Vigilantia ( el, Βιγλεντία, born 490) was a sister of

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as ...

Justinian I Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renov ...

(r. 527–565), and mother to his successor

Justin II Justin II ( la, Iustinus; grc-gre, Ἰουστῖνος, Ioustînos; died 5 October 578) or Justin the Younger ( la, Iustinus minor) was Eastern Roman Emperor from 565 until 578. He was the nephew of Justinian I and the husband of Sophia, the ...

(r. 565–574).

Name

The name "Vigilantia" is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

for "alertness, wakefulness". Itself deriving from "vigilia" (watch, watchfulness) and "vigil" ((1)adjective: awake, watching, alert (2)noun: watchman, sentinel).

Family

Justinian Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565. His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized '' renova ...

(born 482) and Vigilantia were children of Vigilantia (born 455), a sister of

Justin I Justin I ( la, Iustinus; grc-gre, Ἰουστῖνος, ''Ioustînos''; 450 – 1 August 527) was the Eastern Roman emperor from 518 to 527. Born to a peasant family, he rose through the ranks of the army to become commander of the imperial ...

(r. 518–527), founder of the

Justinian dynasty The Byzantine Empire had its first golden age under the Justinian dynasty, which began in 518 AD with the accession of Justin I. Under the Justinian dynasty, particularly the reign of Justinian I, the empire reached its greatest territorial ex ...

. The family originated in Bederiana, near Naissus (modern

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, whi ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

) in Dacia Mediterranea.

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gen ...

, Theodorus Lector, Zacharias Rhetor, Victor of Tunnuna,

Theophanes the Confessor Theophanes the Confessor ( el, Θεοφάνης Ὁμολογητής; c. 758/760 – 12 March 817/818) was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy who became a monk and chronicler. He served in the court of Emperor Leo IV the Khazar before taking ...

and

Georgios Kedrenos George Kedrenos, Cedrenus or Cedrinos ( el, Γεώργιος Κεδρηνός, fl. 11th century) was a Byzantine Greek historian. In the 1050s he compiled ''Synopsis historion'' (also known as ''A concise history of the world''), which spanned the ...

consider Justin and his family

Illyrians The Illyrians ( grc, Ἰλλυριοί, ''Illyrioi''; la, Illyrii) were a group of Indo-European-speaking peoples who inhabited the western Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. They constituted one of the three main Paleo-Balkan populations, a ...

, though Kedrenos is uncertain.

Evagrius Scholasticus Evagrius Scholasticus ( el, Εὐάγριος Σχολαστικός) was a Syrian scholar and intellectual living in the 6th century AD, and an aide to the patriarch Gregory of Antioch. His surviving work, ''Ecclesiastical History'' (), compris ...

John Malalas John Malalas ( el, , ''Iōánnēs Malálas''; – 578) was a Byzantine chronicler from Antioch (now Antakya, Turkey). Life Malalas was of Syrian descent, and he was a native speaker of Syriac who learned how to write in Greek later ...

, the ''

Chronicon Paschale ''Chronicon Paschale'' (the ''Paschal'' or ''Easter Chronicle''), also called ''Chronicum Alexandrinum'', ''Constantinopolitanum'' or ''Fasti Siculi'', is the conventional name of a 7th-century Greek Christian chronicle of the world. Its name com ...

'', the ''

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souida ...

'',

Joannes Zonaras Joannes or John Zonaras ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης Ζωναρᾶς ; 1070 – 1140) was a Byzantine Greek historian, chronicler and theologian who lived in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey). Under Emperor Alexios I Komnenos he hel ...

and the ''

Patria of Constantinople The ''Patria'' of Constantinople ( el, Πάτρια Κωνσταντινουπόλεως), also regularly referred to by the Latin name ''Scriptores originum Constantinopolitarum'' ("writers on the origins of Constantinople"), are a Byzantine collec ...

'' consider them

Thraco-Roman The term Thraco-Roman describes the Romanization (cultural), Romanized culture of Thracians under the rule of the Roman Empire. The Odrysian kingdom of Thrace became a Roman client kingdom c. 20 BC, while the Greek city-states on the Black Sea coas ...

s. While Procopius reports them to be of

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasa ...

origins, Zonaras is the only source describing Justin I as a former

herder A herder is a pastoral worker responsible for the care and management of a herd or flock of domestic animals, usually on open pasture. It is particularly associated with nomadic or transhumant management of stock, or with common land grazi ...

. Justinian was reportedly born in Tauresium, near

Scupi Scupi (''Σκούποι'' in ancient greek) is an archaeological site located between Zajčev Rid (''Зајчев Рид'' 'Rabbit Hill') and the Vardar River, several kilometers from the center of Skopje in North Macedonia. A Roman military camp ...

, where their parents had apparently settled. Their father was named Sabbatius, while the name of their mother is not actually recorded. The name "Bigleniza" was assigned to the mother of Justinian and Vigilantia by Niccolò Alamanni (1583–1626), citing as his source a "Life of Justinian" (Latin: ''Vita Iustiniani'') by "Theophilus Abbas", a supposed contemporary of Procopius. Despite repeated searches, this source has never been located by another scholar. Alamanni was trusted as a reliable source by several later authors, including

Edward Gibbon Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, '' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, i ...

, who in his ''

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'' is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. It traces Western civilization (as well as the Islamic and Mongolian conquests) from the height of the Roman Empire to th ...

'' quotes the name Bigleniza and other details deriving from Alamanni. Since the name seemed to be Slavic in origin, later theories would develop on the Slavic origins of Justinian and his family. In 1883, James Bryce discovered a "''Vita Justiniani''" manuscript in the

Palazzo Barberini The Palazzo Barberini ( en, Barberini Palace) is a 17th-century palace in Rome, facing the Piazza Barberini in Rione Trevi. Today, it houses the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, the main national collection of older paintings in Rome. History ...

. It only dated to the 17th century and contained all the facts mentioned by Alamanni, including Bigleniza considering her daughter-in-law Theodora, "not a gift of

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

but a gift of the

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

." Bryce suggested this manuscript as Alamanni's source. Its authenticity however was doubtful, and Konstantin Josef Jireček considered this manuscript to be the work of Ivan Tomko Marnavich (1579–1639), archdeacon of Agram (

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

). Any other sources he used, if any, are unclear.James Bryce, "Life of Justinian by Theophilus" (1887)
/ref> Marnavich was a translator of medieval texts, particularly

hagiographies A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...

. Bigleniza is merely a translation of Vigilantia to Slavic, following the long-standing theory that mother and daughter had the same name. Whilst Vigilantia's relation to Justinian is mentioned by numerous historians, only Victor of Tunnuna names her husband and father of Justin II, Dulcidius (his name is also rendered as Dulcissimus).Martindale, Jones & Morris (1980), p. 1165

Succession of Justinian

Vigilantia is one of the figures featured in '' In laudem Justini minoris'' ("In praise of the younger Justin"), a poem by Flavius Cresconius Corippus written on the occasion of the accession of Justin II. It is more a eulogy than an actual chronicle. Both Vigilantia and her daughter-in-law Sophia, are called "''divae''",

for "divine ones,

goddess A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes ...

es", and sources of the poet's inspiration, standing in for the

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in ...

s in that respect. Sophia, a niece of Theodora. is likely to have been his patroness and may have commissioned the poem. The Byzantinist Lynda Garland suggests that both Sophia and Vigilantia were Corippus' actual sources on various events, including "behind the scenes" activities.Garland (1999), p. 41

Marriage and children

Vigilantia and Dulcidius/Dulcissimus were parents of three known children: *

. Married Sophia. * Marcellus. *

Praejecta Praejecta or Praiecta was a niece to Byzantine emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) by blood and of his empress Theodora by marriage. Biography Praejecta was a daughter of Vigilantia and Dulcidio (or Dulcissimus), respectively the sister and brothe ...

References

Sources

* * * * * {{citation , last=Martindale , first=John R. , last2=Jones , first2=A.H.M. , last3=Morris , first3=John , title=The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire - Volume III, AD 527–641 , year=1992 , publisher=Cambridge University Press , isbn=0-521-20160-8 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fBImqkpzQPsC 6th-century Byzantine people Justinian dynasty 6th-century Byzantine women Mothers of Byzantine emperors