Misplaced Pages

#641358

52-572: The residence of the apocrisiarius in the Placidia Palace dates to the end of the Acacian schism in 519. The ambassador was usually a deacon of Rome, and held an official position in the Byzantine imperial court. Anachronistically, the building can be referred to as the first nunciature . The palace was built by Galla Placidia , near the ta Armatiou quarter in the tenth district of the city between

104-532: A betrayal of the Council of Chalcedon . Zeno died in 491; his successor Anastasius I Dicorus began by keeping the policy of the Henotikon , though he was a Miaphysite. After Anastasius' death, his successor Justin I immediately sought to end the schism with Rome, a goal shared by the new Patriarch of Constantinople, John of Cappadocia . A papal legation under Germanus of Capua was sent to Constantinople. The reunion

156-842: A liturgy in which they heard Peter Mongus and other Miaphysites named in the diptychs . Felix, having heard of this from the Acoemetae monks in Constantinople, held a synod in 484 in which he denounced his legates and deposed and excommunicated Acacius. Acacius replied to this act by striking Felix's name from his diptychs. Only the Acoemeti in Constantinople stayed loyal to Rome, and Acacius put their abbot, Cyril, in prison. Acacius died in 489, and his successor Flavitas tried to reconcile himself with Rome but refused to give up communion with Miaphysites and to omit Acacius' name in his diptychs. Felix's successor Gelasius also refused any compromise as

208-549: A number of key towns and forcing the Persians to abandon their advance and defend their own territory. It was during that period that the ailing emperor, Justin, finally died on 5 October 578. On 26 September 578, Tiberius was made Augustus by the rapidly-failing Justin. He used that opportunity to give away 7,200 pounds of gold, a practice that he continued annually throughout the four years of his reign. Sophia , Justin's widow, tried to maintain her power and influence by marrying

260-605: A result of disagreements over Monotheletism . The palace was used by the large delegation of Pope Agatho at the Sixth Ecumenical Council (680–681). The emperor provided the delegation with a variety of luxuries, including a string of saddled horses to convey them to the Church of the Theotokos at Blachernae . They participated in a procession at that church on the first Sunday after their arrival. Pope Constantine occupied

312-486: A ruler, with a reputation for generosity. Unlike his predecessor, he largely refrained from persecuting his Monophysite subjects, but his Arian subjects in the west did not fare as well. He also spent a good deal of money on building projects, most notably the continued expansion of the Great Palace of Constantinople . According to Gibbon, Tiberius II was a good emperor: With the odious name of Tiberius, he assumed

364-468: A trustee of the public wealth, was balanced by a principle of humanity and justice, which taught him to abhor, as of the basest alloy, the gold that was extracted from the tears of the people. For their relief, as often as they had suffered by natural or hostile calamities, he was impatient to remit the arrears of the past, or the demands of future taxes: he sternly rejected the servile offerings of his ministers, which were compensated by tenfold oppression; and

416-556: The Avars , which had been implemented by his predecessor, Justinian . In 569, he appointed Tiberius to the post of Magister utriusque militiae , with instructions to deal with the Avars and their demands. After a series of negotiations, Tiberius agreed to allow the Avars to settle on Roman territory in the Balkans, in exchange for male hostages taken from various Avar chiefs. Justin, however, rejected

468-655: The Eastern and Western Christian Churches, lasted 35 years, from 484 to 519. It resulted from a drift in the leaders of Eastern Christianity toward Miaphysitism and Emperor Zeno's unsuccessful attempt to reconcile the parties with the Henotikon . The events are described in letters in the Collectio Avellana . In the events leading up to the schism, Pope Felix III wrote two letters, one to Emperor Zeno and one to Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople , reminding them of

520-680: The Gate of the Plataea and the Monastery of the Pantokrator . The palace of Galla Placidia was one of several aristocratic residences ( oikoi ) built in the city's northwestern region during the late 4th and early 5th centuries. The tenth district included the palaces built by the Augusta Aelia Eudocia , the nobilissima Arcadia (sister of Theodosius II ), while the nearby eleventh district included

572-456: The Second Council of Constantinople (553), Vigilius refused to either attend or send a representative. Claiming illness, Vigilius refused even to meet with the three Oriental patriarchs who travelled from the council to the Placidia Palace. The next day, Vigilius conveyed to the council a request to delay for 20 days—a request that likely would have struck the council as "strange" because

SECTION 10

#1733086285642

624-516: The praetor of the Plebs , was dispatched to the basilica to arrest Vigilius and the African bishops with him. According to one account, Vigilius clung to the altar, and as the guards attempted to drag him, it toppled, nearly crushing him. The praetor withdrew, leaving several bishops injured. The next day, a group of Byzantine dignitaries convinced Vigilius that no more harm would be done to him if he returned to

676-454: The "reign of terror" to which the Roman church had been subject from 638 to 656: Roman clergy had been exiled, the treasury plundered, and the apocrisiarius himself kidnapped and exiled. The altar was destroyed in 648 or 649. Pope Martin I 's apocrisiarius , Anastasios, was prohibited from celebrating Mass in the palace in the mid-seventh century. This sanction was imposed by Patriarch Paul II as

728-539: The 8th century, although it continued to be regularly occupied well into the 10th century. Circa 900, the office began being referred to as a syncellus . A permanent envoy may have been re-established after the reconciliation of 886. A syncellus , unlike an apocrisiarius , was a representative to the emperor, not the patriarch. These ambassadors continued into the 11th century, even after the East-West Schism . Acacian schism The Acacian schism , between

780-755: The Lombards and allied the Empire with Childebert II , the King of the Franks , to defeat them. Unfortunately, Baduarius was defeated and killed in 576, allowing even more imperial territory in Italy to slip away. Tiberius was unable to respond as the Sassanid Emperor Khosrau I struck at the empire's Armenian provinces in 576, sacking Melitene and Sebastea . Shifting his attention eastward, Tiberius sent his general Justinian with

832-742: The Persian war in sight, Tiberius was forced to come to terms with the Avars, and he agreed to pay an indemnity and to hand over the vital city of Sirmium, which the Avars then looted. The migration of the Slavs continued, with their incursions reaching as far south as Athens. Although a new Persian invasion was halted with a significant defeat at Constantina in June 582, by now, Tiberius was dying, apparently having eaten some poorly-prepared or possibly-deliberately poisoned food. In this state, Tiberius initially named two heirs, each of whom married one of his daughters. Maurice

884-416: The Persian war. The most glorious trophy of his victory consisted in a multitude of captives, whom Tiberius entertained, redeemed, and dismissed to their native homes with the charitable spirit of a Christian hero. The merit or misfortunes of his own subjects had a dearer claim to his beneficence, and he measured his bounty not so much by their expectations as by his own dignity. This maxim, however dangerous in

936-607: The Persians in the East once again allowed Tiberius to turn his gaze westward. In 579, he again extended his military activities into the remnants of the Western Roman Empire . He sent money and troops to Italy to reinforce Ravenna and to retake the port of Classis . He formed an alliance with one of the Visigothic princes in Spain , who was fomenting rebellion, and his generals defeated

988-578: The Placidia Palace, which he did. There, Vigilius was more or less placed under house arrest . On the night of December 23/24, 551, Vigilius fled across the Bosporus to the Church of St. Euphemia in Chalcedon . In February, the other bishops, but not Vigilius, were arrested. On June 26, the pope and the emperor reconciled and Vigilius returned to the Placidia. Although he was in the "immediate neighborhood" during

1040-508: The agreement, insisting on taking hostages from the family of the Avar Khan himself. That condition was rejected by the Avars and so Tiberius mobilized for war. In 570, he defeated an Avar army in Thrace and returned to Constantinople . While attempting to follow up that victory in late 570 or early 571, Tiberius was defeated in a battle in which he narrowly escaped death, as his army was fleeing

1092-512: The army of the East was beginning to become restless, as it had not been paid, and it threatened to mutiny. In 580, General Maurice launched a new offensive, raiding well beyond the Tigris . The following year, he again invaded Persian Armenia and almost succeeded in reaching the Persian capital, Ctesiphon , before a Persian counterinvasion of Byzantine Mesopotamia forced him to withdraw in order to deal with that threat. By 582, with no apparent end to

SECTION 20

#1733086285642

1144-434: The army of the east not only with transfers from his western armies but also through barbarian recruits, which he formed into a new foederati unit, amounting to some 15,000 troops by the end of his reign. Throughout 577 and into 578, Tiberius avoided all other entanglements that would have distracted him from the approaching Persian conflict. He appeased, quite successfully, both Chalcedonian and Monophysite Christians by

1196-469: The battlefield. Agreeing to a truce, Tiberius provided an escort to the Avar envoys to discuss the terms of a treaty with Justin. On their return, the Avar envoys were attacked and robbed by local tribesmen, prompting them to appeal to Tiberius for help. He tracked down the group responsible and returned the stolen goods. In 574, Justin had a mental breakdown, forcing Empress Sophia to turn to Tiberius to manage

1248-484: The city. The Placidia Palace, as well as the palace of Patriarch Eutychius , were attacked by the mob, requiring the emperor himself to intervene and restore order. One of the complaints of the Lateran Council of 649 against the patriarch of Constantinople read: " He has done what no heretic heretofore has dared to do, namely, he has destroyed the altar of our holy see in the Placidia palace. " The anathema alludes to

1300-509: The death of Justin, his worthy successor sunk into a mortal disease, which left him only sufficient time to restore the diadem, according to the tenure by which he held it, to the most deserving of his fellow-citizens. That opinion was not shared by John Bagnall Bury , who commented: But though he might have made a very good minister of war, Tiberius did not make a good Emperor. It was natural that his first acts should be reactionary, as Justin's government had been extremely unpopular. He removed

1352-454: The duty on the "political bread," and remitted a fourth part of the taxes throughout the Empire. Had he been contented with this he might deserve praise, but he began a system of most injudicious extravagance. He gratified the soldiers with large and frequent Augustatica , and he granted donations to members of all the professions--scholastics or jurists ("a very numerous profession"), physicians, silversmiths, bankers. This liberality soon emptied

1404-541: The eastern armies to push the Persians back across the Euphrates . The Byzantines followed, and pushed deep into Persian territory, culminating in a raid on Atropatene . In 577, however, Justinian was defeated in Persian Armenia, forcing a Byzantine withdrawal. In response to that defeat, Tiberius replaced Justinian with the future emperor Maurice . During the truce that Tiberius concluded with Khosrau, he busily enhanced

1456-460: The eastern provinces. Buying time to make the necessary preparations, he agreed to a three-year truce with the Persians, paying 30,000 nomismata, though the truce excluded action in the region around Armenia . Not content with making preparations, Tiberius also used this period to send reinforcements to Italy under the command of Baduarius with orders to stem the Lombard invasion. He saved Rome from

1508-503: The empire, which was fighting the Persians to the east and dealing with the internal crisis of the plague. To achieve a measure of breathing space, Tiberius and Sophia agreed to a one-year truce with the Persians, at the cost of 45,000 nomismata . On 7 December 574, Justin, in one of his more lucid moments, had Tiberius proclaimed Caesar and adopted him as his own son. Tiberius added the name Constantine to his own. Although his position

1560-495: The house of Augusta Pulcheria and the Palace of Flaccilla ( palataium Flaccillianum ). These mansions formed a counterpart to the old-established aristocratic center of the eastern parts of the city, formed around the Great Palace ; however, Most of these mansions in the northwestern districts seem to have been only in use as seasonal retreats. The tenth district also included 636 domus insulae all together. Other landmarks of

1612-561: The imperial frontiers and win over the populace who had turned against him. According to Gregory of Tours and Paul the Deacon , Tiberius found two treasures: the treasure of Narses and 1,000 centenaria : 100,000 pounds of gold or 7,200,000 solidi ( nomismata ), under a slab. The treasures were given away to the poor, to the consternation of Sophia. Alongside generous donations, he also proceeded to reduce state revenue by removing taxes on wine and bread instituted by Justinian I . He continued

Placidia Palace - Misplaced Pages Continue

1664-446: The matter had been under discussion for seven years, during which Vigilius himself had been in residence in Constantinople. The emperor's second delegation to Vigilius—of bishops and lay officials —was similarly unsuccessful. From Constantinople, Vigilius published a Constitutum (or memorial to the emperor), condemning the council. The future Pope Gregory I resided in the Placidia Palace during his apocrisiariat, where he

1716-638: The mid-6th century, Tiberius was appointed to the post of notarius . There, sometime after 552, he was introduced by the Patriarch Eutychius to the future emperor, Justin II , with whom he became firm friends. Under Justin's patronage, Tiberius was promoted to the position of Comes excubitorum , which he held from approximately 565 through to 574. He was present during Justin's imperial accession on 14 November 565 and also attended his inauguration as consul on 1 January 566. Justin ceased making payments to

1768-489: The more popular appellation of Constantine, and imitated the purer virtues of the Antonines. After recording the vice or folly of so many Roman princes, it is pleasing to repose, for a moment, on a character conspicuous by the qualities of humanity, justice, temperance, and fortitude; to contemplate a sovereign affable in his palace, pious in the church, impartial on the seat of judgment, and victorious, at least by his generals, in

1820-484: The need to defend the faith without compromise, as they had done previously. When former patriarch John Talaia , exiled from Alexandria , arrived in Rome and reported on what was happening in the East, Felix wrote two more letters, summoning Acacius to Rome to explain his conduct. The legates who brought these letters to Constantinople were imprisoned as soon as they landed and forced to receive communion from Acacius as part of

1872-491: The new emperor, but he refused her proposal because he was already married to Ino . When Tiberius had first been raised to the rank of Caesar, Sophia had refused the request for Ino and her children to move into the Imperial palace with her husband, forcing them to reside in a small residence nearby and prohibiting them from entering the palace. Once Tiberius was elevated to the rank of Augustus, however, he had his family moved into

1924-455: The official ban on the sale of governorships, which was highly popular. He also negotiated a truce with the Avars, paying them 80,000 nomismata per year for which the Avars agreed to defend the Danube frontier, thereby allowing Tiberius to transfer troops across to the east for a planned renewal of the conflict against the Persians. In 575, Tiberius began moving the armies of Thrace and Illyricum to

1976-443: The palace and renamed Ino as Anastasia, much to Sophia's resentment. Therefore, Sophia sought revenge, and a secret pact was made between the dowager empress and General Justinian, whom Tiberius had replaced the year before. They conspired to overthrow the emperor and seat Justinian in his place. The conspiracy failed, however, and Sophia was reduced to a modest allowance; Justinian was forgiven by Tiberius. The ongoing success against

2028-470: The palace in 711, during the last papal visit to Constantinople in 1250 years. The popes continued to have a permanent apocrisiary in Constantinople until the time of the Byzantine Iconoclasm edict of 726. Thereafter, popes Gregory II , Gregory III , Zacharias , and Stephen II are known to have sent non-permanent apocrisiaries to Constantinople. The office ceased having any religious role in

2080-470: The palace. The consequence of this recklessness was that when Maurice came to the throne he found the exchequer empty and the State bankrupt. . . . There is considerable reason, I think, to remove Tiberius from his pedestal. Originally betrothed as a young man to the daughter of Ino , Tiberius eventually married Ino after her daughter and husband died. She took on the name Anastasia in 578 after his accession to

2132-549: The rebellious Berbers under their king Garmul in North Africa . He also intervened in Frankish affairs in the former province of Gaul , which had been largely free of imperial contacts for close to a century. Consequently, he might have been the basis for the fictional emperor Lucius Tiberius of Arthurian legend, who sent envoys to former Roman provinces after a long period without an imperial presence. The reality, however,

Placidia Palace - Misplaced Pages Continue

2184-696: The tenth included the Baths of Constantius and the Nymphaeum . The palace was occupied by Pope Vigilius , the first pope of the Byzantine Papacy , in 547 during a papal visit to Constantinople. In 550, Vigilius decided that the Placidia Palace was not secure enough for his needs, and moved into the basilica of St. Peter of Hormisdas . From the basilica, Vigilius drafted a document of excommunication of Patriarch Menas and his followers, signed by another dozen Western bishops. Upon its publication, Comitas Dupondiaristes ,

2236-426: The treasury of its wealth. . . . The result was that by the end of the first year of his reign he had spent 7200 lbs. of gold, beside silver and silk in abundance; and before he died he was obliged to have recourse to the reserve fund which the prudent economy of Anastasius had laid by, to be used in the case of an extreme emergency. And, notwithstanding these financial difficulties, he laid out money on new buildings in

2288-459: The use of it, mindful always to love equity and justice. A native of the Latin-speaking part of Thrace, Tiberius was nonetheless distinguished as the first of the "Greek[-speaking] Caesars" by Edward Gibbon , who cited the 13th-century Syriac Orthodox bishop and writer Bar Hebraeus . Tiberius reportedly was tall and handsome, with a regal bearing. He was gentle and humane, both as a man and

2340-549: The use of strategic appointments and the easing of persecutions. He paid the Lombard tribal chieftains some 200,000 nomismata in an attempt to keep them divided and to prevent the election of a king. When the Slavs invaded Illyricum, he transported Avar armies to attack them and force their retreat. Consequently, when Khosrau invaded Roman Mesopotamia in 578, his general, Maurice, was able to invade Persian Arzanene and Mesopotamia, sacking

2392-462: The wise and equitable laws of Tiberius excited the praise and regret of succeeding times. Constantinople believed that the emperor had discovered a treasure: but his genuine treasure consisted in the practice of liberal economy, and the contempt of all vain and superfluous expense. The Romans of the East would have been happy, if the best gift of Heaven, a patriot king, had been confirmed as a proper and permanent blessing. But in less than four years after

2444-443: Was Eastern Roman emperor from 574 to 582. Tiberius rose to power in 574 when Justin II , prior to a mental breakdown, proclaimed him caesar and adopted him as his own son. In 578, the dying Justin II gave him the title of augustus , thus becoming co-emperor alongside him. Tiberius became sole ruler less than two weeks later, assuming the regnal name of "Constantine" under which he reigned until his death. Born in Thrace in

2496-541: Was betrothed to Constantina , and Germanus , related through blood to the great emperor Justinian, was married to Charito. It appears that his plan was to divide the empire in two, with Maurice receiving the eastern provinces and Germanus the western provinces. This plan was never implemented, and on 13 August 582, he elevated Maurice to the rank of Augustus. Tiberius died on the following day, 14 August 582, and his last words were spoken to his successor: Let my sovereignty be delivered to thee with this girl. Be happy in

2548-440: Was eventually joined by a group of monks from his order—making the palace "virtually another St. Andrew's." During Gregory's tenure, the palace was the site of a trial conducted by Tiberius II of a group of alleged Satan worshipers, including Gregory, patriarch of Antioch , and Eulogius, the future patriarch of Alexandria . When they were acquitted, perhaps as the result of bribery, a riot involving 100,000 persons erupted in

2600-465: Was formalized on Easter , March 24, 519. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). " Schism ". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company. Tiberius II Tiberius II Constantine ( Latin : Tiberius Cōnstantīnus ; Ancient Greek : Τιβέριος Κωνσταντῖνος , romanized :  Tibérios Kōnstantĩnos ; died 14 August 582)

2652-451: Was now official, he was still subordinate to Justin. Sophia was determined to remain in power and kept Tiberius tightly controlled until Justin died, in 578. The day after his appointment as Caesar, the plague abated, giving Tiberius more freedom of movement than Justin had been able to achieve. Tiberius also charted a very different course from his predecessor and proceeded to spend the money that Justin had doggedly saved in order to defend

SECTION 50

#1733086285642

2704-484: Was that the empire was seriously overextended. In 579, with Tiberius occupied elsewhere, the Avars decided to take advantage of the lack of troops in the Balkans by besieging Sirmium . At the same time, the Slavs began to migrate into Thrace, Macedonia and southern Greece , which Tiberius was unable to halt as the Persians refused to agree to a peace in the east, which remained the emperor's main priority. Furthermore,

#641358