The Troubles of Justinian's Reign

Justinian's covert and overt support for the blues became quite extraordinary. They took their new political support to mean that they had a licence to banditry. Some in positions of authority were attacked for reporting their crimes. Justinian did not intervene, and probably realised that he had let things get out of control. He began to rein the blues in, and by 527 issued a law which made it explicit that justice should be even handed for rioters in the cities. We'll leave domestic concerns until next episode, and finish this week's installment with the foreign policy issues which Justin had to deal with during the earlier part of his reign.