Birthday Greetings# 27

Happy birthday to Theodosius II, Byzantine emperor.  Theodosius reigned (ruled would be an exaggeration) from 408-50AD during which time he achieved a lot by doing not very much.  Granted the fifth century wasn't an easy time to be a Byzantine emperor, revenues were down, barbarian raids were up, and the christian church kept finding new and interesting ways of splitting itself into mutually hostile factions.

Coming to the throne at the age of seven Theodosius wasn't really involved too much in decision taking at the start of his reign and he seems to have decided that this was a good way to continue.  He was fortunate in having a number of talented advisers who were quite happy to tell him what to do.  The first was his praetorian prefect Anthemius.  Anthemius was quite a hot talent, he made peace with the Persians, reorganised the grain supply of Constantinople so people didn't starve quite as much and built the Theodosian Walls surrounding Constantinople.  If Anthemius had been emperor they would have been called the Anthemian Walls but such is life.

When Anthemius disappeared (nobody seems quite sure what happened to him) Theodosius' sister took over as principal advisor.  Wars with the Huns, Vandals and Persians followed but this was probably just a coincidence.  Theodosius lost to the Huns and the Vandals but managed a nil all draw with Persians probably to everyone's surprise.  In between these events he somehow found time to found the University of Constantinople and appoint a commission to codify the laws of the empire.  Since the laws of the empire were largely a combination of precedent and what various emperors had found expedient at the time it was quite a job.  Still something was achieved and the results were promulgated as the Codex Theodosianus.

Getting a massive set of walls and a codex named after you is no mean achievement for somebody who would probably struggle to pass a civil service entrance exam.  When it came to religious disputes Theodosius was just as good as everybody else in sorting them out which is to say he was utterly useless.  Its hard to fault him on this however as religious disputation was pretty much a sport in the empire which everybody played.  It made things a bit tense at times (to say nothing of bloody and horrifying) but at least it gave people something to do.  Nestorianism made its appearance during his reign (Nestorius had made the mistake of getting involved in the dispute over whether the Virgin Mary could be called the mother of God seeing as how God had always existed and therefore couldn't have a mother.  Nestorius proposed a compromise whereby she was called the mother of Christ.  Like most compromises this united both factions in hating the person who suggested it).  Nestorius had been appointed patriarch of Constantinople by Theodosius who was now persuaded to unappoint him.

Eventually Theodosius died in a riding accident having muddled through for more than forty years.  One suspects that his longevity was enhanced by the realisation among his courtiers that whoever replaced him was unlikely to be as easygoing.