How Did Justinian Influence The Medieval Era

The Middle Ages was a period of stagnation wedged between the time of the Roman Empire and the Modern Age. Many people may write this entire period off as historically unproductive and therefore pointless to study. However, comprehending this period is essential to understanding modern Europe, and one man who certainly merits study for his work during this time is the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. This paper will examine Justinian’s positive and negative influence in the medieval era through religion, building projects, the Gothic War, and the Justinian Code.
First, Justinian greatly influenced the medieval era through religion, specifically through doctrine concerning Christ’s deity. The Eastern Roman Empire had struggled for some time

with this doctrine as the Catholic view had been challenged constantly on the issue of Christ’s deity. Though Constantine had addressed this controversy at the Council of Nicaea, this issue was still prevalent a century later during Justinian’s time. During this time, an Alexandrian monk named Eutyches asserted that Jesus was only divine in nature, a belief known as Monophysitism. Because Justinian wished to unify the eastern and western churches, he faced a dilemma since many in Alexandria and Syria held strongly to this belief. In fact, his own wife Empress Theodora strongly supported Monophysitism, making his effort for unity even more difficult. In the end, Justinian tried to find some middle ground, a decision that proved to be disastrous since neither side of the disagreement was satisfied. As a result, a schism arose between the eastern and western churches, and relations with the Monophysites in Alexandria and Syria became strained. Because of Justinian’s position and the resulting tension, the Monophysites in the eastern part of the empire became disloyal and more welcoming to Muslim invasions to the area. As the ruler of Byzantium, Justinian no doubt had access to biblical texts. He should have followed the Bible by rejecting the cult of the Monophysites and upholding true biblical doctrine instead of trying to compromise and only further dividing the kingdom.
Second, Justinian contributed to medieval culture through his building projects.

He improved defenses around the empire and constructed a large granary depot, market places, fountains, streets, theaters, and even a cistern for Constantinople. However, his most famous architectural work is the church of Hagia Sophia. For this project, he recruited the best architects of the age: Anthems of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus. About this structure, author Joseph Dahmus states, “In height it rises to the very heavens and overtops the neighboring buildings . . . Its length and breadth are so judiciously arranged that it appears to be both long and wide without being disproportioned.” The Hagia Sophia is most famous for its dome which was truly remarkable for its time. At 180 feet tall, this dome required the best architectural engineering of the era to support its enormous weight. Through these impressive building projects, especially the Hagia Sophia, Justinian was able to demonstrate the capabilities of early Byzantine architecture and improve many physical qualities of his

empire.
Third, Justinian influenced the medieval era through the Gothic War. Many of the wars that the Byzantines fought were defensive wars. In the East, Persia constantly remained a threat, and in the Danube region, Hunnic and Germanic tribes frequently pillaged Byzantine settlements. However, Justinian desired to wage war in the West against barbarian tribes who had overrun Italy and North Africa. He viewed it not only as his religious duty but also as his chance to reunify the empire under one emperor. By 532, a new ruler had ascended to the Persian throne; he and Justinian signed the “Endless Peace” which stabilized relations between the empires and allowed Justinian to pursue war in the West.
Justinian had major advantages fighting against these barbarians in Italy and North Africa. His generals Belisarius and Narses were the best in the world and consistently proved their steadfast loyalty to Justinian. Also, the influence of the East on the Byzantines was exhibited by the heavy use of armored horse archers called Cataphracts. Armed with not only a bow but also a javelin and a sword, these archers were some of the best warriors in the medieval world. Additionally, he had the advantage of vast resources at his disposal for waging a war that the barbarians simply did not have.
Despite these advantages, Justinian faced difficulties in the Gothic War.

Early Byzantine victories made it appear as if the war would end quickly, but the Byzantines had to fight nearly thirty years for victory. More barbarian raids on Byzantine land and the Persians breaking the “Endless Peace” treaty in 539 meant that troops were needed at three separate battle fronts. Therefore, Justinian was not able to allocate too many troops to any one territory without compromising the security of another. This dilemma worsened with the spread of the Great Plague which lasted from 541 to 543 and diminished his supply of

soldiers.
Moreover, Justinian often distrusted his generals, causing much division and inefficiency both on and off the battlefield. Even with troops available, Justinian remained unwilling to place a sufficient amount of soldiers under the command of a single general in fear that one would gain too much power and challenge his authority as emperor. The issues this caused culminated when Belisarius successfully orchestrated the siege of Rome, but Narses appeared shortly afterward with an army of his own, causing dissension between the generals and among the troops. According to author Joseph Dahmus, “If Justinian had entrusted Belisarius with the supreme military command in the West, he might have won the war in a few short years.” Narses was eventually removed, but the unity of the Byzantine army had been damaged. Justinian’s constant paranoia and indecisiveness proved to lengthen what should have been a quick and successful war into a long, drawn-out conflict that lasted for nearly thirty years.
The results of the Gothic war greatly affected both the Western Roman Empire and Byzantium. The prolonged war destroyed what was left of the Roman infrastructure in Italy so badly that the region did not fully recover until the tenth century. Although they were ultimately successful, Justinian had wasted such an extensive amount of money and soldiers that the Byzantines were unable to control Italy without losing territory on the other two battlefronts. The failure of the Gothic War resulted in leaders of the West such as Clovis, Pepin, and Charlemagne asserting their influence and territory being lost to the Persians and Germans. Indeed, Justinian’s gamble to reunify the empire failed and ultimately diminished both the Western and Eastern Empires.
Fourth, Justinian’s largest influence on the medieval era came through the Justinian Code, the greatest legal code ever formulated. There certainly could not have been a better man to oversee this undertaking as Justinian was more educated than most early medieval rulers. In fact, he likely would have had a great career as a lawyer had he not become emperor. Even before Justinian’s time, the Romans were famous for their law code based upon the principle of the rule of law, where laws and penalties for each offense were written down. However, after more than a thousand years of Roman rule, many laws became irrelevant, obsolete, or contradictory. Realizing that the law needed to be revised, Justinian made it a priority early in his reign to reexamine the Roman law code.
To do this, he appointed ten men to work on the first part of the code. This first commission was to make any additions and alterations while also eliminating all of the unnecessary, outdated, or contradictory portions. Next, Justinian assigned another commission to read the works of many prominent Roman jurists beginning with the time of Hadrian. His goal was to compile only the best information from the Roman jurists. Justinian allowed the commissioners to condense and amend the text, making this project successful and greatly improving the Roman law. After compiling over three million lines of text and reducing them to 150,000 lines, the Digest was completed. The Digest was expected to take ten years to complete, but because of the highly efficient workers that Justinian and others had assembled, it was completed in just under three years and became the greatest portion of the Justinian Code.
Two other portions of the Justinian Code are the Institutes and the Novels. The Institutes was a textbook for law schools that was written at the same time as the Digest so that students could immediately begin studying the new law code. The Novels was a list of 154 laws that were enacted during Justinian’s reign. Rooted in the absolute authority of a king, the Justinian Code influenced Europe beginning in the eleventh century. Every European nation except England—where Common Law prevailed—was heavily influenced by the Code during the late Middle Ages. Its influence can even presently be seen as European nations continue to use legal codes to interpret laws and their meaning.
Justinian positively and negatively influenced the medieval era through religion, building projects, the Gothic War, and the Justinian Code. He perhaps more influence than any other single ruler during this era as both his war against the Goths and the Justinian Code effected Western Europe for centuries. Consequently, Justinian’s achievements and failures make studying the medieval era relevant to better understand modern Europe.