Tiberius II Constantine, Eastern Roman Emperor

Flavius Tiberius Constantinus Augustus, or Tiberius II Constantine, known in Greek as Tiberios Konstantinos was an Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor (of the Justinian Dynasty) from 574 to 582.

During his reign, Tiberius II Constantine gave away 7,200 pounds of gold each year for 4 years. He was a friend of Emperor Justin II, who appointed Tiberius Comes of the Excubitors. He took control of the empire when Justin II went insane in 574, and to increase his popularity, he immediately began spending money that Justin had reserved in his treasury

Justin II had been made infirm by disease; the faculties of his mind were impaired and he subsequently lost the use of his feet. Confined to his palace, he became a stranger to the complaints of the people and the vices of the government. Conscious of his infirmity, he honorably chose to seek a successor to the Imperial throne. On the advice of his wife Sophia, he handed the diadem to one of his Excubitors, Tiberius. While Justin was still alive, Tiberius's general Maurice fought and defeated the Persians in Armenia.

When Tiberius became full Emperor upon Justin's death in 578, he extended his military activities into the remnants of the Western Empire, where he made peace with the Visigoths in Spain and defeated the Berbers in North Africa.

Tiberius might have been the Emperor Lucius Tiberius of Arthurian legend, sending envoys to former Roman provinces after a long period without imperial presence.

Meanwhile, the Slavs began to migrate into the Balkans in 579; unfortunately, Tiberius needed the army to defend against Persian invasions, and was unable to stop the Slavic migrations.

In 582, Tiberius fell ill, and Maurice was named his heir. Maurice became Emperor when Tiberius died in August--poisoned, it was rumored.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiberius_II_Constantine for more information.

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Occupation: Emperor of Byzantium

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[The day after his appointment as Caesar, the plague abated, giving Tiberius more freedom of movement than Justin II was able to achieve. Tiberius also charted a very different course from his predecessor, and proceeded to spend the money which Justin had doggedly saved in order to defend the imperial frontiers and win over the populace who had turned against Justin.[3][9] According to Paul the Deacon, Tiberius found two treasures: the treasure of Narses and 1,000 centenaria, that is 100,000 pounds of gold or 7,200,000 solidi (nomismata), under a slab. These treasures were given away to the poor, to the consternation of Sophia.[10]

Alongside generous donations, he also proceeded to reduce state revenue by removing taxes on wine and bread instituted by Justinian I. He continued the official ban on the sale of governorships, which was highly popular. He also negotiated a truce with the Avars, paying them 80,000 nomismata per year, for which the Avars agreed to defend the Danube frontier, thereby allowing Tiberius to transfer troops across to the east for a planned renewal of the conflict against the Persians.[11]

In 575 Tiberius began moving the armies of Thrace and Illyricum to the eastern provinces. Buying time to make the necessary preparations, he agreed to a three-year truce with the Persians, paying 30,000 nomismata, though the truce excluded action in the region around Armenia.[11] Not content with making preparations, Tiberius also used this period to send reinforcements to Italy under the command of Baduarius with orders to stem the Lombard invasion. He saved Rome from the Lombards and allied the Empire with Childebert II, the King of the Franks, in order to defeat them. Unfortunately, Baduarius was defeated and killed in 576, allowing even more imperial territory in Italy to slip away.[11] Tiberius was unable to respond as the Persian Sassanid Emperor Khosrau I struck at the Empire’s Armenian provinces in 576, sacking Melitene and Sebastea. Shifting his attention eastward, Tiberius sent his general Justinian with the eastern armies to push the Persians back across the Euphrates. The Byzantines followed, and pushed deep into Persian territory, culminating in a raid on Atropatene. In 577, however, Justinian was defeated in Persian Armenia, forcing a Byzantine withdrawal.

In response to this defeat, Tiberius replaced Justinian with the future emperor Maurice.]

[116] Tiberius, however, was full of charity. He gave a quarter of his total wealth to the poor, and eliminated [some] taxes throughout his realm. He was a decent, optimistic, and sincere man who reigned for four years and then took ill. Now some claim that he ruled for only one year. But do not believe them, for we have confirmed from many books that he ruled for four years . He gave his daughter [Constantina] in marriage to the Augustus Maurice, making him emperor. [Maurice] hailed from the village of Arabissus (Arp'sus) in Cappadocia. Then Tiberius died, leaving a good portion of the land grieving. And Maurice became emperor [582-602].

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiberius_II_Constantine