Constantine I (Roman Emperor)
| Constantine I | |
|---|---|
| Roman Emperor | |
 Bust of Constantine I,Bronze Fourth century , the Capitoline Museums . | |
| Reign | |
| Usurper / Caesar in the West ( 25 July 306 - 310 ) Self: 310 - 22 May 337 (~ 27 years) In the West ( 310 - 324 ) and then sole ruler of the Empire | |
| Period | Constantinian |
| Predecessor (s) | Galerius (East) Licinius (West) |
| Co-emperor (s) | Galley (West d. 311 ) Maximinus II Daia (East d. 313 ) Licinius (East d. 324 ) |
| Usurper (s) | Maxence (West, 306 - 312 ) |
| Successor (s) | Constantine II (West) Constant I. (Centre) Constantius II (East) |
| Biography | |
| Birth | Feb. 27 vs. 272 - Naissus ( Moesia ) |
| Original Name | Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus? |
| Deaths | 22 May 337 (~ 65) Nicomedia ( Bithynia ) |
| Father | Constantius |
| Mother | Helena |
| Spouse (s) | (1) Minervini ( 293 - av. 307 ) (2) Fausta ( 307 - 327 ) |
| Descent | (1) Constantina (from Minervini ) (2) Helena (from Minervini ) (3) Crispus (from Minervini ) (4) Constantine II (of Fausta ) (5) Constant I. (of Fausta ) (6) Constantine II (of Fausta ) |
| List of Roman Emperors | |
Constantine I, his full name born in Naissus in Moesia (now Ni in Serbia ) on 27 February 272 The conquest of power (306-324) After the abdication of joint 305, the empire has for leaders Emperors Constantius and Galerius and Caesars Severus and Maximinus Daia : we witness a conflict between the adoptive filiation and parentage real because the two Augusti each have a son in age to govern. Son of Caesar Constantius and his first wife Helena , Constantine joined his father in Britain (modern Great Britain ) when he became Augustus in 305. Shortly after the death of his father at York on 25 July 306 , he was acclaimed by the troops and proclaimed Caesar by Galerius. A few months later, Maxentius , son of Maximian , was proclaimed by the originator Praetorians of Rome and the people unhappy with the poll tax. His father ran to her side and takes the title of Augustus that he had abandoned with regret. Severus sent to fight them, was killed in 307. Galerius to Diocletian then called which accepts the consulate and a conference was held in Carnuntum that brings Diocletian, Maximian and Galerius in order to restore tetrarchy but it ends in failure It was then seven emperors, a Heptarchy , which is more like anarchy Military third century. A first series of death helps to clarify the situation: Maximian was besieged in Marseille by Constantine in 310 and committed suicide, Domitius Alexander in Africa was defeated by Maxentius and was assassinated in 311, Galerius died of illness in 311. In 311 , the death of Galerius , reigned four Augusti : Daia Maximinus , Constantine, Licinius and Maxentius. Constantine Maxentius eliminates the 28 October 312 at the battle of Milvian Bridge , which allows him to seize Italy and to reign supreme in the West. For its part, Licinius defeated Maximin Daia in the Battle of Adrianople (313) and reigned over the East a new diarchy is taking place between Constantine and Licinius sealed by a marriage of Licinius and Constantia, the half-sister of Constantine. The relationship between the victors are quick to deteriorate, both of whom displayed a huge ambition. From 320 , Constantine again comes into conflict with Licinius. In 324 , Licinius is defeated at Adrianople , then Chrysopolis and made his submission to Nicomedia. It was soon after executed, and his son. For the first time in forty years, the Empire was ruled by a single authority: Constantine reign alone for thirteen years, assisted by Caesars which are no longer employees, but his son designated as heir presumptive: Since tetrarchy, Rome is no longer in Rome itself. The Emperors and the Caesars lived in imperial residences near the industries they are charged to defend. Founding a new capital is decided during the acute period of conflict for domination of the empire. From 324 , Constantine converted the Greek city of Byzantium into a "New Rome" in which he gave his name, Constantinople. He opens after twelve years of work, 330. Constantinople is built on a natural defensive site which makes it virtually impregnable while Rome is constantly under the threat of the Germans . It is also near the borders of the Danube and the Euphrates , where military operations to contain the Goths and the Persians are the most important. She is finally on the edge of the lands of ancient Hellenic civilization, a region that has best withstood the crisis of the third century of the Roman Empire. Constantine built the model of Rome with seven hills, fourteen urban areas, a capitol , a forum , a Senate. At first, it allows the introduction of pagan temples but soon the town became almost exclusively Christian and has only Christian religious buildings. From Constantine, the city has 100,000 inhabitants. The latter are built, the Imperial Palace , the racecourse 's new name given to the Roman circus and the Church of Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) . Constantine transformed the organization of the central government that has remained unchanged since the Roman Empire. The praetorian prefect was replaced by the quaestor of the palace who writes the sacred edicts. This leads the sacred consistory, which replaces the board of the emperor. The master of the offices the chief administrative official, arms factories and Scholae Guard, the master of the militia, infantry and cavalry, the Earl of sacred largesse, the treasury and the count of private wealth, the res privata, that is to say the emperor's private box, personal incomes of the latter being mainly income from its vast fields. The big news however is the large increase in civil servants working in central offices. A crowd of lawyers, secret agents (agents in rebus), nearly 1000 employees in the fifth century , and employees are different from the Roman Empire a real bureaucracy . Constantine aims to harmonize at the highest social rank of the highest servants of the Empire: The Senate takes first place from 312 to 324 in West and East when Constantine ruled the entire empire. To encourage Christians, it repeals the laws of Augustus on celibacy , requires the sabbath , authorizes the emancipation of slaves by declaration in the churches ( 333 ), forbidden ( 325 ) which was separated families during sales, allows the church to receive legacies and grants the right to litigants to choose between civil court and the mediation of the bishop. In addition, he promulgated laws against prostitution servants inns, against kidnapping, and the humanization of prisons ( 326 ). Finally, many laws are created to fight against extra-marital relations, again to increase the weight of marriage and religious ceremonies around the Christian sacrament. Thus, in 329 , a law punishing adultery with a woman his slave , in 331 , another restricted the right to divorce. In 336 , a law penalizing the illegitimate births. Constantin introduces a new currency with gold, the solidus , whose stability and abundance is achieved through confiscations he made large gold stock of pagan temples. The name of the solidus deformed penny founded a monetary system that enjoyed great stability. For cons, the devaluation of the currencies of silver and bronze aggravates inflation and the impoverishment of small layers of the population. Christian tradition (according to Lactantius in The death of the persecutors and Eusebius in his Life of Constantine) reported an apparition of the Cross in the sky as seen by himself and his army, as well as a premonitory dream Constantine reportedly announced his victory against Maxentius at Milvian bridge. The same night, Jesus appeared to him in a dream and showed him an chrismon blazing in the sky saying: "By this sign you will conquer" (In hoc signo vinces). Constantine made then affix the Labarum on the shields of his legions, it is the chrism , composed of two Greek letters chi () and Rho (), the initial word of Christ. This sign has been an emblem of Christianity fighting, particularly in the Eastern Empire. The share of legend in this story remains strong . By reconstructing the night sky at the time of the battle, October 28 312, there is a rare alignment of the main planets and the moon. This group of star has been interpreted by Constantine (see picture) In 313 , Constantine met Licinius at Milan and he concludes with an agreement to share the empire. Among the measures taken jointly face an edict of religious tolerance, usually called Edict of Milan which renews one taken by Galerius in 311. It is not formally a formalization of Christian worship, but rather putting an equal footing with other faiths. Thus, Christians are no longer discriminated against, their worship is allowed and that their property was confiscated their records. The issue that still divides historians is the conversion of the emperor, she spoke on his deathbed in 337. It conforms to the custom prevailing at the time, the faithful waiting for the last time to be baptized to be forgiven for past sins but can also appear as the revelation of an inner journey back to almost a quarter century. His father, Constantius , was a pagan monotheist, probably attached to the cult of Sol Invictus as many officer Illyrian. Diocletian would not have been Caesar if he had been a Christian, but if there is no evidence that he has become thereafter, it behaves cautiously, however, and during the Great persecution would have been satisfied (as Eusebius of Caesarea ) in Gaul to demolish some buildings. Christians constitute a small minority while the subjects of Constantine , distributed very unevenly throughout the Empire, mainly in East and North Africa. Emperor Constantine is a pagan , a monotheistic honoring Sol Invictus but which has long been interested in Christianity because it will eventually adopt as a personal religion in 312. The gradual conversion of Constantine to Christianity is accompanied by an imperial policy favorable to the Christians but never persecuted paganism. Several indices reflect this evolution: Constantine coinage gradually abandoned the type of Sun and is frequently represented on his coins Christian symbols. It recognizes the episcopal courts and made Sunday a holiday in 321 mandatory, except for field work. The Emperor also gives donations of money and land to the church, supporting the construction of major basilicas. The process of Christianization of the Empire from Constantine remains a phenomenon discussed in terms of its practical arrangements as evidenced by the work of historians Ramsay McMullen and Paul Veyne cited in the bibliography, which outline for a peaceful Christianization and insensitive (Veyne) and the other is a forced process and accompanied - by a boomerang effect - a paganization of Christianity (McMullen). Constantine showed his desire to ensure at all costs, through conciliation or conviction, the unity of the Church when he sees this moment as a cog in the state and one of the mainstays of power, and becomes thereby the true "president of the Church" . In the early fourth century , this project is frustrated by crises, the most important are the secession Donatist and Arian crisis. Donatism born about a crisis concerning the legitimacy of the Bishop of Carthage, Caecilius, ordered in 312: one of the consecration of sacred objects delivered during a persecution. Some Christians believe that the ceremony has no value and elect another bishop, Donatus. His supporters deny any validity to the sacraments conferred by Caecilianus and provoke clashes in the possession of churches. Constantine tries in vain to appease the schism by letters to opponents, then, given the intransigence of the Donatists, calls itself the synods of the Lateran (313) and Aries (314) condemning the Donatists. In early 317, the emperor issued a decree which orders the Donatists to return to places of worship they occupy. When they refused, Caecilianus request the intervention of the State to enforce it but there are several dead. Constantine relented and in 321 promulgates an edict of tolerance Donatists leaving the churches they have while maintaining its principled condemnation. Unlike the schism Donatist who remains confined to Africa, the Arianism spread throughout the East. Wanting to end the feud that divides Christians about the relationship between the Father and the Son, Constantine convenes and presides at the instigation of his adviser Ossius Cordoba - one of the few Western Christian theologians of the time - the Ecumenical Council on 20 May 325 in the city of Nicaea in Bithynia. Design inspired by the ideas of the priest Arius (subordination of the Son to the Father) is doomed. Thus is set up, from the reign of Constantine, the so-called regime Caesaro-papist , that is to say a system as shown by the historian Gilbert Dagron , in which political and religious powers, though separate, are not severable because the holder of political power, claiming to be appointed by God, partakes of the nature of episcopal authority over the Church. The bishops are trying from the reign of Constantine, and even more under his successors to preserve the Church against the encroachment of imperial power, particularly in the field of dogma, and, secondly, to mark that as a Christian, the Emperor shall be subject to the same moral and spiritual than other believers. Like Diocletian, Constantine did not fully break with the tradition of the Empire (the Emperor remains a magistrate who wears the traditional Roman title) or with input from the Eastern tetrarchy: However, he abandoned the religious forms developed under the tetrarchy, first by a return to the solar model prttrarchiques emperors and later by abandoning the protection of the tutelary gods of Rome and the Empire a new god, the god of Christians. The monotheism became the ideological foundation of the monarchy of Constantine, his political ideas are inspired unifying principles, while polytheism is better suited to the ideal of tetrarchy: there is only one God, there must be that a single monarch who rules by divine will. Its leading theorist, Eusebius of Caesarea , stated in the Discourse of Tricennales that the earthly kingdom of Constantine is like the kingdom of God and the emperor is surrounded by Caesars as God has his angels: it may be that the end of his life, Constantine has held that Arianism was better suited to his idea of a divine monarchy, with the Son subordinate to the Father, which is modeled on his own monarchy with Caesars closely placed under guardianship. In fact, the Christianization of imperial power is slow because Constantine is forced to consider the weight of traditions, especially among the elites: Constantine does not neglect the defense of the Empire facilitated by the actions of his predecessors tetrarchy. Three fronts in turn hold the attention of Constantine. First, the Rhine, where his father Constantius was shown and where Constantine has long resided, making its capital Trier. He fought the Franks and Alamanni in 306, 309 and 313. The operations are temporarily stopped when the confrontation with Licinius. Once the sole master of the empire, he sent his son Crispus and Constantine II combat the Franks and Alemanni. The large number of coins found in Constantinian barbaric country attests to the resumption of trade once the dust settles. The Danubian wars are less well known. In 322, he won a great victory over the Sarmatians in Campona then, the same year or in 324, it drives the Goths who crossed the Rhine. In 332, the Caesar Constantine II inflicts a serious defeat. Since the peace of 297 entered in the tetrarchy , the Persian has remained relatively quiet. Relations worsened again from 333, when the Persians tried to dominate the Armenia and the persecutions against Christians which Constantine claimed to be the protector everywhere. The war was again declared, perhaps by the Persians in 337. According to Eusebius in his Life of Constantine, the Roman emperor sees it as a crusade and bishops should accompany him in his Council. The emperor died in May 337 in the middle of preparations for the campaign. Constantine, like his predecessors tetrarchy, is concerned with defending the empire. The new political-military strategy of Constantine admits that the border troops could be beaten on some fronts and limes pressed and the decisive battles can take place within the borders of the Empire. The Emperor continued policy of Gallienus and Diocletian on the Danube front by introducing the barbarians on the Roman territory: in return for protection of borders and providing a military contingent, they receive state subsidies food rations and tents to the settle. The logical outcome of this development is from the reign of Constantius II (337-361), home of barbarians at the highest levels of staff. New units call for a new framework. The military and civilian careers are permanently separated: the praetorian prefects and vicars are confined to purely administrative functions and governors are relieved of any concern to the military advantage of professional soldiers: Strengthening the imperial power is reinforced by the fragmentation of skills, but such a decision could eventually undermine the value of the army and its leaders. In 326 , Constantine destroyed his eldest son Crispus , and his wife Fausta. It is not known why these executions, which are perhaps not linked, but it was discussed a adulterer or a false accusation from Fausta. In 337 , he just start a conflict with the Persian Sassanid of Shapur II and prepares to lead an expedition against the empire when he died suddenly near Nicomedia. He was baptized on his deathbed. He is buried in the church of the Holy Apostles he had built in Constantinople. When Constantine died, he did not settle his estate. His three son was proclaimed Augustus , while other members of the imperial family are killed except young Julian and Gallus. They divided the empire but Constantine II and I. Constant conflict. After the deaths of his two brothers, the empire is united under the authority of the sole surviving son of Constantine, Constantius II appointing two Caesars to very low powers. The new emperor pursues the policy of his father, both in the religious sphere - it promotes the Arianism - that soldiers fighting on both fronts Rhine-Danubian and Persian. According to Eusebius of Caesarea , Constantine died on Sunday of Pentecost 22 May 337. It is listed in most Byzantine calendars on May 21 with his mother Helen , 22, sometimes (as in the Lectionary of Jerusalem ). August : Galerius and Constantius then Severus The disintegration of the tetrarchy (306-313)
The restoration of the unity of the Empire (313-324)
The choice of dynastic succession
Reforms Constantine (324-337)
The foundation of a new capital, Constantinople
Headquarters
The legislative work
Economic reforms
The pagan emperor converted
Victory Bridge Milvian and promulgation of the Edict of Milan (313)
Conversion of Constantine
The Christianization of the Empire
Maintaining the unity of the Church
Monarchy of Constantine: a theocratic conception of power
. A9fense_de_l.27Empire_contre_ses_ennemis_ext.C3.A9rieurs "> Defence of the Empire against its external enemies
The reorganization of military units
A new framework
Death and succession
Canonization
Contemporaries
Bibliography
References
Related articles
Preceded by: According to: Followed by: Second and Third Tetrarchy ( 305 - 306 / 311 )
Caesars : Maximinus II Daia and Severus and Constantine I
then Licinius and Maxentius Constantine I ( 310 - 337 , only from 324 )
Galerius ( 305 - 311 )
Licinius ( 308 - 324 )
Maximinus II Daia ( 310 - 313 )
Maxence (Usurper, 306 - 312 ) Constantine II ( 337 - 340 )
Constant I. ( 337 - 350 )
Constantius II ( 337 - 361 )
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