episode. But by 520, he had been given command of the other praescental army, so that he and Vitalian would be comrades at meetings in the palace.

Speaker 1

17:45

An interesting aspect of Vitalian's revolt was that he had not done what practically every other rebellious soldier in Roman history had. He had not declared himself emperor. He had simply styled himself as the defender of orthodox belief and had never stated officially his desire to replace Anastasius. Vitellian had therefore become a powerful figure, his cause had won the day even if he had not been personally victorious.

Speaker 1

18:16

He was made consul for the year and his position at court seemed assured. But things were not as they might seem. In July of 520, on his way to dinner at the palace, Vitellian was ambushed and killed. Gibbon reports that he was stabbed 17 times.

Speaker 1

18:37

No official verdict was given on who was responsible, but the fact that the deed was done near the palace and that Justinian was the 1 who most benefited from his death, the verdict of historians is unanimous. Vitalian had rebelled against an emperor and could not be trusted and now there was no longer any serious rival to Justin or his nephew. Last time, we introduced the man who became emperor after Anastasius, Justin, a Balkan peasant turned soldier whose first acts upon securing the throne were to reorient the imperial attitude toward Christianity. Justin's firmly held Orthodox beliefs led him to restore communion with Rome and persecute those Eastern Monophysites who he could get his hands on.

Speaker 1

19:54

The power behind the throne, it has always been assumed, was that of Justin's nephew, Justinian. It is he who we now need to introduce. These next few podcasts are all going to feature fairly detailed introductions to the characters who will inhabit Justinian's court. Some of the books on the period almost list off a dramatist's personae, like the program of a play, to make sure you know who everyone is and how they relate to 1 another.

Speaker 1

20:25

I'm trying to spread these introductions out amongst the narrative so you don't have to memorise too much all at once. Stay with me and future podcasts will be far more rewarding because of the work we put in now. Flavius Petrus Sabbatius was born around 483 to Justin's sister Vigilantia and her husband Sabatius. They were a family of peasant farmers in the village of Tiresium, not far from where Justin had been born.

Speaker 1

21:00

We know nothing of his early years, but at some point while he was a teenager, his family headed east at the invitation of Uncle Justin, who now that he had become a respectable soldier in the capital, was determined to find positions for his family. This included Justinian's sister, also called Vigilantia, and Germanus. It was young Petrus though who Justin clearly favoured as he formally adopted the boy and in gratitude Flavius Petrus Sabbatius added the name Justinianus to his name and so is known to us in English as Justinian. It was that last name that he would be known as by his contemporaries and by history.

Speaker 1

21:46

Justinian's face is more familiar to us than perhaps any other Roman emperor because of the survival of the famous mosaic in Ravenna. He was described as of medium height, neither fat nor thin, with a round shaved face, a sharp nose and curly hair. Like many a poor man made good, Justin wanted to ensure that his adopted son had the kind of advantages that he didn't. This meant that young Justinian received the best Roman education which money could buy.

Speaker 1

22:19

This would of course have included the traditional liberal arts with grammar, rhetoric, law, history and so on, but by now this education would also involve plenty of religious instruction and some exposure to the neo-platonist philosophy which had tried to marry classical philosophy with Christian theology. Some threads of this thought sought to identify the 1 true God with the concept of a transcendent realm where the conflicts of lower domains, such as ours, were reconciled. Historians have surmised that Justinian's education helped shape the distinctive worldview he would later demonstrate, and so a little speculation on what his education may have taught him could be valuable. Born in the West, like his uncle, Justinian would have inherited his family's predisposition toward orthodoxy, the Pope, and a nostalgia for the Western Empire.

Speaker 1

23:18

Once his education took hold, he would have been steeped in the history of a people who throughout their writings saw their empire and their laws as upholding civilization against barbarity. His philosophy teachers spoke of a realm where the 1 true God brought everything to peace, and his religious education would have taught him that the job of the Roman Empire was now to mirror the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. For Justinian, therefore, an ideology may have been developing which saw the Roman Empire as needing to retake what was lost, not just for civilization's sake, but because it was what God willed. The unity and peace of that higher realm should be brought to the earthly empire where all people should unite under 1 law and 1 belief in 1 God.

Speaker 1

24:12

A little armchair psychology also gives us clues as to what drove the young man once power was within his grasp. Justinian was, after all, an outsider in Constantinople. He grew up on a farm in a Latin-speaking village that no 1 had ever heard of. He stepped into a Greek-speaking world where many of his classmates would have had an intrinsic understanding of language and culture that he didn't.

Speaker 1

24:38

It's easy to imagine in Justinian an insecurity stemming from this disadvantage and a feverish desire to prove that he was as good, if not better than others. William Rosen, who writes very entertainingly about Justinian, suggests that he may have had a convert's enthusiasm for Constantinople and the circles he was now moving in. It must all have seemed so exciting compared to the rural surroundings of his formative years. To bring us back from speculation closer to the evidence, the sources described Justinian as a good student, bright, alert and interested in multiple topics.

Speaker 1

25:19

He would turn into a workaholic and insomniac as time went on. Contemporaries refer to him as being constantly at work, and Procopius reports stories of his late-night fretting around the corridors of the palace. We should note, however, that Justinian was keen to emphasize this himself, writing in some of his edicts about his tireless work to restore the empire. There is little evidence to suggest otherwise, though.

Speaker 1

25:48

1 law which Justinian was directly involved in drafting concerns the regulation of the price that Constantinople's small farmers could charge for fresh vegetables. If there was something he could work on personally, than he would. We're also sure of his devotion to Christianity. Procopius tells us that he took Lent very seriously, fasting for 2 days and then abstaining from wine for the rest of the season, living off wild herbs dressed with oil and vinegar.

Speaker 1

26:21

The personal writing of Justinian, which survives, reveals frantic theological speculations on Christian doctrine. Through this and the laws he passed, we see a genuine concern for his faith and a real hostility to the enemies of the Church. This has been, of course, a far more thorough introduction than most Emperors receive, which as I pointed out last time, is a reflection of both the length of his coming reign and the sheer amount of sources that have come down to us. Once his education was complete, Justinian was enrolled in various palace regiments, simultaneously avoiding hard military campaigning, while also gaining a good deal of insight into the politics and intrigue of court life.

Speaker 1

27:12

Justinian may well have used this knowledge to ensure that Justin would emerge as Anastasius' successor. Justinian was about 36 at the time of Justin's accession, and was 1 of the imperial guards. 2 months later, we get a pretty clear insight into how close nephew and uncle were when we find Justinian himself writing to the Pope, inviting him not just to send representatives to Constantinople but to come himself to end the schism. Clearly Justinian felt confident in his uncle's support to make so bold a venture and he wasn't done there.

Speaker 1

27:52

In 519, a group of monks from the province of Scythia gained notoriety by formulating a new explanation of Christ's nature that might be able to heal the rift between the Orthodox and the Monophysites. This doctrine became known as the Theopaschite formula and argued that 1 of the Trinity had been crucified. This formula, in theory, could satisfy both sides of the theological divide. Basically, there was a divine part of Jesus and by occupying his human body, it could be brought to suffer on the cross.

Speaker 1

28:31

The key here was to keep the 1 nature of Christ, the mono nature of Christ, as divine, to keep the monophysites happy, while also showing that he did genuinely suffer in a human body to satisfy the Orthodox. The relevant point here for us is not really the theology but the politics. The Orthodox in Constantinople were very wary of any doctrine that looked to be compromising what they had just celebrated the restoration of. However the Theopaschite formula received the support of Vitalian, whose Orthodox credentials could not be doubted and the delegation of monks were encouraged to make their case to the papal delegates who had arrived to end the schism.

Speaker 1

29:20

They were of course not in the capital to negotiate and turn the monks away. The monks though, determined in their beliefs, headed for Rome where they were to remain for 14 months, irritating the Pope until he could expel them. In the meantime though, Justinian listened to them, and wrote to the Pope to oppose the new formula. Then, a few days later, after thinking it over, he changed his mind, and wrote again, urging the Pope to accept the proposal for the peace of the church.

Speaker 1

30:00

Of course the Pope wasn't interested in any of this, but it tells us several interesting things about Justinian. Of course there is the sheer brazenness of the Emperor's nephew writing to the Vicar of Christ to tell him his opinions on theological matters. There is also some suspicion that Justinian didn't want Vitalian to be the man who had supported the formula which unified the church. But perhaps less cynically, we can see this incident as evidence of Justinian's flexibility and genuine desire to unite the church.

Speaker 1

30:33

Despite the persecution that his uncle was unleashing on the Monophysites, Justinian could already see the value in a formula which would allow the church to be brought back together. 1 church of 1 empire worshipping 1 God. Justinian would not forget the potential he saw in the Theopaschite formula and will return to it down the road. By 519, Justinian had been promoted to count of the domestics and a year later he was master of 1 of the pre-central armies, from bodyguard to general in 2 years.

Speaker 1

31:14

It's Now that we catch up with the narrative from the last podcast, and the verdict of history remains unanimous that Justinian engineered Vitalian's murder in order to secure his own position as heir presumptive. However pious a Christian he might be, we can be sure that moral concerns didn't stand in the way of his ambitions. Justinian had risen from peasant to potential Caesar, and he wasn't about to let that slip from his grasp. Soon afterwards, he gained the rank of patrician, which paved the way for him to become a senator, and in 521 he was made consul.

Speaker 1

31:57

1 of the few responsibilities left to this once-great office was to host and pay for the consular games to be held at the start of the new year. Justinian was determined to win the favor of the crowds and also wanted to draw a contrast between the new regime and the prudish penny-pinching era of Anastasius. So he spent and spent and spent. Estimates suggest Justinian splashed out about 4, 000 pounds of gold on decorations, stage machinery, 20 lions, 30 panthers, and a number of other exotic beasts who were to be fought and killed in the Hippodrome.

Speaker 1

32:45

A certain amount was laid on in handouts and freebies for the people. The games were intended to be the most lavish public spectacles that Constantinople had ever seen, and few claimed that they weren't. The chariot races were said to be of such superb quality and caused such excitement that the final contest had to be cancelled for fear of serious public disturbances. Justinian handed out magnificent horses as prizes to the charioteers.

Speaker 1

33:15

No expense was spared as the consul put Anastasius' treasure reserves to the kind of use that the deceased emperor would have thoroughly disapproved of. The games were a success for Justinian, but he was still aware of his uncle's precarious position. He was after all an upstart emperor with no political base of support beyond the palace guards, so Justinian decided to secure a base himself, and The expense of the games had naturally endeared him to the Deans. Emperors had tended to favour 1 of the factions over the other, and although Anastasius had tried to avoid the issue, he had been associated with the Greens.

Speaker 1

34:00

Justinian therefore sought out the Blues. Here after all were a professional organisation who could chant support for his uncle, win races in his honour and provide a gang of street toughs to give him muscle should any opponents need reminding of who the new men in charge were. Justinian's covert and overt support for the Blues became quite extraordinary over the next few years. They took their new political support to mean that they had a license to banditry, and began assaulting their enemies, extorting protection money, or robbing people's houses.

Speaker 1

34:42

Some in positions of authority were attacked for reporting their crimes, with Justinian apparently looking the other way. By 523, the Blues were accused of openly murdering their opponents in daylight, and respectable people everywhere were aghast at the abuses going on. When a well-known citizen was killed inside the Hagia Sophia, news reached Justin, who was furious. It's not clear how much he knew about what his nephew was up to, and he reacted firmly, executing those involved and handing out strict punishments to other members of the Deems.

Speaker 1

35:22

Justinian did not intervene and probably realized that he had let things get out of control. He began to rein the blues in and by 527 issued a law which made it explicit that justice should be even-handed for rioters in the cities. We'll leave domestic concerns until next episode and finish this week's instalment with the foreign policy issues which Justin had to deal with during the earlier part of his reign. In the West, relations with Theodoric's Italy began to deteriorate soon after Justin had smoothed over the reunion of the churches.

Speaker 1

36:04

As you know, Theodoric's great fear was that the Empire would want to reclaim direct rule over Italy, destroying the safe and favorable position which his people currently enjoyed. A series of events conspired to make Theodoric increasingly paranoid that his fears were coming true. In 522, Euthyric, Theodoric's son-in-law, died, leaving only a four-year-old son as heir to the Gothic throne. A few months later and Pope Hormizdas, a strong ally of Theodoric's, also passed away.

Speaker 1

36:43

His successor Pope John was associated with the pro-imperial faction in Rome and rumors began to swirl that senators were openly writing to the Emperor to discuss how the Goths could be removed from the equation. Soon An actual letter was found and a senator named Albinus was accused by the Goths of conspiring with Justin. A highly educated and respected senator named Boethius attempted to defend his friend. Boethius argued that the letter was not a personal 1 from Albinus, but 1 expressing the views of the Senate and merely keeping their lawful sovereign appraised of the situation in his province.

Speaker 1

37:28

If you're going to punish Albinus, Boethius argued, then you might as well punish all of us. Unfortunately, some of Boethius' enemies at court took this to mean a confession of guilt and charged Boethius with treason. Theodoric took personal charge of the case and condemned him to death, seemingly to teach the Senate a lesson. The arrest and execution of such a popular figure took the other senators by surprise and doubtless pushed many of them into the pro-imperial camp.

Speaker 1

38:07

Boethius took revenge on Theodoric with his pen and while waiting for his execution, composed a book called The Consolation of philosophy, where he lashes out at Gothic depravity, revealing many of the injustices which the Italians were feeling under the Gothic yoke. That fateful year of 522 saw things go from bad to worse for Theodoric. Across the sea in Carthage, the Vandal King Thrasymund died. He had been a strong ally of the Goths and was married to Theodoric's sister Amalafrida.

Speaker 1

38:45

The new king was Hilderic, who was the son of Huneric and Eudacia, the daughter of Valentinian III. You may recall from the history of Rome that she was carried off during the Vandal sack of Rome and had brought up her son to appreciate his Roman heritage. Hilderic went further than that, abandoning the Arianism of his people and becoming a Catholic. Hilderic was already on friendly terms with Justin and Justinian and upon his secession he put an immediate stop to all the anti-Catholic policies of his predecessor and when Amalafrida protested she was locked up and her Gothic retinue were murdered.

Speaker 1

39:31

As if this weren't bad enough for the Gothic king, 3 years later the dutifully Orthodox Justin announced a new law banning Arianism within the Empire. Their churches would be closed and those refusing to recant would not be allowed to hold public office or serve in the army. Aryanism was no longer a force within the Empire but as with any sect it hadn't been wiped out completely. The law was quite an affront to Theodoric of course because he was a patrician within the empire and his people were Arian.

Speaker 1

40:06

The law was calling into question whether he could rightfully rule the Italian prefecture. So in the autumn of 525, Theodoric sent Pope John to Constantinople to argue his case. Not missing a trick though, Justinian rolled out the red carpet for the pontiff's arrival, greeting him with all the splendor and dignity that could be afforded. The Pope's status as the highest patriarch in the empire was reaffirmed and Justin even insisted that he be re-crowned by John personally.

Speaker 1

40:45

The Pope stayed in the capital for 5 months and celebrated Christmas and Easter in the Hagia Sophia before returning to Ravenna with some concessions in hand. Despite getting Justin to agree to remove the harshest restrictions on the Aryans, Theodoric was clearly unhappy with reports of just how friendly John had been with the Emperor. Upon his return in 526, he was imprisoned and died shortly afterwards, although historians believe he was already ill and on his way out. Still, when his body returned to Rome, there were protests and he was viewed as a martyr by the Catholics who were looking with increasing suspicion at their Gothic Arian king.

Speaker 1

41:37

The new Pope, Felix IV, was chosen specifically for his sympathy to the Gothic regime. Meanwhile, in the east, the news of Anastasius' death prompted the Persian King Kavad to send a note to the new emperor reminding him that he still wanted money to be paid to guard the passes through the Caucasus Mountains and also that the new city of Daraa, which Anastasius had built, was an illegal breach of the treaty between the 2 great empires. Justin was slow in responding to these requests, which had after all been the pretext for war back in 502. So Kavadh encouraged the Lakhmid Arabs under their chief Al-Munthar to raid Byzantine Ostrohene.

Speaker 1

42:33

I should really say Al-Munthar ibn Nutman. Al-Munthar's raid was a success and he managed to capture the local dukes and offer him for ransom to the Byzantines. Justin now sent his reply, a firm no, to Kavad and negotiated for the return of the Dukes and other prisoners in February 524. During the negotiations, News came of yet another incident that would require Justin's attention.

Speaker 1

43:06

In 523, a new king had ascended to the throne of Himyar, which covers the area of the modern Yemen. The new king, Yusuf du Nuwas, was Jewish and announced that all the Christians in his kingdom should either convert or be killed. This included the Aksumite or Ethiopian garrison who lived in the city of Zafar. Yusuf offered the troops safe passage home and once the terms were accepted and the gates were open, he slaughtered them.

Speaker 1

43:41

Next he moved on to the city of Najran, which had a large Christian population. This time he locked a couple of thousand Christians in a church and set it on fire. Legend has it that a group of virgins, upon hearing the news, rushed down to the church to jump into the fire, crying defiantly how sweet it was to breathe in the scent of burning priests. News of these atrocities offended Justin, and worse, Yusuf had hoped to stir up the pagan Lachmids to join in their attacks on the followers of Christ.

Speaker 1

44:19

Al-Munthar had many Christians amongst his followers and so wasn't having it, and Justin dispatched the Patriarch of Alexandria, Timothy, to negotiate with the king of Axum about crushing this enemy of the faith. Caleb, the king of Axum, was happy to seek revenge and in the winter of 524 a Byzantine fleet carried the Axumite army to Yemen. It took 2 years to defeat him but as the Ethiopian force descended on Yusuf, he accepted that his time was at an end and rode his horse into the sea. Although this incident is far from our usual field of operations, it was seen as important in Constantinople to encourage the spread of Christianity, as well as gain access to Red Sea ports, which could help circumvent Persian dominance of the trade routes.

Speaker 1

45:13

From a longer-term perspective, I'm sure you can see the significance for our story of religious turmoil in the Arabian desert. Before we introduce the woman who will become Empress, I think we should continue the narrative of Justin's reign. The foreign policy developments during these years continued apace even as Justinian was falling in love. Last time, we saw how Justin's accession was greeted by demands from King Khavad over in Persia for cash and the deconstruction of the fortress of Dara.

Speaker 1

46:16

When Justin was slow to respond, Kavad unleashed his attack dog, Al-Munthar of the Lakhmid Arabs, to raid Byzantine territory and show the new emperor what saying no to the King of Kings felt like. These were the signs of lightning, warning of the thunderstorm to come. The kingdom of Lazica, which lay on the coast of the Black Sea, just north of the fringes of the Byzantine Empire, had been a Persian protectorate for over 50 years by the time the 520s came around. But bordering the Christian kingdoms of Byzantium and Armenia, the people had come to accept Jesus as their savior of choice.

Speaker 1

47:02

In 522 the Laz king passed away and his heir, Zath, traveled to Constantinople requesting baptism. This was no simple religious ceremony, it was an act of great political significance. Zath wanted to recognize Christianity as his kingdom's official religion and switch allegiance from Persia to Byzantium. Justin was only too delighted to invest Zath with the position of king, oversee his baptism, and even find him a Byzantine wife.

Speaker 1

47:40

King Kavad was naturally angry about 1 of his border states seeking closer ties with his great rival, and sent formal letters of protest. The defiantly Christian Justin responded that it was impossible to prevent someone who wished to enter a better way from knowing the 1 true God. Instead of seeing this as an insult, Kavad decided that if Justin wanted to go around protecting Eastern kings, then he might as well go all the way. Kavad wrote back to Justin and asked if he would formally adopt Kavad's own son, Khusrau, just as he had Justinian.

Speaker 1

48:24

The Emperor and his nephew greeted the news with surprise and delight. Here was a chance to ensure peace with the great Sasanian Empire. Justinian and Khusrau could be brothers both destined to inherit their respective thrones and lead a golden age of peace between the 2 bulwarks of civilization. So what exactly was going on here?

Speaker 1

48:48

I thought Khavad wanted cash from the Byzantines, not dynastic intertwining. Well Khavad was getting old. The king was now in his 70s and had 3 sons. His first 2 had followed their father's support for the proto-communist teachings of Mazdak, the Zoroastrian reformer who had stirred up the hatred of the traditional priesthood.

Speaker 1

49:14

Mazdak's work had rallied many disaffected elements behind Kavad's throne, but there was a problem. Love. Kavad had fallen madly in love with 1 of his wives, and she had given birth to his third son, Khusrow. Young Khusrow was ruthless, able, and bold, and Kavad showed him the kind of naked favoritism that was leading toward a constitutional crisis.

Speaker 1

49:43

If Khusrow were named heir it would not only lead his elder brothers to turn on him, but it would also undo much of the reforming work of Khavad's reign. You see Khosrow was an orthodox Zoroastrian and had no interest in Mazdak's teaching. Khavad was in a corner, He had to choose between his favorite son and the policies which he felt were strengthening the Persian state. In the resolute figure of the Emperor Justin, Kavad thought perhaps he could find a solution.

Speaker 1

50:18

If the Emperor would adopt Khusrau, then perhaps the traditional Zoroastrian elite would be too fearful of a Byzantine invasion to overthrow his beloved son. Everything seemed to be moving forward smoothly until Justin's quaestor got involved. The quaestor, as you know, was the highest legal officer in Byzantium, and the current incumbent of that office was a man named Proclus. An upright legalist, Proclus pointed out the obvious problem with adoption.

Speaker 1

50:53

Kusro might 1 day be the legal heir to the Byzantine throne. Although there was much debate about how any succession might come about, the solution seemed obvious. Justin could adopt Kusrow under a lesser custom than a formal father-son arrangement. Only a few years earlier, after all, Justin had adopted Uthoric under the German custom and surely he could now do the same for Khusrau.

Speaker 1

51:25

Unfortunately, this idea did not sit well with the Sassanid prince or his father. Enemies they may often have been, but the Persians and the Romans had come to accept over the centuries that each was the keeper of civilization. They should treat 1 another accordingly, with gifts and ambassadors and an underlying respect. All other peoples, of course, were barbarians, no matter how militarily strong they were.

Speaker 1

51:56

So to suggest that Khosrow in any way deserved the same treatment as a goth was deeply offensive. To make matters worse, in the meantime, the Christian king of Iberia, the neighboring kingdom to Lysica, tried to follow his neighbor's example and switch political allegiance to the Byzantines. It was poor Hypatius, the nephew of Anastasius, who headed the delegation which had the delightful task of telling Khusrau the new adoption suggestion and to debate what to do about a state that bordered Persia itself asking for a Byzantine garrison. Khusrau was of course outraged and Khavad launched a retaliatory invasion of Iberia in spring 525.

Speaker 1

52:49

The small Byzantine force which had recently arrived quickly retreated in the face of a full Persian army, and Khavad annexed the country, demanding that the people adopt Zoroastrianism as their official religion. The Iberian king Gorgon fled to Constantinople with his family while the Byzantines took up defensive positions. By 528 though, the Persians had the better of the fighting and had captured key forts on the approaches to Lazyka. Meanwhile in Persia itself, Kavad supported his son as Khusrau began a brutal suppression of the Mazdakites.

Speaker 1

53:31

The renewed war in the east was not going to be good for the Byzantines. As much as Justin embraced the Christian conversion of the Caucasus peoples, it was pulling the Empire into a war which they hadn't wanted. Meanwhile, in the West, Theodoric, the great Ostrogothic king, died on the 30th of September, 526. Christian sources delight in the suggestion that he was struck down for his poor treatment of Pope John, but he was in his 70s, so natural causes are entirely plausible.

Speaker 1

54:14

Theodoric had probably been the most successful of all the Germanic figures who had tried to hold Roman imperial titles during the era when the west fell. He had led his people away from the fallout of Attila's empire. He had crushed the enemies of Zeno in exchange for Italy. He had peacefully settled his people there and prevented the resentments of each side from overwhelming their pact.

Speaker 1

54:42

Often great figures in history are seen as such because of what unravels once they are gone. This is 1 such case. Theodoric's heir and grandson Athalaric was only 8 years old and so his mother Amalacantha became regent. Amalacantha had been given a Roman education and was encouraged by her father to maintain good relations between Goth and Italian and of course, Goth and Byzantine.