It is said that great leaders are made not born. Justinian was not born a great leader but was made one through his hard work and a combination of circumstances that brought together an extraordinary generation of men and women that contributed greatly to the success of his government during his reign. However, one of the greatest parts of Justinian’s story is that he was born a peasant. This makes his story of achievement all the more interesting to the modern eye.
The case can be made that the nobility in the Middle Ages was flawed due to the fact that they tried to insulate themselves from the poor people. They were elitists at very nature. Yes, they may have assisted in the charity that was a part of Christianity, but they were not going to bring themselves down to the level of the common person. You see this in the so-called Western world, where the elites like to talk about democracy and representing the people. In many ways, they despise the people and want to segregate themselves as much as possible away from them. Not leaders are like this, but I would like to dismiss the concept that the elected leaders are more sympathetic to the people than their counterparts in the Middle Ages.
The culture that Justinian and his contemporaries were born into was one being transformed by religion. The Eastern Roman Empire was a highly centralized and stratified society. There were multiple social classes. The government was largely dominated by an old aristocracy (one that was largely new compared to the aristocrats in Rome). However, it was different from the Pagan Roman Empire in that it was dominated by the religion of Christianity. The religion advocated for the spiritual equality of all Christians and that charity was an important aspect of the religion.
Of course, not everyone was able to get help from the church. Some unfortunate souls like Justin I and his family had to seek out opportunities to alleviate their poverty. He was a swineherd, which means he took care of pigs. However, as to be expected, this sort of job did not really help his family attain prosperity. Furthermore, the Huns and other tribal groups were constantly harassing the Thracian and Danubian frontiers. This is where Justin lived, and he needed to get out of there and move his friends and family to somewhere safe. That somewhere safe was Constantinople.
Justin I joined the military and became a member of the excubitors, the emperor’s guard. During his time of service, he campaigned against the Isaurians and the Sassanian Persians. Serving with distinction, he rose through the ranks and eventually became a comes excubitorium, which was a commander of the palace guard. It is an incredible story of determination and fortitude on Justin’s part to have accomplished this. He served under Emperor Anastasius, an emperor whose class was in the land-owning gentry. Anastasius clearly did not let classism cloud his judgement when it came to his elevation of Justin.
When the time came for the succession, Justin played his cards right and managed to outmaneuver many of the aristocrats to eventually become the emperor. This was not without bloodshed, as with many things in the Eastern Roman Empire, eggs needed to be broken to make an omelet.
In spite of this, Justin was a very capable emperor, able to maintain the state of affairs that had prevailed under the previous emperor. However, his reign would be a footnote to the illustrious reign of his nephew, Justinian.
Justinian came from the same region as Justin. Historians are not entirely sure about their family relations, but Justin was his uncle and Justinian eventually took the namesake of this uncle. He too, made his way to Constantinople to find his fortune.
Justinian benefited from his connections with Justin and lived more comfortably than his uncle. However, this did not mean that Justinian could be rid of his peasant past in the eyes of the aristocratic class. Many in this class, including men like Procopius who wrote the Secret History were suspicious of Justinian and continued to lament the rise of these plebian emperors.
More importantly, Justinian may have benefited from his uncle’s rise in stature, but he cemented his image in history as an emperor was not made from the upper classes by marrying Theodora, who was a lower-class woman who worked in the theatres of Constantinople. Justin even made a law that made it legal for the marriage to go forward. This marriage represented something interesting for the Justinianic Dynasty. They didn’t marry outside of their class; they were the ultimate social climbers.
The old aristocracy had been ruling the Eastern Roman Empire from the confines of Constantinople ever since Constantine the Great had proclaimed the capital of a new Christian Empire. They were probably outraged at the fact that this relative of a peasant had managed to attain high office as emperor of the empire. This is not to say that Justinian’s reign, especially in the beginning went without a hitch. He was appointing alot of nouveau-riche men as administrators like John the Cappadocian and this led to dissatisfaction with his policies. This led to the Nike Riots, which saw many of the aristocrats manipulate the situation in order to get that peasant off the throne. Fortunately for Justinian, the Nike Riots were put down by the Generals Mundus and Belisarius. After the riots, Justinian began engaging in class warfare by confiscating the property of many of the senators who had taken part in the uprising.
Justinian would go on to be a transformative figure in the history of the Eastern Roman Empire, leading it through war and plagues. He managed to double the size of the empire and managed to resolve important religious conflicts that were tearing at the realm’s heart. This was all done by a man who probably illiterate in beginning stages of his life.
This story has been repeated around the world several times. China has seen two times when peasants became emperor. These men are Liu Bang and the Hongwu Emperor. The Byzantine Empire would see another dynasty founded by a peasant in the form of the Macedonian dynasty.
Justinian’s accomplishments regardless of his background should be a motivator for people around the globe. Regardless of one’s background, that shouldn’t get in the way of achievement.
Byzantine-Empire.com 