The Patriarch of Constantinople was the head of the Christian Church in the East, as the Bishop of Rome was in the West, while the latter, as the successor of St. Peter, was the head of the universal Church.
NOTABLE REIGN AND SERVICE
OF JUSTINIAN
The Eastern Empire attained its acme in the sixth century, during the reign of Justinian, A.D. 527-565. It was he who built the great Church of Saint Sophia at Constantinople, now a Mohammedan mosque. His chief service to mankind, however, was the codification of the laws in the great system of Roman jurisprudence called the Civil Law, forming the basis of the law in European states at the present day.
CONQUESTS OF THE FAMOUS
GENERAL BELISARIUS
In the East, the famous Belisarius, an Illyrian of plebeian birth, fought for Justinian against the Persian king Chosroes I. (or Nushirvan), who reigned A.D. 531-579. Justinian purchased peace by payment of tribute to this Oriental despot, whose empire extended from the Red Sea to the Indus.
In the West, Justinian’s arms had great success. In 534 the Vandal kingdom in Africa was brought to an end by the victories of Belisarius. In 535 Belisarius conquered Sicily, and from 535-540, and again from 541-544, fought the Goths in Italy, until the jealousy of his master recalled him.
His successor in command, Narses, completed the overthrow of the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy by his campaigns in 552-553. Under Justinian, the Visigoths were driven out of the south of Spain, so that there was for a time a revived Roman Empire of the West, embracing nearly the whole of the Mediterranean coasts. Justinian died in 565, and a speedy change came in Italy.
LOMBARDS CONQUER AND CONTROL ITALY
UNTIL TIME OF CHARLEMAGNE
The warlike Germans called Lombards had settled in Pannonia (south of the present Austrian Empire), by Justinian’s invitation, about 540. They fought to extermination the Gepidæ (Goths), and in 568 passed over the Alps into the fertile plain of northern Italy.
Under their king Albion, the Lombards subdued the north and much of the south of Italy (the central part, including Rome and Ravenna, on the Adriatic, with Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia, remaining still Roman), and the Lombard kingdom of Italy thus formed continued for two centuries, until conquered by Charlemagne.