Constantine the Great

 

To make up for such a small post on our last entry, we are going above and beyond by delving into Constantine the Great on his birthday.

Born on the 27th of February 272, although there is some debate to this as the day was listed but not the year, Constantine I was the Roman Emperor from 306AD to 337AD and notably the first emperor to convert to Christianity which elevated the religion within Rome. He was born in Naissus to Flavius Constantius, a Roman Army officer and later one of the four emperors of the Tetarchy, and Helena who was a woman of low birth and in todays terms no social standings. She did later become a saint though.

Constantine served under Diocletian and Galerius and began his military career by campaigning against the Persians before being called back to fight beside his father in Britannia. When Flavius died in 306 Constantine was declared emperor by his army at Eboracum which nowadays is York. This of course explains why there is a statue of him outside of York Minster. When the Civil wars of Tetrarchy finally came to an end it was Constantine who was victorious and therefore he who became sole ruler of Rome.

When he took the throne of the empire he opted to make improvements that were actually practical for the people and lasted long beyond his time. He created seperate authorities for the people and civil matters to that of the ones policing the military and in order to combat inflation he brought in the Solidus which became the currency for Byzantine and Europeans for another thousand years or so after him.

He was initially a Pagan until 312 when he began to switch to Christianity. He was then baptised and played a large role in the legalization of the religion within the Roman Empire with the Edict of Milan in 313.

We find it interesting that the original name of this man is now lost to history, as of course he would have taken the name Constantine as he rose through the ranks and became important. But what we do know of his early life was that he did not speak his mothers native tongue, Greek, and despite not spending much time with his father, his maiden tongue was Latin so when he made public speeches he needed Greek translators. However this can be disputed as he recieved a formal education at Diocletian's court when he was brought there as next in line for caesar when his father took the position, and there he learned Latin literature, Greek, and philosphy. So with this in mind he must have known some form of Greek both through his mother and his education.

It seems that his role within the court was more than just prepping to take his father's place, Constantine was actually an unwitting hostage in order to keep his father in check as none of the court trusted one another. Considering murder to gain a political advantage was rife in these times, it is no surprise that no one trusted anyone. But it was within this court that Constantine began to form his own views as he mixed with Christians and Pagans and attended lectures and grew his knowledge of the world and the religions within. It was also in this time that he grew in ranks as he fought as a prominent member of the court against the Persians and Barbarians which posed a threat during that time.

When he returned to Nicomedia he saw the start of the Great Persecution. To be Christian had become a death sentence and it went so far that Diocletian ordered the destruction of Nicomedia's new church including all the scriptures within, so they were burnt to the ground but the treasure was seized. Later on Constantine made it known how against this he was, as monks were imprisoned and churches targeted, worship was abolished, but there is no evidence that he spoke against this at the time, which may have been a smart move, but could also have been seen as weakness.

In 305 Diocletian abdicated and due to this his equal Maximian did the same. It was thought that Constantine and Maximian's son would have been selected as successors' but at the last minute they were cast aside. As a result Galerius, who was pulling strings at the time had ensured his nephew had taken Constantine's place and then plotted against his life several times following the succession.

Soon Constantine caught onto this and realised that it was too dangerous for him to remain in the court, so he petitioned for help from his father who intervened by requested leave for his son for a campaign in Britain. Galerius granted this request after a long night of drinking and so Constantine fled in thr night before he sobered and changed his mind. By the time this happened Constantine had gone too far to be caught, having worn out every horse he had taken, and joined his father in Gaul. From here they crossed into Britian and made their way to York which at the time was capital of the province of Britannia Secunda and a large military base.

Constantine spent a year in the company of his father during this campaign and it was on the 25th of July 306 that his father passed away in York from sickness. He spoke of how he supported his son as emperor before his death and so The Alamannic king Chrocus declared Constantine as Augustus which sparked a following of this and so Gaul and Britain accepted this, Hispania which had only been under his fathers rule for less than a year rejected him as Augustus and yet he still sent Galerius notice of his fathers death as well as a portrait of him as an Augustus. He made it clear that the unlawful ascension of his fathers throne had been brought on by his father's army, but that he wanted recognition as the heir as effectively the people had spoken.

This did not go down well with Galerius who had to be calmed by his advisers and not only did he go to burn the portrait but he went to kill the messenger too. Luckily this was stopped and he was made aware that to deny Constantine of his claim would be to start a war. So he compromised instead of granting Constantine the office of an Augustus, he made him a Caesar instead which made it known that only he gave Constantine legitimacy that otherwise would not have been granted. Galerius then personally sent Constantine the emperor's traditional purple robes which was a bit of a powerplay, but was accepted as at least it would help squash any doubts of him being the legal heir.

He proceeded to rule over Britain, Gaul, and Spain as this was his part of the Roman Empire and as a result commanded one of the biggest Roman armies which he used to further his control over his little piece of the empire. He opted to remain in Britain after being promoted to emperor and he drove back the Picts while also completing the military projects his father had started. He even ordered the repair of the regions roads which is something we could do with now with all these potholes!

During the latter stages of 306 to early 307, Constantine left Britain for Gaul and was met with a Frank Invasion as they had learned of his take over. He went on to capture kings Ascaric and Merogais as well as their soldiers and fed them to the beasts of Trier Amphitheatre during the arrival celebrations put on for him.

During his time in Trier he expanded and strengthened. He added military towers and fortified gates to the circuit wall around the city as well as building a palace, formal audience hall and imperial bathhouse as city improvements for both him and his people. It was noted during his guardianship of the west that despite still being a Pagan, he was tolerant toward Christianity which further lengthened the divide him and Galerius who had no tolerance. He even made it formally known that persecution of the Christians was to end and returned what they had lost to them. This was quite a bold move considering there were still rumours of him being an illegitimate heir and that he was cruising on his fathers reputation and boldness to get by during his early campaign. He soon proved his worth though and was generally accepted to all except Maxentius who he was due to inherit with before being passed over for Galerius supporters.

When word came to Rome that Constantine had been recognised as Caesar, Maxentius was jealous as he had no power and was forgotten, but he seized the title of emperor in October 306 none the less, but was then denied recognition from Galerius. Unfortunately, despite attempts he couldnt unseat the jealous emperor either as when Severus was sent against him in April 307, the armies defected as were previously under Maxentius' father, so recognised their 'true' heir. They captured Severus and imprisoned him.

This was a rebellion against Galerius at its core, but it brought out Maxentius' father from retirement and forced him to go to Constantine in Gaul to try and make an alliance on his son's behalf. He offered Constantine the hand of his daughter in order to elevate him to Augustian rank, but the catch was that the alliance between him and his father must be honoured by Constantine supporting Maxentius in Italy. Constantine accepted and offered Maxentius political recognition as well as support, but he would not take part in the conflict for his brother in law. He returned to Britain in order to avoid taking part in the conflict and rather than giving Maxentius military aid, he sent his troops against Germanic tribes and raided. The standpoint he took of not joining the war made him quite popular and he spent his free time travelling within his lands and strengthening the economy while dabbling in the arts. He was not thought badly of for not joining his brother in law, as even Maximian tried to usurp his son, but when he failed he returned to Constantine's court.

In the final few months of 308, Galerius called for a general council meeting in order to force stability (for him) within Constantine's empire. He thought that by forcing Maximian to abdicate again and demoting Constantine back to Caesar that his problems would be solved. But Constantine rejected the demotion and continued calling himself Augustus even when the Tetrarchy referred to him as Caesar. He then passed over a few more people who made a ruckus and in the end by 310 Galerius had gone back to calling Constantine by Augustus.

310 was also the year that Constantine's father in law, Maximian rebelled against him while he was away battling the Franks. He had been sent with an army to prepare for any attacks from his son in Gaul, but while there spread news that Constantine was dead which enabled him to dorn the purple robes, but as he tried to bribe support the majority of his army stood by Constantine and so Maximian was forced to leave. Constantine abandoned his campaign against the Franks when he learned of Maximian's betrayal and turned to march his army to Gaul to face the attempted rebellion. By then Maximian had fled, but it wasn't enough as thanks to the support for Constantine, he was soon captured and punished for his crimes, Constantine did grant clemency but encouraged the man to end his own life which he did in July of 310.

When news reached Maxentius of his father's demise, he decided to put their falling out behind them and avenge his death, he made this known through minting coins with his father's defied image which heavily contrasted against Constantine's narrative of an unfortunate tragedy within the family. As 311 rolled around Constantine had abandoned his spin on his father in law's suicide and instead pushed the narrative that after he had granted a pardon, he exposed a plot where Maximian had planned to murder him in his sleep. He had offered his father in law the option of suicide which was accepted. With this new avenue being pushed, Constantine was able to ban any reference to the previous augusti and destroyed all inscriptions referring to him and his image.

Obviously this then posed a problem has it was this very same man who had tried to kill him that had made him an Augustus, so his right to rule was again in jeopardy unless he came up with another way to be thought of as an heir. This was when they came up with a cunning plan that bypassed Galerius and Maximian's rights to rule alongside him entirely. They pushed that it had been discovered that Constantine was a descendant of Claudius II which made it his ancestral right to rule rather than the imperial stature they had in place. Through doing this they moved away from the religious ideology that Jupiter and Hercules rule as twins so there must be multiple rulers, to Apollo and Victory granting him single rule as he was the likeness of Apollo. This even sparked a change in how Constantine was represented on his coin as originally he had Mars as his patron but from 310 onward it became Sol Invictus which as associated with Apollo. Obviously this was all likely to be false, but his people ate it up and it ensured that his reign would go on for a bit longer unchallenged.

It all seemed to be working out for Constantine as in 311 Galerius died quite gruesomely from an illness and with him took the last of the Tetrarchy system which also meant Christians among other religions could resurface. Meanwhile, Maxentius was preparing for war over in Italy but to minimal success as he was briefly overthrown in Africa and ultimately his claim was weak. Support for him had started to disappear and yet to avenge his father he still declared war against Constantine. This forced Constantine to forge an alliance with Licinius so that he would not support Maxentius, however Maximinus took umbridge to this and instead offered his support to Maxentius in exchange for military support. And thus it became all confusing with extra players and no one could move for military campaigns.

Constantine was warned against making a move against Maxentius, Omens were made as warnings as well as supernatural visitations but Constantine ignored it all. He took a quarter of his army and moved against him, but even a quarter totalled about 40,000 troops. He took to Italy and started taking it, victorious with each campaign, when he reached Milan they welcomed him with open arms and he rested his army there for a while before moving on. 

Maxentius was waiting in Rome for the war to come to him, but he was well prepared despite leaving central Italy undefended which meant that Constantine could swoop in and get that areas support without even really trying. He proceeded with caution taking it slowly and allowing Maxentius to cause his own weaknesses. Although Maxentius' army was twice the size of Constantine's, this didn't deter the man. He'd had a vision of marching in with shields holding the cipher of Christ which would enable him to be victorious and so that it exactly what he did. When Constantine advanced it seemed methodical and he'd broken the enemy ranks before the first charge. Maxentius had fled, but ended up being pushed into the Tiber with many other troops and drowned trying to escape by the sheer amount of bodies pushing in after him.

Constantine recued the corpse only to chop its head off in order to parade it around the streets of Rome when he arrived. He held a ceremony celebrating his victory and once over he sent Maxentius's head to Carthage who did not resist against Constantine again. As a well respected Augustus, Constantine opted not to exact any revenge toward the Maxentius supporters which was rewarded by the senate who announced him the greatest Augustus and gave him 'the title of the first name' which listed his as the first name in all official documents. Constantine then went on to return property seized by his enemy and released any captives. Following this generous deed, he went on to scrub the name of Maxentius from public places and recorded him as a tyrant which in turn made all the honours he'd granted to members of the senate invalid. He also tried to scrub him from the landscape, having buildings rededicated to him.

All went smoothly for a while until Constantine fell out with Licinius due to a man he wanted as Caesar attempting to kill Constantine. Somewhere between 314 and 316 the two fought with Constantine again reigning victorious, until 317 when another battle ensued resulting in a settlement of both men's sons becoming Caesars. It was silent on this front until 320 when Licinius decided to supress Christians which Constantine took as a challenge to him. This caused another battle in 324 during which time Constantine had turned his attention to the Goths and Sarmatians in 322 and 323 defeating them also.

Licinius surrendered on the promise that Constantine would allow him to live, and he was good for his word making him a private citizen in Thessalonica until 325 when Constantine u-turned after he accused Licinius of plotting against him and thus hung him. His on which was Constantine's nephew was then killed in 326 leaving Constantine as sole emperor. Following this he founded Constantinople and Christian faith, however he was 40 years old when he announced himself as a follower, yet he waited until his deathbed to actually be baptised as he believed that it would absolve him of any sins he made over the years.

Some of these sins during his reign were certainly questionable, like the time he had his eldest son and his wife killed. Crispus was put to death by 'cold poison' and Empress Fausta was killed in an overheated bath (so effectively boiled alive). We have no official motive for this, only speculation which various scholars have dared to make, but neither of these family mebers were related so perhaps it was a jealousy thing? Fausta was only step-mother to Crispus, perhaps they were completely unrelated and he just wanted to start over. But both happened between May and July 326. He went so far as to remove their names from record. 

Constantinople was Constantine's permanent residence, so it was no surprise when death came knocking that it came to light he'd prepared a secret resting place within his city. It was located within the Church of the Holy Apostles. He died on the 22nd May 337 during the conflict he had started with the Persians, although he had retreated to a holy place to live out his very last days with those of his faith. He was buried in his secret, but now not so secret, resting place in a Porphyry sarcophagus that survived when Constantinople was plundered during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 but following these events was destroyed with no date confirming when this event took place.

His three sons succeeded him, Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans. He also left behind 2 daughters one of which married emperor Julian. He is also commemorated annually as a Saint by many different churches on many different days depending on their area of the faith despite not being officially recognised as a saint in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church.

The Britons also claimed Constantine as their own during the Medieval period and of course Geoffrey of Monmouth included an origin story for him linking him to the Welsh and the Britons and thus we can't really trust much from this area of history. But following the emperor's death many works were discovered which were anti-Constantine and showed him as an unjust and cruel ruler. The problem is that so much was altered during the time that nothing is reliable, so we will never know the true Constantine.

That rounds up our Constantine the Great post. A lot was achieved with this one and it actually took 3 days to write as there was so much information from many sources to bring you as much as possible on this interesting man! We hope you enjoyed it!