65 Justinian II Byzantine emperor (from 565) 574

Justinian II

Justin II, (died October 4, 578) Byzantine emperor (from 565) whose attempts to maintain the integrity of theByzantine Empire against the encroachments of the Avars, Persians, and Lombards were frustrated by disastrous military reverses.

A nephew and close adviser of the Byzantine emperorJustinian I, Justin II became emperor in November 565 following his uncle’s death. He began his reign on a note of resolution and common sense; he paid state debts, remitted overdue taxes, and reduced expenditures.

In the early part of his reign, Justin allowed a measure of toleration to the dissidentmonophysite Christians. Initially, he hoped to bring about a union of the monophysitefactions and then to unite them with the orthodox church. In March 571, however, he inaugurated a policy of persecution and issued a lengthy antimonophysitic creed that all clergy were required to sign under penalty of imprisonment.

In the West, despite an alliance with the Franks, Justin was unable to prevent the Lombards from entering Italy in 568, and parts of that country were soon permanently lost. His relations with the Avars and Persians were marked by similar, though less serious, reverses. Shortly after his accession, determined to abandon Justinian’s policy of buying peace, he rejected an Avar request for tribute. In 568 he concluded an alliance with the Western Turks of Central Asia, apparently directed against the Avars and Persians. Yet after campaigning against the Avars, who were ravaging the Danubian frontier, he was forced to come to terms with them in 571. Three years later a treaty was concluded stipulating that the Byzantines pay a yearly tribute to the Avars. In 576 the Western Turks, angered by the treaty, not only broke off their alliance with Justin but also seized a Byzantine stronghold on the Crimean Peninsula.

In 571 the part of Armenia governed by Persia revolted and requested assistance from theByzantine Empire. In the late summer of the following year, Justin’s forces invaded Persia. The Persians, however, not only repulsed the Byzantines but themselves invaded Byzantine territory, capturing a number of important cities, including Dara, which fell in November 573. After learning of the fall of Dara, Justin became insane, and in 574 the empress Sophia, acting on his behalf, entered into peace negotiations.

Induced by Sophia to adopt as his son the general Tiberius, Justin conferred on him the title of caesar in December 574. Thereafter, Justin, although nominally still emperor, lived in retirement until his death.

Justinian II (Greek: Ἰουστινιανός Β΄, Ioustinianos II, Latin: Iustinianus Augustus) (669 – 11 December 711), surnamed the Rhinotmetos orRhinotmetus (ὁ Ῥινότμητος, "the slit-nosed"), was the last Byzantine Emperorof the Heraclian Dynasty, reigning from 685 to 695 and again from 705 to 711. Justinian II was an ambitious and passionate ruler who was keen to restore the Empire to its former glories, but he responded poorly to any opposition to his will and lacked the finesse of his father, Constantine IV.^[1] Consequently, he generated enormous opposition to his reign, resulting in his deposition in 695 in a popular uprising, and he only returned to the throne in 705 with the help of a Bulgar and Slav army. His second reign was even more despotic than the first, and it too saw his eventual overthrow in 711, abandoned by his army who turned on him before killing him.

Justinian II was eldest son of Emperor Constantine IV and Anastasia.^[2] His father raised him to the throne as joint emperor in 681 on the fall of his unclesHeraclius and Tiberius.^[3] In 685, at the age of sixteen, Justinian II succeeded his father as sole emperor.^[4]

Due to Constantine IV's victories, the situation in the Eastern provinces of the Empire was stable when Justinian ascended the throne.^[5] After a preliminary strike against the Arabs in Armenia,^[6] Justinian managed to augment the sum paid by the Umayyad Caliphs as an annual tribute, and to regain control of part ofCyprus.^[5] The incomes of the provinces of Armenia and Iberia were divided among the two empires.^[1] In 687, as part of his agreements with the Caliphate, Justinian removed from their native Lebanon 12,000 Christian Maronites, who continually resisted the Arabs.^[7] Additional resettlement efforts, aimed at theMardaites and inhabitants of Cyprus allowed Justinian to reinforce naval forces depleted by earlier conflicts.^[1]

Justinian took advantage of the peace in the East to regain possession of theBalkans, which were before then almost totally under the heel of Slavic tribes.^[7] In 687 Justinian transferred cavalry troops from Anatolia to Thrace. With a great military campaign in 688–689, Justinian defeated the Bulgars of Macedonia and was finally able to enter Thessalonica, the second most important Byzantine city inEurope.^[1]

The subdued Slavs were resettled in Anatolia, where they were to provide a military force of 30,000 men.^[1] Emboldened by the increase of his forces in Anatolia, Justinian now renewed the war against the Arabs.^[8] With the help of his new troops, Justinian won a battle against the enemy in Armenia in 693, but they were soon bribed to revolt by the Arabs. The result was that Justinian was comprehensively defeated at the Battle of Sebastopolis,^[9] caused by the defection of most of his Slavic troops, while he himself was forced to flee to the Propontis.^[8]There, according to Theophanes,^[10] he took out his frustration by slaughtering as many of the Slavs in and around Opsikion as he could lay his hands on.^[11] In the meantime, a Patrician by the name of Symbatius proceeded to rebel in Armenia,^[8]and opened up the province to the Arabs, who proceeded to conquer it in 694–695.^[1]