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CONSTANTINE I
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See also:CONSTANTINE I ., known as " The See also:Great" (288 ?-337), See also:Roman emperor—Flavius See also:Valerius See also:Constantinus,'—was See also:born on the 27th of See also:February, probably in A. D. 288,2 at Naissus (the See also:modern See also:Nish) in Upper See also:Moesia (See also:Servia). He was the illegitimate son of See also:Constantius I. and Flavia See also:Helena (described by St See also:Ambrose as an innkeeper). His See also:father, already a distinguished officer, soon afterwards became praefectus praetorio, and in 293 was raised to the See also:rank of See also:Caesar and placed in command of the western provinces. While still a boy, Constantine was sent—practically' as a hostage—to the Eastern See also:court. He accompanied See also:Diocletian to the See also:East in 302, was invested with the rank of tribunus primi ordinis and served under See also:Galerius on the See also:Danube. In 305 Diocletian and See also:Maximianus abdicated, and Constantius and Galerius became See also:Augusti, while See also:Severus and Maximinus Daia attained the rank of Caesares. Constantius now demanded from Galerius the restoration of his son, which was unwillingly granted; indeed, we are told that Constantine only escaped from the court of Galerius by See also:flight, and evaded pursuit by carrying off all the See also:post-horses ! He traversed See also:Europe with the greatest possible See also:speed and found his father at See also:Bononia (See also:Boulogne), on the point of See also:crossing to See also:Britain to repel an invasion of Picts and Scots. After gaining a victory, Constantius died at Eboracum (See also:York), and on the 25th of See also:July 306, the See also:army acclaimed his son as See also:Augustus. Constantine, however, displayed that See also:union of determination and prudence which the occasion required. He accepted the nomination of the army with feigned reluctance and wrote a carefully-worded See also:letter to Galerius, disclaiming responsi- ' The praenomina See also:Lucius, See also:Marcus and See also:Gaius are found in various See also:inscriptions. In reality Constantine, like his father and successors, See also:bore no praenomen. 2 His See also:age at See also:death is variously stated at 62 (See also:Aar. Viet.), 63 (Epit. de Caes), 64 (Euseb.), 65 (See also:Zonaras and See also:Socrates) and 66 (Eutrop.) years. Seeck has shown that these statements are false, and that Constantine was born in or about the See also:year 288 A.D.-CONSTANTINE bility for the See also:action of the troops, but requesting recognition as Caesar—a position to which he might naturally aspire on the See also:elevation of Severus to the rank of Augustus. Galerius was not in a position to refuse the See also:request, in view of the See also:temper of the western army, and for a year Constantine bore the See also:title of Caesar not only in his own provinces, but in those of the East as well. He fought with success against the See also:Franks and See also:Alamanni, and reorganized the defences of the See also:Rhine, See also:building a See also:bridge at Colonia See also:Agrippina (See also:Cologne). The rising of See also:Maxentius (q.v.) at See also:Rome (Oct. 28), supported by his father Maximianus (q.v.), led to the defeat and See also:capture of the western Augustus, Severus (q.v.). Maximianus thereupon recognized Constantine as Augustus (A.D. 307); their See also:alliance was confirmed by the See also:marriage of Constantine with Fausta, the daughter of Maximianus, and the father and son-in-See also:law held the consulship, which, however, was not recognized in the East. Galerius now invaded See also:Italy, but was forced by a See also:mutiny of his troops to retire from the See also:gates of Rome. Maximianus urged Constantine to fall upon the flank of his retreating army, but he once more showed his determination to tread the strict path of See also:legitimacy. Maximianus, after the failure of his See also:attempt to depose his son Maxentius, was forced to seek See also:refuge with Constantine, and became a quantite negligeable. In 308 Diocletian and Galerius held a See also:conference at See also:Carnuntum and determined to annul the actions of the Western rulers. Maximianus was set aside, See also:Licinius invested with the See also:purple as Augustus of the See also:West (Nov. xI), while the title filius Augustorum was conferred upon Constantine and Maximinus Daia, and the former was destined for a first consulship (that of 307 being passed over) for 309. Constantine, with his customary union of prudence and decision, tacitly ignored this arrangement; he continued to See also:bear the title of Augustus, and in 309, when he himself was proclaimed See also:consul (with Licinius) in the East, no consuls were recognized in his dominions. In 31o, while Constantine was engaged in repelling an inroad of the Franks, Maximianus endeavoured to resume the purple at Arelate (See also:Arles). Constantine returned in haste from the Rhine, and pursued Maximianus to Massilia, where he was captured and put to death.3 Since Constantine's legal title to the See also:Empire of the West rested on his recognition by Maximianus, he had now to seek for a new ground of legitimacy, and found it in the assertion of his descent from See also:Claudius Gothicus (q.v.), who was represented as the father of Constantius Chlorus.'
Constantine's See also:patience was soon rewarded. In 311 Galerius died, and Maximinus Daia (who had assumed the See also:style of Augustus in 310) at once marched to the shores of the See also:Bosporus and at the same See also:time entered into negotiations with Maxentius. This threw Licinius into the arms of Constantine, who entered into alliance with him and betrothed his See also:half-See also:sister See also:Constantia to him. In the See also:spring of 312 Constantine crossed the See also:Alps, before Maxentius, who had been obliged to suppress the See also:rebellion of Domitius See also: This bold and almost desperate move, which contrasted strongly with Constantine's usual caution, and seemed to court the failure which had befallen Severus and Galerius, was, it would seem, the result of an event which, as told in See also:Eusebius's See also:Life of Constantine, takes the See also:form of a conspicuous miracle—the See also:Vision of the Flaming See also:Cross which appeared in the See also:sky at noonday with the See also:legend 'Ev TOUT'i visa (" By this conquer "), and led to Constantine's See also:conversion to See also:Christianity. Eusebius professes to have heard the See also:story from the lips of Constantine; but he wrote after the See also:emperor's 2 The story told in the De mortibus persecutorum (cap. 3o) of a later See also:conspiracy of Maximianus, which failed owing to the fidelity of Fausta, is most probably a fiction. ' Such is the See also:primary version of the story, implied in the Seventh See also:Panegyric of Eunenius, delivered at See also:Trier in A.D. 310. It would seem that when See also:Christian sentiment was offended by the illegitimate origin ascribed to Constantius, the story was modified and Claudius became his See also:uncle. death, and it was evidently unxnown to him in the shape given above when he wrote the Ecclesiastical See also:History. The author of the De mortibus persecutorum, whether Lactantius or another, was a well-informed contemporary, and he tells us that the sign was seen by Constantine in a See also:dream; and even Eusebius supplements the vision by See also:day with a dream in the following See also:night. In any See also:case, Constantine, who may have been impressed by the misfortunes which had befallen the more strenuous opponents of Christianity, adopted the monogram2 as his See also:device' and staked his all on the issue. Maxentius, trusting in superiority of See also:numbers, he is said to have had 170,000 See also:infantry and 18,000 See also:cavalry at his disposal, but this See also:total probably includes the forces defeated by Constantine in See also:Northern Italy—marched out of Rome and prepared to dispute the passage of the See also:Tiber at the Pons Mulvius (See also:Ponte Molle), beside which a bridge of boats was constructed. Our authorities give no satisfactory See also:account of the See also:battle which followed, and Aurelius See also:Victor places it at Saxa Rubra, a statement accepted by See also:Moltke and other modern authorities. It is more probable, as Seeck has shown, that while the See also:head of Maxentius's See also:column may have reached Saxa Rubra (which is some See also:miles to the See also:north of the Mulvian Bridge on the Via See also:Flaminia), Constantine, by a rapid turning See also:movement, reached the Via See also:Cassia and attacked Maxentius's rearguard at the bridge,2 forcing him to fight in the narrow space between the hills and the Tiber. The army which Constantine had been training for six years at once proved its superiority. The Gallic cavalry swept the See also:left wing of the enemy into the Tiber, swollen with autumn rains, and with it perished Maxentius, owing, as was said, to the collapse of the bridge of boats (Oct. 28). The See also:remainder of his troops surrendered at discretion and were incorporated by Constantine in the ranks of his army, with the exception of the praetorian guard, which was finally disbanded.
Thus Constantine became undisputed See also:master of Rome and the West, and Christianity, although not as yet adopted as the See also:official See also:religion, secured by the See also:edict of See also:Milan See also:toleration through-out the Empire. This edict was the result of a conference between Constantine and Licinius in 313 at Milan, where the marriage of the latter with Constantia took See also:place. Constantine was forced to recognize Licinius's natural son as his See also:heir. In the course of the same year Licinius defeated Maximinus Daia, who perished at See also:Tarsus by his own See also:hand. In 314 See also:war See also:broke out between the two Augusti, owing, as we are told, to the treachery of See also:Bassianus, the See also:husband of Constantine's sister Anastasia, for whom he had claimed the rank of Caesar. After two hard-won victories Constantine made See also:peace, Illyricum and See also:Greece being added to his dominions. Constantine and Licinius held the consulship in 315, in which year the former celebrated his decennalia, and on the 1st of See also: Great armaments, both military and See also:naval, were called into being by both emperors, and in the spring of 3243 Licinius (whose forces are said to have been See also:superior in numbers) declared war. He was twice defeated, first at See also:Adrianople (July 1) and afterwards at Chrysopolis (See also:Sept. 18), when endeavouring to raise the See also:siege of See also:Byzantium, and was finally captured at See also:Nicomedia. His life was spared on the intercession of Constantia and he was interned at Thessalonica, where he was executed in the following year on the See also:charge of treasonable See also:correspondence with the barbarians. ' The name See also:labarum, given to the military See also:standards bearing the See also:monogram, is of unexplained origin. Lactantius says that the See also:symbol was used on the See also:shields of Constantine's troops. 2 That the battle was called after the Milvian bridge is indicated by a See also:relief and inscription from See also:Cherchel (C.I.L. viii. 9356). 8 It has been disputed whether the final struggle between Constantine and Licinius took place in A.D. 323 or 324; but the formulae employed in the dating of See also:Egyptian papyri seem to point to the latter year (see Comptes-rendus de l'academse See also:des inscriptions, 1906, p. 231 ff.). Constantine now reigned as See also:sole emperor in East and West. He presided at the See also:council of See also:Nicaea (see under NICAEA and COUNCIL) in 325; in the same year he celebrated his Vicennalia in the East, and in 326 repeated the celebration in Rome. Whilst he was in Rome his eldest son, Crispus, was banished to See also:Pola and there put to death on a charge brought against him by Fausta. Shortly afterwards, as it would seem, Constantine became convinced of his innocence, and ordered Fausta to be executed. The precise nature of the circumstances remains a See also:mystery.
In 326 Constantine determined to remove the seat of empire from Rome to the East, and before the See also:close of the year the See also:foundation-See also: In 335 a rebellion in See also:Cyprus gave Constantine an excuse for executing the younger Licinius. In the same year he carried out a See also:partition of the empire between his three sons and his two nephews, Delmatius and Hannibalianus. The last named received the See also:vassal-See also:kingdom of See also:Pontus with the title of rex regum, while the others ruled as Caesars in their several provinces. Constantine, however, retained the supreme government, and in 335 celebrated his tricennalia. Finally, in 337, See also:Shapur (Sapor) II. of See also:Persia asserted his claim to the provinces conquered by Diocletian, and war broke out. Constantine was preparing to See also:lead his army in See also:person, when he was taken See also:ill, and after a vain trial of the See also:baths at Helenopolis, died at Ancyrona, a suburb of Nicomedia, on the 22nd of May, having received Christian See also:baptism shortly before at the hands of Eusebius. He was buried in the See also: From being the established religion of the state it sank into a See also:mere superstitio. At the same time its See also:rites were allowed to subsist except where they were held to be subversive of morality, and even in the closing years of Constantine's reign we find legislation in favour of the municipal flamines and collegia. In 333, or later, a cult of the Gene Flavia, as the Imperial See also:family was called, was established at See also:Hispellum (See also:Spello); the offering of sacrifices in the new See also:temple was, however, strictly prohibited. Nor was it until after Constantine's final See also:triumph over Licinius that See also:pagan symbols disappeared from the coinage and the Christian mono-See also:gram (which had already been used as a See also:mint See also:mark) became a prominent device. From this time forward the Arian controversy demanded the emperor's See also:constant See also:attention, and by his action in presiding at the council of Nicaea and afterwards pronouncing See also:sentence of banishment against See also:Athanasius he not only identified himself more openly than ever with Christianity, but showed a determination to assert his supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs, holding no doubt that, as the See also:office of See also:pontifex See also:maximus gave him the supreme See also:control of religious matters throughout the empire, the regulation of Christianity fell within his See also:province. In this See also:matter his discernment failed him. It had been comparatively easy to apply See also:coercion to the See also:Donatists, whose resistance to the temporal See also:power was not wholly due to spiritual considerations,' but was largely the result of less pure motives; but the Arian controversy raised fundamental issues, which to the mind of Constantine appeared capable of See also:compromise, but in reality, as Athanasius rightly discerned, disclosed vital See also:differences of See also:doctrine. The result foreshadowed the See also:process by which the church which Constantine hoped to See also:mould into an See also:instrument of absolutism became its most determined opponent. It is unnecessary to give more than a passing mention to the legend according to which Constantine, smitten with leprosy after the See also:execution of Crispus and Fausta, received See also:absolution and baptism from See also:Silvester I. and by his Donation to the See also:bishop of Rome laid the foundation of the temporal power of the papacy (see DONATION OF CONSTANTINE). The political See also:system of Constantine was the final result of a process which, though it had lasted as See also:long as the empire, had assumed a marked form under Aurelian. It was Aurelian who surrounded the imperial person with See also:oriental pomp, wearing the diadem and the jewelled robe, and assuming the style of See also:dominus and even See also:dens, who assimilated Italy to the See also:condition of the provinces and gave official furtherance to the economic process by which a regime of status replaced a regime of See also:contract. Diocletian endeavoured to secure the new despotism against military usurpation by an elaborate system of co-regency with two lines of See also:succession, bearing the names of Jovii and Herculii, but maintained by See also:adoption and not by hereditary succession. This artificial system was destroyed by Constantine, who established dynastic absolutism in favour of his own family, the gene Flavia, See also:evidence of whose cult is found both in Italy and in Africa. To form a court he created a new official See also:aristocracy to replace the senatorial See also:order, which the military emperors of the 3rd See also:century A.O. had reduced to See also:practical insignificance. Upon this aristocracy he showered titles and distinctions, such as the revised patriciate, which carried with them the coveted See also:immunity from fiscal burdens.2 As the senate was now a quantite negligeable, Constantine could afford to readmit its members freely to the career of provincial See also:administration, which had been almost closed to them since the reign of See also:Gallienus, and to See also:accord to it certain empty privileges such as the See also:free See also:election of quaestors and praetors, while on the other hand the right of the senator to be tried by his peers was taken away and he was placed under the See also:jurisdiction of the provincial See also:governor.
In the administration of the empire Constantine completed the work of Diocletian by effecting the separation of See also:civil from military functions. Under him the praefecti praetorio cease entirely to perform military duties and become the heads of the
' The watchword Quid est imperatori cum See also:ecclesia ? belongs to a later See also:period.
2 These titles were so freely bestowed that in A.D. 326 Constantine found it necessary in the See also:interest of the See also:treasury to enact that the fiscal immunity which they carried should no longer be hereditary.civil administration, more especially in the matter of jurisdiction: in 332 their decisions were made final and no See also:appeal to the emperor was permitted. The civil See also:governors of the provinces (vicarii and praesides) had no control of the military forces, which were commanded by duces; and not content with the See also:security against usurpation which was afforded by this See also:division of power, Constantine employed the comites who formed a large See also:element in the official aristocracy to supervise and See also:report upon their conduct of affairs (see See also:COUNT), as well as an army of so-called agentee in See also:rebus who, under See also:colour of inspecting the Imperial posting service, carried on a wholesale system of espionage. In the organization of .the army the creation of a See also: Above all, the municipal decuriones on whom the responsibility for raising See also:taxation rested saw every See also:avenue of See also:escape closed against them. In 326 they were for-bidden to acquire immunity by joining the ranks of the Christian See also:clergy. It was the interest of the government by such means to secure the See also:regular See also:payment of the heavy fiscal burdens both in See also:money and in See also:kind which had been laid on the subjects of the empire by Diocletian and were certainly not diminished by Constantine. One of our See also:ancient authorities speaks of him as having been for ten years an excellent ruler, for twelve a robber and for ten a spendthrift, and he was constantly forced to have recourse to fresh exactions in order to enrich his favourites and to carry out such extravagant projects as the building of a new capital. To him are due the taxes known as collatio glebalis, levied on the estates of senators, and collatio lustralis, levied on the profits of See also:trade. In See also:general legislation the reign of Constantine was a time of feverish activity. Nearly three See also:hundred of his enactments are preserved to us in the Codes, especially that of See also:Theodosius. They display a genuine See also:desire for reform and distinct traces of Christian influence, e.g. in their humane provisions as to the treatment of prisoners and slaves and the penalties imposed on offences against morality. Nevertheless they are in many instances singularly crude in conception as well as turgid in style, and were manifestly drafted by official rhetoricians rather than by trained legists. Like Diocletian, Constantine believed that the time had come for society to be remodelled by the fiat of despotic authority, and it is significant that from henceforth we meet with the undisguised assertion that the will of the emperor, in whatever form expressed, is the sole See also:fountain of law. Constantine, in fact, embodies the spirit of See also:absolute authority which, both in church and state, was to prevail for many centuries. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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