Justinian, The Sleepless One
This is the story of Uprauda Ystock, son of an illiterate peasant who might have been destined to spend his life working the land had it not been for his mother. Appealing to her brother Roderic she managed to secure for her son an education and a foot on the first rung of the ladder to the Senate.
As Petrus, Uprauda quickly learns how to progress and improve his situation, but not always by the most honest means. When challenged to a fight that he fears he might lose, Petrus injures himself and claims that his opponent cheated. This pseudo-victory gives him no pleasure, and the guilt haunts him for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, Petrus succeeds in repaying his uncle’s patronage by speaking on his behalf, leading to Roderic becoming the emperor Justin, therefore Petrus becomes Justinian and as such succeeds him.
The love of Justinian’s life appears as Theodora, daughter of a bear-keeper and former actress with a colourful past. As the stronger character she dominates and manipulates affairs and when Justinian succumbs to plague he is totally dependent on her. Understandably, when Theodora dies he is distraught, seeking solace in endless work. He is thereafter known as, ‘The Sleepless One’.
Justinian was a man beset by self-doubt, a flawed character who tried to do what he believed to be the right thing. Although he never took part in any military campaign his ambition was to expand the Eastern Roman Empire’s territory but he succeeded only in the impoverishment of the Empire, the ruin of Italy and the final parting of the ways between the churches of East and West.
Spanning the years from 482-565 AD, Ross Laidlaw’s fictionalised history, including copious notes, maps, appendices and afterword, completes a sterling work that breathes life into a character that, for me, was an unknown from the distant past.
