Justinian I, called the Great, in full Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Justinianus c.482-565AD
Emperor of the East Roman Empire

He was born in Tauresium in Illyria, the son of a Slavonic peasant and the nephew of Justin I. Educated in Constantinople (Istanbul), he was named consul in 521, and in 527 was proclaimed by Justin his colleague in the empire. Justin died the same year, and Justinian, proclaimed sole emperor, was crowned along with his wife Theodora. His reign is the most brilliant in the history of the late empire. He selected the ablest generals, and under Narses and Belisarius his reign may be said to have largely restored the Roman Empire to its ancient limits, and to have reunited the East and West. His first war - that with Persia - ended in a favourable treaty. The conflict of the Blue and Green factions in 532 was an outburst of political discontent and led to the election of a rival emperor, but Narses, Belisarius and Theodora repressed the rebellion relentlessly and 35,000 victims fell in a single day. Through these generals, the Vandal kingdom of Africa was reannexed to the empire, the imperial authority was restored in Rome, Northern Italy and Spain, and Justinian constructed or renewed a vast line of fortifications along the eastern and south-eastern frontier of his empire. It was as a legislator that Justinian gained his most enduring renown. He collected and codified the principal imperial constitutiones or statutes in force at his accession, and the Codex, by which all previous imperial enactments were repealed, was published in 529. The writings of the jurists or commentators on Roman law were streamlined, and published under the title Digesta or Pandectae in 533. The direction of this work was entrusted to Tribonianus the jurist (c.470-c.544) with a committee of professors and advocates, who also prepared a systematic and elementary treatise on the law - the Institutiones (533), based on the Institutiones of Gaius. A new edition of the Codex was issued in 534. During the subsequent years of his reign Justinian promulgated many new laws or constitutions, known as Novellae. The Institutes, Digest, Code and Novels together make up what is known as the Corpus Juris Civilis, a work which was immensely influential on the law of nearly all European countries down to modern times.

Bibliography: P N Ure, Justinian and his Age (1951)