Euphemia (empress) - Empress Euphemia

Empress Euphemia

Although Procopius states in his secret history that Euphemia was unacquainted with affairs of state and thus unable to take part in government, an official church source which dates to 540, the Chronicle of Edessa, attributes the ecclesiastical policies of Justin to Empress Euphemia.

Procopius also claims that both members of the imperial couple attained the throne in the closing years of their lives. Being childless, their heir was Justinian I. He was the nephew and adoptive son of Justin. In The marriage of Justinian and Theodora. Legal and theological reflections, Catholic University of America Law Review 16 (1967), which relates to the marriage of the successor to Justin I, David Daube noted that there were legal obstacles to a freedwoman marrying a state official of the ranks he held prior to his elevation to the throne. Daube theorised that Theodora was retroactively granted freeborn status in order to legitimize the marriage.

Procopius implies that Euphemia opposed the marriage of her nephew to Theodora as she was opposed to the supposed vice of her prospective niece. Procopius clarifies that only following her death was Justinian able to arrange his betrothal and marriage to Theodora. The widowed Justin I proceeded to pass a law allowing intermarriage between social classes, presumably for the interest of his heir. Vasiliev estimated the death of Euphemia to have occurred in 523 or 524. The marriage of Justinian and Theodora has been estimated to 525. She became an equal ruler with her husband and was greatly admired by many.