Symbolically, it provided Constantine with a break from his predecessors as Nicomedia was the choice of Diocletian and Rome the seat of all the rulers before him. Byzantium also represented his victories as it sat opposite the shore where he defeated Licinius to become the emperor of the entire Roman Empire. World View. Justinian set up a commission of lawyers to put together a single code, listing each law by subject so that it could be easily referenced.
The impact of a more unified legal code and military conflicts was the increased ability for the Byzantine Empire to establish trade and improve their economic standing. Byzantine merchants traded not only all over the Mediterranean region, but also throughout regions to the east. She was one of the most influential and powerful of the Byzantine empresses. Some sources mention her as empress regnant, with Justinian I as her co-regent.
Along with her husband, she is a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, commemorated on November She had laws passed that prohibited forced prostitution and closed brothels.
She created a convent on the Asian side of the Dardanelles called the Metanoia Repentance , where the ex-prostitutes could support themselves. She also expanded the rights of women in divorce and property ownership, instituted the death penalty for rape, forbade exposure of unwanted infants, gave mothers some guardianship rights over their children, and forbade the killing of a wife who committed adultery. A terrible plague swept through the empire, killing Theodora and almost killing him.
The army was also afflicted, and the Ostrogoths were able to effectively regain Italy in CE, through guerrilla warfare against the Byzantine occupiers. In the Roman-Persian Wars, the Persians invaded and destroyed a number of important cities. Justinian was forced to establish a humiliating year peace treaty with them in CE. Still, Justinian kept the empire from collapse. He sent a new general, Narses, to Italy with a small force.
Narses finally defeated the Ostrogoths and drove them back out of Italy. By the time the war was over, Italy, once one of the most prosperous lands in the ancient world, was wrecked. The city of Rome changed hands multiple times, and most of the cities of Italy were abandoned or fell into a long period of decline. The impoverishment of Italy and the weakened Byzantine military made it impossible for the empire to hold the peninsula.
Soon a new Germanic tribe, the Lombards, came in and conquered most of Italy, though Rome, Naples, and Ravenna remained isolated pockets of Byzantine control. At the same time, another new barbarian enemy, the Slavs, appeared from north of the Danube.
They devastated Greece and the Balkans, and in the absence of strong Byzantine military might, they settled in small communities in these lands. Justinian I achieved lasting fame through his judicial reforms, particularly through the complete revision of all Roman law that was compiled in what is known today as the Corpus juris civilis. Byzantine Emperor Justinian I achieved lasting fame through his judicial reforms, particularly through the complete revision of all Roman law, something that had not previously been attempted.
There existed three codices of imperial laws and other individual laws, many of which conflicted or were out of date. All three parts, even the textbook, were given force of law. They were intended to be, together, the sole source of law; reference to any other source, including the original texts from which the Codex and the Digesta had been taken, was forbidden. Nonetheless, Justinian found himself having to enact further laws, and today these are counted as a fourth part of the Corpus , the Novellae Constitutiones.
As opposed to the rest of the Corpus , the Novellae appeared in Greek, the common language of the Eastern Empire. His team was authorized to edit what they included.
How far they made amendments is not recorded and, in the main, cannot be known because most of the originals have not survived.
The text was composed and distributed almost entirely in Latin, which was still the official language of the government of the Byzantine Empire in , whereas the prevalent language of merchants, farmers, seamen, and other citizens was Greek.
Many of the laws contained in the Codex were aimed at regulating religious practice, included numerous provisions served to secure the status of Christianity as the state religion of the empire, uniting church and state, and making anyone who was not connected to the Christian church a non-citizen.
It also contained laws forbidding particular pagan practices; for example, all persons present at a pagan sacrifice may be indicted as if for murder. Other laws, some influenced by his wife, Theodora, include those to protect prostitutes from exploitation, and women from being forced into prostitution. Rapists were treated severely. Further, by his policies, women charged with major crimes should be guarded by other women to prevent sexual abuse; if a woman was widowed, her dowry should be returned; and a husband could not take on a major debt without his wife giving her consent twice.
Lugduni apud Gulielmum Rouillium, The Corpus forms the basis of Latin jurisprudence including ecclesiastical Canon Law and, for historians, provides a valuable insight into the concerns and activities of the later Roman Empire.
The only western province where the Justinian Code was introduced was Italy, from where it was to pass to western Europe in the 12th century, and become the basis of much European law code. It eventually passed to eastern Europe, where it appeared in Slavic editions, and it also passed on to Russia. Justinian I served as emperor of the Byzantine Empire from to Justinian is best remembered for his work as a legislator and codifier. During his reign, Justinian reorganized the government of the Byzantine Empire and enacted several reforms to increase accountability and reduce corruption.
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