November 14: Justinian

The Byzantine Emperor Justinian – a towering figure of the sixth century, who briefly reestablished the collapsed Roman Empire in the west, and laid down the defining principles of European law – died on this date in 565. In Procopius’ notorious The Secret History, filled with details of gossip and intrigues in Justinian’s court, the Emperor was implied to be an Antichrist, born of a human woman impregnated by a demon.