Юстина: Римская императрица и политические интриги IV века

Roman empress

Justina (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 Constantinian dynasty, she was Valentinian's second wife after Marina Severa, and stepmother of the augustus Gratian and the mother in law of the augustus Theodosius I. Her young son Valentinian was made emperor shortly after her husband's death in November 375. According to Late Antique ecclesiastical history, Justina was an Arian Christian, and began to promote this christology after her husband died, bringing her into conflict with Ambrose, the Nicene Christian bishop of Mediolanum (Milan). In 387, fleeing from the invasion of the Italian Peninsula by the emperor Magnus Maximus, Justina took her children to the Balkans – including the child emperor Valentinian II – and secured the intervention of the eastern emperor Theodosius in the civil war by marrying her daughter Galla to him at Thessalonica. Afterwards, Theodosius attacked and defeated Magnus Maximus, ending the civil war, during which time Justina herself died.

Justina was a daughter of Justus, governor of Picenum under Constantius II. She had two known brothers, Constantianus and Cerealis. 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. According to the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire the names Justus and Justina may also indicate a relation to the Vettius family. The Prosopography mentions a theory that Justus was a son of Vettius Justus, Consul in 328, and a woman of the Neratius family. The latter family produced several relatively notable members in the early 4th century. The first was Galla, wife of Julius Constantius and mother of Constantius Gallus. Her brothers were Neratius Cerealis, Consul in 358 and Vulcacius Rufinus, Praetorian prefect of Italy from 365 to his death in 368. Several modern scholars have theorized that Justina was a member of the Constantinian dynasty. While Timothy Barnes speculated that Justina was a granddaughter or great granddaughter of Crispus through her unnamed mother, another suggestion is that her mother was the daughter of Julius Constantius and his first wife, the aforementioned Galla. Hence, this would make Justina at the heart of the family connexions between the Constantinian and the Valentinianic (and later Theodosian) dynasties.

Justina was first married to Magnentius, a Roman usurper, from 350 to 353. However, both Zosimus and the fragmentary chronicle of John of Antioch reported that Justina was too young at the time of her first marriage to have children.

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. There are two different reports of the exact circumstances. The one given by John Malalas, the Chronicon Paschale and John of Nikiû say Marina committed fraud and was exiled, though Barnes considers it to be an attempt to justify the divorce of Valentinian I without blaming the emperor. The other version given by Socrates, Jordanes and Theodorus Lector do not say Valentinian’s first wife was disgraced, and explain how Justina came to know the emperor by saying that Severa introduced her to him. Justina became the stepmother of Gratian, Valentinian’s son from his previous marriage. The couple had four children. Their only son was Valentinian II. Their daughters were Galla, Grata and Justa. According to Socrates, Grata and Justa remained unmarried. They were still alive in 392 but not mentioned afterwards.

Valentinian I died in 375. According to Ammianus Marcellinus, Zosimus and Philostorgius, Justina was living near Sirmium by the time she was widowed. During the reign of her young son Valentinian II, she moved with him to Mediolanum (Milan) and assisted in his rule. In 383, the usurper Magnus Maximus killed Gratian and took control of a portion of the Roman Empire including Britain, Gaul, Hispania and the Diocese of Africa. He ruled from his capital at Augusta Treverorum (Treves, Trier) and was able to negotiate his recognition by Valentinian II and Theodosius I, starting from 384. The domain of Valentinian II had effectively been limited to Italia, ruling from Mediolanum (modern Milan). Many church historians influenced by Ambrose's rhetoric wrote negative accounts about her, stating that she persecuted the bishop for selfish reasons. 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. In 387, the truce between Valentinian II and Maximus ended. The latter crossed the Alps into the Po Valley and threatened Milan. Justina and her children Valentinian and Galla fled their capital for 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. Theodosius granted refuge to the fugitives. After Justina involved herself in negotiations with him, he married her daughter Galla and agreed to reinstall Valentinian II. 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. Maximus suffered a series of losses and surrendered in Aquileia. He was executed on 28 August 388. Theodosius sent Valentinian to the West, and though Justina was believed by Zosimus to have intended to go with him, she died within the same year.