Justina (empress)

Justina
Justina
Arian Christianity

Justina (

Latin: Iustina; c. 340 – c. 388) was a Roman empress. She was initially the wife of the rebel emperor Magnentius and was then married to Valentinian I, with whom she had four children, including the emperor Valentinian II and the empress Galla

.

Possibly a relative of the

Thessalonica

. Afterwards, Theodosius attacked and defeated Magnus Maximus, ending the civil war, during which time Justina herself died.

Family

Justina was a daughter of Justus, governor of Picenum under Constantius II.^[1] According to Socrates of Constantinople, "Justus the father of Justina, who had been governor of Picenum under the reign of Constantius, had a dream in which he seemed to himself to bring forth the imperial purple out of his right side. When this dream had been told to many persons, it at length came to the knowledge of Constantius, who conjecturing it to be a presage that a descendant of Justus would become emperor, caused him to be assassinated."^[3]

Justina had two known brothers, Constantius and Cerealis. One of her daughters was named Galla. In La Pseudobigamie de Valentinien I (1958), J. Rougé argues all three names were representative of their descent from the Neratii, an aristocratic family connected to the Constantinian dynasty through marriage.^[4] According to the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire the names Justus and Justina may also indicate a relation to the Vettius family.^[1]

The Prosopography mentions a theory that Justus was a son of

Praetorian prefect of Italy from 365 to his death in 368.^[5]

Valentinianic (and later Theodosian) dynasties.^[7]

David Woods points out that Themistius thanked Constantius II for saving the empire from "bastard and spurious successors", which probably meant the future children of Justina and usurper Magnentius. Thus, in Woods' opinion, Justina indeed belonged to the Constantinian dynasty, but was of illegitimate descent. According to the first version presented by him, Justina was a maternal granddaughter of Crispus, who could be deemed illegitimate by Constantius II. Another possibility is that Justina was born out of wedlock to Constans I and Justus's wife, but Justus was forced to recognize her as his daughter.^[8]^[a]

Marriage to Magnentius

Justina was first married to Magnentius, a

Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch from 641 to 648,^[11] report that Justina was too young at the time of her first marriage to have children.^[4]

Empress and marriage to Valentinian I

In c. 370, Justina became the second wife of Valentinian I after his divorce. Barnes observed that Christian writers appeared to be embarrassed by his act, as few sources name his first wife.^[12] There are two different reports of the exact circumstances. The one given by John Malalas, the Chronicon Paschale and John of Nikiû say Severa committed fraud and was exiled,^[13] though Barnes considers it to be an attempt to justify the divorce of Valentinian I without blaming the emperor.^[14] The other version, given by Socrates, Jordanes and Theodorus Lector, has no mention of Valentinian's first wife being disgraced, and says that Justina met the emperor when Severa introduced the two.^[14]^[15]^[16]

Justina became the stepmother of Gratian, Valentinian's son from his previous marriage. The couple had four additional children: a son,

Galla, Grata and Justa.^[17] According to Socrates, Grata and Justa remained unmarried. They were still alive in 392 but not mentioned afterwards.^[18]

Widowhood and the reign of Valentinian II

Valentinian I died in 375,[19] and his two sons inherited the western throne. According to Ammianus Marcellinus, Zosimus and Philostorgius, Justina was living near Sirmium when she was widowed. Afterward she accompanied the young Valentinian II to Mediolanum (modern Milan), where she assisted with his rule.

In 383, the usurper

Italia, ruling from Mediolanum.^[17]

Justina was an Arian, though unable to act in favor of her religious faction until after the death of her husband. She maintained a long struggle against Ambrose, leader of the Nicene faction in Milan.^[2]^[21] The dispute started in 385 when Ambrose refused the imperial court's demand for the Arian usage of a basilica for Easter, a cause which Justina championed.^[22]^[23] Many church historians influenced by Ambrose's rhetoric wrote negative accounts about her, stating that she persecuted the bishop for selfish reasons.^[24]^[25] However, Justina was not the only person in the court pursuing the Arian worship, since Gothic soldiers and some high-ranking civilian and military officials under Valentinian also had a stake in it.^[26]

In 387, Maximus broke his truce with Valentinian II by crossing the Alps into the Po Valley, where he threatened Mediolanum. Justina, Valentinian and Galla fled to Thessaloniki, capital of the Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum and at the time chosen residence of Theodosius. Theodosius was a widower, his first wife Aelia Flaccilla having died in 386. He granted refuge to the fugitives, and commenced negotiations in which Justina took part. At the conclusion, Theodosius married Galla and agreed to reinstall Valentinian.^[27]

In July–August, 388, the combined troops of Theodosius I and Valentinian II invaded the territory of Maximus under the leadership of Richomeres, Arbogast, Promotus and Timasius. After a series of losses, Maximus was arrested in Aquileia and executed on 28 August 388. Theodosius sent Valentinian to the West; Zosimus believes that Justina intended to go with her son, but she died within the same year.^[2]