Byzantine Empire: political history THEODOSIUS I Theodosius I, born in Galicia, in modern-day Spain, was the son of a senior military officer who was executed after being involved in political intrigues Theodosius was made commander of Moesia, on the Danube (in modern-day Serbia and Bulgaria) After Adrianople, Gratian appointed him as the co-augustus for the East, and he co-ruled with Gratian and Valentinian II On a political level, Theodosius was a Christian and made Christianity the official state religion of the Roman Empire In 381 he helped convene the second general council of the Christian Church, held at Constantinople, where some of the decisions of the Council of Nicaea in 325 were confirmed The main task of Theodosius was to ensure the military survival of the Roman Empire, and he immediately went to war in the Balkans with the Sarmatians He had defeated them six years earlier, and another victory led to his being proclaimed as co-emperor on January 19, 379 He was given the provinces of Dacia (modernday Romania) and Macedonia, both areas having been attacked many times in the previous decades Living at Thessalonica, Theodosius built up his army To raise more soldiers, he allowed for Teutons to be recruited, rewarding many of them with senior administrative positions Theodosius also sought a compromise with the Visigoths and assigned lands to the Goths in the Balkans in return for peace It was the first time that an entire people were settled on Roman soil and able to maintain their autonomy It avoided war with the Goths, many of whom converted to Christianity These moves were unpopular with some in Rome, and later historians have blamed these positions on making Rome vulnerable to attack However, Theodosius was able to use this newfound military force to great effect When a usurper, Maximus the Confessor, gained support in the Western Roman Empire and invaded Italy, Theodosius was the only commander with enough soldiers to check his advances In 378 he defeated Maximus and, later, the forces of another usurper, Eugenius Theodosius crushed his rebellion at the Battle of Frigidus on September 5–6, 394 By this time Theodosius was sole emperor He was subsequently known to history as Theodosius the Great When Theodosius I died, his younger son, Honorius, succeeded him in the West, and his eldest son, Arcadius, succeeded him in the East Arcadius appears to have been a weak ruler, and for much of his reign, a minister, Flavius Rufinus, a politician of Gaulish ancestry, made the decisions With Honorius being dominated by his minister Flavius Stilicho, the position of emperor was 61 in danger of becoming symbolic According to some accounts, it was rivalry between the ministers that led to Stilicho having Rufinus assassinated by Goths However, a new minister, Eutropius, took over for Rufinus until, in 399, the wife of Arcadius persuaded her husband to remove Eutropius, who was later executed The Praetorian commander, Anthemius, took over, with Arcadius retreating from the political scene until his death on May 1, 408 His son Flavius Theodosius, who became Theodosius II, succeeded him Theodosius II was only seven when he became emperor, but on the reputation of the military builtup by his grandfather, the boy had a trouble-free minority, and the empire remained safe from attack through his long reign, which ended with his death on July 28, 450 His older sister, Pulcheria, whose interpretation of Christianity was anti-Jewish, heavily influenced Theodosius Under Pulcheria’s influence, the Christian Church condemned the Nestorian viewpoint of the dual nature of Christ as heretical, and Nestorius, its proponent, was exiled to Egypt In 425 the University of Constantinople was founded as a center for Christian learning Theodosius II is best remembered for his codification of the laws of the Roman Empire In 429 he ordered that copies of all laws be brought to Constantinople, and nine years later the Codex Theodosianus was published Although the Eastern Roman Empire was safe, the Western Roman Empire crumbled during this period, resulting in much power reverting to Constantinople During the last years of the reign of Theodosius II, the Byzantine Empire came under attack from Attila the Hun, and the Byzantines responded by paying large tribute to the Huns to stop the attacks On the death of Theodosius II in 450, Pulcerhia chose as her brother’s successor Flavius Marcianus, her husband, who became Emperor Marcian Marcian stopped the payments to the Huns, who, by this time, were more concerned with attacking Gaul and Italy Marcian also fortified Syria and Egypt to prevent attacks and was thought to have distanced himself from events in the Western Roman Empire It appears that Marcian may have been involved in the death of Attila in 452, even though he did not send aid to Rome, which was sacked by the Vandals in 455 Marcian and his wife are both recognized as saints by the Eastern Orthodox Church Marcian died in 457, and Flavius Valerius Leo Augustus (Leo the Thracian) became the new emperor He was a successful general who had led campaigns in the Balkans and against the Goths Leo I sent a large army against the Vandals, under the command of his brother-in-law Basilicus, but it was decisively defeated in 468 He died in 474 and was succeeded by his