Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

CHAPTER 4
THE SUCCESSORS OF JUSTINIAN
michael whitby
i. justin ii
Imperial succession
Despite his age and the conspiracies of his latter years, Justinian took no
steps to designate a successor. Whether he could not decide between the
merits of various relatives, or stubbornly preferred to allow the traditional
constituencies of senate, army and people to select a suitable candidate, is
unknown, but as a result the succession was presented to the man on the
spot, his nephew Justin, son of his sister Vigilantia and husband of Sophia,
the ambitious and competent niece of Theodora. Since at least the early
550s Justin had been curopalatus, a position of modest significance but
central to palace life, and had shown resolution in quelling faction rioting
in 562, but his career does not appear as distinguished as that of his main
rival within the extended imperial family, his cousin Justin, son of
Germanus, who had won victories in the Balkans and was currently serving
as magister militum on the Danube. Justin the curopalatus, however, was in
Constantinople and was well supported: the comes excubitorum, Tiberius, was
a protégé, and his presence in command of the imperial bodyguard indicates
that Justin had been planning ahead; other supporters included the
quaestor Anastasius, and the newly-appointed patriarch of Constantinople,
John Scholasticus, who had transmitted the prediction of Justin’s succession
made by Symeon Stylites at Antioch, and who now performed the coronation;
Callinicus, a leading senator, invited Justin to accept the
succession, while his brother Marcellus and son-in-law Baduarius were
both patricians. Sophia, too, was a powerful lady and will have had her own
network of friends. 1
But no chances were taken. Before news of Justinian’s death could
spread, Justin was hurriedly crowned on the same day (14 November)
within the Great Palace so that the populace, which had rioted in 560 at a
rumour of Justinian’s demise, was presented with a fait accompli when Justin
entered the Hippodrome. Justin may also have feared that his cousin, Justin
1 For details on these individuals, see PLRE iii.
86
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008