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39-616: Possibly a relative of the Constantinian dynasty , she was Valentinian's second wife after Marina Severa , and stepmother of the augustus Gratian and the mother-in-law of the augustus Theodosius I . Her young son Valentinian was made emperor shortly after her husband's death in November 375. According to Late Antique ecclesiastical history , Justina was an Arian Christian , and began to promote this christology after her husband died, bringing her into conflict with Ambrose ,

78-539: A Roman usurper , from 350 to 353. Both Zosimus and the fragmentary chronicle of John of Antioch , a 7th-century monk tentatively identified with John of the Sedre , report that Justina was too young at the time of her first marriage to have children. In c. 370, Justina became the second wife of Valentinian I after his divorce. Barnes observed that Christian writers appeared to be embarrassed by his act, as few sources name his first wife. There are two different reports of

117-469: A constant worry for the emperors in this period since it was a too-common method of acceding the throne. Successful usurpers were usually provincial governors; commanders of a large grouping of Roman legions ; or prefects of the Praetorian Guard, which had control of Rome , where the imperial palace still lay. The danger of usurpation was greater after the death of an emperor when his successor

156-556: The augustae . Emperors are shown with a rounded-corner border with their dates as Augusti , names with a thicker border appear in both sections 1: Constantine's parents and half-siblings 2: Constantine's children Other rulers of the tetrarchy were related to the Constantinian dynasty: Roman usurper Roman usurpers were individuals or groups of individuals who obtained or tried to obtain power by force and without legitimate legal authority. Usurpation

195-660: The Constantinian dynasty through marriage. According to the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire the names Justus and Justina may also indicate a relation to the Vettius family. The Prosopography mentions a theory that Justus was a son of Vettius Justus , Consul in 328, and a woman of the Neratius family. The latter family produced several relatively notable members in the early 4th century. The first

234-625: The Crisis of the Third Century . From 235 to the accession of Diocletian and the establishment of the Tetrarchy in 286, Rome saw 28 emperors, only two of whom had a natural death (from the plague ). However, there were also 38 usurpers who raised revolts across the empire, a clear sign that the security of the frontiers was not the only problem within the Roman world. Usurpation attempts were

273-632: The Nicene Christian bishop of Mediolanum ( Milan ). In 387, fleeing from the invasion of the Italian Peninsula by the emperor Magnus Maximus , Justina took her children to the Balkans – including the child-emperor Valentinian II – and secured the intervention of the eastern emperor Theodosius in the civil war by marrying her daughter Galla to him at Thessalonica . Afterwards, Theodosius attacked and defeated Magnus Maximus, ending

312-526: The Roman Empire from Constantius Chlorus (died 306) to the death of Julian in 363. It is named after its most famous member, Constantine the Great , who became the sole ruler of the empire in 324. The dynasty is also called Neo-Flavian because every Constantinian emperor bore the name Flavius, similarly to the rulers of the first Flavian dynasty in the 1st century. In italics the augusti and

351-517: The Roman provinces . Provinces were ruled by a governor, whether a proconsul , propraetor or procurator , and were ascribed a certain number of legions, according to the degree of pacification that they required. Thus, the governors of, for instance, Moesia or Pannonia in the Danubian border had huge military contingents on their hands. The greater the number of legions a provincial governor had,

390-536: The fall of the Western Roman Empire . Commodus , the last emperor of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty dynasty, was remembered by contemporaneous chronicles as an unpopular ruler notorious for his extravagance and cruelty, and he was assassinated in 192. Without sons to be his heir, a struggle for power immediately broke out among the governors of the most important provinces. Pertinax was elevated to

429-451: The status quo and political credibility behind them, the usurper had to be a charismatic man to avoid doubts in his ranks and an untimely death. Valerian I , who defeated Aemilianus , himself a usurper, is an example of that kind. Other usurpers, like Philip the Arab , became emperor by a planned murder directed at an established sovereign (in that case, Gordian III ). However successful,

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468-401: The Constantinian dynasty, but was of illegitimate descent. According to the first version presented by him, Justina was a maternal granddaughter of Crispus, who could be deemed illegitimate by Constantius II. Another possibility is that Justina was born out of wedlock to Constans I and Justus's wife, but Justus was forced to recognize her as his daughter. Justina was first married to Magnentius,

507-443: The civil war, during which time Justina herself died. Justina was a daughter of Justus, governor of Picenum under Constantius II . According to Socrates of Constantinople , "Justus the father of Justina, who had been governor of Picenum under the reign of Constantius, had a dream in which he seemed to himself to bring forth the imperial purple out of his right side. When this dream had been told to many persons, it at length came to

546-596: The death of her husband. She maintained a long struggle against Ambrose , leader of the Nicene faction in Milan. The dispute started in 385 when Ambrose refused the imperial court's demand for the Arian usage of a basilica for Easter, a cause which Justina championed. Many church historians influenced by Ambrose's rhetoric wrote negative accounts about her, stating that she persecuted the bishop for selfish reasons. However, Justina

585-485: The emperor when Severa introduced the two. Justina became the stepmother of Gratian, Valentinian's son from his previous marriage. The couple had four additional children: a son, Valentinian II , and three daughters, Galla , Grata and Justa. According to Socrates, Grata and Justa remained unmarried. They were still alive in 392 but not mentioned afterwards. Valentinian I died in 375 in Aquincum , and Gratian inherited

624-485: The exact circumstances. The one given by John Malalas , the Chronicon Paschale and John of Nikiû say Severa committed fraud and was exiled, though Barnes considers it to be an attempt to justify the divorce of Valentinian I without blaming the emperor. The other version, given by Socrates, Jordanes and Theodorus Lector , has no mention of Valentinian's first wife being disgraced, and says that Justina met

663-691: The first comitatenses created. Men had to be removed from the frontier garrisons to create the internal legions. A smaller number of border legions meant less-secure borders and eventually, raids from the Germanic and Gothic tribes against the Rhine and the Danube became more frequent. In the East, the Persian Empire grew bolder in its attacks on the Roman communities. Moreover, since individual initiative

702-509: The greater the temptation to make a bid to the throne. And indeed, most usurpation attempts came from the Asian province of Syria, and the Rhine and Danube provinces, frontier provinces with large military presence. Thus, provinces were slowly divided into smaller units to avoid concentration of power and military capacity in the hands of one man. Syria is a perfect example: a single province in AD 14, it

741-473: The knowledge of Constantius, who conjecturing it to be a presage that a descendant of Justus would become emperor, caused him to be assassinated." Justina had two known brothers, Constantius and Cerealis. One of her daughters was named Galla . In La Pseudobigamie de Valentinien I (1958), J. Rougé argues all three names were representative of their descent from the Neratii , an aristocratic family connected to

780-514: The leadership of Richomeres , Arbogast , Promotus and Timasius . After a series of losses, Maximus was arrested in Aquileia and executed on 28 August 388. Theodosius sent Valentinian to the West; Zosimus believes that Justina intended to go with her son, but she died within the same year. Constantinian dynasty The Constantinian dynasty is an informal name for the ruling family of

819-456: The need of legions permanently in his reach to be deployed against possible internal threats. That caused the geographic division of the army into limitanei legions, which remained in the borders, and comitatenses , which were stationed in strategic points within the empire. Legio II Parthica , which was garrisoned in the Alban mountains outside Rome from the time of Septimius Severus, was among

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858-413: The ones who would become emperors. The unsuccessful usurpation attempts inevitably ended with the rebel's execution, murder or suicide and the subsequent erasure of his life from all records. That often causes confusion in the contemporaneous sources that are contradictory in the details of a certain rebellion. For instance, the usurper Uranius is placed by some in the reign of Elagabalus and by others in

897-589: The other hand, a man capable of sustaining a rebellion for a couple of months in a remote area might fail to produce his own coins by lack of access to the instruments of minting technology. Later assessment of usurpations demonstrated that some are questionable or even fictitious. Gallienus was the emperor who suffered greatest number of usurpations, with a record of 14 attempts (excluding the Gallic Empire secession) in 15 years of rule. However, three of these are clear fabrications, either contemporaneous to show

936-410: The people , resulting in a brief civil war . The Flavian dynasty started with Vespasian , only to end with the assassination of his second son, Domitian . Throughout most of the 2nd century, the empire enjoyed relative stability under the rule of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty , but the next century would be characterised by endemic political instability, one of the factors that eventually contributed to

975-497: The purple and recognized by his peers, but after his murder by a restive Praetorian Guard , Septimius Severus decided to make his bid for power and usurped the throne. Although initially a usurper, Severus managed to remain in power for the next 18 years and died a natural death while he was campaigning in northern Britain . The 235 death of Severus Alexander , the last emperor of the Severan dynasty , triggered what historians call

1014-409: The success of a usurpation attempt: the loyalty of the legionaries, which were heavily dependent on the amount of booty or monetary prizes promised on victory, and the trust of the military abilities of the commander upon which depended morale. Failure of either part to fulfill one or two of the criteria normally resulted in a mutiny and the death at the hands of their own soldiers. Since the emperors had

1053-408: The time chosen residence of Theodosius. Theodosius was a widower, his first wife Aelia Flaccilla having died in 386. He granted refuge to the fugitives, and commenced negotiations in which Justina took part. At the conclusion, Theodosius married Galla and agreed to reinstall Valentinian. In July–August, 388, the combined troops of Theodosius I and Valentinian II invaded the territory of Maximus under

1092-517: The time of Gallienus . Every new emperor, either legal or illegal, marked the beginning of his rule by minting new coins, both to have the prestige of declaring oneself as Augustus and to pay the loyal soldiers their share. Thus, coinage is often the only evidence of a determined usurpation, but the number of coin types with the effigy of a usurper might not be equal to the total number of usurpations. The presence of minting facilities certainly allowed short-term usurpers to release their coinage, but on

1131-549: The usurpation procedure always left the new emperor in a somewhat fragile political position since the throne had been attained by violent means. The danger of another usurper was always present, and the first measures taken were inevitably to put trusted men into important commands. Frequently, the emperor embellished his ancestry and early life to enhance his credibility or the right to the throne. Mentions of obscure genealogical relations with previous popular emperors were common and certainly confused historians. However, most of all,

1170-531: The usurper Magnus Maximus killed Gratian and took control of Britain , Gaul , Hispania and the Diocese of Africa . He ruled from his capital at Augusta Treverorum (Treves, Trier ) and was able to negotiate his recognition by Valentinian II and Theodosius I , starting from 384. The domain of Valentinian II had effectively been limited to Italia , ruling from Mediolanum. Justina was an Arian , though unable to act in favor of her religious faction until after

1209-423: The usurper maneuvered to keep his legions happy since he owed his power to their continued loyalty. The usurpation mania of the 3rd century had profound effects in the empire's bureaucratic and military organisation. Fear of potential rivals was to be the main driving force for the evolution of the Roman world from the early to the late Empire. One of the most striking changes was the division and multiplication of

Justina (empress) - Misplaced Pages Continue

1248-465: The western throne. According to Ammianus Marcellinus , Zosimus and Philostorgius , Justina and her son Valentinian were living near Sirmium when she was widowed. Quickly, general Cerealis, her brother, brought the younger Valentinian to Aquincum where the troops proclaimed him emperor without consulting the emperor Gratian. Afterward Justina accompanied the young Valentinian II to Mediolanum (modern Milan ), where she assisted with his rule. In 383,

1287-400: Was Galla , wife of Julius Constantius and mother of Constantius Gallus . Her brothers were Neratius Cerealis , Consul in 358 and Vulcacius Rufinus , Praetorian prefect of Italy from 365 to his death in 368. Timothy Barnes has theorised that Justina was a granddaughter or great-granddaughter of Crispus through her mother, whose name is unknown, another suggestion is that her mother

1326-405: Was a common way to assume the imperial purple, the giving of important commands to competent generals was asking for trouble. Jealousy and fear often prevented the presence of the right man to deal with a specific threat, and so marginal provinces were often raided, sacked or conquered. The only usurpers whose early life and specific circumstances of rebellion are known with reasonable certainty are

1365-544: Was endemic during the Roman imperial era, especially from the crisis of the third century onwards, when political instability became the rule. The first dynasty of the Roman Empire, the Julio-Claudian dynasty (27 BC – 68 AD), justified the imperial throne with familial ties through adoption . However, conflicts within the family led to the demise of the line. Nero committed suicide in 68 as an enemy of

1404-402: Was in the mid-3rd century divided into four different administrative regions: Tres Daciae, Cappadocia, Syria Coele and Syria Palestina. Similarly, Moesia and Pannonia were divided into Superior and Inferior (Upper and Lower) halves; Dardania was later separated from Moesia and Pannonia was further divided into Prima, Valeria, Savia and Secunda. As the fear of civil war increased, the emperor felt

1443-432: Was not accepted by all provinces. Usually, the legions acclaimed their own commander as emperor on news of the accession of a less popular man. The acclaimed emperor, usually a provincial governor, would then march to Italy or where the opponent was stationed to contest for the purple. However, since legionaries disliked fighting against their brothers in arms, battles between legions rarely transpired. Two main factors decided

1482-591: Was not the only person in the court pursuing the Arian worship, since Gothic soldiers and some high-ranking civilian and military officials under Valentinian also had a stake in it. In 387, Maximus broke his truce with Valentinian II by crossing the Alps into the Po Valley , where he threatened Mediolanum. Justina, Valentinian and Galla fled to Thessaloniki , capital of the Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum and at

1521-608: Was the daughter of Julius Constantius and his first wife, the aforementioned Galla. Hence, this makes Justina at the heart of the family connexions between the Constantinian and the Valentinianic (and later Theodosian ) dynasties. David Woods points out that Themistius thanked Constantius II for saving the empire from "bastard and spurious successors", which probably meant the future children of Justina and usurper Magnentius . Thus, in Woods' opinion, Justina indeed belonged to

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