Justin I

Justin I, also called Justin the Thracian, who lived from around 450 to 1 August 527, served as eastern Roman emperor from 518 to 527. Born into peasant circumstances near Naissus, he rose through the military ranks to command the imperial guard before being elected emperor after the death of Anastasius I. His sister Vigilantia had married Sabbatius and borne Justinian, born in 483, whom Justin adopted as his son and designated co-emperor, founding the Justinian dynasty that would go on to produce three further emperors; his own wife became Empress Euphemia, formerly named Lupicina. Justin championed Chalcedonian Christianity, helping resolve the Acacian schism between Rome and Constantinople, passed edicts against Christian groups regarded at the time as non-Orthodox, and promoted Christian imagery on imperial coinage in place of pagan symbols from around 519 to 522. He preferred cultivating client states along the imperial borders to major warfare, and died on 1 August 527, succeeded that same day by Justinian I. Despite being illiterate, palace officials created a wooden stencil spelling LEGI, meaning I have read, so he could authenticate documents.