Religious causes of the Justinian’s Reconquista

• Main Author: Andrey Yur’evich Mitrofanov
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Theological Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria (Saint-Petersburg, Russia), 2015-12-01
• Series: Религия, церковь, общество
• Subjects: the goths; byzance; justinian; amalasunta; teodatus; belisarius
• Online Access: http://rcs-almanac.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/2015_%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%84%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2.pdf

The paper carefully studies the religious motifs of the military politic of Emperor Justinian I, which had been known as the Justinian’s Reconquista. The author, carefully studying historical sources, mainly texts by Procopius of Caesarea, and taking into account modern historiography on the topic, demonstrates the specific of political use of religion. The main thesis of the article is that Justinian wars were justificated by the idea of the defense of the Orthodox faith and the Catholic Church against the barbarians — the Arians. Besides, military strategy and arming of the both sides of the battle is reconstructed. Specifics of the authors approach is detailed description of the military politics of Justinian in a wide historical background — the sequence of events, political and cultural effects of the Gothic war and the Migration Period.