JUSTIN II, BYZANTINE EMPEROR

Justin II, Byzantine Emperor, the son of Justinian I's sister, Vigilantia, reigned nominally from Nov. 14, 565 to his death Oct. 5, 578. However his wife, Sophia, a niece of the empress, Theodora, took over the reins of power when he suffered a mental breakdown, and she persuaded Justin I, in a brief moment of lucidity, to appoint the count of the Excubitors, Tiberius, as emperor on Dec. 7, 574.

On his accession, Justin reversed Justinian I's policy of appeasing the empire's enemies on the frontiers with subsidies. In 572, he repudiated the peace treaty Justinian had negotiated with the Persians ten years earlier, and refused further subsidies, with the result that war was renewed. After some initial success, the Byzantines suffered disastrous defeat, losing the fortress of Daras to Persia. It was the news of this loss that triggered Justin's insanity. Sophia was forced to buy peace. Justin also ended the subsidies Justinian I had made to the Avars, but after the Byzantine debacle on the Persian frontier, the Avar khan was able to extort a generous payment. The Avars consolidated their control north of the Danube, helping the Lombards to destroy the Gepids, and then pushing the Lombards to leave for Italy in 568. The Lombard invaders found Italy ill-prepared; Justin could not spare reinforcements and the able but autocratic Narses, who had conquered the Ostrogoths (552) and might have organized resistance, had been dismissed on the eve of the invasion.

For six years, Justin and Sophia, who were initially sympathetic to the Monophysites, tried to find a solution to the schism between them and the orthodox, but in vain. Finally (March 22, 571), Justin turned to persecution and issued a comprehensive creed which all bishops, priests and monks had to sign or go to prison. Justin also brought about a short-lived union of the Armenian church with Constantinople at the start of his reign, when the Armenian Christians in Persian-controlled Persarmenia were hard pressed by Persian Zororastrians, and sought his help. He is supposed to have fixed Christmas to December 25, but it still fell on Jan. 6, in 1601.

Bibliography: a. a. vasiliev, A History of the Byzantine Empire (Madison, WI 1952; repr. 1964). a v. cameron, "The Empress Sophia," Byzantion 45 (1975) 5–21; "The Artistic Patronage of Justinian II," Byzantion 50 (1980) 62–84.; "The Early Religious Policies of Justin II," Studies in Church History 13 (1976) 51–67. p. goubert, Byzance avant l'Islam I (Paris 1951). h. turtledove, "Justin II's Observance of Justinian' Persian Treaty of 562," Byzantinische Zeitschrift 76 (1983) 292–303.

[j. a. s. evans]