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justin ii 91
after the Gepids, who had been unreliable allies of the Romans for much
of Justinian’s reign, failed to obtain support from Justin, Avar participation
proved decisive. The Lombards migrated to Italy, wary of the enhanced
power of their erstwhile supporters; the Avars now occupied Pannonia;
and the Romans contented themselves with the recovery from the Gepids
of the fortress of Sirmium, which controlled an important crossing of the
river Sava. This prompted hostilities between Avars and Romans, Avars
claiming their right to all former Gepid possessions, the Romans relying on
their prior claim to Sirmium and the advantages of possession. There was
fighting in 570/1, with the Romans under the command of the comes excubitorum
Tiberius perhaps winning an initial victory but then being seriously
defeated. Justin did not concede Sirmium, but was probably forced to
resume diplomatic payments to the Avars. 12
The consequences of these events were felt most immediately in Italy,
where the Lombards, already familiar with the province from service
during the Byzantine reconquest, arrived in 568. In parts of northern Italy
Roman control had only recently been restored with the removal of
Frankish garrisons from certain Alpine forts and the submission of the last
Gothic resistance in 561, and elsewhere eastern administration was proving
unpopular: Justin was apparently told that Gothic rule was preferable.
There is an implausible story that Narses, who still controlled Italy as commander-in-chief,
was dismissed by Justin and retaliated by summoning the
Lombards. 13 Old age (Narses died, probably in 573/4, aged ninety-five) and
lack of resources meant that the Lombards could not be prevented from
overrunning much of the Po plain, where they installed dukes and garrisons
in the major cities, and establishing themselves further south at
Spoleto and Beneventum. The struggle may have been complicated by the
fact that significant contingents of Lombards were still serving in the
Roman armies and might switch sides as their fellow tribesmen were successful.
The main Roman achievement was to procure the assassination of
Lombard rulers – in 572 Alboin, who had led the invasion, and then in 574
his son Cleph. Thereafter there was a ten-year interregnum when the
Lombards were controlled by local dukes, a situation that should have
favoured the divisive operations of Roman diplomacy. 14
In the east Justin attempted to present the same bold front. The fiftyyears’
peace treaty of 561/2 had left some minor issues outstanding,
notably the status of the sub-Caucasian region of Suania. In negotiations
about this, Justin’s ambassador, John son of Comentiolus, was upstaged at
the Persian court and in return Justin snubbed a Persian ambassador and
haughtily rejected a request for subsidies from the pro-Persian Lakhmid
12 Menander frr. 8, 11–12, 15; Whitby, Maurice 86–7. 13 Discussion in PLRE iii.925–6.
14 Wickham (1981) 28–32.
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