Justina (empress)

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For other uses of the name, see Justina (disambiguation)

Justina (d. c. 388) was the second wife of the Roman Emperor Valentinian I (reigned 364-375) and the mother of Valentinian II (reigned 375-392).

Born into a family of senatorial rank in Sicily, she was at first the wife of the usurper Magnentius (d. 353). Valentinian divorced his first wife on her account and married her not later than 370. She thus became the stepmother of the future emperor Gratian and of Galla, wife of Theodosius I, as well as the mother of Valentinian II. During the reign of Gratian she lived in Sirmium, but during the reign of her son, who succeeded as a child, was effective ruler in his stead and lived with him in Milan.

For years she fought Saint Ambrose in the conflict over the Arian heresy, but was at last defeated. In 388 she fled with her son to Theodosius in Thessalonika before the invasion of Italy by the usurper Maximus, and seems to have died shortly afterwards.

[edit] References

Camphausen, Hans v., 1929. Ambrosius von Mailand als Kirchenpolitiker. Berlin/Leipzig.
Homes Dudden, A., 1935. The Life and Times of St. Ambrose. Oxford.
Jones, A. H. M. et al., 1971. The Prosopographie of the Later Roman Empire I.. Cambridge.
Meslin, Michael, 1967. Les ariens d'occident, pp 335-430. Paris.