III. Imperial Provision of 533 Fully Operative in 538 for Pope

The full enthronement of the bishop of Rome in the church and the Catholic empire could hardly be recognized as an accomplished fact while so much of the West was under the domination of Arians, until Justinian’s armies in Africa and Italy overthrew the Vandal kingdom and broke the power of the Ostrogoths at the raising of the siege of Rome. And not until the Goths were driven from Rome in 538 was the bishop of Rome released from Gothic encirclement and control. ^{9In March, 537, Bishop Silverius of Rome, elected by the influence of the Goths, was deposed by Belisarius, upon false charges of plotting with the Goths, and on March 29, 537. the court favorite, Vigilius, was elevated to the Papacy. (Diehl, “Justinian’s Government, The Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 2, p. 46.) Some reckon Vigilius’ pontificate from 538 because they regard his rule as invalid as long as Silverius lived.}PFF1 935.1

The year-by-year outline of events may be summarized as follows:PFF1 935.2

533—Justinian’s general, Belisarius, embarks for Africa. ^{10Procopius, op. cit., book 3, chap. 12, in The Loeb Classical Library, Procopius, vol. 2, p. 111. For further documentation on this series see Diehl, “Justinian,” The Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 2, pp. 12-18: Trevor, op. cit., pp. 52-55.}PFF1 935.3

534—Vandal kingdom destroyed. ^{11Procopius, op. cit., book 4, chap. 7, pp. 265-271 (for date, cf. p. 235, margin).}PFF1 935.4

535—Belisarius lands in Sicily, beginning the Ostrogothic war. ^{12Ibid., book 5, chap. 5, vol. 3, p. 47.}PFF1 935.5

536—Belisarius garrisons Rome. ^{13Ibid., chap. 14, p. 147.}PFF1 935.6

537 (March)—Ostrogothic king Witiges, with 150,000 Goths, vainly seeks to retake Rome in a one-year siege. ^{14Ibid., chap. 16, p. 163 (cf. p. 375).}PFF1 935.7

538 (March)—Another Roman army landing in Italy, Witiges in despair abandons the siege of Rome, falling back to Ravenna. ^{15Ibid., book 6, chap. 10, pp. 373, 375, 377.} 553—Defeat of Teias (Theia) and end of the Ostrogothic war. ^{16Ibid., book 8, chap. 35. vol. 5, p. 419. The 18-year war began at the end of 535. (See book 5, chap. 5, vol. 3, p. 47.)}PFF1 935.8

That the Ostrogoths did not perish as a nation until 552-555 is attested not only by history but by Ostrogothic coins in the British Museum and the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris, where on the coinage of Baduila (Totila) and Teias the title “Rex” (king) appears. ^{17After Belisarius drove the Ostrogoths away from Rome, they retired to Ravenna. Finally Ravenna opened its gates to Belisarius, and Witiges was seized and taken by Belisarius in triumph to Constantinople. Nevertheless, the Ostrogoths continued to function as a kingdom under Baduila (541-552) and Teias (552-553), who perished in 553 in the battle of Mons Lactarius, when the imperialists crushed the Ostrogothic host. Thenceforth the coins of Justinian began to be minted in Ravenna. The Ostrogoths had been plucked up. (Warwick Wroth. Catalogue of the Coins of the Vandals, Ostrogoths and Lombards, pp. xxxv-xxxix, xlii, xlviii, and, for complete descriptions of the Ostrogothic coins of this period and illustrative plates, pp. 77-97.) We have seen that coins and medallions of the centuries form a paralleling but independent line of evidence, covering the nations of the great prophetic outline. Finally the breakup of the Roman Empire is visualized. (See J. G. Milne, Greek Coinage; H. A. Grue-ber, Coins of the Roman Republic in the British Museum; Mattinglv, op. cit.; William Cooke, The Medallic History of Imperial Rome; Cohen, op. cit. One of the best in the field of the barbarian kingdoms is Wroth’s work already cited.) The Vandals entered Gaul, then Spain, then Africa in 429, where the Vandal kingdom was established and organized, and their minting began; their overthrow was accomplished in 533, under Justinian, and the coinage of Justinian, the new master in Africa, began about 534. (Wroth, op. cit..pp. xv, xxviii.) Under Odoacer, leader of the Herulian mercenaries, Italy had become a Teutonic kingdom, like Spain and Africa, and the last emperor of the West had been deposed. Odoacer fixed his capital at Ravenna. Here again we find the Ostrogothic coins. Yet the emperor at Constantinople still ruled, and his suzerainty as overlord was acknowledged by the lesser kingdoms. (Ibid., pp. xxix, xxx.)}PFF1 935.9

That events centering about the siege of Rome (March, 537-March, 538) were a turning point in church and state is evidenced by such statements as the following:PFF1 936.1

“With the conquest of Rome by Belisarius the history of the ancient city may be considered as terminating; and with his defense against Witiges [538] commences the history of the Middle Ages—of the times of destruction and of change.” ^{18Finlay, op. cit., p. 240. See also the citation of Bemont and Monod on page 516.}PFF1 936.2

Thus as the hampering Goths were swept away from Rome in 538 by the arms of Justinian, there was inaugurated a new era of legalized ecclesiastical supremacy of the popes, as they became increasingly not only heads of the church, but “men of the state,” and eventually “rulers of the state.” And this turning point in the time of Justinian, with the key dates 533 and 538, was many centuries later to be pointed to as the beginning of an important prophetic period, as is covered in Volume II.PFF1 936.3