Arbre généalogique Homs » Gaius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinius Roman Emperor (Gaius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinius) "Armeniacus Maxi" Roman Emperor (272-337)

Données personnelles Gaius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinius Roman Emperor (Gaius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinius) "Armeniacus Maxi" Roman Emperor 

• Le surnom est Armeniacus Maxi.
• Il est né le 27 février 272 dans Naissus, Moesia Superior (now Nish), SerbiaNaissus, Moesia Superior (now Nish).
• Il a été baptisé dans Flavius, Valerius, Constantinus.
• Alternative: Il a été baptisé dans Flavius, Valerius, Constantinus.
• Alternative: Il a été baptisé dans Flavius, Valerius, Constantinus.
• Alternative: Il a été baptisé environ 265 dans Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constaninius.
• Il a été baptisé le 22 mai 337.
• Il est décédé le 22 mai 337 dans Nicomedia, Bithynia, Ancyrona, Turkey, il avait 65 ansNicomedia, Ancyrona.
• Il est enterré le 22 mai 337 dans Nicomedia, Izmit.
• Un enfant de Gaius Flavius Valerius Constantius Chlorus Roman Emperor Roman Emperor et Flavia Iulia Helena Augusta "of the Cross"
• Cette information a été mise à jour pour la dernière fois le 29 mars 2012.

Famille de Gaius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinius Roman Emperor (Gaius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinius) "Armeniacus Maxi" Roman Emperor

Il est marié avec Flavia Maxima Fausta.

Ils se sont mariés le 31 mars 307 à Arles, Bouches-du-Rhone, Provence, France, il avait 35 ansArles, Bouches-du-Rhone, Provence.

Enfant(s):

1. Fausta  ± 305-± 330 
2. Flavius Julius Constantius II II  317-361 
3. Flavia Constantia Augusta  ± 319-± 354 

Notes par Gaius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinius Roman Emperor (Gaius Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinius) "Armeniacus Maxi" Roman Emperor

Constantine I
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Constantine I
Emperor of the Roman Empire
Head of Constantine's colossal statue at the Capitoline Museums
Reign 25 July 306 – 29 October 312 (hailed as Augustus in the West, officially made Caesar by Galerius with Severus as Augustus, by agreement with Maximian, refused relegation to Caesar in 309)
29 October 312 – 19 September 324 (undisputed Augustus in the West, senior Augustus in the empire)
19 September 324 – 22 May 337 (emperor of united empire)
Full name Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus
Born 27 February ca. 272[1]
Naissus (modern Niš, Serbia)
Died 22 May 337
Predecessor Constantius Chlorus
Successor Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans
Wife/wives Minervina, died or divorced before 307
Fausta
Dynasty Constantinian
Father Constantius Chlorus
Mother Helena
Children Constantina, Helena, Crispus, Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans

Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus[2] (27 February ca. 272[1] – 22 May 337), commonly known as Constantine I, Constantine the Great (among Roman Catholics), or Saint Constantine (among Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Christians), was Roman Emperor from 306, and the undisputed holder of that office from 324 to his death. Best known for being the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine reversed the persecutions of his predecessor, Diocletian, and issued (with his co-emperor Licinius) the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious toleration throughout the empire.

The Byzantine liturgical calendar, observed by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches of Byzantine rite, lists both Constantine and his mother Helena as saints. Although he is not included in the Latin Church's list of saints, which does recognize several other Constantines as saints, he is revered under the title "The Great" for his contributions to Christianity.

In 324, Constantine announced his decision to transform Byzantium into Nova Roma and on May 11, 330, he officially proclaimed the city the new capital of the Roman Empire. The city was renamed Constantinople, The City of Constantine, after Constantine's death in 337. It would remain the capital of the Byzantine Empire for over a thousand years, a reign interrupted only briefly by its 1204 sacking and occupation in the Fourth Crusade, until it finally fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Sources
* 2 Early life
* 3 In the East
o 3.1 Education and military service
o 3.2 Great Persecution
o 3.3 Diocletian's abdication
* 4 In the West
o 4.1 Flight from Galerius
o 4.2 In Britain
o 4.3 Galerius' acceptance
* 5 Early rule
o 5.1 Maxentius' rebellion
o 5.2 Conference at Carnuntum
o 5.3 Maximian's rebellion
o 5.4 Panegyric of 310
* 6 Civil wars
o 6.1 Death of Galerius and Tetrarchic tensions
o 6.2 War against Maxentius
o 6.3 Wars against Licinius
* 7 Later rule
o 7.1 Foundation of Constantinople
o 7.2 Religious policy
o 7.3 Executions of Crispus and Fausta
o 7.4 Sickness and death
* 8 Legacy
o 8.1 Donation of Constantine
o 8.2 Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia
* 9 Notes
* 10 References
o 10.1 Primary sources
o 10.2 Secondary sources
* 11 See also
* 12 External links

[edit] Sources

There are no surviving histories or biographies dealing with Constantine's life and rule.[3] The nearest replacement is Eusebius of Caesarea's Vita Constantini, a work that is a mixture of eulogy and hagiography. Written between 335 and circa 339,[4] the Vita extols the emperor's moral virtues and religious faith.[5] Written some time in the four years between 335 and circa 339, the work focuses on the religious and moral character of Constantine's life.[6] The fullest secular life of Constantine is the anonymous Origo Constantini.[7] A work of uncertain date,[8] the Origo focuses on military and political events, to the neglect of cultural and religious matters.[9]

Lactantius' De Mortibus Persecutorum, a polemical Christian pamphlet on the reigns of Diocletian and the Tetrarchy, provides valuable but tendentious detail on Constantine's predecessors and early life.[10] The ecclesiastical histories of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret describe the ecclesiastic disputes of Constantine's later reign.[11] Written during the reign of Theodosius II (408–50), a century after Constantine's reign, these ecclesiastic historians obscure the events and theologies of the Constantinian period through misdirection, misrepresentation and deliberate obscurity.[12] The contemporary writings of the Orthodox Christian Athanasius and the ecclesiastical history of the Arian Philostorgius also survive, though their biases are no less firm.[13]

The epitomes of Aurelius Victor (De Caesaribus), Eutropius (Breviarium), Festus (Breviarium), and the anonymous author of the Epitome de Caesaribus offer compressed secular political and military histories of the period. Although pagan, the epitomes paint a favorable image of Constantine, but omit reference to Constantine's religious policies.[14] The Panegyrici Latini, a collection of panegyrics from the late third and early fourth centuries, provide valuable information on the politics and ideology of the tetrarchic period and the early life of Constantine.[15] Contemporary architecture, like the Arch of Constantine in Rome and palaces in Gamzigrad and Córdoba,[16] epigraphic remains, and the coinage of the era complement the literary sources, preserving otherwise unattested details of chronology, hierarchy, and religious affairs within the Constantinian empire.[17] The codices of Theodosius and Justinian, because of their use of dated rescripts, can be used to reconstruct Constantine's itinerary.[18]

[edit] Early life
Constantine's parents and siblings. Dates in square brackets indicate the possession of minor titles, such as the Caesar
Constantine's parents and siblings. Dates in square brackets indicate the possession of minor titles, such as the Caesar

Constantine, named Flavius Valerius Constantinus, was born in the Moesian military city of Naissus (Niš, Serbia) on the 27th of February of an uncertain year,[19] probably near 272.[20] His father was Flavius Constantius, a native of Moesia Superior (later Dacia Ripensis).[21] Constantius was a tolerant and politically skilled man.[22] Constantius was an officer in the Roman army in 272, part of the Emperor Aurelian's imperial bodyguard. Constantius advanced through the ranks, earning the governorship of Dalmatia from Emperor Diocletian, another of Aurelian's Illyrian companions, in 284 or 285.[21] Constantine's mother was Helena, a Bithynian of humble origin. It is uncertain whether she was legally married to Constantius or merely his concubine.[23]

As emperor, Diocletian effected a series of administrative and fiscal reforms, systematizing the Empire's tax system, reforming the currency, and issuing new books of precedent.[24] In July 285, Diocletian declared Maximian, another colleague from Illyricum, his co-emperor. Each emperor would have his own court, his own military and administrative faculties, and each would rule with a separate praetorian prefect as chief lieutenant.[25] Maximian ruled in the West, from his capitals at Mediolanum (Milan, Italy) or Augusta Treverorum (Trier, Germany), while Diocletian ruled in the East, from Nicomedia (Izmit, Turkey). This division was pragmatic. The Empire remained "indivisible", a patrimonium indivisum, in official panegyric,[26] and both emperors could move freely throughout the Empire.[27] In 288, Maximian appointed Constantius to serve as his praetorian prefect in Gaul. Constantius left Helena and married Maximian's stepdaughter Flavia Maximiana Theodora ca. 288–89.[28]

Diocletian divided the Empire again in 293, appointing two Caesars (junior emperors) to rule over further subdivisions of East and West. Each would be subordinate to their respective Augustus (senior emperor) but would act with supreme authority in his assigned lands. This system would later be called the Tetrarchy. Diocletian's first appointee for the office of Caesar was Constantius; his second was Galerius, a native of Felix Romuliana (Gamzigrad, Serbia). According to Lactantius, Galerius was a brutal, animalistic man. Although he shared the paganism of Rome's aristocracy, he seemed to them an alien figure, a semi-barbarian.[29] On March 1, Constantius was promoted to the office of Caesar, and tasked with suppressing Carausius' rebellion in Britain and northwestern Gaul.[30] In spite of its meritocratic quasi-republican overtones, the tetrarchic system retained the vestiges of hereditary privilege,[31] and Constantine became the prime candidate for future appointment as Caesar after his father's appointment to the position. Constantine left the Balkans for the court of Diocletian, where he lived as his father's heir presumptive.[32]

[edit] In the East

[edit] Education and military service

Young Constantine benefited greatly from his father's position as Caesar. At the court of Diocletian, Constantine received a formidable education, gaining a skillful understanding of Latin literature, a capable proficiency in Greek, and an aptitude for philosophy.[33] The cultural environment in Nicomedia was open, fluid and socially mobile, and Constantine could mix with intellectuals both pagan and Christian. It is possible that he may have seen the lectures of Lactantius, then a Christian scholar of Latin in the city, and a man he would later make his son Crispus' tutor.[34]

Because Diocletian did not completely trust Constantius—none of the tetrarchs fully trusted their colleagues—Constantine was held as something of a hostage at his court, kept under his thumb to ensure Constantius' best behavior. But Constantine was nonetheless a prominent member of the court, a full participant in the political life of the Empire: he fought for Diocletian and Galerius in Asia, serving in a variety of tribunates; he campaigned against barbarians on the Danube in 296, fought in the Persian wars under Diocletian in Syria (297) and Galerius in Mesopotamia (298–99). There, on his own testimony, he saw the ruins of Babylon and Memphis.[35] Returning from his Egyptian voyage in 301 or 302, he met Eusebius, his later biographer, in Caesarea Maritima in Palestine.[36] By the spring of 303, Constantine had returned to Nicomedia.[37] In the following years, he continued to rise in rank, and reached the level of tribune of the first order, tribunus ordinis primi, by late 305.[38]
Head from a statue of Diocletian, Augustus of the East
Head from a statue of Diocletian, Augustus of the East

[edit] Great Persecution

Diocletian was conservative in matters of religion, a man faithful to the traditional Roman pantheon.[39] Galerius was even more so.[40] According to Lactantius, while wintering at Nicomedia in 302, Galerius, with the aid of the oracle of Apollo at Didyma, persuaded Diocletian to begin a universal persecution of the empire's Christians.[41] Years later, Constantine would recall his presence at the palace when the oracle's report came in.[42] On February 23, 303, Diocletian ordered the destruction of Nicomedia's new church, condemned its scriptures to the flame, and had its treasures seized. This event inaugurated the "Great Persecution", a series of severe persecutions of Christians that continued for eight years after the initial declaration. Across the empire, churches and scriptures were to be destroyed, and Christians to be deprived of official rank, imprisoned, and tortured.[43]

The persecutions were not applied consistently across the empire: neither Maximian nor Constantius would enforce the later, harsher edicts promulgated in the East. Of the persecution's policy stipulations, only the destruction of churches would be followed by Constantius. Demands of universal sacrifice, issued in early 304, the imprisonment of the clergy, issued in the spring or summer of 303, were ignored: west of the Balkans, they had no legal standing.[44] In his later writings Constantine would attempt to conceal the extent of his complicity in the events: he would describe himself in writing as a mere child when the persecutions began, when in fact he was nearer to thirty.[45] No contemporary Christian would challenge Constantine on any aspect of his role in the persecutions, but his silence would be a liability for the rest of his life.[46]

[edit] Diocletian's abdication

On May 1, 305, Diocletian, still weathering a debilitating sickness he had acquired over the winter of 304–5, addressed an assembly of generals and his traditional companion troops, and informed them of his will to resign.[47] Diocletian ordered that Constantius succeeded Maximian as Augustus of the West, and that Severus and Maximin be made Caesars. Although two legitimate sons of emperors were available (Constantine, as the son of Constantius, and Maxentius, as the son of Maximian), both were ignored in the transition of power. This perceived slight created instability within the tetrarchy, and inspired jealousy in Constantine and Maxentius. These feelings were intensified in the case of Constantine by the fact that familial ties had helped to elevate Maximin, as Galerius' nephew, but had not helped Constantine at all.[48] Constantine's propagandists attest that Galerius, having recognized Constantine's discontent, sent him off to war in hopes of killing him. Constantine was sent to lead an advance unit in a cavalry charge through a swamp against the Sarmatians on the middle Danube. Against expectations, Constantine succeeded in leading his men to victory, and presented a Sarmatian captive to Galerius upon his return to Nicomedia.[49]

[edit] In the West

[edit] Flight from Galerius

Constantine's recognized the implicit danger in remaining at Galerius' court, where he was held as a virtual hostage. His career depended on being rescued by his father in the west. Constantius was quick to intervene.[50] In the late spring or early summer of 305, Constantius requested leave for his son for help in combat operations against the Picts in Britain. Galerius, then in the middle of a long evening of drinking, granted Constantius' request. Constantine's later propaganda describes how Constantine fled the court in the night, so as not to allow Galerius to change his mind in the morning. In the tale, Constantine rides his horses from post-house to post-house at high speed, mutilating them at each stop, so as to prevent their re-use by those following him. He takes the route north of the Alps to avoid Severus, then in Italy. The tale concludes with Galerius waking late the following morning, and attempting to revoke the order, only to find that Constantine had already fled. Regardless of the exact nature of his departure, Constantine joined his father in Gaul, at Bononia (Boulogne) before the summer of 305.[51]

[edit] In Britain
Bronze statue of Constantine I in York, England, near the spot where he was proclaimed Augustus in 306
Bronze statue of Constantine I in York, England, near the spot where he was proclaimed Augustus in 306

From Bononia they crossed the Channel to Britain and made their way to Eboracum (York), capital of the province of Britannia Secunda and home to a large military base. Constantine was able to spend a year in northern Britain at his father's side, campaigning against the Picts beyond Hadrian's Wall in the summer and autumn.[52] Constantius' campaign, like that of Septimius Severus before it, probably advanced far into the north without achieving great success.[53] Constantius had become severely sick over the course of his tenure, and died on July 25, 306 in Eboracum (York). Before dying, he declared his support for raising Constantine to the rank of full Augustus. The Alamannic king Chrocus, a barbarian taken into service under Constantius, then proclaimed Constantine as Augustus. The troops loyal to Constantius' memory followed him in acclamation. Word quickly spread of Constantine's accession to power, and soon the whole of Gaul pledged him its allegiance.[54]

[edit] Galerius' acceptance

Constantine's succession was contrary to Diocletian's plans for his father's office, and liable to challenge. With Constantius' support and the backing of his armies, however, it mattered little. Nonetheless, since Constantine was now working directly beneath Galerius, he sent him an official notice of Constantius' death and his own acclamation. Along with the notice, he included a traditional portrait of himself robed in the outfit of Augustus of the West, wearing the imperial wreath.[55] He requested recognition as heir to his father's throne, and passed off responsibility for his unlawful ascension on his army, claiming they had "forced it upon him".[56] Galerius was displeased with the message, and almost set the portrait on fire along with its messenger. Outright denial of Constantine's claims would have meant war,[57] and Galerius' advisers soon convinced him of the necessity of peace. It would be difficult to challenge such a popular man, they argued. Galerius was compelled to compromise.[58] Galerius nonetheless wished to make it clear that he remained the true source of the new emperor's power, and personally sent Constantine the purple robes of Empire.[59] Galerius gave Constantine only the office of Caesar; the office of Augustus went to Severus instead. Constantine accepted the decision, knowing that it would remove any lasting doubts as to his own legitimacy.[60] He began appearing on imperial coinage as Flavius Valerius Constantius the Noble Caesar.[61]

[edit] Early rule

Constantine's share of the Empire consisted of Britain, Gaul, Germania, and Hispania. He therefore commanded one of the largest Roman armies, stationed along the important Rhine frontier. During his years in Gaul, from 306 to 316, Constantine continued his father's efforts to secure the Rhine frontier and rebuild the Gallic provinces.[62] After his promotion to emperor, Constantine remained in Britain for a brief period of time, securing his control in the northwestern dioceses. While there, he completed the reconstruction of military bases begun under his father's rule, and ordered the repair of the region's roadways. Like all new emperors, he had busts made of his face to be set in major cities and military camps, and began printing currency with his profile.[63] He soon returned to Augusta Treverorum (Trier) in Gaul, the tetrarchic capital of the northwest. In the winter of 306–7, he made his way to Gaul to quell an uprising by the Franks, who had begun raiding Roman towns in Constantius' absence. Constantine drove them back across the Rhine, slaughtered many of their number, and captured two of their kings, Ascaric and Merogaisus. In the victory celebrations that ensued in Trier, Constantine fed the kings and their warriors to beasts in the amphitheater.[64]
Public baths (thermae) built in Trier by Constantine. More than 100 metres (328 ft) wide by 200 metres (656 ft) long, and capable of serving several thousands at a time, the baths were made to rival those of Rome.
Public baths (thermae) built in Trier by Constantine. More than 100 metres (328 ft) wide by 200 metres (656 ft) long, and capable of serving several thousands at a time, the baths were made to rival those of Rome.[65]

After his victory, Constantine began a major expansion of Trier. He strengthened the circuit wall around the city with military towers and fortified gates, and erected the beginnings of a palace complex in the northeast of the city. Somewhat to the south of his palace, he ordered the construction of a large formal audience hall, and a massive imperial bathhouse. For the duration of his reign as emperor of the northwestern provinces, Constantine would sponsor many building projects, especially in Augustodunum (Autun) and Arelate (Arles).[66] According to Lactantius, Constantine followed his father in following a tolerant policy towards Christianity. Although not yet a Christian, he probably judged it a more sensible policy than open persecution.[67] In his first years as one of the tetrarchs, Constantine's image transformed from "bloodthirsty son of a renowned father" into "august and fatherly emperor". He had outgrown the need for his father's support.[68]

[edit] Maxentius' rebellion

Following Galerius' recognition of Constantine as emperor, his portrait was brought to Rome, as was customary. Maxentius mocked the portrait's subject as the son of a harlot, and lamented his own powerlessness.[69] Maxentius, jealous of Constantine's authority, would soon take the opportunity to seize an imperial throne for himself.[70] Taking advantage of Roman discontent at Galerius' new tax impositions, Maxentius persuaded a cohort of imperial guardsmen to declare him emperor on October 28, 306. Where Galerius had seen Constantine as a qualified individual who filled an empty position in the tetrarchy, Galerius saw in Maxentius an unworthy and disrespectful man who could destabilize the whole tetrarchic system, taking up more thrones than were available. Galerius refused to recognize Maxentius, and sent the armies of Severus against his illegitimate government. Faced with a charismatic leader with deep pockets, the bulk of Severus' armies defected to Maxentius. Severus was seized, and brought under guard to a public villa south of Rome, to be there imprisoned. Galerius led a second force against Maxentius in the autumn of 307, but his forces again failed to take Rome. He retreated north with his army mostly intact.[71]
Dresden bust of Maxentius. Maxentius' rule in Italy worsened political relations within the tetrarchy, and pushed its members towards open conflict. His ruling style and motivations have been likened to those of Constantine.
Dresden bust of Maxentius. Maxentius' rule in Italy worsened political relations within the tetrarchy, and pushed its members towards open conflict.[72] His ruling style and motivations have been likened to those of Constantine.[73]

Constantine decided to depart from Gaul and visit Britain during the spring and summer of 307, avoiding the turmoil in Italy. Constantine remained decidedly neutral in the conflict between Maxentius and Galerius.[74] Instead of sending his troops into a civil war, he used them against Germanic tribes along the Rhine. In 308, he raided the territory of the Bructeri, and made a bridge across the Rhine at Colonia Agrippinensium (Cologne). In 310, he marched to the northern Rhine and fought the Franks. When not campaigning, he toured his lands advertising his benevolence, and supporting the economy and the arts. His refusal to participate in the war increased his popularity among his people, and built him a stable power base in his provinces.[75]

[edit] Conference at Carnuntum

While Maxentius built up Rome's defenses, Maximian, brought out of retirement by his son's rebellion, made his way to Gaul to confer with Constantine. He offered to espouse his younger daughter Fausta to him, and elevate him to Augustan rank. By way of recompense, Constantine would reaffirm the old family alliance between Maximian and Constantius, and offer support to Maxentius' cause in Italy. Constantine accepted, and married Fausta in Trier in late summer 307. Despite his marriage into the alliance, Constantine offered little to Maximian in return: political recognition and military neutrality.[76] Maximian returned to Rome in the winter of 307–8, but soon fell out with his son. He challenged Maxentius' right to rule in the spring of 308 before an assembly of Roman soldiers. The soldiers sided with Maxentius. Having failed to depose his son, Maximian left Italy in disgrace. In early 309 he returned to the court of Constantine in Gaul, the only court that would still accept him.[77]

On November 11, 308, Galerius called a general council at the military city of Carnuntum on the upper Danube to resolve the instability in the western provinces. In attendance were Diocletian, briefly returned from retirement, Galerius and Maximian. Maximian was forced to abdicate again and Constantine was again demoted to Caesar. Licinius, a loyal military companion to Galerius, was appointed Augustus of the west. The new system was not amenable to its constituents. Constantine refused to accept his second demotion, and continued to style himself as Augustus on his coinage, even as other members of the tetrarchy referred to him as a Caesar on theirs. Maximinus was frustrated that he had been turned over for promotion while the newcomer Licinius had been raised to the office of Augustus, and demanded that Galerius promote him. Galerius could not assuage the anger of either Maximinus or Constantine, and so offered to call them both "sons of the Augusti". Where once there had been two Augusti, there were now four.[78]

[edit] Maximian's rebellion
A gold multiple of Constantine with Sol Invictus, printed in 313. The use of Sol's image appealed to both the educated citizens of Gaul, who would recognize in it Apollo's patronage of Augustus and the arts; and to Christians, who found solar monotheism less objectionable than the traditional pagan pantheon.
A gold multiple of Constantine with Sol Invictus, printed in 313. The use of Sol's image appealed to both the educated citizens of Gaul, who would recognize in it Apollo's patronage of Augustus and the arts; and to Christians, who found solar monotheism less objectionable than the traditional pagan pantheon.[79]

In 310, a dispossessed and power-hungry Maximian rebelled against Constantine while Constantine was away campaigning against the Franks. Maximian had been sent south to Arles with a contingent of Constantine's army, in preparation for any attacks by Maxentius in southern Gaul. He there announced that Constantine was dead, and took up the imperial purple. In spite of a large donative pledge to any who would support him as emperor, most of Constantine's army remained loyal to their emperor, and Maximian was soon compelled to leave. Constantine soon heard of the rebellion, abandoned his campaign against the Franks, and marched his army up the Rhine. Constantine soon heard of the rebellion, abandoned his campaign against the Franks, marching his troops up the Rhine.[80] At Cabillunum (Chalon-sur-Saône), he moved his troops onto waiting boats to row down the slow waters of the Saône to the quicker waters of the Rhone. He disembarked at Lugdunum (Lyon).[81] Maximian fled to Massilia (Marseille), a town better able to withstand a long siege than Arles. It made little difference, however, as loyal citizens opened the rear gates to Constantine. Maximian was captured and reproved for his crimes. Constantine granted some clemency, but strongly encouraged his suicide. In July 310, Maximian hanged himself.[82]

In spite of the earlier rupture in their relations, Maxentius was eager to present himself as his father's devoted son after his death.[83] He began printing coins with his father's deified image, proclaiming his desire to avenge Maximian's death.[84] Constantine had initially presented Maximian's death as an unfortunate family tragedy. His death was voluntary, performed by his own hand in spite of Constantine's pardon. By 311, however, Constantine was promulgating another narrative of the events. In the tale, set in Massilia after Maximian's pardon, Maximian was planning to murder Constantine while the emperor slept. Fausta warned Constantine, and Constantine placed a eunuch in his bed in his own place. Maximian was apprehended when he killed the eunuch, and was then offered to hang himself in place of a public execution. Maximian complied.[85] In addition to the propaganda, Constantine instituted a damnatio memoriae on Maximian, destroying all inscriptions referring to him and eliminating any public work bearing his image.[86]

[edit] Panegyric of 310

The death of Maximian necessitated a shift in Constantine's public image. He could no longer rely on his connection to the elder emperor Maximian, and needed a new source of legitimacy.[87] In a speech delivered in Gaul on July 25, 310, the orator reveals a previously unknown dynastic connection to Claudius II, a third-century emperor famed for defeating the Goths and restoring order to the empire. Breaking away from tetrarchic models, the speech emphasizes Constantine's ancestral prerogative to rule, rather than principles of imperial equality. The new ideology expressed in the speech made Galerius and Maximian irrelevant to Constantine's right to rule.[88] Indeed, the orator emphasizes ancestry to the exclusion of all other factors: "No chance agreement of men, nor some unexpected consequence of favor, made you emperor," the orator declares to Constantine.[89]

The oration also moves away from the religious ideology of the tetrarchy, with its focus on twin dynasties of Jupiter and Hercules. Instead, the orator proclaims that Constantine experienced a divine vision of Apollo and Victory granting him laurel wreaths of health and a long reign. In the likeness of Apollo Constantine recognized himself as the saving figure to whom would be granted "rule of the whole world",[90] as the poet Virgil had once foretold.[91] The oration's religious shift is paralleled by a similar shift in Constantine's coinage. In his early reign, the coinage of Constantine advertised Mars as his patron. From 310 on, Mars was replaced by Sol Invictus, a god conventionally identified with Apollo.[92] There is little reason to believe that either the dynastic connection or the divine vision are anything other than fiction, but their proclamation strengthened Constantine's claims to legitimacy and increased his popularity among the citizens of Gaul.[93]

[edit] Civil wars

[edit] Death of Galerius and Tetrarchic tensions

By the middle of 310 Galerius had become too ill to involve himself in imperial politics.[94] As his last political act, Galerius decided to rescind his failed policies of persecution. In a letter to his provincials posted in Nicomedia on April 30, 311, Galerius proclaimed an end to the persecutions, and a resumption of official religious toleration.[95] He died soon after.[96] In spite of the edict, Maximin resumed persecution in his territories within six months of the its proclamation.[97] Galerius' death destabilized what remained of the tetrarchic system.[98] On hearing the news, Maximinus mobilized against Licinius, and seized Asia Minor before meeting Licinius on the Bosphorus to arrange terms for peace.[99] At the time, Constantine was on tour in Britain and Gaul, providing tax concessions to his subjects, and ordering construction projects in selected urban areas.[100] Meanwhile, Maxentius in Italy was fortifying northern Italy against potential invasions. He also strengthened his support among the Christians of Italy by allowing them to elect a new Bishop of Rome, Eusebius.[101]

Maxentius was far from secure, however. His early support was dissolving into open protest;[102] by 312, he was a man barely tolerated, not one actively supported.[103] Without the revenues of the empire, Maxentius was forced to resume taxation in Italy to support his army and his building projects in Rome.[104] The election of a bishop did not aid much, either, as Diocletian's persecution had split the Italian church into competing factions over the issue of apostasy. The Christians of Italy could easily see that Constantine was more sympathetic to their plight than Maxentius.[105] In the summer of 311, Maxentius mobilized against Constantine while Licinius was occupied with affairs in the East. He declared war on Constantine, vowing to avenge his father's "murder".[106] Constantine, in an attempt to prevent Maxentius from forming a hostile alliance with Licinius,[107] forged his own alliance with the man over the winter of 311–12 by offering to him his sister Constantia in marriage. Maximin considered Constantine's arrangement with Licinius an affront to his authority. In response, he sent ambassadors to Rome, offering political recognition to Maxentius in exchange for a military support.[108] Two alliances, Maximin and Maxentius, Constantine and Licinius, lined up against one another. The emperors prepared for war.[109]

[edit] War against Maxentius
[show]
v • d • e
Battles of Constantine I
Turin – Verona – Milvian Bridge – Cibalae – Mardia – Adrianople – Hellespont – Chrysopolis

Maxentius expected an attack along his eastern flank from Licinius, and stationed an army in Verona.[110] Constantine had smaller forces than his opponent: with his forces withdrawn from Africa, with the praetorian and Imperial Horse Guard, and with the troops he had taken from Severus, Maxentius had an army equal to approximately 100,000 soldiers to use against his opponents in the north. Many of these he used to garrison fortified towns across the region, keeping most stationed with him in Verona. Against this, Constantine could only bring a force of between twenty-five and forty thousand men. The bulk of his troops simply could not be withdrawn from the Rhine frontiers without negative consequences.[111] It was against the recommendations of his advisers and generals, against popular expectation, that Constantine anticipated Maxentius, and struck first.[112]

As early as weather permitted,[113] late in the spring of 312,[114] Constantine crossed the Alps with a quarter of his total army, a force equivalent to something less than forty thousand men.[115] Having crossed the Cottian Alps at the Mont Cenis pass,[116] he first came to Segusium (Susa, Italy), a heavily fortified town containing a military garrison, which shut its gates to him. Constantine ordered his forces set its gates on fire, scaled its walls, and took the town quickly. Constantine forbade the plunder of the town, and advanced into northern Italy.[117] At the approach to the west of the important city of Augusta Taurinorum (Turin, Italy), Constantine encountered a large force of heavily armed Maxentian cavalry,[118] labeled clibanarii or cataphracti in the ancient sources. In the ensuing battle Constantine spread his forces into a line, allowing Maxentius' cavalry to ride into the middle of his forces. As his forces broadly encircled the enemy cavalry, Constantine's own cavalry charged at the sides of the Maxentian cataphracts, beating them with iron-tipped clubs. Many Maxentian cavalrymen were dismounted, while most others were variously incapacitated by the blows. Constantine then commanded his foot soldiers to advance against the surviving Maxentian infantry, cutting them down as they fled.[119] Victory, the panegyrist who speaks of the events declares, came easily.[120] Turin refused to give refuge to the retreating forces of Maxentius. It opened its gates to Constantine instead. Other cities of the north Italian plain, recognizing Constantine's quick and clement victories, sent him embassies of congratulation for his victory. He moved on to Milan, where he was met with open gates and jubilant rejoicing. He resided there until the middle of the summer of 312 before moving on.[121]

He quickly conquered Northern Italy in the battle Verona and then moved on to Rome. There he defeated Maxentius in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, which resulted in his becoming Western Augustus, or ruler of the entire Western Roman Empire. During this epic battle Constantine had his soldiers place on their shields what Christians believed was the labarum symbol, although there is a dispute between historians whether this design was of Christian or solar pagan origins, or whether it perhaps originated in the meteorological occurrences on the date thereof.[122] In a dream the night before the battle, wrote the Christian apologist Lactantius, Constantine was told by God to paint the labarum on his soldiers' shields. Eusebius attributes another vision to Constantine, although historians have tended to doubt its veracity more than that of Lactantius. When Constantine was praying about noon, a sign appeared in the heavens above the Sun: a cross of light with the message "In this sign, you will conquer". He and his whole army were struck with amazement at the sign.[123] Constantine was uncertain of the meaning of the sign, but in his sleep the Christian God came to him with the same sign, and commanded him to make a likeness of it, and use it as a safeguard.[124]
The Battle of the Milvian Bridge by Giulio Romano
The Battle of the Milvian Bridge by Giulio Romano

Some have argued for a meteorological explanation of the vision, explaining it as either a "solar halo"[125] or the tail of a meteor;[126] but most historians have disputed either the details of the events or their very existence, arguing for an earlier or later conversion date and thereby avoiding the historiographic problems of miracles altogether.[127] Some historians suggest that Lactantius' account, written from good sources soon after the battle, should be taken alone; that Constantine had the dream, but not the waking vision.[128] In any event, the visions were part of Christians' common eschatological expectations in the period: beginning with the Gospel of Matthew and continuing on through the Didache, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Apocalypse of Elijah, the appearance of the "Sign of the Son of Man" in the heavens was a common motif preceding the Second Coming of Christ in Christian writings on the End Times.[129] Lactantius and Constantine, in their other writings, show some awareness of this trend in eschatology.[130]

[edit] Wars against Licinius

In the following years, Constantine gradually consolidated his military superiority over his rivals in the crumbling Tetrarchy. In 313, he met Licinius in Milan to secure their alliance by the marriage of Licinius and Constantine's half-sister Constantia. During this meeting, the emperors agreed on the so-called Edict of Milan (which, in its surviving forms, was neither an edict nor issued in Milan), officially granting full tolerance to all religions in the Empire.[131] The document had special benefits for Christians, legalizing their religion and granting them restoration for all property seized during Diocletian's persecution. It repudiates past methods of religious coercion, accepting religious plurality and using only general terms—"Divinity" and "Supreme Divinity", summa divinitas—avoiding any exclusive specificity.[132] The conference was cut short, however, when news reached Licinius that his rival Maximinus Daia had crossed the Bosporus and invaded Licinian territory. Licinius departed and eventually defeated Maximinus, gaining control over the entire eastern half of the Roman Empire. Relations between the two remaining emperors deteriorated, though, and either in 314 or 316, Constantine and Licinius fought against one another in the war of Cibalae, with Constantine being victorious. They clashed again in the Battle of Campus Ardiensis in 317, and agreed to a settlement in which Constantine's sons Crispus and Constantine II, and Licinius' son Licinianus were made caesars.[133]

In the year 320, Licinius reneged on the religious freedom promised by the Edict of Milan in 313 and began another persecution of the Christians.[134] It became a challenge to Constantine in the west, climaxing in the great civil war of 324. Licinius, aided by Goth mercenaries, represented the past and the ancient Pagan faiths. Constantine and his Franks marched under the Christian standard of the labarum, and both sides saw the battle in religious terms. Supposedly outnumbered, but fired by their zeal, Constantine's army emerged victorious in the battles of Adrianople, the Hellespont, and at Chrysopolis.[135] With the defeat and death of Licinius a year later (he was accused of plotting against Constantine and executed), Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.[136]

[edit] Later rule

[edit] Foundation of Constantinople
Coin struck by Constantine I to commemorate the founding of Constantinople
Coin struck by Constantine I to commemorate the founding of Constantinople

Licinius' defeat represented the passing of old Rome, and the beginning of the role of the Eastern Roman Empire as a center of learning, prosperity, and cultural preservation. Constantine rebuilt the city of Byzantium, and renamed it Nova Roma (New Rome) and issued special commemorative coins in 330 to honour the event. He provided Nova Roma with a Senate and civic offices similar to those of Rome. The new city was protected by the alleged True Cross, the Rod of Moses and other holy relics, though a cameo now at the Hermitage Museum also represented Constantine crowned by the tyche of the new city.[137] The figures of old gods were replaced and often assimilated into Christian symbolism. On the site of a temple to Aphrodite was built the new Church of the Holy Apostles. Generations later there was the story that a Divine vision led Constantine to this spot, and an angel no one else could see, led him on a circuit of the new walls. After his death, his capital was renamed Nova Roma Constantinopolitana (Constantinople in English, "Constantine's City").[136]

[edit] Religious policy

Further information: Constantine I and Christianity

Constantine the Great, mosaic in Hagia Sophia, c. 1000
Constantine the Great, mosaic in Hagia Sophia, c. 1000

Constantine is perhaps best known for being the first Christian Roman Emperor. His reign was a turning point for the Christian Church. In 313 Constantine announced toleration of Christianity in the Edict of Milan, which removed penalties for professing Christianity (under which many had been martyred in previous persecutions of Christians) and returned confiscated Church property. Though a similar edict had been issued in 311 by Galerius, then senior emperor of the tetrarchy,[138] Constantine's lengthy rule, conversion, and patronage of the Church redefined the status of Christianity in the empire.

Scholars debate whether Constantine adopted his mother St. Helena's Christianity in his youth, or whether he adopted it gradually over the course of his life.[139] Constantine was over 40 when he finally declared himself a Christian.[140] Constantine however still maintained the title of Pontifex Maximus, which emperors bore as heads of the pagan priesthood. Writing to Christians, Constantine made clear that he believed he owed his successes to the protection of the Christian High God alone.[141] Throughout his rule, Constantine supported the Church financially, built various basilicas, granted privileges (e.g. exemption from certain taxes) to clergy, promoted Christians to high ranking offices, and returned property confiscated during the Great Persecution of Diocletian.[142] His most famous building projects include the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Old Saint Peter's Basilica.

The reign of Constantine established a precedent for the position of the Christian Emperor in the Church; Constantine considered himself responsible to God for the spiritual health of his subjects, and thus he had a duty to maintain orthodoxy.[143] [144] The emperor ensured that God was properly worshipped in his empire; what proper worship consisted of was for the Church to determine.[145] In 316, Constantine acted as a judge in a North African dispute concerning the heresy of Donatism. More significantly, in 325 he summoned the Council of Nicaea, effectively the first Ecumenical Council (unless the Council of Jerusalem is so classified), to deal mostly with the heresy of Arianism. Constantine also enforced the prohibition of the First Council of Nicaea against celebrating Easter on the day before the Jewish Passover (14 Nisan) (see Quartodecimanism and Easter controversy).[146]

Constantine instituted several legislative measures which had an impact on Jews. They were forbidden to own Christian slaves or to circumcise their slaves. Conversion of Christians to Judaism was outlawed. Congregations for religious services were restricted, but Jews were allowed to enter Jerusalem on Tisha B'Av, the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple.

[edit] Executions of Crispus and Fausta

On some date between May 15 and June 17, 326, Constantine had his eldest son Crispus seized and put to death by "cold poison" at Pola (Pula, Croatia).[147] In July, Constantine had his wife, the Empress Fausta, killed at the behest of his mother, Helena. Fausta was left to die in an over-heated bath.[148] Their names were wiped from the face of many inscriptions, references to their lives in the literary record were erased, and the memory of both was condemned. Eusebius, for example, edited praise of Crispus out of later copies of his Historia Ecclesiastica, and his Vita Constantini contains no mention of Fausta or Crispus at all.[149] Few ancient sources are willing to discuss possible motives for the events; those few that do offer unconvincing rationales, are of later provenance, and are generally unreliable. At the time of the executions, it was commonly believed that the Empress Fausta was either in an illicit relationship with Crispus, or was spreading rumors to that effect. A popular myth arose, modified to allude to Hippolytus–Phaedra legend, with the suggestion that Constantine killed Crispus and Fausta for their immoralities.[150] One source, the largely fictional Passion of Artemius, probably penned in the eighth century by John of Damascus, makes the legendary connection explicit.[151] As an interpretation of the executions, the myth rests on only "the slimmest of evidence": sources that allude to the relationship between Crispus and Fausta are late and unreliable, and the modern suggestion that Constantine's "godly" edicts of 326 and the irregularities of Crispus are somehow connected rests on no evidence at all.[150]

[edit] Sickness and death

Eusebius's account resumes following the abortive Persian campaign, with Constantine set about building a martyrion for the apostles in Constantinople, and, within it, a final resting-place for himself.[152] In the course of one Feast of Easter, Constantine fell seriously ill.[153] He left Constantinople for the hot baths near his mother's city of Helenopolis (Altinova), on the southern shores of the Gulf of Izmit. There, in a church his mother built in honor of Lucian the Apostle, he prayed, and there he realized that he was dying. Seeking purification, he became a catechumen, and attempted a return to Constantinople, making it only as far as a suburb of Nicomedia.[154] He summoned the bishops, and told them of his hope to be baptized in the River Jordan, where Christ was written to have been baptized. He requested the baptism right away, promising to live a more Christian life should he live through his illness. The bishops, Eusebius records, "performed the sacred ceremonies according to custom".[155] He chose the Arianizing bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia as his baptizer.[156] Constantine died soon after at a suburban villa called Achyron, on the last day of the fifty-day festival of Pentecost directly following Easter, on May 22, 337.[157]
The Baptism of Constantine, as imagined by students of Raphael
The Baptism of Constantine, as imagined by students of Raphael

Although Constantine's death follows the conclusion of the Persian campaign in Eusebius's account, most other sources report his death as occurring in its middle. Emperor Julian, writing in the mid-350s, observes that the Sassanians escaped punishment for their ill-deeds, because Constantine died "in the middle of his preparations for war".[158] Similar accounts are given in the Origo Constantini, an anonymous document composed while Constantine was still living, and which has Constantine dying in Nicomedia;[159] the Historiae abbreviatae of Sextus Aurelius Victor, written in 361, which has Constantine dying at an estate near Nicomedia called Achyrona while marching against the Persians;[160] and the Breviarium of Eutropius, a handbook compiled in 369 for the Emperor Valens, which has Constantine dying in a nameless state villa in Nicomedia.[161] From these and other accounts, some have concluded that Eusebius's Vita was edited to defend Constantine's reputation against what Eusebius saw as a less congenial version of the campaign.[162]
The Constantinian dynasty down to Gratian (r. 367–383)
The Constantinian dynasty down to Gratian (r. 367–383)

In postponing his baptism, he followed one custom at the time which postponed baptism until old age or death.[163] Following his death, his body was transferred to Constantinople and buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles there.[164] He was succeeded by his three sons born of Fausta, Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans. A number of relatives were killed by followers of Constantius. He also had two daughters, Constantina and Helena, wife of Emperor Julian.[165]

[edit] Legacy
Contemporary bronze head of Constantine.
Contemporary bronze head of Constantine.

Although he earned his honorific of "The Great" ("???a?") from Christian historians long after he had died, he could have claimed the title on his military achievements and victories alone. In addition to reuniting the Empire under one emperor, Constantine won major victories over the Franks and Alamanni in 306–308, the Franks again in 313–314, the Visigoths in 332 and the Sarmatians in 334. In fact, by 336, Constantine had actually reoccupied most of the long-lost province of Dacia, which Aurelian had been forced to abandon in 271. At the time of his death, he was planning a great expedition to put an end to raids on the eastern provinces from the Persian Empire.[166]

The Byzantine Empire considered Constantine its founder and the Holy Roman Empire reckoned him among the venerable figures of its tradition. In the later Byzantine state, it had become a great honor for an emperor to be hailed as a "new Constantine". Ten Emperors, including the last emperor of Byzantium, carried the name.[167] At the court of Charlemagne, the selected use of monumental Constantinian forms lent expression to conception of Charlemagne as Constantine's successor and equal. Constantine acquired a mythic role as a warrior against "heathens", a feature parodied in the fifteenth-century Chronicle of Pseudo-Turpin. The motif of the Romanesque equestrian, the mounted figure in the posture of a triumphant Roman emperor, came to be used as a visual metaphor in statuary in praise of local benefactors. The name "Constantine" itself enjoyed renewed popularity in western France in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.[168] Most Eastern Christian churches consider Constantine a saint (????? ???sta?t????, Saint Constantine).[169] In the Byzantine Church he was called isapostolos (?sap?st???? ???sta?t????)—an equal of the Apostles.[170]

[edit] Donation of Constantine

Main article: Donation of Constantine

Latin Rite Catholics of the Middle Ages considered it inappropriate that Constantine was baptized only on his death-bed and by a bishop of questionable orthodoxy, viewing it as a snub to the authority of the Papacy. Hence, by the early fourth century, a legend had emerged that Pope Sylvester I (314–35) had cured the pagan Emperor from leprosy. According to this legend, Constantine was soon baptized, and began the construction of a church in the Lateran Palace.[171] In the eighth century, most likely during the pontificate of Stephen II (752–7), a document called the "Donation of Constantine" first appeared, in which the freshly converted Constantine hands the temporal rule over "the city of Rome and all the provinces, districts, and cities of Italy and the Western regions" to Stephen and his successors.[172] In the High Middle Ages, this document was used and accepted as the basis for the Pope's temporal power, though it was denounced as a forgery by Emperor Otto III[173] and lamented as the root of papal worldliness by the poet Dante Alighieri. The 15th century philologist Lorenzo Valla proved the document was indeed a forgery.[174]

[edit] Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia

Because of his fame and his being proclaimed Emperor on the territory of Great Britain, Constantine was later also considered a British King. In the 11th century, the English writer Geoffrey of Monmouth published a fictional work called Historia Regum Britanniae, in which he narrates the supposed history of the Britons and their kings from the Trojan War, King Arthur and the Anglo-Saxon conquest. In this work, Geoffrey claimed that Constantine's mother Helena was actually the daughter of "King Cole", the mythical King of the Britons and eponymous founder of Colchester. A daughter for King Cole had not previously figured in the lore, at least not as it has survived in writing, and this pedigree is likely to reflect Geoffrey's desire to create a continuous line of regal descent. It was indecorous, Geoffrey considered, that a king might have less-than-noble ancestors. Geoffrey also said that Constantine was proclaimed "King of the Britons" at York, rather than Roman Emperor.[175]

[edit] Notes

Essays from The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine are marked with a "(CC)".

1. ^ a b Birth dates vary but most modern historians use "ca. 272". Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 59.
2. ^ In (Latin Constantine's official imperial title was IMPERATOR CAESAR FLAVIVS CONSTANTINVS PIVS FELIX INVICTVS AVGVSTVS, Imperator Caesar Flavius Constantine Augustus, the pious, the fortunate, the undefeated. After 312, he added MAXIMVS ("the greatest"), and after 325 replaced ("undefeated") with VICTOR, as invictus reminded of Sol Invictus, the Sun God.
3. ^ Bleckmann, "Sources for the History of Constantine" (CC), 14; Corcoran, Empire of the Tetrarchs, 1; Lenski, "Introduction" (CC), 2–3.
4. ^ Drake, "What Eusebius Knew," 21.
5. ^ Barnes detects in the work's panegyrical and hagiographic features trends two overlapping and distinct designs: "a formal panegyric" and "an account of Constantine's religious activities" (Barnes 1981, 265). The conflict between the two narratives were left unresolved at the author's death (Barnes 1981, 267–68).
6. ^ An aim stated in the work's opening passages: Eusebius, Vita Constantini 1.11; Odahl, 3. In the Vita, Eusebius creates an image of a pious, kind, and noble Constantine (Storch 1971, 145–155); the positiveness of this image, however, has been so tendentious that the work has sometimes been called a "tissue of lies" (Lenski 2006a, 5). Through the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, historians of a rationalist bent have placed a low value on Eusebius' work, and not infrequently labeled it a forgery. Modern historians are generally more positive in their judgments of the Vita's value (Cameron and Hall 1999, 4–6), although challenges remain to a number of the work's statements of fact (Elliott 1991, 162–171). See also: Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 265–271.
7. ^ Odahl, 3; Also named the Anonymus Valesianus, after its first modern compiler (1636) Henricus Valesius (Lieu 1996, 39).
8. ^ Traditionally assumed to have been composed soon after Constantine's death in 337 (Lieu 1996, 40), it could equally have been written as late as 390 (Bleckmann 2006, 26; Odahl 2004, 3).
9. ^ Lieu, From Constantine to Julian, 40; Odahl, 3.
10. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 12–14; Bleckmann, "Sources for the History of Constantine" (CC), 24; Mackay, 207; Odahl, 9–10.
11. ^ Each is principally based on the lost histories of Gelasius of Caesarea, and each continues the work of Eusebius' ecclesiastic history. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 225; Bleckmann, "Sources for the History of Constantine" (CC), 28–29; Odahl, 4–6.
12. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 225; Bleckmann, "Sources for the History of Constantine" (CC), 26–29; Odahl, 5–6.
13. ^ Odahl, 6, 10.
14. ^ Bleckmann, "Sources for the History of Constantine" (CC), 27–28; Lieu and Montserrat, 2–6; Odahl, 6–7; Warmington, 166–67. The Christian Orosius, to counter the pagan trend in the breviaria, wrote his own Historiarum adversum Paganos to counter the trend, but his coverage of the Constantinian period provides little not available in earlier sources (Odahl 2004, 7).
15. ^ Bleckmann, "Sources for the History of Constantine" (CC), 24; Odahl, 8.
16. ^ Bleckmann, "Sources for the History of Constantine" (CC), 20–21; Johnson, "Architecture of Empire" (CC), 288–291; Odahl, 11–12.
17. ^ Bleckmann, "Sources for the History of Constantine" (CC), 17–21; Odahl, 11–14.
18. ^ Barnes, New Empire, passim.
19. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 3, 39–42; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 17; Odahl, 15; Pohlsander, "Constantine I"; Southern, 169, 341.
20. ^ The relevant sources do not supply consistent dates; Eusebius' Vita alone provides inconsistent dates. In later years, Constantine would spread lies about his age, further confusing the issue (Barnes, New Empire, 39–42; Elliott, "Constantine's Conversion," 425–6; Elliott, "Eusebian Frauds," 163; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 17; Rodgers, 238; Wright, 495, 507). In any case, Constantine was born in an age in which births were not regularly registered; it is likely that Constantine himself did not know exactly when he was born (Jones, 1–2). Recent historians tend to prefer dates near 272 for Constantine's birth, following the lead of a handful of moderately reliable ancient sources (Eutropius 10.8; Jerome s.a. 337; and Socrates 1.39.1). Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 59. Barnes opts for a date "soon after...270", preferring 272 or 273 (1982, 3). Elliott, too, chooses 272 or 273 (1996, 17). Odahl suggests 273 (2004, 16). Modern historians have argued for dates as late as 288, but arguments for dates past 280 have been recently refuted (Pohlsander 2004a, 14).
21. ^ a b Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 3; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 59–60; Odahl, 16–17.
22. ^ Panegyrici Latini 8(5), 9(4); Lactantius, 8.7; Eusebius, Vita Constantini 1.13.3; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 13, 290.
23. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 3; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 59. Lenski (2006, 83) calls her marriage claims "tenuous", and asserts that her earlier low status and doubts about the legalities of her relationship with Constantius were whitewashed by later Constantinian propaganda. According to Pohlsander (2004, 14), "most modern scholars do not think that Helena was legally married to Constantius". Odahl (2004, 16) disagrees with this assessment, preferring the sources describing Helena as a wife. Barnes (1981, 3) and Elliott (1996, 17) both assume a marriage took place.
24. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 9–11; Williams, passim.
25. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 8–14; Corcoran, "Before Constantine" (CC), 41–54; Odahl, 46–50; Treadgold, 14–15.
26. ^ Bowman, 70; Potter, 283; Williams, 49, 65.
27. ^ Potter, 283; Williams, 49, 65.
28. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 3; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 20; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 59–60; Odahl, 47, 299; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 14. Pohlsander (2004, 14) and Odahl (2004, 47, 299) favor a marriage date in 293, as the Origo Constantini explicitly links the marriage with Constantius' acclamation to Caesar. Barnes (1981, 3) and Elliott (1996, 20) favor a date in 288 or 289, based on a reading of the Panegyrici Latini dated 21 April 289 that seems to suggest that Constantius was already married to Theodora at the time. Lenski (2006, 59–60) states that the marriage occurred soon after Constantius' appointment as praetorian prefect.
29. ^ Lactantius, 7.1; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 13, 290.
30. ^ Corcoran, "Before Constantine" (CC), 40–1; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 3, 8; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 20; Odahl, 46–47; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 8–9, 14; Treadgold, 17.
31. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 8–9; Corcoran, "Before Constantine" (CC), 42–43, 54.
32. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 3; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 59–60; Odahl, 56–7.
33. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 73–74; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 60; Odahl, 72. Modern commentators have nevertheless seen stylistic flaws in Constantine's written work: Jones wrote that "his involved and bombastic style betrays the muddled thinking of a semi-educated man", (Jones 1948, 58); and another scholar described Constantine's writing style as characteristically "turgid", suggesting "a certain lack of training in clarity and precision of expression." (Downey 1957, 51) Constantine was nonetheless literate, if not always eloquent (Odahl 2004, 301).
34. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 47, 73–74; Fowden, "Between Pagans and Christians," 175–76.
35. ^ Constantine, Oratio ad Sanctorum Coetum, 16.2; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 29–30; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 60; Odahl, 72–73.
36. ^ Eusebius, Vita Constantini 1.19; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 29–30; Odahl, 72–73.
37. ^ As Constantine attests in the Oratio ad Sanctorum Coetum, 25. Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 30; Odahl, 73.
38. ^ Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 29; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 61; Odahl, 72–74, 306; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 15. J. Moreau argues ("Lactance: "De la mort des persécuteurs"", Sources Chrétiennes 39 (1954): 313) that this appellation, which derives from Lactantius (18.10), is a conflation of his rank in the army, tribunus, and his title at court, comes primi ordinis (Barnes 1981, 297).
39. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 20; Corcoran, "Before Constantine" (CC), 51; Odahl, 54–56, 62.
40. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 19.
41. ^ Lactantius, 10.6–11; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 21; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 35–36; Odahl, 67; Potter, 338. Lactantius' account is generally assumed to be an "imaginative reconstruction", (Barnes 1981, 297) a fiction that nonetheless conveys political truths (Mackay 1999, 200). That the conversation between the two emperors was purportedly "private" is not necessarily damning: "Conversations between important men...have a way of becoming public knowledge." (Potter 2004, 338).
42. ^ "Edict to the Provinces Concerning the Error of Polytheism" in Eusebius, Vita Constantini 2.49–52; Odahl, 73, 304.
43. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 22–25; Odahl, 67–69; Potter, 337. Most Christians escaped punishment through silence (Drake 1996, 15, 34–5; Treadgold 1997, 25).
44. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 23–24.
45. ^ "Edict to the Provinces Concerning the Error of Polytheism" in Eusebius, Vita Constantini 2.49–52; Elliott, "Constantine's Conversion," 425.
46. ^ Drake, "The Impact of Constantine on Christianity" (CC), 126.
47. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 25–27; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 60; Odahl, 69–72; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 15; Potter, 341–2. There is dispute among scholars as to whether the abdication was planned or not (Potter 2004, 662–3), and, following from that, how much influence Galerius had over the final decision. Barnes (1981, 25), Odahl (2004, 71), Potter (2004, 340–1) and Treadgold (1997, 26) suspect a strong influence on the part of Galerius. The panegyrist of 307 attests to an abdication planned long in advance (7(6) 9.2), while Lactantius (18.1–7) and Aurelius Victor (40.48) have been read in support of an unplanned abdication encouraged by Galerius.
48. ^ Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 60–61; Odahl, 72–74; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 15. Lactantius records (19.2–6) that the crowd gathered around Diocletian turned to Constantine during the ceremony, only to see him passed over. Barnes accepts the event as factual (Barnes 1981, 26); Potter rejects it as "Constantinian propaganda" (Potter 2004, 342).
49. ^ Origo 4; Lactantius 24.3–9; Praxagoras fr. 1.2; Aurelius Victor 40.2–3; Epitome de Caesaribus 41.2; Zosimus 2.8.3; Eusebius, Vita Constantini 1.21; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 61; Odahl, 73.
50. ^ Odahl, 75–76.
51. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 27; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 39–40; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 61; Odahl, 77; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 15–16; Potter, 344–5; Southern, 169–70, 341. Barnes (1982, 27), Lenski (2006, 61), and Potter (2004, 344–5) reject the narrative as propaganda or legend. Odahl (2004, 77, 308–9) credits it as true, calling those who deny it "a few revisionists" (309). Later narratives of the event, such as Lactantius, Victor, the Epitome, and Zosimus, have Constantine arriving in Britain at the deathbed of his father. Such narratives are generally assumed to be contracted versions of earlier sources, such as the Origo and Panegyrici Latini 6(7).
52. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 27; Odahl, 77–78; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 15–16.
53. ^ Mattingly, 233–34. A number of modern accounts draw parallels the campaigns of Severus and Constantius. The Panegyrici Latini 6(7)7.1ff gives only the usual features of a British campaign—marshes and woods, Caledonians and Picts—without providing any specifics (Southern 2001, 341). Little of Constantius' movement is visible in the archaeological evidence (Southern 2001, 170). Constantius and Galerius took a Britannici maximi II victory title by January 7, 306, indicating a campaign in the second half of 305 (L'Année Épigraphique 1961.240; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 298; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 39; Odahl, 309).
54. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 27–28; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 61–62; Odahl, 78–79.
55. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 28–29; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 62; Odahl, 79–80.
56. ^ Treadgold, 28.
57. ^ Rees, 160.
58. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 28–29; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 62; Odahl, 79–80.
59. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 29; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 41; Odahl, 79–80.
60. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 29.
61. ^ Odahl, 80; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 14–15.
62. ^ Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 16–17.
63. ^ Odahl, 80–81.
64. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 29; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 41; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 63; Odahl, 81–83.
65. ^ Odahl, 82–83.
66. ^ Odahl, 82–83. See also: William E. Gwatkin, Jr. "Roman Trier." The Classical Journal 29 (1933): 3–12.
67. ^ Lactantius 24.9; Barnes, "Lactantius and Constantine," 43–46; Odahl, 85, 310–11.
68. ^ Rodgers, 233–4.
69. ^ Zosimus, 2.9.2; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 62.
70. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 29; Odahl, 86; Potter, 346.
71. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 30–31; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 41–42; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 62–63; Odahl, 86–87; Potter, 348–49.
72. ^ Odahl, 92.
73. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 37.
74. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 30; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 62–63; Odahl, 86–87.
75. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 34; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 63–65; Odahl, 89; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 15–16.
76. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 31; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 64; Odahl, 87–88; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 15–16.
77. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 32; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 64; Odahl, 89, 93.
78. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 32–34; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 42–43; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 65; Odahl, 90–91; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 17; Potter, 349–50; Treadgold, 29.
79. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 36–37.
80. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 34–35; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 43; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 65–66; Odahl, 93; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 17; Potter, 352.
81. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 34.
82. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 34–35; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 43; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 65–66; Odahl, 93; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 17; Potter, 352.
83. ^ Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 43; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 68; Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 20.
84. ^ Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 45; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 68.
85. ^ Lactantius, 30.1; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 40–41, 305.
86. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 41; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 68.
87. ^ Potter, 352.
88. ^ Panegyrici Latini 6(7); Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 35–37; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 66; Odahl, 94–95; Potter, 352–53. No ancient sources attempted to refute Constantine's claim of Claudian ancestry (Odahl 2004, 315), and it recurs in literary accounts of the Constantinian family through the rest of the century. Nonetheless, "scholars agree" that it is a fabrication (Lenski 2006, 66). The precise nature of Constantine's relationship is never consistently identified (sometimes given as grandfather, sometimes as great-uncle (Barnes 1981, 35, 301)), and Constantine's situation in 310, with the dynastic link to Maximian devalued and Maxentius raising suspicions of Constantine's bastardy, favored the convenient discovery of long-lost imperial ancestry (Lenski 2006, 66). Odahl offers tentative arguments in favor of Constantine's relationship with Claudius. Were Constantius a grandnephew of Claudius, it would explain his rise to the elite Protectores at the beginning of his career, and it wouldn't have been opportune to claim dynastic succession in the non-dynastic tetrarchy. Odahl believes it "understandable" that Constantine would have forgotten the precise nature of the relationship (Odahl 2004, 314–15).
89. ^ Panegyrici Latini 6(7)1. Qtd. in Potter, 353.
90. ^ Panegyrici Latini 6(7).21.5.
91. ^ Virgil, Ecologues 4.10.
92. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 36–37; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 67; Odahl, 95.
93. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 36–37; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 50–53; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 66–67; Odahl, 94–95. It has traditionally been asserted, on the basis of this panegyric, that Constantine professed some variety of Apolline faith, or identified himself with Apollo. These views have recently been challenged (Elliott 1996, 51). The essentially political and impersonal nature of the panegyrics could preclude personal involvement on the part of Constantine. Barnes states that "It is not necessary to believe that Constantine ever saw such a vision" (Barnes 1981, 36). Lenski states, contrariwise, that Constantine indeed "believed he had seen a divine vision" (Lenski 2006, 67).
94. ^ The most detailed accounts of Galerius' illness are given in Lactantius 31–35 and Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.16. Both describe a particularly painful disease, but are inconsistent in its details. Jones and Lenski identify it as a degenerative bowel disease, specifically cancer of the bowels in Jones' case (Jones 1948, 66; Lenski 2006, 68). Odahl identifies the disease as cancer of the penis (Odahl 2004, 95–96, 316). Elliott suspects that the gruesome facts supplied by the Christian authors are greatly exaggerated (Elliott 1996, 43).
95. ^ Lactantius, 34; Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica 8.17. Following Lactantius (35.1), the letter is sometimes called an "edict" (Barnes 1981, 304).
96. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 39; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 43–44; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 68; Odahl, 95–96.
97. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 40; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 68.
98. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 41; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 45; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 69; Odahl, 96.
99. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 39–40; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 44; Odahl, 96.
100. ^ Odahl, 96.
101. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 38; Odahl, 96.
102. ^ Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 68.
103. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 37.
104. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 36–37; Odahl, 99.
105. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 38–39.
106. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 40.
107. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 41.
108. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 41; Elliott, Christianity of Constantine, 44–45; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 69; Odahl, 96.
109. ^ Odahl, 96.
110. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 41; Odahl, 99–100.
111. ^ Odahl, 99–100.
112. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 41.
113. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 41.
114. ^ Odahl, 101.
115. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 41.
116. ^ Odahl, 101.
117. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 41; Odahl, 101.
118. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 41; Odahl, 101–02.
119. ^ Panegyrici Latini 12(9)5–6; 4(10)21–24; Odahl, 102, 317–18.
120. ^ Panegyrici Latini 12(9).8.1; 4(10).25.1; Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 41, 305.
121. ^ Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius, 41–42; Odahl, 103.
122. ^ Digeser, 122.
123. ^ Eusebius, Vita Constantini 1.28. Hoc Signo Victor Eris in Constantine's original Latin, becoming touto nika (t??t? ???a) in Eusebius's Greek. When Eusebius's Vita was translated into Latin at the end of the fourth century, the original phrasing had been forgotten, and the phrase was translated into variants like In Hoc Vince, or In Hoc Signo Vinces (Odahl 2004, 105, 318–19).
124. ^ Eusebius, Vita Constantini 1.29.
125. ^ Nicholson, 311.
126. ^ David Whitehouse, "Space impact 'saved Christianity'" BBC News 23 June 2003.
127. ^ Jordan, 85.
128. ^ Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 71.
129. ^ Nicholson, 312–7.
130. ^ Nicholson, 316–21.
131. ^ Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 24.
132. ^ Drake, "Impact," 121–3.
133. ^ Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 38–39.
134. ^ Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 41–42.
135. ^ Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 42–43.
136. ^ a b MacMullen, Constantine.
137. ^ Sardonyx cameo depicting constantine the great crowned by Constantinople, 4th century AD at "The Road to Byzantium: Luxury Arts of Antiquity". The Hermitage Rooms at Somerset House (March 30, 2006 – September 3, 2006)
138. ^ The edict granted Christians the right to practice their religion but did not restore any property to them; see Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum ("On the Deaths of the Persecutors")ch. 35-34
139. ^ R. Gerberding and J. H. Moran Cruz, Medieval Worlds (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004) p. 55
140. ^ Peter Brown, The Rise of Christendom 2nd edition (Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2003) p. 61
141. ^ Peter Brown, The Rise of Christendom 2nd edition (Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, 2003) p. 60
142. ^ R. Gerberding and J. H. Moran Cruz, Medieval Worlds (New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004) pp. 55-56
143. ^ Richards, Jeffrey. The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages 476-752 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979) pp. 14-15
144. ^ The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages 476-752 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979) q. 15
145. ^ Richards, Jeffrey. The Popes and the Papacy in the Early Middle Ages 476-752 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979) p. 16
146. ^ Life of Constantine Vol. III Ch. XVIII by Eusebius; The Epistle of the Emperor Constantine, concerning the matters transacted at the Council, addressed to those Bishops who were not present
147. ^ Guthrie, 325–6.
148. ^ Guthrie, 326; Woods, "Death of the Empress," 70–2.
149. ^ Guthrie, 326; Woods, "Death of the Empress," 72.
150. ^ a b Guthrie, 326–7.
151. ^ Art. Pass 45; Woods, "Death of the Empress," 71–2.
152. ^ Eusebius, Vita Constantini 4.58–60.
153. ^ Eusebius, Vita Constantini 4.61.
154. ^ Eusebius, Vita Constantini 4.62.
155. ^ Eusebius, Vita Constantini 4.62.4.
156. ^ Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 75–76; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 82.
157. ^ Eusebius, Vita Constantini 4.64; Fowden, "Last Days of Constantine," 147; Lenski, "Reign of Constantine" (CC), 82.
158. ^ Julian, Orations 1.18.b.
159. ^ Origo Constantini 35.
160. ^ Sextus Aurelius Victor, Historiae abbreviatae XLI.16.
161. ^ Eutropius, Breviarium X.8.2.
162. ^ Fowden, "Last Days of Constantine," 148–9.
163. ^ In this period infant baptism, though practiced (usually in circumstances of emergency) had not yet become a matter of routine in the west. Thomas M. Finn, Early Christian Baptism and the Catechumenate: East and West Syria. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press/Michael Glazier (1992); Philip Rousseau, "Baptism". Late Antiquity: A Guide to the Post Classical World. Eds. G.W. Bowersock, Peter Brown, and Oleg Grabar. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press (1999).
164. ^ Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 75–76.
165. ^ Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 71, figure 9.
166. ^ Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 72.
167. ^ Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 91.
168. ^ Seidel, 237–239.
169. ^ Pohlsander, Emperor Constantine, 83–87.
170. ^ Lieu, "Constantine in Legendary Literature" (CC), 305.
171. ^ Lieu, "Constantine in Legendary Literature" (CC), 298–301.
172. ^ Constitutum Constantini 17. Qtd. in Lieu, "Constantine in Legendary Literature" (CC), 301–3.
173. ^ Henry Charles Lea, "The 'Donation of Constantine'". The English Historical Review 10: 37 (1895), 86–7.
174. ^ Riccardo Fubini, "Humanism and Truth: Valla Writes against the Donation of Constantine". Journal of the History of Ideas 57: 1 (1996), 79–86.
175. ^ Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain, pp. 132–133.

[edit] References

[edit] Primary sources

* Athanasius, Apologia conta Arianos (Defence against the Arians) ca. 349.
* Athanasius, Epistola de Decretis Nicaenae Synodi (Letter on the Decrees of the Council of Nicaea) ca. 352.
* Athanasius, Historia Arianorum (History of the Arians) ca. 357.
* Sextus Aurelius Victor, Liber de Caesaribus (Book on the Caesars) ca. 361.
* Epitome de Caesaribus (Epitome on the Caesars) ca. 395.
* Eunapius, History from Dexippus first edition ca. 390, second edition ca. 415.
* Eusebius of Caesarea, Historia Ecclesiastica (Church History) first seven books ca. 300, eighth and ninth book ca. 313, tenth book ca. 315, epilogue ca. 325.
* Eusebius of Caesarea, Oratio de Laudibus Constantini (Oration in Praise of Constantine) 336.
* Eusebius of Caesarea, Vita Constantini (The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine) ca. 336–39.
* Eutropius, Breviarium ab Urbe Condita (Abbreviated History from the City's Founding) ca. 369.
* Ruffus Festus, Breviarium Festi (The Abbreviated History of Festus) ca. 370.
* Jerome, Chronicon (Chronicle) ca. 380.
* Jordanes, De origine actibusque Getarum (The Origin and Deeds of the Goths) ca. 551.
* Lactantius, Liber De Mortibus Persecutorum (Book on the Deaths of the Persecutors) ca. 313–15.
* Libanius, Oratio (Orations) ca. 362–65.
* Optatus, Libri VII de Schismate Donatistarum (Seven Books on the Schism of the Donatists) first edition ca. 365–67, second edition ca. 385.
* Origo Constantini Imperiatoris (The Lineage of the Emperor Constantine) ca. 340–90.
* Orosius, Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII (Seven Books of History Against the Pagans) ca. 417.
* XII Panegyrici Latini (Twelve Latin Panegyircs) relevant panegyrics dated 289, 291, 297, 298, 307, 310, 311, 313 and 321.
* Philostorgius, Historia Ecclesiastica (Church History) ca. 433.
* Praxagoras of Athens, Historia (History of Constantine the Great) ca. 337.
* Socrates of Constantinople (Socrates Scholasticus), Historia Ecclesiastica (Church History) ca. 443.
* Sozomen, Historia Ecclesiastica (Church History) ca. 445.
* Theodoret, Historia Ecclesiastica (Church History) ca. 448.
* Codex Theodosianus (Theodosian Code) 439.
* Zosimus, Historia Nova (New History) ca. 500.[1]

[edit] Secondary sources

* Alföldi, Andrew. The Conversion of Constantine and Pagan Rome. Translated by Harold Mattingly. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1948.
* Arjava, Antii. Women and Law in Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-19-815233-7
* Armstrong, Gregory T. "Church and State Relations: The Changes Wrought by Constantine." Journal of Bible and Religion 32 (January 1964): 1–7.
* Armstrong, Gregory T. "Constantine's Churches: Symbol and Structure." The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 33 (March 1974): 5–16.
* Barnes, Timothy D. "Lactantius and Constantine." The Journal of Roman Studies 63 (1973): 29–46.
* Barnes, Timothy D. Constantine and Eusebius. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1981. ISBN 978-0674165311
* Barnes, Timothy D. The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982. ISBN 0783722214
* Barnes, Timothy D. "Constantine and the Christians of Persia." The Journal of Roman Studies 75 (1985): 126–136.
* Bowman, Alan K. "Diocletian and the First Tetrarchy." In The Cambridge Ancient History, Volume XII: The Crisis of Empire, edited by Alan Bowman, Averil Cameron, and Peter Garnsey, 67–89. Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-521-30199-8
* Cameron, Averil and Stuart G. Hall. Life of Constantine. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999. Hardcover ISBN 0-19-814917-4 Paperback ISBN 0-19-814924-7
* Corcoran, Simon. The Empire of the Tetrarchs: Imperial Pronouncements and Government, AD 284–324. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. ISBN 019815304X
* Digeser, Elizabeth DePalma. The Making of A Christian Empire: Lactantius and Rome. London: Cornell University Press, 2000.
* Downey, Glanville. "Education in the Christian Roman Empire: Christian and Pagan Theories under Constantine and His Successors." Speculum 32 (January 1957): 48–61.
* Drake, H. A. "What Eusebius Knew: The Genesis of the "Vita Constantini"." Classical Philology 83 (January 1988): 20–38.
* Drake, H. A. "Constantine and Consensus." Church History 64 (March 1995): 1–15.
* Drake, H. A. "Lambs into Lions: Explaining Early Christian Intolerance". Past & Present 153 (November 1996): 3–36.
* Elliott, T. G. "Constantine's Conversion: Do We Really Need It?" Phoenix 41 (Winter 1987): 420–438.
* Elliott, T. G. "Eusebian Frauds in the "Vita Constantini"." Phoenix 45 (Summer 1991): 162–171.
* Elliott, T. G. The Christianity of Constantine the Great. Scranton, PA: University of Scranton Press, 1996. ISBN 0-940866-59-5
* Fowden, Garth. "Between Pagans and Christians." The Journal of Roman Studies 78 (1988): 173–182.
* Fowden, Garth. "The Last Days of Constantine: Oppositional Versions and Their Influence." The Journal of Roman Studies 84 (1994): 146–170.
* Grant, Robert M. "Religion and Politics at the Council at Nicaea." The Journal of Religion 55 (January 1975): 1–12.
* Guthrie, Patrick. "The Execution of Crispus." Phoenix 20: 4 (1966): 325–331.
* Harries, Jill. Law and Empire in Late Antiquity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Hardcover ISBN 0-521-41087-8 Paperback ISBN 0-521-42273-6
* Hartley, Elizabeth. Constantine the Great: York's Roman Emperor. Lund Humphries, 2004. Hardcover ISBN 978-0853319283.
* Heather, Peter J. "Foedera and Foederati of the Fourth Century." In From Roman Provinces to Medieval Kingdoms, edited by Thomas F.X. Noble, 292–308. New York: Routledge, 2006. Hardcover ISBN 0-415-32741-5 Paperback ISBN 0-415-32742-3
* Helgeland, John. "Christians and the Roman Army A.D. 173-337." Church History 43 (June 1974): 149–163.
* Jones, A.H.M. Constantine and the Conversion of Europe. London: English University Press, 1948; London: Macmillan, 1949.
* Jordan, David P. "Gibbon's "Age of Constantine" and the Fall of Rome" History and Theory 8:1 (1969), 71–96.
* Lenski, Noel, ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Hardcover ISBN 0-521-81838-9 Paperback ISBN 0-521-52157-2
* Lieu, Samuel N.C. and Dominic Montserrat. From Constantine to Julian: Pagan and Byzantine Views; A Source History. New York: Routledge, 1996.
* Mackay, Christopher S. "Lactantius and the Succession to Diocletian." Classical Philology 94:2 (1999): 198–209.
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* MacMullen, Ramsay. Christianizing the Roman Empire A.D. 100–400. New Heaven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 1984. ISBN 978-0300036428
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* Nicholson, Oliver. "Constantine's Vision of the Cross." Vigiliae Christianae 54:3 (2000): 309–323.
* Odahl, Charles Matson. Constantine and the Christian Empire. New York: Routledge, 2004. Hardcover ISBN 0-415-17485-6 Paperback ISBN 0-415-38655-1
* Pohlsander, Hans. "Crispus: Brilliant Career and Tragic End". Historia 33 (1984): 79–106.
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* Pohlsander, Hans. "Constantine I (306 - 337 A.D.)." De Imperatoribus Romanis (2004b). Accessed December 16, 2007.
* Potter, David S. The Roman Empire at Bay: AD 180–395. New York: Routledge, 2005. Hardcover ISBN 0-415-10057-7 Paperback ISBN 0-415-10058-5
* Rees, Roger. Layers of Loyalty in Latin Panegyric: AD 289–307. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-19-924918-0
* Rodgers, Barbara Saylor. "The Metamorphosis of Constantine." The Classical Quarterly 39 (1989): 233–246.
* Seidel, Lisa. "Constantine 'and' Charlemagne." Gesta 15 (1976): 237–239.
* Southern, Pat. The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine. New York: Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0-415-23944-3
* Storch, Rudolph H. "The "Eusebian Constantine"." Church History 40 (June 1971): 1–15.
* Treadgold, Warren. A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-8047-2630-2
* Warmington, Brian. "Some Constantinian References in Ammianus." In The Late Roman World and its Historian: Interpreting Ammianus Marcellinus, edited by Jan Willem Drijvers and David Hunt, 166–177. London: Routledge, 1999. ISBN 0-415-20271-X
* Wiemer, Hans-Ulrich. "Libanius on Constantine." The Classical Quarterly 44 (1994): 511–524.
* Williams, Stephen. Diocletian and the Roman Recovery. New York: Routledge, 1997. ISBN 0-415-91827-8
* Woods, David. "On the Death of the Empress Fausta." Greece & Rome 45 (April 1988): 70–86.
* Woods, David. "Where Did Constantine I Die?" Journal of Theological Studies 48:2 (October 1997): 531–535.
* Wright, David H. "The True Face of Constantine the Great." Dumbarton Oaks Papers 41 (1987): 493–507

[edit] See also

* Colossus of Constantine
* Constantinian shift
* Donatist

[edit] External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Constantine I (emperor)

* Letters of Constantine: Book 1, Book 2, & Book 3
* Encyclopaedia Britannica, Constantine I
* 12 Byzantine Rulers by Lars Brownworth of Stony Brook School (grades 7-12). 40 minute audio lecture on Constantine.
* Constantine I in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
* Constantine the Great A site about Constantine the Great and his bronze coins emphasizing history using coins, with many resources including reverse types issued and reverse translations.
* House of Constantine bronze coins Illustrations and descriptions of coins of Constantine the Great and his relatives.
* BBC North Yorkshire's site on Roman York, Yorkshire and Constantine the Great

Preceded by
Constantius Chlorus Roman Emperor
306–337
with Galerius, Licinius and Maximinus Daia Succeeded by
Constantius II,
Constantine II
and Constans

Age 33 in 305. From 292 The Western Caesar was Constantius who had Gaul, Britian and Spain while Maximian had Italy and Africa. Diocletian had Asia and Egypt while his Caesar,(son in law Galerius) had the Balkans.
Maximian made Milan focus of empire rather than Rome.. Diocletian made focus of Empire Eastern Empire not Rome/west.
In 305 Constantius became Augustus of the West, at Treves (Augusta Trevirorium), Galerius took the Danube and Asia Minor, the two new Ceasars were Daza- better known as Maximan nephew of Galerius, and Severus. This was confirmed by Diocletian as his last public act, ignoring the son of Constantius - Constantine (later "The Great") and Maxentius son of Maxentius. Daza/Maximan was sent to the East, Severus to the Milan.
The empire went to pot. The rich evaded/ avoided not only the old taxes but all new taxes ruining the middle class- the rich got Very Rich and the middle class disappeared into the very poor.
In 306 Constantius died at York. (15 mo after the abdication)
Constantine informed Galerius that the Legions had compelled him to assume the title, and Galerius only dared to confirm ratify the appointment/title.
Thew senate of Rome wanted to reasert itself and appointed Maxentius as Augustus and a power thirsty Maximan emerged from "retirement" to support this title. Severus marched "hot foot" from Milan, found Rome already lost and eventually was tricked into surrender by Maximan who allowed him to commit "honorable suicide". Maximianus gave his daughter Fausta in marriage to Constantine to cement the status quo and Constantine accepted both offers.

Age 33 in 305. From 292 The Western Caesar was Constantius who had Gaul, Britian and Spain while Maximian had Italy and Africa. Diocletian had Asia and Egypt while his Caesar,(son in law Galerius) had the Balkans.
Maximian made Milan focus of empire rather than Rome.. Diocletian made focus of Empire Eastern Empire not Rome/west.
In 305 Constantius became Augustus of the West, at Treves (Augusta Trevirorium), Galerius took the Danube and Asia Minor, the two new Ceasars were Daza- better known as Maximan nephew of Galerius, and Severus. This was confirmed by Diocletian as his last public act, ignoring the son of Constantius - Constantine (later "The Great") and Maxentius son of Maxentius. Daza/Maximan was sent to the East, Severus to the Milan.
The empire went to pot. The rich evaded/ avoided not only the old taxes but all new taxes ruining the middle class- the rich got Very Rich and the middle class disappeared into the very poor.
In 306 Constantius died at York. (15 mo after the abdication)
Constantine informed Galerius that the Legions had compelled him to assume the title, and Galerius only dared to confirm ratify the appointment/title.
Thew senate of Rome wanted to reasert itself and appointed Maxentius as Augustus and a power thirsty Maximan emerged from "retirement" to support this title. Severus marched "hot foot" from Milan, found Rome already lost and eventually was tricked into surrender by Maximan who allowed him to commit "honorable suicide". Maximianus gave his daughter Fausta in marriage to Constantine to cement the status quo and Constantine accepted both offers.

[Jeremiah Brown.FTW]

Constantine was of British birth and education and is known as the first Christian Emporer. With a British army he set out to put down the persecution of Christians forever. The greatest of all Roman Emporers, he annexed Britain to the Roman Empire and founded Constantinople. In 321 he decreed that the Christian Sunday be truly observed as a day of rest. In 325 he assembled the Council of Nicea in Bithynia, Asia Minor, which he attended in person.

{geni:occupation} Roman Emperor (306-May 22, 337), Empereur de Rome

{geni:about_me} http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I

Constantine I (306 - 337 A.D.)

by

Hans A. Pohlsander

SUNY Albany

=== Introduction ===

The emperor Constantine has rightly been called the most important emperor of Late Antiquity. His powerful personality laid the foundations of post-classical European civilization; his reign was eventful and highly dramatic. His victory at the Milvian Bridge counts among the most decisive moments in world history, while his legalization and support of Christianity and his foundation of a 'New Rome' at Byzantium rank among the most momentous decisions ever made by a European ruler. The fact that ten Byzantine emperors after him bore his name may be seen as a measure of his importance and of the esteem in which he was held.

=== Constantine's Rise to Power ===

Flavius Valerius Constantinus, the future emperor Constantine, was born at Naissus in the province of Moesia Superior, the modern Nish in Serbia, on 27 February of 271, 272, or 273. 1 His father was a military officer named Constantius (later Constantius Chlorus or Constantius I), his mother a woman of humble background named Helena (later St. Helena). 2 There is good reason to think that Constantius and Helena lived in concubinage rather than in legally recognized marriage. Having previously attained the rank of tribune, provincial governor, and probably praetorian prefect, Constantius was raised, on 1 March 293, to the rank of Caesar in the First Tetrarchy organized by Diocletian .3 On this occasion he was required to put aside Helena and to marry Theodora , the daughter of Maximian .4 Upon the retirement of Diocletian and Maximian on 1 May 305 Constantius succeeded to the rank of Augustus. 5

Constantine, in the meanwhile, had served with distinction under both Diocletian and Galerius in the East. Kept initially at the court of Galerius as a pledge of good conduct on his father's part, he was later allowed to join his father in Britain and assisted him in a campaign against the Picts. When Constantius died, on 25 July 306, at Eburacum (York), Constantine was at his side. The soldiers at once proclaimed him Augustus; 6 Constantine henceforth observed this day as his dies imperii. Having settled affairs in Britain swiftly, he returned to the Continent, where the city of Augusta Treverorum (Trier) served as his principal residence for the next six years. There, too, in 307, he married Maximian's daughter Fausta, 7 putting away his mistress Minervina, who had borne him his first son, Crispus. 8 Trier's "Kaiserthermen" (Imperial Baths) and Basilica (the aula palatina ) give evidence to this day of Constantine's residence in the city.

At the same time the Senate and the Praetorian Guard in Rome had allied themselves with Maxentius , the son of Maximian . On 28 October 306 they proclaimed him emperor, 9 in the lower rank of princeps initially, although he later claimed the rank of Augustus. Constantine and Maxentius , although they were brothers-in-law, did not trust each other. Their relationship was further complicated by the schemes and consequently, in 310, the death of Maximian . Open hostilities between the two rivals broke out in 312, and Constantine won a decisive victory in the famous Battle of the Milvian Bridge .10 This made Constantine the sole ruler of the western half of the empire.

=== Constantine's Conversion ===

When Diocletian and Maximian announced their retirement in 305, the problem posed by the Christians was unresolved and the persecution in progress. Upon coming to power Constantine unilaterally ended all persecution in his territories, even providing for restitution. His personal devotions, however, he offered first to Mars and then increasingly to Apollo, reverenced as Sol Invictus .

The next significant event in Constantine's religious development occurred in 312. Lactantius, whom Constantine appointed tutor of his son Crispus 11 and who therefore must have been close to the imperial family, reports that during the night before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge Constantine was commanded in a dream to place the sign of Christ on the shields of his soldiers. 12 Twenty-five years later Eusebius gives us a far different, more elaborate, and less convincing account in his Life of Constantine .13 When Constantine and his army were on their march toward Rome - neither the time nor the location is specified - they observed in broad daylight a strange phenomenon in the sky: a cross of light and the words "by this sign you will be victor" ( hoc signo victor eris or ). During the next night, so Eusebius' account continues, Christ appeared to Constantine and instructed him to place the heavenly sign on the battle standards of his army. The new battle standard became known as the labarum .

Whatever vision Constantine may have experienced, he attributed his victory to the power of "the God of the Christians" and committed himself to the Christian faith from that day on, although his understanding of the Christian faith at this time was quite superficial. It has often been supposed that Constantine's profession of Christianity was a matter of political expediency more than of religious conviction; upon closer examination this view cannot be sustained. Constantine did not receive baptism until shortly before his death (see below). It would be a mistake to interpret this as a lack of sincerity or commitment; in the fourth and fifth centuries Christians often delayed their baptisms until late in life. 14

In February 313, probably, Constantine and Licinius met at Milan. On this occasion Constantine's half-sister Constantia was wed to Licinius . Also on this occasion, the two emperors formulated a common religious policy. Several months later Licinius issued an edict which is commonly but erroneously known as the Edict of Milan. 15 Unlike Constantine, Licinius did not commit himself personally to Christianity; even his commitment to toleration eventually gave way to renewed persecution. Constantine's profession of Christianity was not an unmixed blessing to the church. Constantine used the church as an instrument of imperial policy, imposed upon it his imperial ideology, and thus deprived it of much of the independence which it had previously enjoyed.

=== Constantine as the Sole Ruler of the West ===

To his dismay Constantine soon discovered that there was a lack of unity within the church. In the province of Africa, specifically, there were those who took a rigorist position towards the lapsi (those who had shown a lack of faith during the preceding years of persecution) and those who took a more moderate, forgiving position. The former eventually became known as the Donatists, after a certain Donatus, whom they elected as their bishop. In April of 313 the rigorists presented to Constantine their grievance against Caecilian, the bishop of Carthage. Constantine convened a synod of bishops to hear the complaint; the synod met in Rome's Lateran Council and is known as the Synod of Rome. When the synod ruled in favor of Caecilian, the Donatists appealed to Constantine again. In response to the appeal Constantine convened a larger council of thirty-three bishops, who met at Arles in southern Gaul on 1 August 314. This council, too, ruled against the Donatists, and again they refused to submit. Constantine attempted, unsuccessfully, to suppress them. A separatist Donatist church possessed considerable strength in North Africa over the next two centuries. 16

Rome's famous Arch of Constantine was completed in time for the beginning of Constantine's decennalia (the tenth anniversary of his acclamation). 17 There were all manner of festivities, but Constantine pointedly omitted the traditional sacrifices to the pagan gods.

Constantine left his mark on the city of Rome with an ambitious building program, both secular and religious. In the Forum Romanum he completed the basilica which Maxentius had left unfinished. On the Quirinal Hill, where the presidents of Italy now reside, he had a bath built. The Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Basilica of St. Peter, and the Basilica of St. Sebastian on the Appian Way all are Constantinian foundations. Of special interest is the Basilica of Sts. Marcellinus and Peter, on the ancient Via Labicana, because attached to it was the vaulted rotunda which Constantine originally had intended as a mausoleum for himself and his family but ultimately received only the body of his mother Helena ; its considerable remains are known today as the Tor Pignattara. 18

=== The Conflict with Licinius ===

The ultimate goal pursued by both Constantine and Licinius was sole power. The agreement of 313 had been born out of necessity, not of mutual good will. Even Constantia's apparent devotion to Licinius did little to ease the strained relationship between the two rivals. Hostilities erupted in 316. 19 In the course of this first war between the two emperors two battles were fought: the first at Cibalae in Pannonia, whence this war is called the bellum Cibalense, the second on the campus Ardiensis in Thrace. In the first battle Licinius' army suffered heavy losses; in the second neither side won a clear victory. 20

A settlement left Licinius in his position as Augustus, but required him to cede to Constantine all of his European provinces other than Thrace. On 1 March 317, at Serdica (modern Sofia), Constantine announced the appointment of three Caesars: his own son Crispus , about twelve years old, his own son Constantine , less than seven months old, and Licinius' son, also named Licinius , twenty months old. 21 But the concordia Augustorum was fragile; tensions grew again, in part because the two Augusti pursued different policies in matters of religion, in part because the old suspicions surfaced again.

War erupted again in 324. Constantine defeated Licinius twice, first at Adrianople in Thrace, and then at Chrysopolis on the Bosporus. 22 Initially, yielding to the pleas of Constantia , Constantine spared the life of his brother-in-law, but some months later he ordered his execution, breaking his solemn oath. Before too long the younger Licinius , too, fell victim to Constantine's anger or suspicions. 23 Constantine was now the sole and undisputed master of the Roman world.

=== The Arian Controversy, the Council of Nicaea, and its Aftermath ===

Early in the fourth century a dispute erupted within the Christian church regarding the nature of the Godhead, more specifically the exact relationship of the Son to the Father. Arius, a priest in Alexandria, taught that there was a time when Christ did not exist, i.e. that he was not co-eternal with the Father, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were three separate and distinct hypostaseis, and that the Son was subordinate to the Father, was in fact a "creature." These teachings were condemned and Arius excommunicated in 318 by a council convened by Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria. But that did not by any means close the matter. Ossius (or Hosius) of Cordova, Constantine's trusted spiritual advisor, failed on his mission to bring about a reconciliation.

Constantine then summoned what has become known as the First Ecumenical Council of the church. The opening session was held on 20 May 325 in the great hall of the palace at Nicaea, Constantine himself presiding and giving the opening speech. The council formulated a creed which, although it was revised at the Council of Constantinople in 381-82, has become known as the Nicene Creed. It affirms the homoousion , i.e. the doctrine of consubstantiality. A major role at the council was played by Athanasius, Bishop Alexander's deacon, secretary, and, ultimately, successor. Arius was condemned. 24

If Constantine had hoped that the council would settle the issue forever, he must have been bitterly disappointed. The disputes continued, and Constantine himself vacillated. Eusebius of Nicomedia, a supporter of Arius exiled in 325, was recalled in 327 and soon became the emperor's chief spiritual advisor. In 335 Athanasius, now bishop of Alexandria and unbending in his opposition to some of Constantine's policies, was sent into exile at far-away Trier. 25

=== The Crisis in the Imperial Family ===

At some time in 326 Constantine ordered the execution of his oldest son Crispus , who had been appointed Caesar in 317, had three times served as consul, and had distinguished himself in the recent campaign against Licinius . In the same year, soon after the death of Crispus , Constantine also brought about the death of Fausta , the mother of his other three sons. A connection between the two deaths is likely. Zosimus reports that Crispus had come under suspicion of "being involved" with his stepmother Fausta .26 The Epitome of Aurelius Victor reports that Constantine killed Fausta when his mother Helena rebuked him for the death of Crispus .27 It is impossible now to separate fact from gossip and to know with certainty what offenses Crispus and Fausta had committed. Both of them suffered damnatio memoriae and were never rehabilitated. Some involvement of Helena in this family tragedy cannot be excluded, but there is no reason to shift the responsibility from Constantine to her. 28

Shortly after these sad events, probably in 326-28, Helena undertook a pigrimage to the Holy Land. It has been suggested that this pilgrimage was an act of expiation, either for her own sins or for those of her son. 29 In the course of her journey Helena impressed Eusebius of Caesarea and others by her piety, humility, and charity. She played a role in the building of the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem and the Church of the Eleona on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives; 30 but the Church of the Holy Sepulcher seems to have been an undertaking of Constantine alone. 31 A tradition more cherished than trustworthy credits Helena with the inventio of the True Cross. 32

=== The New Rome ===

During the First Tetrarchy Trier, Milan, Thessalonike, and Nicomedia had served as imperial residences, and the importance of Rome as a center of government had thus been considerably reduced. Constantine went far beyond this when he refounded the ancient Greek city of Byzantium as Constantinople and made it the capital of the empire. His decision to establish a new capital in the East ranks in its far-reaching consequences with his decision to adopt Christianity. The new capital enjoyed a most favorable location which afforded easy access to both the Balkan provinces and the eastern frontier, controlled traffic through the Bosporus, and met all conditions for favorable economic development.

On 8 November 324, less than two months after his victory over Licinius at Chrysopolis, Constantine formally laid out the boundaries of his new city, roughly quadrupling its territory. By 328 the new walls were completed, and on 11 May 330 the new city was formally dedicated. The New Rome, both in its physical features and in its institutions, resembled the Old Rome. It was built on seven hills, it had a senate, and its people received subsidized grain. Constantine completed and enlarged the city's hippodrome and placed in it the Serpent Column of Delphi. The palace which he built for himself afforded direct access to the kathisma , the royal box overlooking the hippodrome. A rather controversial monument is the Column of Constantine, in the Forum of Constantine, built of porphyry and 25 m. high; its remains are now known as the Burnt Column. It was crowned by a statue of Helios, its features suitably adapted so as to suggest Constantine himself.

Constantine without question began the construction of two major churches in Constantinople, Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) and Hagia Eirene (Holy Peace); the foundation of a third, the Church of the Holy Apostles, may be attributed to him with a measure of certainty. Unlike the Old Rome, which was filled with pagan monuments and institutions, the New Rome was essentially a Christian capital (and eventually the see of a patriarch), although not all traces of its pagan past had been eliminated. 33

=== Constantine's Government ===

The prevailing character of Constantine's government was one of conservatism. His adoption of Christianity did not lead to a radical reordering of society or to a systematic revision of the legal system. Generally refraining fom sweeping innovations, he retained and completed most of the arrangements made by Diocletian , especially in provincial administration and army organization. One notable change pertained to the praetorian prefects; these now became civilian ministers assisting the Augustus or the Caesars. In the course of a successful reform of the currency Constantine instituted a new type of coin, the gold solidus , which won wide acceptance and remained the standard for centuries to come. 34 Some of Constantine's measures show a genuine concern for the welfare and the morality of his subjects, even for the condition of slaves. By entrusting some government functions to the Christian clergy he actually made the church an agency of the imperial government. Constantine did not neglect the security of the frontiers. He campaigned successfully in 306-308 and 314-15 on the German frontier, in 332 against the Goths, in 334 against the Sarmatians, and in 336 again on the Danube frontier. 35

The arrangements which Constantine made for his own succession were quite unsatisfactory. During the last two years of his reign there were four Caesars: his sons Constantine (II) ,Constantius (II) , and Constans , having been appointed in 317, 324, and 333 respectively, and his nephew Flavius Dalmatius (whose father, of like name, was a son of Constantius I and Theodora ), appointed in 335. It is not clear which of these Constantine intended to take precedence upon his death. 36

=== Final Years , Death, and Burial ===

In the years 325-337 Constantine continued his support of the church even more vigorously than before, both by generous gifts of money and by specific legislation. Among his numerous church foundations the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the Golden Octagon in Antioch deserve to be singled out. At the same time, he was more inclined to suppress paganism; we know of some specific pagan temples which were torn down upon his orders, while in other cases temple treasures were confiscated and the proceeds fed into the imperial treasury. 37

Shortly after Easter (3 April) 337 Constantine began to feel ill. He traveled to Drepanum, now named Helenopolis in honor of his mother, where he prayed at the tomb of his mother's favorite saint, the martyr Lucian. From there he proceeded to the suburbs of Nicomedia, and there he was baptized, as both Eusebius and Jerome report; but only Jerome adds another significant fact: the baptism was performed by the Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia. 38

A few weeks weeks later, on the day of Pentecost, 22 May, Constantine died at Nicomedia, still wearing the white robes of a Christian neophyte. His body was escorted to Constantinople and lay in state in the imperial palace. His sarcophagus was then placed in the Church of the Holy Apostles, as he himself had directed; it was surrounded by the memorial steles of the Twelve Apostles, making him symbolically the thirteenth Apostle. 39 Only on September 9 did Constantine II ,Constantius II , and Constans each assume the rank of Augustus, after possible rivals, including the fourth Caesar, Flavius Dalmatius , had been eliminated in a bloody coup. 40 This bloody purge of members of the Royal family, it has been argued, may have had its roots in the religious strife between the Arian and Orthodox factions at the imperial court. 41

=== Icon of Saint Constantine I ===

In the Eastern Orthodox churches Constantine is regarded a saint; he shares a feast day, May 21, with his mother, and additionally has a feast day of his own, September 3. 42

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=== Notes ===

1 Eusebius, Vita Constantini 1.7-8 and 4.53, provides approximate dates only; see also Eutropius 10.8.2.

Attempts to place Constantine's birth in the 280's have been refuted by Timothy D. Barnes, The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine (Cambridge, Mass., 1982) 40-42.

2 Helena has received considerable attention in recent years. See especially the following:

Jan Willem Drijvers, Helena Augusta: The Mother of Constantine the Great and the Legend of Her Finding of the True Cross (Leiden 1992).

Hans A. Pohlsander, Helena: Empress and Saint (Chicago 1995).

Heinz Heinen, "Konstantins Mutter Helena: de stercore ad regnum," Trierer Zeitschrift 61 (1998) 227-40.

3 Ingemar König, "Die Berufung des Constantius Chlorus und des Galerius zu Caesaren," Chiron 4 (1974) 567-76; Barnes, New Empire 4.

4 Eutropius 9.22.1; Jerome, Chron . Olymp. 267; Anonymus Valesianus or Origo Constantini 1.1.

On the other hand a reference in Pan. Lat. 10.11.4 (edd. Baehrens, Mynors) or 2.11.4 (ed. Galletier) has prompted a number of scholars to conclude that Constantius and Theodora were married already by 289.

5 Lactantius, Mort. Pers. 19.

6 Lactantius, Mort. Pers. 24.8; Eusebius, Vita Const. 1.21-22; Anonymus Valesianus or Origo Constantini 4.

7 Pan. Lat. 6 (edd. Baehrens, Mynors) or 7 (ed. Galletier).

8 Barnes, New Empire 42-43, maintains that Constantine and Minervina were legally married.

On Crispus see Hans A. Pohlsander, "Crispus: Brilliant Career and Tragic End," Historia 33 (1984) 79-106.

9 Lactantius, Mort. Pers. 26.1.

10 Lactantius, Mort. Pers. 44; Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 9.9; Eusebius, Vita Const. 1. 38.

11 Jerome, Chron. Olymp. 274; De Vir. Ill . 80.

Klaus Kremer, "Laktanz: Erzieher von Konstantins Sohn Crispus zu Trier," Kurtrierisches Jahrbuch 25 (1985) 35-59.

12 Lactantius, Mort. Pers. 44.5-6.

13 Eusebius, Vita Const. 1. 28-29.

Michael DiMaio, Jörn Zeuge, and Natalia Zotov, " Ambiguitas Constantiniana : The Caeleste Signum Dei of Constantine the Great," Byzantion 58 (1988) 333-60, have argued that it is Lactantius' account which represents the true course of events, because the emperor saw a conjunction of the planets Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus in the constellations Capricorn and Sagittarius, something which was extremely negative astrologically and would have undermined the morale of Constantine's mainly pagan army. By putting a Christian interpretation on the astronomical event, they suggest, the emperor converted the sign into a positive force which would be useful to him.

Star Chart of the Chi-Rho in Constantine's Vision

Another, more recent, attempt to explain Constantine's vision as a natural phenomenon was made by Peter Weiss, "Die Vision Constantins," in Jochen Bleicken, ed., Colloquium aus Anlass des 80. Geburtstages von Alfred Heuss (Frankfurter Althistorische Studien 13; Kallmünz 1993) 143-69.

14 Constantius II, Theodosius I, St. Ambrose, and others delayed baptism until late in life. See A. H. M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire (Oxford 1964) 981.

15 Lactantius, Mort. Pers. 48; Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 10.5.

16 W. H. C. Frend, The Donatist Church (Oxford 1952, 1976, and 1985).

17 Hans Peter L'Orange and Arnim von Gerkan, Der spätantike Bildschmuck des Konstantinsbogen (Berlin 1939).

Linda Jones Hall, "Cicero's instinctu divino and Constantine's instinctu divinitatis : The Evidence of the Arch of Constantine for the Senatorial View of the 'Vision' of Constantine," Journal of Early Christian Studies 6 (1998) 647-71.

18 Richard Krautheimer, Corpus Basilicarum Christianarum Romae: The Early Basilicas of Rome. 5 vols. Vatican City 1937-1977.

Richard Krautheimer, Rome: Profile of a City, 312-1308 (Princeton 1980), Chapters 1-2.

Charles M. Odahl, "The Christian Basilicas of Constantinian Rome," Ancient World 26 (1995) 3-28.

19 The date of the first war fought between Constantine and Licinius has been a subject of controversy, as our primary sources are not without ambiguity:

Aurelius Victor, Caes. 41.1-2 and 6; Anonymus Valesianus or Origo Constantini 5.16-19; Zosimus 2. 18-20; and the Consularia Constantinopolitana or Fasti Hydatiani (Ed. Mommsen [ MGH, AA IX = Chron. Min . I] 231).

The conventional date of 314 is found in much of the secondary literature:

Otto Seeck, Regesten der Kaiser und Päpste für die Jahre 311 bis 476 n. Chr. (Stuttgart 1919) 162.

Joseph Vogt, "Constantinus der Grosse," in RAC III (1957) 306-79 at 337.

A. H. M. Jones, The Later Roman Empire 284-602 (Oxford 1964; repr. Baltimore 1986) I 82.

Ramsay MacMullen, Constantine (New York 1969) 107.

Maria R. Alföldi, "Die Niederemmeler 'Kaiserfibel': Zum Datum des ersten Krieges zwischen Konstantin und Licinius," BJ 176 (1976) 183-200 at 186-87.

Dietmar Kienast, "Das bellum Cibalense und die Morde des Licinius," in Michael Wissemann, Roma renascens: Beiträge zur Spätantike und Rezeptionsgeschichte: Festschrift für Ilona Opelt (Frankfurt 1988) 149-71.

Id., Römische Kaisertabelle , 2nd ed. (Darmstadt 1996) 299.

The date of 314 was first challenged and 316 proposed instead by Patrick Bruun ( The Constantinian Coinage of Arelate (Helsinki 1953) 15-21; Studies in Constantinian Chronology (New York 1961) 10-22; RIC VII (1966) 66, n. 1, and 76); this dating has been accepted also by others (André Chastagnol in RN , 6th ser., 4 (1962) 323-33 at 326-30; Christian Habicht, "Zur Geschichte des Kaisers Konstantin," Hermes 86 (1958) 360-78 at 360-70; Joseph Vogt, Constantin der Grosse und sein Jahrhundert, 2nd ed. (Munich 1960) 172; Timothy D. Barnes, "Lactantius and Constantine," JRS 63 (1973) 29-46 at 36-38; Id., Constantine and Eusebius (Cambridge, Mass., 1982) 65-67; Id. New Empire 72-73; Thomas Grünewald, Constantinus Maximus Augustus: Herrschaftspropaganda in der zeitgenössischen Überlieferung (Historia Einzelschriften 64; Stuttgart 1990) 109-12; Christopher Ehrhardt, "Monumental Evidence for the Date of Constantine's First War against Licinius," Ancient World 23 (1992) 87-94)

Roberto Andreotti has proposed that the bellum Cibalense was fought in two phases, in 314 and 316 respectively ("Licinius (Valerius Licinianus)," in Dizionario Epigrafico IV.1 (1959) 079-1040 at 1001 ff., esp. 1004; id.,"Recenti contributi alla cronologia costantiniana," Latomus 23 (1964) 537-55 at 548-52). More recently Andreotti's argument has been taken up in a joint article by Michael DiMaio, Jörn Zeuge, and Jane Bethune: " Proelium Cibalense et Proelium Campi Ardiensis: The First Civil War of Constantine I and Licinius I," Ancient World 21 (1990) 67-91. This, in turn, has been challenged by Hans A. Pohlsander, who defends 316: "The Date of the Bellum Cibalense : A Reexamination," Ancient World 25 (1995) 89-101.

20 Anonymus Valesianus or Origo Constantini 16-18.

21 For the abundant literary and epigraphical evidence see Pohlsander, "Crispus" 86, n. 57.

22 Eusebius, Vita Constantini 2. 10-17; Anonymus Valesianus or Origo Constantini 5; Zosimus 2. 18-28; Barnes, New Empire 75.

23 Eutropius 10.6.1; Jerome, Chron . Olymp. 275; Zosimus 2.28.2.

24 The literature on the subject is vast. The concise and accurate account provided by W. H. C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity (Philadelphia 1984) 492-501, affords a useful starting point.

25] On Athanasius' exile in Trier see Heinz Heinen, Frühchristliches Trier: Von den Anfängen bis zur Völkerwanderun g (Trier 1996) 119-33.

Harold Allen Drake, "Athanasius' First Exile," GRBS 27 (1986) 193-204.

For the sources and further literature see Hans A. Pohlsander, "Maximinus und Paulinus: Zwei Trierer Bischöfe im vierten Jahrhundert," Trierer Zeitschrift 59 (1996) 119-80 at 121, n. 5.

26 Zosimus, 2.29.1-2.

27 Aurelius Victor, Caes. 41.11-12.

28 François Paschoud, Cinq études sur Zosime (Paris 1975) 24-39.

Pohlsander, "Crispus" 99-106. At 106 he deems it "quite believable that Helena had a hand in Fausta's death." More cautious Pohlsander, Helena 23.

Jan Willem Drijvers, "Flavia Maxima Fausta: Some Remarks," Historia 41 (1992) 500-506.

29 Heinen, "Konstantins Mutter Helena" 235, points out that there is no clear-cut support for this suggestion in our sources; ibid. 238-39 he emphasizes Helena's piety and humility.

30 E. D. Hunt, Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Later Roman Empire AD 312-460 (Oxford 1982), Chapters 1-2.

31 Charles Coüasnon, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (Schweich Lectures of the British Academy, London 1972).

John Wilkinson, Egeria's Travels to the Holy Land, rev. ed. (Jerusalem and Warminster, England, 1981) 39-46 and 164-71.

Virgilio C. Corbo, Il Santo Sepolcro di Gerusalemme: Aspetti archeologici dalle origini al periodo crociato (Jerusalem 1982).

Dan Bahat, "Does the Holy Sepulchre Church Mark the Burial of Jesus?" Biblical Archaeology Review 12 (1986) 26-45.

G. S. P. Freeman-Grenville, "The Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, History and Future," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 1987, pp. 187-207.

Joseph Patrich in Yoram Tsafir, Ancient Churches Revealed (Jerusalem and Washington, D.C., 1993) 100-17.

Martin Biddle, The Tomb of Christ (Sutton Publishing 1999) 65-70.

32 Stephan Borgehammar, How the Holy Cross Was Found (Stockholm 1991).

33 Gilbert Dagron, Naissance d'une capitale: Constantinople et ses institutions de 330 à 451 (Paris 1974).

Richard Krautheimer, Three Christian Capitals: Topography and Politics (Berkeley 1983).

Cyril Mango, Le développement urbaine de Constantinople (IV e-VII esiecles) (Travaux et Mémoires du Centre de recherche d'Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance, College de France, Monographies 2; Paris 1985).

34 Jones, The Later Roman Empire 107-109.

The solidus, weighing 1/72 of a pound, replaced the aureus.

35 Barnes, New Empire 69, 70, 72, 79, and 80.

36 Ramsay MacMullen, Constantine (New York 1969) 218-20.

Heinrich Chantraine, Die Nachfolgeordnung Constantins des Großen , Stuttgart 1992.

37 Eusebius, Vita Const. 3. 54-58.

38 Eusebius, Vita Const. 4. 61-62; Jerome, Chron. ad annum 2353.

39 Eusebius, Vita Const. 4. 64.

Agathe Kaniuth. Die Beisetzung Konstantins des Großen. Breslau 1941.

Glanville Downey. "The Tombs of the Byzantine Emperors at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople." JHS 79 (1959) 27-51.

Philip Grierson. "The Tombs and Obits of the Byzantine Emperors (337-1042)." DOP 16 (1962) 1-60, esp. 5, 21-29, and 39-40.

40 Zosimus 2.39; Zonaras 13.5.

Richard Klein, "Die Kämpfe um die Nachfolge nach dem Tode Constantins des Großen," Byzantinische Forschungen 6 (1979) 101-50.

41 For a discussion of the purge of 337, the succession of the sons of Constantine, and the sources that treat these matters, see DiMaio and Duane Arnold, " Per Vim, Per Caedem, Per Bellum : A Study of Murder and Ecclesiastical Politics in the Year 337 A.D.," Byzantion , 62(1992), 158ff.

42 Pohlsander, Helena 194-96.

Copyright(C) 1999, Hans A. Pohlsander This file may be copied on the condition that the entire contents, including the header and this copyright notice, remain intact.

Constantine is one of the best known of the Roman Emperors. Some important events of his reign included the issuance of the Edict of Milan, which ended the persecution of Christians and made their worship legal, the battle of the Milvian Bridge, and the completion of the political and economic reforms begun under Diocletian. Constantine was also important in the history of the Catholic Church for his role at the Council of Nicaea, where important points of faith in the early Catholic Church dealing with the Holy Trinity were worked out. He increased the role of the Catholic Church in the Roman government by placing bishops in high political office, where they soon became quite powerful. Constantine was baptized on his deathbed, the first Roman emperor to receive the Christian faith. One of the famous stories told about Constantine is that of his vision from God on the night before the battle of the Milvian Bridge. Maxentius, the Roman emperor in Italy, had gathered a great number of legions in defiance of Constantine. Galerius had decided to tax the citizens of Italy, who had been exempt from taxes ever since Republican days. Naturally, the Italian citizens resented this and proclaimed Maxentius emperor in an effort to get the odious taxes removed. Constantine was not at all sure of his chances of victory. According to legend, Constantine saw the symbol of Jesus Christ’s power in the clouds and a message written in Latin reading IN HOC SIGNO VINCES, meaning "In this sign shalt thou conquer." Immediately, Constantine placed the sign of Christ on his standards and had it painted on his shields. Constantine won the day with a decisive victory and Maxentius, thrown from the Milvian Bridge, was drowned when the weight of his armor caused him to sink into the mud and ooze at the bottom of the River Tiber. His body was recovered the day after the battle.

One of the most famous Roman emperors might never have ascended the throne if he hadn’t taken a wild ride one night, fleeing for his life from the "protection" of his "guardian." Constantine, then about thirty years old, was very popular with the legions and had a good military record. Furthermore, he was the son of Constantius Chlorus, the Roman emperor in the West. Constantius was preparing for a military campaign against the wild painted Picts north of Hadrian's Wall in Britain and wanted his son with him to help lead his legions. Constantius asked the Eastern emperor Galerius to send the young man to him. Galerius was reluctant to let the young man go to his father, where his popularity with the army might undermine Galerius' authority. It was less than a decade since the island had been wrested from the grip of the two usurpers Carausius and his successor Allectus. The memory of these past events and the dangerous example they set for the future were too fresh in the mind of the powerful Eastern emperor for him to be comfortable allowing such a well-liked military leader out of his sight. When Galerius grudgingly gave his permission, Constantine immediately took a few followers and swiftly fled by night on fast horses. Thanks to the excellent Roman military roads, they were on the coast of France boarding his father's ships before Galerius could change his mind and have the popular young man pursued and recalled. Galerius' fears were soon to be confirmed. When Constantius Chlorus became ill and died at the Roman military center of York in A. D. 306, the British troops immediately proclaimed Constantine emperor of Britain. Galerius was enraged, but Constantine quickly wrote to tell him that the whole idea was concocted by the troops and that he, Constantine, had had nothing to do with it. Since Constantine was far away and supported by an army, Galerius relented and agreed to give him the title of Caesar and raise another man, Severus II, to the rank of Augustus in the West to replace Constantius Chlorus.

A few months later, the citizens of Italy rebelled and named Maxentius, the popular son of Maximianus their emperor. Galerius had increased their taxes and had removed the tax-exempt status Rome had enjoyed since the days of the Republic. Maxentius then invited his father to come out of retirement and rejoin him as co-emperor. Soon the two rebels were joined by Constantine, who was again claiming the title of Augustus. Galerius sent Severus II to deal with the rebels but Severus was defeated and later put to death by Maximianus. Things had gotten so bad by this time that the Roman Empire was in danger of returning to the anarchy and civil war of the Third Century Diocletian agreed to come out of retirement himself and chair a peace conference at the military town of Carnuntum on the Danube. According to the agreement, Constantine was to be demoted to the rank of Caesar and Valerius Licinianus Licinius was made Augustus in the West.. Additionally, Maximianus was forced again to abdicate and Maxentius was declared an enemy of the people.

The final showdown with Maxentius came in A. D. 312 at the Milvian Bridge. Constantine made an alliance with Licinius in order to bring more troops against his rival, and easily won the battle in which Maxentius was killed. After Constantine's victory over Maxentius, Constantine and Licinius were left in joint control of the vast Roman Empire. In A. D. 317, Constantine's sons Crispus and Constantine II and Licinius' son Licinius II were appointed Caesars.

The strong-willed, power seeking personalities of both Constantine and Licinius virtually ensured there would be trouble between the two rulers. From 312 to 324, relations between the Augusti steadily deteriorated. Finally, war broke out between the two over an incident in which Licinius chased some raiding barbarians into territory ruled by Constantine. Constantine defeated Licinius in two battles at Hadrianopolis and Chrysopolis. Though Constantine spared both Licinius and his son, they were soon plotting against Constantine to regain their thrones. Constantine had both of them put to death.

Soon after Constantine had defeated Licinius, he began work on the ancient Greek city of Byzantium to transform it into his new Capital of the East. Six years later, on May 11, A. D. 330. the beautiful new city of Constantinopolis, or Constantinople to the modern reader, was dedicated. Coins like the one at right showing the helmeted personnification of Constantinople were struck to commemorate the joyous event.

In A. D. 325, Constantine presided over the Council of Nicaea. Bishops from all over the Roman world gathered together to have Constantine help them decide on the nature of God. They worked out the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, in which Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were found to be equal persons in one God. Also, the Arian heresy was denounced at the Council of Nicaea. The Arians believed that Jesus Christ was somehow of a lesser importance, and had been created by, God the Father.

Two years later, dark intrigue and tragedy struck the house of Constantine. Constantine’s wife, Fausta, had accused Constantine's eldest son Crispus of adultery with her and plotting to seize the throne. Without checking the truth of these accusations, Constantine had his son murdered. It is thought that she made the accusation in order to place one of her own sons in line for the throne, as Crispus was Constantine's son by a previous marriage. When Constantine discovered that he had been lied to, he had Fausta suffocated or boiled alive in her bath by slowly running up the temperature of the water.

Constantine died at Nicomedia on May 22, 337. It is believed that he was baptized a Christian on his deathbed. After his death, his two nephews, Hanniballianus and Delmatius were put to death in the ensuing struggle for power. Both had been made caesars a few years before.


Having seen a vision of the Flaming Cross in the sky at noon, Constantine won a key victory over his rival at Tiber River's

Mulvius Bridge 10-28-312. He became a Christian, granting toleration to the religion in the edict of Milan (313). From his

victory at Chrysopolis (09-18-323) he ruled both the eastern and western Roman empires. He presided as sole emperor at the

Council of Nicaea (325). He laid the foundation of the city of Constantinople in 326, establishing the imperial capital there;

he was inaugurated there 05-11-330 as the city was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. Christianity had become the state

religion. Constantine was declared "Emperor" in 306 A.D. at Eboracum, now York, England. --Compton's on-line

Encyclopedia, America On-Line, 5/95: CONSTANTINE THE GREAT (AD 280?-337). Two important events marked the

reign of Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor of Rome. He made Christianity a lawful religion in Roman

society, and he founded the city of Constantinople, the brilliant capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Flavius Valerius

Constantinus was born in the Roman province of Moesia (later Serbia) about AD 280. His father, Constantius, was a

member of an important Roman family. His mother, Helena, was the daughter of an innkeeper. In 293 the emperor

Diocletian made Constantius caesar, or emperor, of Gaul and Britain. Young Constantine was kept at the court of Galerius,

the Eastern emperor, virtually as a hostage. He escaped in 305 and joined his father. Constantius died the next year, and the

army hailed Constantine as caesar. For five years Constantine was contented with ruling Gaul. Then he invaded Italy,

making straight for Rome. Maxentius, the emperor of Rome, came out of the city with his army and met Constantine at the

Milvian Bridge. Constantine swept the enemy into the Tiber River, and Maxentius was drowned. Constantine then entered

Rome as sole master of the Western half of the empire. In 313 he issued the Edict of Milan, which gave the Christians the

right to practice their religion openly. By 323 Constantine had brought the entire Roman world under his own rule. At that

time a quarrel threatened to split the Christian church into two camps. Arius, a priest of Alexandria, Egypt, maintained that

Christ was not the equal of the Father but was created by Him. Athanasius, leader of the bishops in the West, claimed that

the Father and Son, though distinct, were equal, and of the same substance. To settle the matter, Constantine called together

an ecumenical, or worldwide, council of bishops at Nicaea, in Asia Minor, in 325. He himself ran the meeting. An

overwhelming majority condemned the Arian view as heresy. The Council drew up the Nicene Creed, which is still accepted

as the basic doctrine of most Christian churches. Constantine next moved his seat of government from Rome to the East. For

his capital he chose the ancient Greek city of Byzantium on the Bosporus. He enlarged and enriched the city at enormous

expense. In 330 it was dedicated as New Rome, but it was generally called Constantinople, "the city of Constantine." The

Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire, with its capital at Constantinople (now Istanbul) survived for more than 1,000 years.

The new city also became the capital of Christianity in the East, while Rome dominated the religion in the West. (See also

Byzantine Empire; Istanbul.) Constantine ruled as a despot, surrounded by Oriental pomp. He admitted bishops to his

council, and his laws concerning the treatment of slaves and prisoners show the influence of Christian teachings. However,

he put to death his oldest son, Crispus, and his second wife, Fausta. Before his death he divided the empire among his three

remaining sons.

Spouses

1Flavia Maximiana Fausta

Birth289, Rome, Italy

Death326

FatherMarcus Aurelias Valerius Maximian Emperor (250-310)

MotherEutropia

ChildrenConstantine II (316-340)

Constantius II (317-361)

Constans I (~322-350)

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Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus (27 February c. 272 – 22 May 337), commonly known in English as Constantine I, Constantine the Great, or (among Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Christians) Saint Constantine (/'kɒnstɛntaɪn/), was Roman Emperor from 306, and the undisputed holder of that office from 324 until his death in 337.

Best known for being the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine reversed the persecutions of his predecessor, Diocletian, and issued (with his co-emperor Licinius) the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious toleration throughout the empire.

The Byzantine liturgical calendar, observed by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches of Byzantine rite, lists both Constantine and his mother Helena as saints. Although he is not included in the Latin Church's list of saints, which does recognize several other Constantines as saints, he is revered under the title "The Great" for his contributions to Christianity.

Constantine also transformed the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium into a new imperial residence, Constantinople, which would remain the capital of the Byzantine Empire for over a thousand years.

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ID: I11587

Name: FLAVIUS @ VALERIUS CONSTANTIUS

Prefix: Emperor

Given Name: FLAVIUS @ VALERIUS

Surname: CONSTANTIUS

Nickname: Constantine I The Great

Sex: M

_UID: C73E33CA201FD811BE490080C8C142CC481E

Change Date: 11 Jun 2005

Note:

I INTRODUCTION

Constantine the Great (about ad 274-337), Roman emperor (306-37), the first Roman ruler to be converted to Christianity. He was the founder of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), which remained the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire until 1453.

Constantine the Great Constantine the Great was the first emperor of Rome to convert to Christianity. During his reign, Christians, previously persecuted, gained freedom of worship. He gave huge estates and other gifts to the Christian church. He established a capital in the eastern provinces, naming it Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey).Hulton Getty Picture Collection

II EARLY LIFE

Arch of Constantine The Arch of Constantine, Rome, was completed in 315 to commemorate Constantine the Great’s victory over an Italian rival, which made Constantine the absolute monarch of the Roman Empire. Constantine the Great was the first Roman ruler to become a Christian, and under his rule Christians were able to worship freely.Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York

Constantine the Great was born Flavius Valerius Constantinus at Ni?, in what is now Serbia, son of the commander Constantius Chlorus (later Constantius I) and Helena (later Saint Helena), a camp follower. Constantius became co-emperor in 305. Constantine, who had shown military talent in the East, joined his father in Britain in 306. He was popular with the troops, who proclaimed him emperor when Constantius died later the same year. Over the next two decades, however, Constantine had to fight his rivals for the throne, and he did not finally establish himself as sole ruler until 324.

Following the example of his father and earlier 3rd-century emperors, Constantine in his early life was a solar henotheist, believing that the Roman sun god, Sol, was the visible manifestation of an invisible “Highest God” (summus deus), who was the principle behind the universe. This god was thought to be the companion of the Roman emperor. Constantine's adherence to this faith is evident from his claim of having had a vision of the sun god in 310 while in a grove of Apollo in Gaul. In 312, on the eve of a battle against Maxentius, his rival in Italy, Constantine is reported to have dreamed that Christ appeared to him and told him to inscribe the first two letters of his name (XP in Greek) on the shields of his troops. The next day he is said to have seen a cross superimposed on the sun and the words “in this sign you will be the victor” (usually given in Latin, in hoc signo vinces). Constantine then defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, near Rome. The Senate hailed the victor as savior of the Roman people. Thus, Constantine, who had been a pagan solar worshiper, now looked upon the Christian deity as a bringer of victory. Persecution of the Christians was ended, and Constantine's co-emperor, Licinius, joined him in issuing the Edict of Milan (313), which mandated toleration of Christians in the Roman Empire. As guardian of Constantine's favored religion, the church was then given legal rights and large financial donations.

III SOLE RULER

A struggle for power soon began between Licinius and Constantine, from which Constantine emerged in 324 as a victorious Christian champion. Now emperor of both East and West, he began to implement important administrative reforms. The army was reorganized, and the separation of civil and military authority, begun by his predecessor, Diocletian, was completed. The central government was run by Constantine and his council, known as the sacrum consistorium. The Senate was given back the powers that it had lost in the 3rd century, and new gold coins (solidi) were issued, which remained the standard of exchange until the end of the Byzantine Empire.

Constantine intervened in ecclesiastical affairs to achieve unity; he presided over the first ecumenical council of the church at Nicaea in 325. He also began the building of Constantinople in 326 on the site of ancient Greek Byzantium. The city was completed in 330 (later expanded), given Roman institutions, and beautified by ancient Greek works of art. In addition, Constantine built churches in the Holy Land, where his mother (also a Christian) supposedly found the True Cross on which Jesus was crucified. The emperor was baptized shortly before his death, on May 22, 337.

IV EVALUATION

Constantine the Great unified a tottering empire, reorganized the Roman state, and set the stage for the final victory of Christianity at the end of the 4th century. Many modern scholars accept the sincerity of his religious conviction. His conversion was a gradual process; at first he probably associated Christ with the victorious sun god. By the time of the Council of Nicaea (325), however, he was completely Christian, but still tolerated paganism among his subjects. Although criticized by his enemies as a proponent of a crude and false religion, Constantine the Great strengthened the Roman Empire and ensured its survival in the East. As the first emperor to rule in the name of Christ, he was a major figure in the foundation of medieval Christian Europe.

© 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Birth: 27 FEB 273

Death: 22 MAY 337

Father: Gaius Flavius Valerius Constantius b: 31 MAR 250

Mother: Helena of Colchester b: 248 in Britain

Marriage 1 Flavia Maximiana b: ABT 293

Married:

Children

Maximian

Flavius Julius Constantius II of Rome b: 3 OCT 317

Forrás / Source:

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jdp-fam&id=I11587

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Constantine I the Great Emperor of Rome

Born :27 Feb 272Naissus, Moesia

Died :22 May 337Made Constantinople new capital

FatherCONSTANTIUS I Chlorus Emperor of the West

MotherHelena Britannica ferch Princess of Britain

Marriage307 - Flavia Maxima Fausta Princess of the West

Children- - Constans I Emperor of the East and West 

- - Helena Princess of the East and West 

- - Constantia Princess of the East and West 

7 Aug 317 - Constantius II Emperor of the East and West 

Abt. 322 - Maximianus Constans Prince of Rome (West)

Forrás / Source:

http://www.american-pictures.com/genealogy/persons/per02537.htm#0

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Constantine `the Great' of ROME aka Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus; EMPEROR of ROMAN EMPIRE

Notes from this Life of the Day complete with a picture of the subject, visit http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/lotw/2008-10-20 Constantine I [Flavius Valerius Constantinus; known as Constantine the Great] (272/3-337), Roman emperor, was born at Naissus (modern Nis in Serbia) on 22 February 272 or 273. The year of his birth remains uncertain for lack of epigraphic evidence and calculations of the date are based on passing references in contemporary, or near contemporary, writers. These vary widely, suggesting that his age at death in 337 was between sixty and sixty-five years. A study of his career points to the latter age as best fitting the known facts about his various military appointments before his elevation to the throne. It has been noted that Constantine obscured his real age in order to dissociate himself, retrospectively, from the persecution of the Christian church which took place under his patrons the emperors Diocletian and Galerius, persecutions which his position might have required him to endorse or act upon. His claim to have been 'a mere child' in 303 when the great persecution began seems to be a disingenuous attempt to distance himself from these events. Parentage and early career Constantine's father, Flavius Valerius Constantius, was the future emperor Constantius I (250?-306). Before elevation to imperial status Constantius served as an officer in the army of Aurelian in the east, probably in 271 or 272; by 284-5 he was governor of the Adriatic province of Dalmatia, and probably praetorian prefect of Maximian, the western emperor, in 288-93. In 293 he was raised to the rank of Caesar and became emperor (Augustus) on the retirement of Diocletian and Maximian in 305. Constantine's mother, Flavia Julia Helena (c.248-328/9), was of low social status, possibly the daughter of the manager of an imperial posting station. Drepanum, her birthplace in Bithynia (a province on the Black Sea coast of present-day Turkey), was renamed by her son Helenopolis. Later stories connecting her birth with Camulodunum (Colchester) in Britain can be discounted. Helena's relationship with Constantius is uncertain; opinion veers towards identifying her as his mistress, rather than legal wife. In any event her presence at Naissus in the province of Moesia Superior indicates that she accompanied Constantius on his military postings. The relationship ended when Constantius made a dynastic marriage with Theodora, the daughter of the emperor Maximian, at a date possibly before 289 or as late as 293. His father's second marriage provided Constantine with a family of three half-brothers and three half-sisters. Few details of Constantine's career before he became emperor have survived, indeed they may have been deliberately suppressed. Allusive statements by contemporaries suggest that after his father's promotion to Caesar, Constantine served in various military capacities in the east, perhaps also standing as hostage for his father's good behaviour in the west. While attached to the staff of the Caesar Galerius, Constantine served in Syria, Mesopotamia, and on the Danubian frontier between c.293 and 299. The following years, 301-5, were spent in the entourage of Diocletian, both at the court in Nicomedia and on imperial tours to Egypt and Rome. Events following the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian in 305 saw Constantius as emperor in the west and Galerius in the east. Whereas a nephew of Galerius, Maximinus Daia, was elevated to be Caesar in the east, Constantine was passed over in favour of Severus II, a Pannonian army officer. Probably anxious for Constantine's future safety, Constantius persuaded Galerius to allow his son to join him. Fearing retraction of this concession, Constantine hastened west by forced marches. It is claimed in pro-Constantinian sources that, crossing the territory of Severus, he disabled the horses of the imperial posting stations on his route to prevent pursuit by the forces of the hostile western Caesar. The story may be an invention designed to denigrate Severus, whose territory Constantine later occupied. From multiple rulers to sole emperor, 305-324 Constantine arrived at Gesoriacum (Boulogne) in the summer of 305 and joined his father who was preparing an expedition against the Picts. This tribe may have been menacing the northern frontier of Britain; on the other hand the campaign may have been designed to reinforce the start of the new reign with an easy victory in an unimportant province. Constantine's part in the actual campaign is not recorded; his earlier military career suggests that participation would have been very active, especially in the light of his father's declining health. Constantius died on 25 July 306 at Eburacum (York) and Constantine was immediately proclaimed emperor by the army. The only detailed account of this event is given by Eutropius (d. 340), whose laconic comment is that 'all those about pressed him, especially Crocus, the king of the Alemanni, an ally of Constantius and a member of his entourage' (Eutropius, chap. 41, in Liber de caesaribus, ed. Bird). Nothing further is known about Crocus; a number of suggestions have been advanced as to his status. Possibly he was serving in the British expeditionary force as commander of an auxiliary force made up of his German followers; if so this body may have been decisive in securing the election. On the other hand Crocus may have been accompanying Constantius in a personal capacity, even as a hostage. That being so, he may have been in a position to guarantee Germanic assistance on the continent should Constantine be persuaded to cross the channel to occupy his father's territories. Constantine's elevation was unconstitutional and Galerius, as senior emperor, recognized Severus, the western Caesar, as his new imperial colleague in the west. None the less, though technically a usurper, Constantine effectively controlled the army of Britain, as well as his father's expeditionary force, and extended his de facto rule over Constantius' territories of Gallia, Hispania, and Germania, where he set up his administrative capital at Trier. His position was reluctantly recognized by Galerius, who made him Caesar of the west. Encouraged by these events, Maxentius, the son of the emperor Maximian who came out of retirement, seized power in Italy. Severus surrendered to Maximian in 307 and committed suicide. In the same year Constantine allied himself with Maximian by marriage with his daughter Flavia Maxima Fausta, at the same time repudiating his mistress Minervina, the mother of his oldest son, Crispus. Fausta bore him three sons and two daughters before her execution in 326, shortly after Constantine had ordered the death of Crispus. The discovery of a relationship between the son and stepmother is usually advanced as an explanation of these events. A constitutional conference at Carnuntum, on the Danube east of Vienna, in 308 failed to meet the expectations of the individuals contending for power and recognition. Maximian again retired, a new emperor, Licinius, was appointed, and Maxentius condemned as a usurper. In 310 Constantine assumed the imperial title himself as did his fellow junior ruler, Maximinus Daia. There were now four emperors, and a usurper ruling in Italy. Maximian again attempted to emerge from retirement; but, defeated by Constantine at Massalia (Marseilles), the colleague of Diocletian either committed suicide or was executed by his son-in-law.Between his accession and 312, Constantine dealt with a number of internal and external crises. In particular he campaigned on, and fortified, the Rhine frontier as a preliminary to advancing further south and east into the domains of his imperial rivals. These preparations bore fruit when in 312 he attacked Italy, routing Maxentius at the battle of the Milvian Bridge on the northern outskirts of Rome. The defeat of Maxentius (312) and the elimination of Maximian (310), Maximinus Daia (313), Severus II (307), and, by natural causes, Galerius (311), left Constantine master of the west. A series of conflicts with Licinius, his eastern colleague, left him sole ruler in 324. Visits to Britain, 307-314 Numismatic evidence points to three occasions when Constantine returned to Britain. In each case coins were issued by the London mint which played a part in the ritual associated with a formal imperial adventus, or state visit. The symbolism of the three coin issues associated with these visits originates in the third century and shows the emperor riding to the left, his hand raised in salutation; a captive may be crouched below the raised hoof of the horse. The iconography of the emperor's portrait also points to the coins being a special issue, since, in contrast to the normal portrait where the emperor faces to the right, the ruler's bust faces to the left and is often shown with elaborate body armour, shield, spear, and helmet or some combination of these elements. The first issue of the London mint probably occurred in the summer of 307. Constantine is correctly styled Caesar, though the reverse proclaims ADVENTVS AVGG (that is, 'Augustorum'), thus proclaiming that the Caesar's visit partakes of the actions of all of the rulers. The date of the issue is circumscribed by the fact that Constantine did not adopt the style AVGVSTVS on his coinage until either late July or December 307. Nothing is known about this visit; possibly a connection should be sought in the celebration of marriage to Fausta in the spring of 307 or to the defeat of German tribesmen, settled by Constantius on the west bank of the Rhine, who had pillaged parts of Gallia and Germania. Constantine's biographer Eusebius noted that when established in power the emperor visited the provinces formerly ruled by his father: a tour of Britain might have been part of this programme. The second issue of Adventus coins, which to judge by surviving specimens was very large, dates to a period shortly before the invasion of Italy in 312. Zosimus records that troops from Britain made up part of the Constantinian army and Eusebius records what may be a second visit. The examination of coin deposits in forts in Britain suggests that the garrisons of the outpost forts of Hadrian's Wall, and a number of other forts in northern Britain, were withdrawn as contributions to Constantine's new mobile force. These troops from Britain probably served in all of the campaigns down to the overthrow of Licinius, Constantine's last rival for undivided imperial power, in 324. A third Adventus series dates to 314. Constantine was in residence in Trier between August 313 and March 314. By the autumn he was in the Balkans campaigning against Licinius. A visit to Britain in the spring or summer of 314 is entirely feasible. Either at this time, or during previous visits, changes in the administration of Britain may have been initiated. That this was the occasion of warfare cannot be ruled out, since Constantine bore the title Britannicus Maximus from 314. First Christian emperor Constantine's victory in Italy is intimately associated with his conversion to Christianity. Two versions of events by contemporaries are extant. The earliest, recounted by Lactantius, tutor to Crispus, says that Constantine had a dream on the eve of the battle of the Milvian Bridge in which he was commanded to put the chi-rho monogram of Christ on the shields of his soldiers. A version given by the emperor to Eusebius a quarter of a century later claims that on his march to Rome he and the army saw, in broad daylight, a cross of light in the sky and the words 'hoc signo victor eris' ('by this sign you will conquer'). Constantine had already shown a predilection towards Christianity in that he had restored property to victims of the persecutions and was accompanied on his Italian campaign by Hosius, a Spanish bishop. On the other hand his adherence to traditional paganism, even while ostensibly Christian, should not be overlooked. While doubt has been cast on the story that Constantine experienced a vision of Apollo promising victory in 310, shortly before the overthrow of Maximian, support for this episode may be found in the fact that Constantine's principal coinage bore a figure of Sol and the legend 'Soli invicto comiti' ('the unconquered sun my companion') for a number of years after his experience of miraculous Christianity. Further, Constantine continued to hold the office of pontifex maximus, the chief priest of the state cult of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. That the emperor's conversion was sincere, if not precipitous, is attested by the benefactions bestowed on the clergy, the construction of churches in Italy and Palestine, and the foundation in 326 of Constantinopolis (Istanbul) as an alternative Christian capital, far removed from the traditional paganism of Rome itself. Constantine's religious policy did not force conversion on the pagan majority, although he sequestrated the accumulated treasures of pagan temples (perhaps more to augment his financial resources than to make a religious gesture) and instituted antisemitic legislation. Sacrifice was prohibited, as was divination. There is little doubt that the emperor's change of religion acted as a stimulus to conversion among members of the administrative classes and the higher ranks of the army. The adoption by the church of the administrative structure of the empire for its own regional organization ensured that governments and ecclesiastical institutions were soon inextricably intertwined and the attempt by the emperor Julian (r. 360-63) to undo the results of Constantine's conversion met with little success. Active in theological matters, Constantine convened a number of councils of the church and participated very directly in the proceedings of the Council of Nicaea (May 325) which laid down the basis of modern orthodox Christianity in the Nicene creed. As was normal for many converts at the period, Constantine delayed baptism until on his deathbed at Nicomedia on 22 May 337. His burial place in the newly erected church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinopolis signified his status as the thirteenth apostle, though in normal Roman style he was deified by his Christian sons and successors. Administrative and military reform That Constantine had to contend with co-rulers and rivals for more than half of his reign profoundly affected his administration. Heir to the least prosperous part of the empire, he adapted his financial and military policies to accommodate the situation. Reform of the gold coinage c.310, by the issue of lightweight coins, led, inadvertently, to a stabilization of the currency since military success enforced circulation over an ever widening sphere of authority and the recovery of the more valuable currency of defeated rivals. The absolute necessity of protecting the frontiers of the provinces which constituted his power base in the west while he was warring against rivals in the east led to profound changes in the structure of the army. Faced with the prospect of warfare on more than one front, Constantine built upon the experience of Gallienus (r. 253-68) and split his forces into sedentary frontier garrisons and an elite mobile force. This division into comitatenses (mobile forces) and limitanei (frontier forces) characterized Roman military strategy throughout the fourth to sixth centuries. With these tactical changes came changes in pay scales between the troops, the frontier forces suffering thereby. Elite forces flourished at the expense of the frontiers, which had to be massively reinforced in the reign of Valentinian I (r. 364-75). As a tactical innovation the mobile army served Constantine well but put into the hands of subsequent usurpers a ready-made weapon with which to weaken fundamentally the fabric of the empire. The reign also saw an increased use of officers of German origin in both the middle and higher ranks of the army, at the same time as German troops were incorporated into tactical formations. Assessment While he is often characterized as a revolutionary, closer study of Constantine's reign suggests a marked degree of conservatism. Even the conversion to Christianity may be seen in a political light were it to be preparatory to the eventual conquest of the east, with its possibly majority Christian population. Constantine adhered to the reforms of Diocletian (r. 284-305), implementing the changes which led to the creation of a large, professional civil service and an efficient tax recovery system. He enhanced a system of military and civil ranks and honours which bypassed the influence of the pagan senatorial class, but caused distress in the cities of the empire by sequestrating their funds. After operating within the tetrarchic system for most of his reign, the emperor sought to re-establish its principles in his plans for the succession. His intention to divide the provinces between his relatives was thwarted after his death by the enmity between the families of Helena and Theodora, his father's two wives. An interregnum, lasting from May to September 337, saw the triumph of Constantine's sons and the elimination of his half-brothers and nephews, with the exception of the still infant Gallus (Caesar, 351-4) and Julian (Augustus, 360-63). The empire was then divided between Constantine II (r. 337-40), who took the north-western provinces, Constans (r. 337-50), who took Italy, Africa, and the Balkans, and Constantius II (r. 337-61), whose portion was the east. Constantine's historic eminence was guaranteed by the Christian church, whose early historians constructed the image of an ideal ruler-as he came to be known, Constantine the Great. Few hostile contemporary accounts survived the winnowing of a millennium and a half of Christian historiography but such as do suggest that piety, superstition, ruthlessness, and opportunism combined in a personality of huge energy and unquenchable self-confidence. P. J. Casey Sources Liber de caesaribus of Sextus Aurelius Victor, ed. and trans. H. W. Bird (1994) + T. D. Barnes, The new empire of Diocletian and Constantine (1982) + T. D. Barnes, Constantine and Eusebius (1981) + P. J. Casey, 'Constantine the Great in Britain: the evidence of the coinage of the London mint, 312-14', Collectanea Londiniensia: studies ... presented to Ralph Merrifield, ed. J. Bird and others (1978), 181-94 + S. Lieu and D. Monserrat, From Constantine to Julian: pagan and Byzantine views (1996) + R. Macmullen, Constantine (1969) + H. A. Pohlsander, The emperor Constantine (1996) + 'Epitome de caesaribus', Sexti Aurelii Victoris liber de caesaribus, ed. F. Pichlmayr, rev. edn, rev. R. Gruendel (Leipzig, 1966), 133-76; another edn (1970) Likenesses silver medallion, 315, Staatliche Munzsammlung, Munich · head, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome [see illus.] Wealth at death enormous wealth ======================================================================== © Oxford University Press, 2004. See legal notice

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

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Reference: http://fabpedigree.com/s020/f000004.htm
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Constantine I (306 - 337 A.D.)

by

Hans A. Pohlsander

SUNY Albany

Introduction

The emperor Constantine has rightly been called the most important emperor of Late Antiquity. His powerful personality laid the foundations of post-classical European civilization; his reign was eventful and highly dramatic. His victory at the Milvian Bridge counts among the most decisive moments in world history, while his legalization and support of Christianity and his foundation of a 'New Rome' at Byzantium rank among the most momentous decisions ever made by a European ruler. The fact that ten Byzantine emperors after him bore his name may be seen as a measure of his importance and of the esteem in which he was held.

Constantine's Rise to Power

Flavius Valerius Constantinus, the future emperor Constantine, was born at Naissus in the province of Moesia Superior, the modern Nish in Serbia, on 27 February of 271, 272, or 273. 1 His father was a military officer named Constantius (later Constantius Chlorus or Constantius I), his mother a woman of humble background named Helena (later St. Helena). 2 There is good reason to think that Constantius and Helena lived in concubinage rather than in legally recognized marriage. Having previously attained the rank of tribune, provincial governor, and probably praetorian prefect, Constantius was raised, on 1 March 293, to the rank of Caesar in the First Tetrarchy organized by Diocletian .3 On this occasion he was required to put aside Helena and to marry Theodora , the daughter of Maximian .4 Upon the retirement of Diocletian and Maximian on 1 May 305 Constantius succeeded to the rank of Augustus. 5

Constantine, in the meanwhile, had served with distinction under both Diocletian and Galerius in the East. Kept initially at the court of Galerius as a pledge of good conduct on his father's part, he was later allowed to join his father in Britain and assisted him in a campaign against the Picts. When Constantius died, on 25 July 306, at Eburacum (York), Constantine was at his side. The soldiers at once proclaimed him Augustus; 6 Constantine henceforth observed this day as his dies imperii. Having settled affairs in Britain swiftly, he returned to the Continent, where the city of Augusta Treverorum (Trier) served as his principal residence for the next six years. There, too, in 307, he married Maximian's daughter Fausta, 7 putting away his mistress Minervina, who had borne him his first son, Crispus. 8 Trier's "Kaiserthermen" (Imperial Baths) and Basilica (the aula palatina ) give evidence to this day of Constantine's residence in the city.

At the same time the Senate and the Praetorian Guard in Rome had allied themselves with Maxentius , the son of Maximian . On 28 October 306 they proclaimed him emperor, 9 in the lower rank of princeps initially, although he later claimed the rank of Augustus. Constantine and Maxentius , although they were brothers-in-law, did not trust each other. Their relationship was further complicated by the schemes and consequently, in 310, the death of Maximian . Open hostilities between the two rivals broke out in 312, and Constantine won a decisive victory in the famous Battle of the Milvian Bridge .10 This made Constantine the sole ruler of the western half of the empire.

Constantine's Conversion

When Diocletian and Maximian announced their retirement in 305, the problem posed by the Christians was unresolved and the persecution in progress. Upon coming to power Constantine unilaterally ended all persecution in his territories, even providing for restitution. His personal devotions, however, he offered first to Mars and then increasingly to Apollo, reverenced as Sol Invictus .

The next significant event in Constantine's religious development occurred in 312. Lactantius, whom Constantine appointed tutor of his son Crispus 11 and who therefore must have been close to the imperial family, reports that during the night before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge Constantine was commanded in a dream to place the sign of Christ on the shields of his soldiers. 12 Twenty-five years later Eusebius gives us a far different, more elaborate, and less convincing account in his Life of Constantine .13 When Constantine and his army were on their march toward Rome - neither the time nor the location is specified - they observed in broad daylight a strange phenomenon in the sky: a cross of light and the words "by this sign you will be victor" ( hoc signo victor eris or ). During the next night, so Eusebius' account continues, Christ appeared to Constantine and instructed him to place the heavenly sign on the battle standards of his army. The new battle standard became known as the labarum .

Whatever vision Constantine may have experienced, he attributed his victory to the power of "the God of the Christians" and committed himself to the Christian faith from that day on, although his understanding of the Christian faith at this time was quite superficial. It has often been supposed that Constantine's profession of Christianity was a matter of political expediency more than of religious conviction; upon closer examination this view cannot be sustained. Constantine did not receive baptism until shortly before his death (see below). It would be a mistake to interpret this as a lack of sincerity or commitment; in the fourth and fifth centuries Christians often delayed their baptisms until late in life. 14

In February 313, probably, Constantine and Licinius met at Milan. On this occasion Constantine's half-sister Constantia was wed to Licinius . Also on this occasion, the two emperors formulated a common religious policy. Several months later Licinius issued an edict which is commonly but erroneously known as the Edict of Milan. 15 Unlike Constantine, Licinius did not commit himself personally to Christianity; even his commitment to toleration eventually gave way to renewed persecution. Constantine's profession of Christianity was not an unmixed blessing to the church. Constantine used the church as an instrument of imperial policy, imposed upon it his imperial ideology, and thus deprived it of much of the independence which it had previously enjoyed.

Constantine as the Sole Ruler of the West

To his dismay Constantine soon discovered that there was a lack of unity within the church. In the province of Africa, specifically, there were those who took a rigorist position towards the lapsi (those who had shown a lack of faith during the preceding years of persecution) and those who took a more moderate, forgiving position. The former eventually became known as the Donatists, after a certain Donatus, whom they elected as their bishop. In April of 313 the rigorists presented to Constantine their grievance against Caecilian, the bishop of Carthage. Constantine convened a synod of bishops to hear the complaint; the synod met in Rome's Lateran Council and is known as the Synod of Rome. When the synod ruled in favor of Caecilian, the Donatists appealed to Constantine again. In response to the appeal Constantine convened a larger council of thirty-three bishops, who met at Arles in southern Gaul on 1 August 314. This council, too, ruled against the Donatists, and again they refused to submit. Constantine attempted, unsuccessfully, to suppress them. A separatist Donatist church possessed considerable strength in North Africa over the next two centuries. 16

Rome's famous Arch of Constantine was completed in time for the beginning of Constantine's decennalia (the tenth anniversary of his acclamation). 17 There were all manner of festivities, but Constantine pointedly omitted the traditional sacrifices to the pagan gods.

Constantine left his mark on the city of Rome with an ambitious building program, both secular and religious. In the Forum Romanum he completed the basilica which Maxentius had left unfinished. On the Quirinal Hill, where the presidents of Italy now reside, he had a bath built. The Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Basilica of St. Peter, and the Basilica of St. Sebastian on the Appian Way all are Constantinian foundations. Of special interest is the Basilica of Sts. Marcellinus and Peter, on the ancient Via Labicana, because attached to it was the vaulted rotunda which Constantine originally had intended as a mausoleum for himself and his family but ultimately received only the body of his mother Helena ; its considerable remains are known today as the Tor Pignattara. 18

The Conflict with Licinius

The ultimate goal pursued by both Constantine and Licinius was sole power. The agreement of 313 had been born out of necessity, not of mutual good will. Even Constantia's apparent devotion to Licinius did little to ease the strained relationship between the two rivals. Hostilities erupted in 316. 19 In the course of this first war between the two emperors two battles were fought: the first at Cibalae in Pannonia, whence this war is called the bellum Cibalense, the second on the campus Ardiensis in Thrace. In the first battle Licinius' army suffered heavy losses; in the second neither side won a clear victory. 20

A settlement left Licinius in his position as Augustus, but required him to cede to Constantine all of his European provinces other than Thrace. On 1 March 317, at Serdica (modern Sofia), Constantine announced the appointment of three Caesars: his own son Crispus , about twelve years old, his own son Constantine , less than seven months old, and Licinius' son, also named Licinius , twenty months old. 21 But the concordia Augustorum was fragile; tensions grew again, in part because the two Augusti pursued different policies in matters of religion, in part because the old suspicions surfaced again.

War erupted again in 324. Constantine defeated Licinius twice, first at Adrianople in Thrace, and then at Chrysopolis on the Bosporus. 22 Initially, yielding to the pleas of Constantia , Constantine spared the life of his brother-in-law, but some months later he ordered his execution, breaking his solemn oath. Before too long the younger Licinius , too, fell victim to Constantine's anger or suspicions. 23 Constantine was now the sole and undisputed master of the Roman world.

The Arian Controversy, the Council of Nicaea, and its Aftermath

Early in the fourth century a dispute erupted within the Christian church regarding the nature of the Godhead, more specifically the exact relationship of the Son to the Father. Arius, a priest in Alexandria, taught that there was a time when Christ did not exist, i.e. that he was not co-eternal with the Father, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were three separate and distinct hypostaseis, and that the Son was subordinate to the Father, was in fact a "creature." These teachings were condemned and Arius excommunicated in 318 by a council convened by Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria. But that did not by any means close the matter. Ossius (or Hosius) of Cordova, Constantine's trusted spiritual advisor, failed on his mission to bring about a reconciliation.

Constantine then summoned what has become known as the First Ecumenical Council of the church. The opening session was held on 20 May 325 in the great hall of the palace at Nicaea, Constantine himself presiding and giving the opening speech. The council formulated a creed which, although it was revised at the Council of Constantinople in 381-82, has become known as the Nicene Creed. It affirms the homoousion , i.e. the doctrine of consubstantiality. A major role at the council was played by Athanasius, Bishop Alexander's deacon, secretary, and, ultimately, successor. Arius was condemned. 24

If Constantine had hoped that the council would settle the issue forever, he must have been bitterly disappointed. The disputes continued, and Constantine himself vacillated. Eusebius of Nicomedia, a supporter of Arius exiled in 325, was recalled in 327 and soon became the emperor's chief spiritual advisor. In 335 Athanasius, now bishop of Alexandria and unbending in his opposition to some of Constantine's policies, was sent into exile at far-away Trier. 25

The Crisis in the Imperial Family

At some time in 326 Constantine ordered the execution of his oldest son Crispus , who had been appointed Caesar in 317, had three times served as consul, and had distinguished himself in the recent campaign against Licinius . In the same year, soon after the death of Crispus , Constantine also brought about the death of Fausta , the mother of his other three sons. A connection between the two deaths is likely. Zosimus reports that Crispus had come under suspicion of "being involved" with his stepmother Fausta .26 The Epitome of Aurelius Victor reports that Constantine killed Fausta when his mother Helena rebuked him for the death of Crispus .27 It is impossible now to separate fact from gossip and to know with certainty what offenses Crispus and Fausta had committed. Both of them suffered damnatio memoriae and were never rehabilitated. Some involvement of Helena in this family tragedy cannot be excluded, but there is no reason to shift the responsibility from Constantine to her. 28

Shortly after these sad events, probably in 326-28, Helena undertook a pigrimage to the Holy Land. It has been suggested that this pilgrimage was an act of expiation, either for her own sins or for those of her son. 29 In the course of her journey Helena impressed Eusebius of Caesarea and others by her piety, humility, and charity. She played a role in the building of the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem and the Church of the Eleona on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives; 30 but the Church of the Holy Sepulcher seems to have been an undertaking of Constantine alone. 31 A tradition more cherished than trustworthy credits Helena with the inventio of the True Cross. 32

The New Rome

During the First Tetrarchy Trier, Milan, Thessalonike, and Nicomedia had served as imperial residences, and the importance of Rome as a center of government had thus been considerably reduced. Constantine went far beyond this when he refounded the ancient Greek city of Byzantium as Constantinople and made it the capital of the empire. His decision to establish a new capital in the East ranks in its far-reaching consequences with his decision to adopt Christianity. The new capital enjoyed a most favorable location which afforded easy access to both the Balkan provinces and the eastern frontier, controlled traffic through the Bosporus, and met all conditions for favorable economic development.

On 8 November 324, less than two months after his victory over Licinius at Chrysopolis, Constantine formally laid out the boundaries of his new city, roughly quadrupling its territory. By 328 the new walls were completed, and on 11 May 330 the new city was formally dedicated. The New Rome, both in its physical features and in its institutions, resembled the Old Rome. It was built on seven hills, it had a senate, and its people received subsidized grain. Constantine completed and enlarged the city's hippodrome and placed in it the Serpent Column of Delphi. The palace which he built for himself afforded direct access to the kathisma , the royal box overlooking the hippodrome. A rather controversial monument is the Column of Constantine, in the Forum of Constantine, built of porphyry and 25 m. high; its remains are now known as the Burnt Column. It was crowned by a statue of Helios, its features suitably adapted so as to suggest Constantine himself.

Constantine without question began the construction of two major churches in Constantinople, Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) and Hagia Eirene (Holy Peace); the foundation of a third, the Church of the Holy Apostles, may be attributed to him with a measure of certainty. Unlike the Old Rome, which was filled with pagan monuments and institutions, the New Rome was essentially a Christian capital (and eventually the see of a patriarch), although not all traces of its pagan past had been eliminated. 33

Constantine's Government

The prevailing character of Constantine's government was one of conservatism. His adoption of Christianity did not lead to a radical reordering of society or to a systematic revision of the legal system. Generally refraining fom sweeping innovations, he retained and completed most of the arrangements made by Diocletian , especially in provincial administration and army organization. One notable change pertained to the praetorian prefects; these now became civilian ministers assisting the Augustus or the Caesars. In the course of a successful reform of the currency Constantine instituted a new type of coin, the gold solidus , which won wide acceptance and remained the standard for centuries to come. 34 Some of Constantine's measures show a genuine concern for the welfare and the morality of his subjects, even for the condition of slaves. By entrusting some government functions to the Christian clergy he actually made the church an agency of the imperial government. Constantine did not neglect the security of the frontiers. He campaigned successfully in 306-308 and 314-15 on the German frontier, in 332 against the Goths, in 334 against the Sarmatians, and in 336 again on the Danube frontier. 35

The arrangements which Constantine made for his own succession were quite unsatisfactory. During the last two years of his reign there were four Caesars: his sons Constantine (II) ,Constantius (II) , and Constans , having been appointed in 317, 324, and 333 respectively, and his nephew Flavius Dalmatius (whose father, of like name, was a son of Constantius I and Theodora ), appointed in 335. It is not clear which of these Constantine intended to take precedence upon his death. 36

Final Years , Death, and Burial

In the years 325-337 Constantine continued his support of the church even more vigorously than before, both by generous gifts of money and by specific legislation. Among his numerous church foundations the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the Golden Octagon in Antioch deserve to be singled out. At the same time, he was more inclined to suppress paganism; we know of some specific pagan temples which were torn down upon his orders, while in other cases temple treasures were confiscated and the proceeds fed into the imperial treasury. 37

Shortly after Easter (3 April) 337 Constantine began to feel ill. He traveled to Drepanum, now named Helenopolis in honor of his mother, where he prayed at the tomb of his mother's favorite saint, the martyr Lucian. From there he proceeded to the suburbs of Nicomedia, and there he was baptized, as both Eusebius and Jerome report; but only Jerome adds another significant fact: the baptism was performed by the Arian bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia. 38

A few weeks weeks later, on the day of Pentecost, 22 May, Constantine died at Nicomedia, still wearing the white robes of a Christian neophyte. His body was escorted to Constantinople and lay in state in the imperial palace. His sarcophagus was then placed in the Church of the Holy Apostles, as he himself had directed; it was surrounded by the memorial steles of the Twelve Apostles, making him symbolically the thirteenth Apostle. 39 Only on September 9 did Constantine II ,Constantius II , and Constans each assume the rank of Augustus, after possible rivals, including the fourth Caesar, Flavius Dalmatius , had been eliminated in a bloody coup. 40 This bloody purge of members of the Royal family, it has been argued, may have had its roots in the religious strife between the Arian and Orthodox factions at the imperial court. 41

Icon of Saint Constantine I

In the Eastern Orthodox churches Constantine is regarded a saint; he shares a feast day, May 21, with his mother, and additionally has a feast day of his own, September 3. 42

Bibliography

Alexander, Suzanne Spain. "Studies in Constantinian Church Architecture." Rivista di Archeologia Cristina 47 (1971) 281-330 and 49 (1973) 33-44.

Alföldi, Andreas (Andrew). The Conversion of Constantine and Pagan Rome. Oxford 1948 and 1969.

Alföldi, Maria R. "Die Niederemmeler 'Kaiserfibel': Zum Datum des ersten Krieges zwischen Konstantin und Licinius." BJ 176 (1976) 183-200.

Andreotti, Roberto. "Licinius (Valerius Licinianus)." In Dizionario Epigrafico IV.1 (1959) 979-1040 .

________. "Recenti contributi alla cronologia costantiniana." Latomus 23 (1964) 537-55 at 548-52.

Bahat, Dan. "Does the Holy Sepulchre Church Mark the Burial of Jesus?" Biblical Archaeology Review 12 (1986) 26-45.

Barnes, Timothy D. "Lactantius and Constantine." JRS 63 (1973) 29-46.

________. Constantine and Eusebius . Cambridge, Mass., 1981.

________. The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine. Cambridge, Mass., 1982.

Biddle, Martin. The Tomb of Christ . Sutton Publishing 1999.

Bleckmann, Bruno. Konstantin der Große. Hamburg 1996.

Borgehammar, Stephan. How the True Cross Was Found: From Event to Medieval Legend. Stockholm 1991.

Bruun, Patrick. The Constantinian Coinage of Arelate. Helsinki 1953.

________. Studies in Constantinian Chronology. New York 1961.

________. Roman Imperial Coinage VII: Constantine and Licinius, A.D. 313-337. London 1966.

Chantraine, Heinrich. Die Nachfolgeordnung Constantins des Großen . Stuttgart 1992.

Corbo, Virgilio C. Il Santo Sepolcro di Gerusalemme: Aspetti archeologici dalle origini al periodo crociato . Jerusalem 1982.

Coüasnon, Charles. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Schweich Lectures of the British Academy. London 1972.

Dagron, Gilbert. Naissance d'une capitale: Constantinople et ses institutions de 330 à 451. 2nd ed. Paris 1984.

DiMaio, Michael, Jörn Zeuge, and Natalia Zotov. " Ambiguitas Constantiniana : The Caeleste Signum Dei of Constantine the Great." Byzantion 58 (1989) 333-60.

________, Jörn Zeuge, and Jane Bethune. "The Proelium Cibalense et Proelium Campi Ardiensis : The First Civil War of Constantine I and Licinius I." Ancient World 21 (1990) 67-91.

________ and Duane Arnold. " Per Vim, Per Caedem, Per Bellum : A Study of Murder and Ecclesiastical Politics in the Year 337 A.D.." Byzantion 62(1992): 158ff.

Downey, Glanville. "The Tombs of the Byzantine Emperors at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople." JHS 79 (1959) 27-51.

Drake, Harold Allen. "Athanasius' First Exile." GRBS 27 (1986) 193-204.

________. "Constantine and Consensus," Church History 64 (1995): 1-15.

________. "Policy and Belief in Constantine's Oration to the Saints," Studia Patristica 19 (1989): 45-51.

Drijvers, Jan Willem. Helena Augusta: The Mother of Constantine the Great and the Legend of Her Finding of the True Cross. Leiden 1992.

________. "Flavia Maxima Fausta: Some Remarks." Historia 41 (1992) 500-506.

Ehrhardt, Christopher. "Monumental Evidence for the Date of Constantine's First War against Licinius." Ancient World 23 (1992) 87-94.

Elliot, T. G. The Christianity of Constantine the Great. Scranton 1996.

Freeman-Grenville, G. S. P. "The Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, History and Future." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 1987, pp. 187-207.

Frend, W. H. C. The Donatist Church. Oxford 1952.

________. The Rise of Christianity (Philadelphia 1984), Chapters 13-15.

Grierson, Philip. "The Tombs and Obits of the Byzantine Emperors (337-1042)." DOP 16 (1962) 1-60.

Grünewald, Thomas. Constantinus Maximus Augustus: Herschaftspropaganda in der zeitgenössischen Überlieferung. Historia Einzelschriften 64. Stuttgart 1990.

Hab
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great
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Constantius I became Emperor of Rome in May 305, and in right of his wife, King of England. He was born in 242 and died at Eboracum (present day York, England) on July 25, 306. On becoming "Caesar," he was required by Diocletian to put aside *Helena and to take Maximian's stepdaughter, Theodora, as his wife.

F

Constantine I., Augustus, (Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantius), born265 (272?), in Naissus in Moesia. He died May, 336 or 337, buried in thechurch of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. Constantine received onlya meager education. He took up soldiering early, and proved his valor inthe wars against Egypt and Persia. He was of British birth and education,and is known as the first Christian Emperor. He fought with his father inthe Boulogne campaign and shared in a British campaign. The Gallic army,deeply loyal to the humane Constantius, came to love his handsome, brave,and energetic son; and when the father died at York in 306, the troopsproclaimed Constantine not merely as "Caesar" but as Augustus - emperor.He accepted the lesser title, excusing himself on the grounds that hislife would be unsafe without an army at his back. ConsequentlyConstantine fought successfully against the invading Franks. Later, witha British army he set out to put down the persecution of Christiansforever. The greatest of all Roman Emperors, he annexed Britain to theRoman Empire and founded Constantinople. In the year 321 he decreed thatthe Christian Sunday be truly observed as a day of rest. In 325 heassembled the Council of Nicea in Bithynia, Asia Minor, which he attendedin person. This Council formulated the Nicene Creed. The following edictof Constantine sets forth the standards of his life: "We call God towitness, the Savior of all men, that in assuming the government we areinfluenced solely by these two considerations - the uniting of the empirein one faith, and the restoration of peace to a world rent in pieces bythe insanity of religious persecution." By his first wife (1) Minervinahe was father of the following son:

1. Flavius Valerius Crispus Caesar.

He married (2) Fausta, sister of his step-mother, Theodora. Fausta andTheodora and their brother Maxentius were children of Maximinus, RomanEmperor (286-305). One writer, Brewer, said he was a giant, eight feet,six inches tall! His son Maxentius, Emperor (310-311), married Valeria,daughter of Galerius, Emperor (310-311), and his wife, Valeria, who wasdaughter of Diocletian, Emperor (284-305). Fausta and Constantine theGreat had three sons and one daughter as follows:

1. Constantine II.

2. Constantius II

3. Constants I.

4. Helen, wife of Julian the Apostate.

See details of the life of Constantine I. in Durant, pp. 653-664.
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Constantine the Great, Roman Emperor, Kings of Denmark and Sweden, toGeoffrey Plantaganet
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~pmcbride/james/f005.htm#I310X1

Ref: Wurts, "Magna Charta Sureties," Vol I., pp. 163-164

Ref: Gordon, C. D., "The Age of Attila" (1960)

1. Constantine I., Augustus, the Great, son of Constantius I, Caesar(293-305), Augustus (305-306), and his wife, Helena, born 265, died 336or 337. He was of British birth and education, and he is known as thefirst Christian ruler of the Roman Empire. With a British army he set outto put down the persecution of Christians forever. The greatest of allRoman Emperors, he annexed Britain to the Roman Empire and foundedConstantinople. In 325 he assembled the Council of Nicea, which heattended in person, in Nicea in Bithynia, Asia Minor, which formulatedthe Nicene Creed. According to Dr. Anderson (Wurts, "Magna Charta"), hemarried Fausta and had three sons and a daughter as follows:

1. Constantine II. was given the West (Britain, Gaul, and Spain) by hisfather. He ruled from 337 to 340.

2. Constantius II See below.

3. Constans I., was given the South (North Africa, Italy, Illyrium, andThrace including Rome and Constantinople). He ruled from 337 to 350.

4. Helen, wife of Julian the Apostate.

Two nephews (Gallus and Julian) were given Armenia, Macedonia, andGreece. Constantine also had another son, Crispus, who died in 326.

2. Constantius II, second son of Constantine the Great, died in 360. Hewas given the East (Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt. He as the sole heir by353. He married Fausta.

3. Constantius III, Emperor in 421, married in 417 as her second husbandand against her will, Galla Placida, daughter of Theodosius I.,Theodosius the Great, Emperor (379-395) and his wife, Galla. Galla, themother, was the daughter of Valentinian I., Emperor (364-375), and hiswife, Justina. Galla Placida married in 414 (1) Ataulph, Visigothic King(410-415). Theodosius I. was the son of Theodosius and his wife,Thermanis. They were the first of the House of Theodosius. He died earlyin 395, the last ruler of a united Roman Empire, as great in extent asthat left by Augustus. He died in 421. She died about 450, after beingexiled after the death of Constantius III. They had a son and daughter.See John Fines, "Who's Who in the Middle Ages", (1970), pp. 175-177, fordetails of Galla Placida. She was a half-sister of Honorius, the Emperorunder whom Britain was finally lost to Rome.

4. Valentinian III was clothed with imperial robes in Ravenna in 425. Hedied in 455. He fought against and bribed Attila, the Hun. He married asher first husband Licinia Eudoxia, daughter of Theodosius II., Emperor ofthe east (408-450) and his wife, Eudocia, who died in 454. Vanentinianand Eudoxia had two daughters as follows:

1. Eudoxia. See below.

2. Placida, married Anicius Olybrius, Emperor (472).

5. Eudoxia (Eudocia) married Huneric, Vandal King (477-484), son ofGaiseric (Genseric), King of the Vandals (428-477), father of otherVandal kings, who died in 480 in Africa.

6. Hilderic, King of the Vandals (523-530).

7. Hilda, wife of Frode VII., who died in 548.

8. Halfdan of Lethra, King of Denmark. He had two sons as follows:

1. Ivar Vidfadma. See below.

2. Hraeric of Lethra, married (1) Auda of Roeskilda. They had a son,Halfdan (Sigfrid) of Jutland. See elsewhere for a continuation of thislineage.

9. Ivar Vidfadma, King of Denmark and Sweden in 660.

10. Roric Slingeband, King of Denmark and Sweden in 700.

11. Harald Hildetand, King of Denmark and Sweden in 725.

12. Sigurd Ring, living in 750.

13. Rayner Lodbrok, King of Denmark and Sweden, who died in 794, havingmarried Aslanga.

14. Sigurd Snodoye, King of Denmark and Sweden, died in 830.

15. Horda Knut, King of Denmark, died in 850.

16. Frotho, King of Denmark, died in 875.

17. Gorm Enske, married Sida and died in 890.

18. Harold Parcus, King of Denmark, married Elgiva, daughter of EthelredI, King of England, a brother of King Alfred the Great. They had thefollowing children:

1. Gorm del Gammel. See below.

2. Ethelwald

3. Ethelhelm

19. Gorm del Gammel, King of Denmark, died in 931. He married Thyra.

20. Harald I Blaatand, Bluetooth, King of Denmark, born circa 910, diedin 981. He had at least two children of record as follows:

1. Svend I (known in England as Sweyn) Forkbeard, born in 965, died inGainsborough, England, who was King of England in the autumn of 1013 andKing of Denmark about 985. He was the leader of several unsuccessfulinvasions of Scotland. He had two sons: Harald II Svendsen, King ofDenmark on February 3, 1014; and Knud (Cnut or Canute) I., the Great,King of England and Denmark in 1019, born circa 995-1000, died inShaftsbury, co. Dorset, England, also King of Norway 1028, Lord of NorseColonies, Overload of the Scots, King of Dublin (?).

2. Gunnora of Denmark. See below.

21. Lady Gunnora of Denmark, married Richard I, 3rd Duke of Normandy, sonof William Longsword, and his wife, Espriota. They had several childrenas follows:

1. Richard II, 4th Duke of Normandy. He had the following children:

1. Adeliza, married Rainald I., Count of Burgundy. They had a son,William I., Count of Burgundy, father of Rainald II., Count of Burgundyand Guy, Archbishop of Vienne, and later Pope Calixtus II.

2. Robert, Duke of Normandy, father of William the Conqueror, King ofEngland, and grandfather of Henry I, King of England. See elsewhere forthe continuation of this lineage.

2. Geoffrey

3. Emma of Normandy

4. Robert of Evereux, the Archbishop. See below.

5. Godfrey (Geoffrey)

6. William

7. Mauger

8. Hawisa.

22. Robert of Evereux, the Archbishop, died in 1087.

23. Richard of Evereux, Count of Evereux, died in 1067.

24. Agnes Evereux, married Simon de Montfort.

25. Bertrade Montfort, married Fulk IV, the Surly, Count of Anjou, bornin 1043, died in 1109.

26. Fulk V. the Younger of Anjou, 9th Count of Anjou, 1109-1129, whoabdicated his position in Anjou and became King of Jerusalem, 1131-1143.He married Ermengarde., daughter of Helias, Count of Maine, who died in1110.

27. Geoffrey IV, The Fair, Plantaganet, 10th Count of Anjou, 1129-1151,etc. married Matilda (Maud the English Empress), daughter of King HenryI. of England and his wife, Matilda of Scotland, daughter of MalcolmIII., King of Scotland.

28. Henry II, 11th Count of Anjou, 1151-1189, later, King of England,married Eleanor d'Aquitaine, daughter of William X, Duke d'Aquitaine, anddivorced wife of King Louis of France. There was union between France andEngland till the French Conquest in 1205.

He ruled from 409 to 425.

constant_vot
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=a09577af-0c59-41ee-bae6-beee5119d50a&tid=904323&pid=-2029334923

Emperor Constantine
http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=document&guid=2621ad9a-d269-405a-87f0-287ed819a8c2&tid=2440653&pid=-1789942597

Known as Constantine the Great, Saint Constantine and just plain old Constantine I.
First Christian Roman Emperor. Held many cousels especially Nicea

OR "CUSTENNIN GORNEU"

Known as the first Christian Emperor. In 325 he assembled the Council at Nicea in Bithynia where the Nicene Creed was formulated. He personally attended the Council. The greatest of all Roman Emperors, he annexed Britain to the Roman Empire and founded Constantinople.

KNOWN AS "THE GREAT""THE VICTOR"; ROMAN EMPORER (CAESAR 306, AUGUSTUS 311-337
AD)

Age 33 in 305. From 292 The Western Caesar was Constantius who had Gaul, Britian and Spain while Maximian had Italy and Africa. Diocletian had Asia and Egypt while his Caesar,(son in law Galerius) had the Balkans.
Maximian made Milan focus of empire rather than Rome.. Diocletian made focus of Empire Eastern Empire not Rome/west.
In 305 Constantius became Augustus of the West, at Treves (Augusta Trevirorium), Galerius took the Danube and Asia Minor, the two new Ceasars were Daza- better known as Maximan nephew of Galerius, and Severus. This was confirmed by Diocletian as his last public act, ignoring the son of Constantius - Constantine (later "The Great") and Maxentius son of Maxentius. Daza/Maximan was sent to the East, Severus to the Milan.
The empire went to pot. The rich evaded/ avoided not only the old taxes but all new taxes ruining the middle class- the rich got Very Rich and the middle class disappeared into the very poor.
In 306 Constantius died at York. (15 mo after the abdication)
Constantine informed Galerius that the Legions had compelled him to assume the title, and Galerius only dared to confirm ratify the appointment/title.
Thew senate of Rome wanted to reasert itself and appointed Maxentius as Augustus and a power thirsty Maximan emerged from "retirement" to support this title. Severus marched "hot foot" from Milan, found Rome already lost and eventually was tricked into surrender by Maximan who allowed him to commit "honorable suicide". Maximianus gave his daughter Fausta in marriage to Constantine to cement the status quo and Constantine accepted both offers.

Constantine the Great (about ad 274-337), Roman emperor (306-37), the
first Roman ruler to be converted to Christianity. He was the founder of
Constantinople (present-day Ìstanbul), which remained the capital of the
Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire until 1453.

Early Life

Constantine was born Flavius Valerius Constantinus at Nis in what is now
Yugoslavia, son of the commander Constantius Chlorus (later Constantius I)
and Helena (later Saint Helena), a camp follower. Constantius became
co-emperor in 305. Constantine, who had shown military talent in the East,
joined his father in Britain in 306. He was popular with the troops, who
proclaimed him emperor when Constantius died later the same year. Over the
next two decades, however, Constantine had to fight his rivals for the
throne, and he did not finally establish himself as sole ruler until 324.

Following the example of his father and earlier 3d-century emperors,
Constantine in his early life was a solar henotheist, believing that the
Roman sun god, Sol, was the visible manifestation of an invisible “Highest
God” (summus deus), who was the principle behind the universe. This god
was thought to be the companion of the Roman emperor. Constantine's
adherence to this faith is evident from his claim of having had a vision
of the sun god in 310 while in a grove of Apollo in Gaul. In 312, on the
eve of a battle against Maxentius (circa 250-312), his rival in Italy,
Constantine is reported to have dreamed that Christ appeared to him and
told him to inscribe the first two letters of his name (XP in Greek) on
the shields of his troops. The next day he is said to have seen a cross
superimposed on the sun and the words “in this sign you will be the
victor” (usually given in Latin, in hoc signo vinces). Constantine then
defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, near Rome. The
Senate hailed the victor as savior of the Roman people. Thus, Constantine,
who had been a pagan solar worshiper, now looked upon the Christian deity
as a bringer of victory. Persecution of the Christians was ended, and
Constantine's co-emperor, Licinius (270?-325), joined him in issuing the
Edict of Milan (313), which mandated toleration of Christians in the Roman
Empire. As guardian of Constantine's favored religion, the church was then
given legal rights and large financial donations.

Sole Ruler

A struggle for power soon began between Licinius and Constantine, from
which Constantine emerged in 324 as a victorious Christian champion. Now
emperor of both East and West, he began to implement important
administrative reforms. The army was reorganized, and the separation of
civil and military authority, begun by his predecessor, Diocletian, was
completed. The central government was run by Constantine and his council,
known as the sacrum consistorium. The Senate was given back the powers
that it had lost in the 3d century, and new gold coins (solidi) were
issued, which remained the standard of exchange until the end of the
Byzantine Empire.

Constantine intervened in ecclesiastical affairs to achieve unity; he
presided over the first ecumenical council of the church at Nicaea in 325.
He also began the building of Constantinople in 326 on the site of ancient
Greek Byzantium. The city was completed in 330 (later expanded), given
Roman institutions, and beautified by ancient Greek works of art. In
addition, Constantine built churches in the Holy Land, where his mother
(also a Christian) supposedly found the True Cross on which Jesus was
crucified. The emperor was baptized shortly before his death, on May 22,
337.

Evaluation

Constantine unified a tottering empire, reorganized the Roman state, and
set the stage for the final victory of Christianity at the end of the 4th
century. Many modern scholars accept the sincerity of his religious
conviction. His conversion was a gradual process; at first he probably
associated Christ with the victorious sun god. By the time of the Council
of Nicaea (325), however, he was completely Christian, but still tolerated
paganism among his subjects. Although criticized by his enemies as a
proponent of a crude and false religion, Constantine strengthened the
Roman Empire and ensured its survival in the East. As the first emperor to
rule in the name of Christ, he was a major figure in the foundation of
medieval Christian Europe.

He ruled from 409 to 425.

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