Chapter 10:
The Coming Storm
The Empire of the East: a History of Rhomania from Constantine I to Justinian IV [FN1]
Ewan McGowan
[Royal University Press: Carrickfergus, Kingdom of Gaelia, 2010]
Shortly after the defeated of Justinian I, Hypatius must have come to realize just how difficult ruling the Rhomanians would prove to be. Mere months after the defeat, and death, of his rival, Emperor Hypatius I was faced with a number of difficulties; his capital city had been half burnt in the riots which had lead to his rise to power, that same city was garrisoned with soldiers who’s loyalty rested solely upon his own ability to pay their wages, and his purse strings were held firmly in the hands of those Senators who had joined forces with the mob to lift him to power.
Hypatius held several cards in his own favor however. First, the City had bled enough over the past year, and whatever tensions which had exploded during the Nika Riots had largely subsided, as the poor citizens of Constantinople returned to their primary concern of survival. Secondly, the Emperor’s pardoning of Germanus and Belisarius had won over the loyalty of many in the City, who felt that it was a compassionate gesture; both Germanus and Belisarius were quickly developing a cult following of sorts; both generals were being romanticized as true patriots, who had only rebelled to show their loyalty to their Emperor, but who had come to see the errors of their ways and beg forgiveness from the One True Emperor. Finally, as meager as it might seem, was the good luck that the Persians had chosen to honor their peace treaty, and had not used the momentary chaos in Rhomania to push their own claims in Armenia.
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Of those problems facing Hypatius’ rule, his primary concern remained the rebuilding of Constantinople. Although the great sea and land walls had not been damaged in the riots or the fighting, great swaths of the city had been burned during the Riot, and had yet to be rebuilt. Securing funds to rebuild the capitol, however, was no easy task. The Senators who had pushed the mob to declare for Hypatius had done so for the sole reason that they had felt themselves oppressed by the high taxes which Justinian had leveled against them.
Although most of these Senators could accept, in theory, that it was for the good of everyone to rebuild Constantinople, none wished to hinder themselves with the necessity of turning over gold to the Imperial coffers to help said construction. Hypatius was left with few options; he could turn to the peasantry to secure his funds, and did, in fact, increase the tax burden upon small farmers in 534, but leaning upon them too greatly was likely to cause dissatisfaction with his own reign. The Emperor could also turn to the Church; but the Patriarch Epiphanius had grown old and weak, and was expected to soon pass from the mortal coil, and there was already a jockeying between rival bishops to replace the current ruler of the Eastern Church; a jockeying which was filled with rhetoric against an Emperor who wished to push his authority too far.
As a result of these difficulties, Constantinople continued to languish in a state of half-ruined desolation. In 535, Hypatius was able to secure some funds from the Church to help rebuild the Hagia Sophia, which had been all but destroyed during the rioting of two years prior. However, construction is the rest of the city regained stagnant.
During this period, another crisis quickly enveloped the Empire, when the ailing Patriarch Epiphanius passed away in his sleep. The church fathers gathered to choose Anthimus I as Patriarch; a move which was seen as an attack by the Church against Hypatius, as Anthimus was a Myaphite, and was believed by many to be a secret Monophysite; a doctrine which was held by the late Emperor Justinian.
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Although Hypatius had pardoned both Belisarius and Germanus, he never grew to truly trust the two generals. The growing cult status of the two, in the eyes of the poor citizenry of Constantinople, had further convinced the Emperor that the two former rebels must be gotten rid off. “Lacking the heart,” according to Procopius, “to kill the two outright, and thereby deprive himself of two expert military men, and also risk the ire of the citizens of Constantinople, the Emperor chose to exile them to the corners of the Empire, and away from The City.” As such, he chose to give Germanus control of the armies of Egypt, and placed Belisarius in command of those forces in Armenia. He obviously held the hope that he would still be able to count upon the loyalty of both Generals, but wished to remove them from whatever political intrigue might exist within the capitol.
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According to the historian Procopius, Hypatius “never slept easy, once he came to the Purple, so consumed was he, by fears of plots and rebellions.” Although this strikes the modern ear as slightly melodramatic, it is safe to say the Hypatius never felt secure upon his own throne. As Emperor, he never proved able to build his own powerbase, separate from those Senators who first rose him to power, and this caused him to turn inward, and become hesitant in his deals with other nations. Hypatius sent envoys, ladened with what small tribute he was able to produce, to Gothland, Vandalia, and Persia, pledging his continued interest in peace between the Empire, and its neighbors. Whereas, once, an Emperor had dared to dream of a reconquest of North Africa and, possibly, Italy, now a new Emperor took such a conservative stance in dealing with his neighbors, that many began to grossly underestimate the power of the Empire.
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The fragile peace which had existed within Rhomania for the past four years began to disintegrate in 538. Perhaps, fittingly, the crisis which was to lead to rebellion against Hypatius stemmed from both religious and financial matters.
Relations between Hypatius and the Patriarch Anthimus had never been cordial. Although the Emperor saw the election of the Patriarch as a snub against his own person, he had previously never felt comfortable in making a move against the Church, less me arouse another perceived enemy. However, by 538, the Emperor had had enough. Months earlier he had requested a raise in taxes throughout the Empire, hoping to finally secure the funds to bring Constantinople back to the place it had been prior to the Nika Riots, as well as expand the Army in response to raids across the Danube the Gepids, as well as the ever present danger of Persia.
Although the Senators had agreed to minimal tax increase, it was no where what the Emperor felt was needed. Needing to make a point of his power, but not wishing to break with his Senate allies, Hypatius chose to turn to the Church. In a strongly worded letter, Hypatius asked that the Church donate funds to the Empire, for the good of Christianity, and suggested that a refusal could indicate the Christ’s Church was not loyal to Christ’s Regent on Earth.
Initially, the move appeared to be good politics. Anthimus was not popular among the general citizenry of Constantinople; many of whom felt that he was a heretic. However, the Emperor did not foresee the strong reaction of the Church. The patriarch responded, in an equally harsh letter, that the Church had undertaken to protect the followers of Christ, and that the Empire no longer seemed able to do so. Any attempt to strip funds from the Church would adversely affect the Church’s efforts to support its flock, and to tend to the poor. The letter stopped short, just short, of openly condemning the Emperor. Although excommunication was not suggested, it was obvious that the Church refused to give any further funds to the government.
Hypatius had foreseen this move, and quickly declared that the Patriarch was a heretic, and ordered his soldiers to arrest the head of the Church. Hours later, Imperial soldiers arrived at the residence of the Patriarch, and demanded is immediate surrender.
No one can be sure what happened next; did the Patriarch refuse to comply, or did the soldiers over-react? In an case, a scuffle broke out, and, by the time it was over, Patriarch Anthimus was dead at the hands of the Emperor’s soldiers. Immediately, riots began to break out throughout the capitol; although the citizens might hold reservations as to the orthodoxy of the Patriarch, they were horrified by the overreach of the Emperor’s power. These riots quickly, and brutally, put down by Hypatius’s soldiers, which did little to endure him to the people of Constantinople.
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Word of the Patriarch’s death and the riots reached Alexandria within weeks. Although the Egyptian people possessed a tense relationship with the See of Constantinople, they were moved by stories of the Patriarch’s martyrdom, and rumors about his adherence to monophysite doctrine. Within days, several prominent nobles had met with Germanus, and suggested that now was the time to seek revenge for the slaying of his cousin, Justinian, and that they would support his efforts to bring down the tyrant Hypatius.
[FN1] From the tone of this piece, you might summise that Dr. Mcgowan's work is a bit more of a popular history. Such assumptions would prove founded.
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And there we have the second episode in, what I'm planning on being, a four part segment dealing with the Byzantine Empire, before it remerges with the general narrative of the Gothic state. As I've stated before, I am somewhat rusty on my study of the Byzantines and, so, I hope that this entry strikes a true chord.
In the next episode we will look at the effects of Germanus' rebellion against Hypatius. Not that it will remain the easy, of course; what fun would that be?
As always, all comments and suggestions are welcome, and encouraged!