The Reign of Constantine

1. The Reign of Constantine April 5th, 2012

2. Sources • Eusebius of Caesarea (ca. 260-341); The Life of Constantine; The Ecclesiastical History. • Lactantius (ca. 240-320); De Mortibus Persecutorum. • Apologetics.

3. A Christian View of History • “Mankind, devising some consolation for the frail and precarious duration of human life, have thought by the erection of monuments to glorify the memories of their ancestors with immortal honors. Some have employed the vivid delineations and colors of painting (2); some have carved statues from lifeless blocks of wood; while others, by engraving their inscriptions deep on tablets (3) and monuments, have thought to transmit the virtues of those whom they honored to perpetual remembrance. All these indeed are perishable, and consumed by the lapse of time, being representations of the corruptible body, and not expressing the image of the immortal soul. And yet these seemed sufficient to those who had no well-grounded hope of happiness after the termination of this mortal life. But God, that God, I say, who is the common Saviour of all, having treasured up with himself, for those who love godliness, greater blessings than human thought has conceived, gives the earnest and first-fruits of future rewards even here, assuring in some sort immortal hopes to mortal eyes. The ancient oracles of the prophets, delivered to us in the Scripture, declare this; the lives of pious men, who shone in old time with every virtue, bear witness to posterity of the same; and our own days prove it to be true, wherein Constantine, who alone of all that ever wielded the Roman power was the friend of God the Sovereign of all, has appeared to all mankind so clear an example of a godly life. And God himself, whom Constantine worshiped, has confirmed this truth by the clearest manifestations of his will, being present to aid him (1) at the commencement, during the course, and at the end of his reign, and holding him up to the human race as an instructive example of godliness. Accordingly, by the manifold blessings he has conferred on him, he has distinguished him alone of all the sovereigns of whom we have ever heard as at once a mighty luminary and most clear-voiced herald of genuine piety. (Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 1.2-3. Trans. E. Cushing) http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vita-constantine.asp

4. The Abdication of Diocletian • 305 – Diocletian and Maximian abdicate. • Constantius Chlorus Augustus in the West; adopts Flavius Valerius Severus as Caesar and heir. • Galerius Augustus in the East; adopts Maximinus Daia as Caesar and heir. • Maximian not happy with forced abdication.

5. The Fall of the Tetrarchy and the Rise of Constantine • 306 - Constantius Chlorus dies at York; British legions acclaim his son, Constantine, Augustus; Constantine demurs; Severus (Western Augustus) adopts Constantine as Caesar and heir. • 306 – Maxentius (son of Maximian) declared himself Augustus; backed by Praetorian Guard and much of the Italian pop. • 307 - Troops revolt against Severus who flees to Ravenna and is killed by Maxentius. • 308 – Galerius, Constantine, Maximinus declare Maxentius an outlaw; Severus replaced as Augustus by Licinianus; civil war vs. Maxentius. • 311 – Galerius dies of cancer; Maximinus Daia overruns the Eastern Empire and prepares for war with Licinius; Constantine and Licinius allies. • 312 – Constantine invades Italy; Maxentius defeated by Constantine at b. Of Milvian Bridge; important victory for Christians (Edict of Milan 313). • 313 – Licinius defeats Maximinus at b. Of Adrianople. • 313-316 – Fighting between Licinius and Constantine ends in stalemate. • 316-324 – Empire divided into two halves; Licinius Augustus in the East and Constantine in the West. • 324 – Constantine attacks and defeats Licinius. • 324-337 – Constantine sole emperor.

6. Important Policies of Constantine the Great • 312 – Praetorian Guard disbanded; replaced by a royal bodyguard made up of Germans; Large scale enlistment and promotion to senior commands of Germans; Praetorian Prefects replaced by a Magister Equitum and a Magister Peditum; Complete separation of civil and military functions; military service made a hereditary occupation. • Massive expansion of the imperial court; magistracies still exist (shorn of real power); distinction between senators and equestrians abolished; expansion of compulsory public service. • Revamped currency (76 solidi to 1 pound of gold); Coloni (tenant farmers) bound to the soil – also hereditary. • 313 – Edict of Milan proclaimed official toleration of Christianity. • 325 – Summoned the Council of Nicaea. • 330 – Capital of the empire transferred from Rome to Byzantium (renamed Constantinople); Constantinople transformed with money (ca. 60,000 pounds of gold) taken from pagan temples. • 337 – Constantine takes ill; receives Christian baptism and dies.

7. Soldiering as a Hereditary Status:(313 or 319) • “Of the veterans’ sons who are fit for military service, some indolently object to the performance of their compulsory military duties and others are so cowardly that they desire to evade the necessity of military service by mutilation of their bodies. If they should be judged useless for military service because of amputated fingers, we order them to be assigned to the compulsory services and duties of decurions with no ambiguity.” (Theodosian Code 7.22. Lewis & Reinhold, 1990, p. 436

8. Creation of a Serf Class(332) • “Any person whatsoever in whose possession a colonus belonging to another is found not only shall he restore the said colonus to his place of origin but shall also assume the capitation tax on him for the time [that he had him]. And as for coloni themselves, it will be proper for such as contemplate flight to be bound with chains to a servile status, so that by virtue of such condemnation to servitude they may be compelled to fulfill the duties that befit free men.” (Theodosian Code 5.17. Lewis & Reinhold, 1990, p. 437)

9. Inherited Obligations of Public Office for Decurions • “Since we have learned that the municipal councils are being left deserted by persons who, though subject to them through origin, are requesting military service for themselves through supplications [to the emperor] and are running away to the legions and the various government offices, we order all municipal councils to be advised that if they catch any persons in government service less than twenty years who have either fled from [their duties of] origin or, rejecting nomination [to municipal office], have enrolled themselves in the military service, they shall drag such persons back to the municipal councils…” (Theodosian Code 12.1.13. Lewis & Reinhold, 1990, 435)

10. Constantine and Christianity • Christians an increasing demographic. • The importance of the b. of Milvian Bridge (312 CE) to the history of Christianity. • 313 CE – The Edict of Toleration. • Longstanding doctrinal problems: 1. Which gospels are authoritative and which are not? 2. Arius of Alexandria (256-336); the human nature of Jesus. 3. Monophysites; divine nature of Jesus. 4. Manicheans; Mani (216-276); Dualism. 5. Gnostics; Gnosis (Knowledge); Syncretism. 6. Donatists. • 325 – The Council of Nicaea.

11. Constantine and His Conversion at Milvian Bridge (312) • “ACCORDINGLY he called on him with earnest prayer and supplications that he would reveal to him who he was, and stretch forth his right hand to help him in his present difficulties. And while he was thus praying with fervent entreaty, a most marvelous sign appeared to him from heaven, the account of which it might have been hard to believe had it been related by any other person. But since the victorious emperor himself long afterwards declared it to the writer of this history, (1) when he was honored with his acquaintance and society, and confirmed his statement by an oath, who could hesitate to accredit the relation, especially since the testimony of after- time has established its truth? He said that about noon, when the day was already beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, CONQUER BY THIS. At this sight he himself was struck with amazement, and his whole army also, which followed him on this expedition, and witnessed the miracle.” (Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 1.28. Trans. E. Cushing). http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vita-constantine.asp

12. Summoning the Council of Nicaea • “THEN as if to bring a divine array against this enemy, he convoked a general council, and invited the speedy attendance of bishops from all quarters, in letters expressive of the honorable estimation in which he held them. Nor was this merely the issuing of a bare command but the emperor's good will contributed much to its being carried into effect: for he allowed some the use of the public means of conveyance, while he afforded to others an ample supply of horses (1) for their transport. The place, too, selected for the synod, the city Nicaea in Bithynia (named from "Victory"), was appropriate to the occasion. (2) As soon then as the imperial injunction was generally made known, all with the utmost willingness hastened thither, as though they would outstrip one another in a race; for they were impelled by the anticipation of a happy result to the conference, by the hope of enjoying present peace, and the desire of beholding something new and strange in the person of so admirable an emperor. Now when they were all assembled, it appeared evident that the proceeding was the work of God, inasmuch as men who had been most widely separated, not merely in sentiment but also personally, and by difference of country, place, and nation, were here brought together, and comprised within the walls of a single city, forming as it were a vast garland of priests, composed of a variety of the choicest flowers.” (Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 1.6. Trans. E. Cushing). http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vita-constantine.asp

13. A New Imperial Capital • “AFTER this the soldiers lifted the body from its couch, and laid it in a golden coffin, which they enveloped in a covering of purple, and removed to the city which was called by his own name. Here it was placed in an elevated position in the principal chamber of the imperial palace, and surrounded by candles burning in candlesticks of gold, presenting a marvelous spectacle, and such as no one under the light of the sun had ever seen on earth since the world itself began. For in the central apartment of the imperial palace, the body of the emperor lay in its elevated resting- place, arrayed in the symbols of sovereignty, the diadem and purple robe, and encircled by a numerous retinue of attendants, who watched around it incessantly night and day.” (Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 1. 66. Trans. E. Cushing). http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vita-constantine.asp

14. Changed Circumstances • Emperors after Constantine governed under very different conditions from their predecessors. • Public office no longer a source of political competition but a hereditary burden many try to avoid. • Peasant class (coloni) free but tied to the land; paid a head tax. • All occupations and social classes hereditary. • Professional army made mainly by non-Romans; disproportionately large numbers of Germans. • Rome now only a symbolic centre; Constantinople the New Rome. • Emperors are absolute monarchs. • Christianity triumphant.

15. Discussion Questions • How do you think the adoption of Christianity influenced the way future emperors would govern? • How does Eusebius’ approach to biography differ from his non-Christian predecessors? • Aside from the proliferation of Christianity, what other factors changed the nature of the principate from Constantine onward and why? • Is it possible to get a clear image of the character of Constantine from Eusebius?