Justina (empress) in the context of "Nicene Christian"

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⭐ Core Definition: Justina (empress)

Justina (Latin: Iustina; c. 340 – c. 388) was a Roman empress. She was initially the wife of the rebel emperor Magnentius and was then married to Valentinian I, with whom she had four children, including the emperor Valentinian II and the empress Galla.

Possibly a relative of the Constantinian dynasty, she was Valentinian's second wife after Marina Severa, and stepmother of the augustus Gratian and the mother-in-law of the augustus Theodosius I. Her young son Valentinian was made emperor shortly after her husband's death in November 375. According to Late Antique ecclesiastical history, Justina was an Arian Christian, and began to promote this christology after her husband died, bringing her into conflict with Ambrose, the Nicene Christian bishop of Mediolanum (Milan). In 387, fleeing from the invasion of the Italian Peninsula by the emperor Magnus Maximus, Justina took her children to the Balkans – including the child-emperor Valentinian II – and secured the intervention of the eastern emperor Theodosius in the civil war by marrying her daughter Galla to him at Thessalonica. Afterwards, Theodosius attacked and defeated Magnus Maximus, ending the civil war, during which time Justina herself died.

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Justina (empress) in the context of Valentinian II

Valentinian II (Latin: Valentinianus; 371 – 15 May 392) was a Roman emperor in the western part of the Roman Empire between AD 375 and 392. He was at first junior co-ruler of his half-brother, then was sidelined by a usurper, and finally became sole ruler after 388, albeit with limited de facto powers. He was the youngest emperor (co-ruler) in the Western Roman Empire (aged 4).

A son of emperor Valentinian I and empress Justina, he was raised to the imperial office at the age of four by military commanders upon his father's death. Until 383, Valentinian II remained a junior partner to his older half-brother Gratian in ruling the Western empire, while the East was governed by his uncle Valens until 378 and Theodosius I from 379. When the usurper emperor Magnus Maximus killed Gratian in 383, the court of Valentinian II in Milan became the locus of confrontations between adherents to Nicene and Arian Christianity. In 387, Maximus invaded Italy, spurring Valentinian II and his family to escape to Thessalonica where they successfully sought Theodosius's aid. Theodosius defeated Maximus in battle and re-installed Valentinian II.

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Justina (empress) in the context of Galla (wife of Theodosius I)

Galla (died 394) was a Roman empress as the second wife of Theodosius I. She was the daughter of Valentinian I and his second wife Justina.

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