After this the book moves back to the Eastern empire, the role of
Justin II, the Persian threat, the rise of Mohammed and his new militaristic religion which was 'engaged with wider debates and concerns that were coming to dominate the religious life of the Mediterranean world', the 'western' threat to Constantinople, the Arab incursions into modern Spain, Merovingian rule to the north and the rise of England as 'the first "nation" of Europe'.
Peter's, Vatican City, the reliquary Cross of
Justin II (the Crux Vaticana).
The bulk of these volumes concentrates on the reigns of Justin I, Justinian I,
Justin II, Tiberius II, and Maurice.
In laudem Justini, the four books of which eulogize Justinian I's successor
Justin II, was written after Corippus arrived in Constantinople.
Sophia (Hagia Sophia) in Constantinople; supervised the restructuring of Roman law, producing the Codex (a collection of existing laws), the Digest (a collation of jurists' opinions), and the Institutes (a handbook for use in law schools), which together presented a Christianized and more humane body of Roman civil law for the empire; his attempts to bring the Monophysites of the Levant and Egypt back into the Orthodox fold (540-560) were unsuccessful; repelled a serious incursion by the Bulgars and their allies only by calling Belisarius out of retirement (559); jailed Belisarius on unfounded charges of treason (562) but rehabilitated him (563); died in Constantinople (November 14, 565) and was succeeded by his nephew
Justin II.
Thirty-two of the most revered and precious objects from the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticano, Museo Sacra, the Pinacoteca Vaticana, the Tesoro della Sagrestia Pontificana, and the Cross of
Justin II from the Treasury of St.
