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Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to
convert to Christianity Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person to Christianity. Different Christian denominations may perform various different kinds of rituals or ceremonies initiation into their community of believe ...
. Born in Naissus,
Dacia Mediterranea Dacia Mediterranea (Mid-land Dacia; ) was a late antique Roman province, whose capital city was Serdica (or Sardica; later Sradetz or Sredets, now Sofia). The date for the establishment of Dacia Mediterranea is uncertain. It was traditionally he ...
(now
Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...
, Serbia), he was the son of Flavius Constantius, a Roman army officer of Illyrian origin who had been one of the four rulers of the
Tetrarchy The Tetrarchy was the system instituted by Roman emperor Diocletian in 293 AD to govern the ancient Roman Empire by dividing it between two emperors, the '' augusti'', and their juniors colleagues and designated successors, the '' caesares' ...
. His mother, Helena, was a
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
Christian of low birth. Later canonized as a saint, she is traditionally attributed with the conversion of her son. Constantine served with distinction under the Roman emperors
Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
and
Galerius Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus (; 258 – May 311) was Roman emperor from 305 to 311. During his reign he campaigned, aided by Diocletian, against the Sasanian Empire, sacking their capital Ctesiphon in 299. He also campaigned across the D ...
. He began his career by campaigning in the eastern provinces (against the
Persians The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...
) before being recalled in the west (in AD 305) to fight alongside his father in
Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
. After his father's death in 306, Constantine became emperor. He was acclaimed by his army at
Eboracum Eboracum () was a fort and later a city in the Roman province of Britannia. In its prime it was the largest town in northern Britain and a provincial capital. The site remained occupied after the decline of the Western Roman Empire and ultimate ...
(
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, England), and eventually emerged victorious in
the civil wars The Civil Wars were an American musical duo composed of Joy Williams (singer), Joy Williams and John Paul White. Formed in 2008, The Civil Wars won four Grammy Awards prior to their 2014 breakup. History 2008–2010 Both Williams and White h ...
against emperors
Maxentius Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius (c. 283 – 28 October 312) was a Roman emperor, who reigned from 306 until his death in 312. Despite ruling in Italy and North Africa, and having the recognition of the Senate in Rome, he was not recognized ...
and
Licinius Valerius Licinianus Licinius (c. 265 – 325) was Roman emperor from 308 to 324. For most of his reign he was the colleague and rival of Constantine I, with whom he co-authored the Edict of Milan, AD 313, that granted official toleration to C ...
to become the sole ruler of the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
by 324. Upon his ascension to emperor, Constantine enacted numerous reforms to strengthen the empire. He
restructured Restructuring is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. Other reasons ...
the government, separating
civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...
and
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
authorities. To combat inflation, he introduced the
solidus Solidus (Latin for "solid") may refer to: * Solidus (coin), a Roman coin of nearly solid gold * Solidus (punctuation), or slash, a punctuation mark * Solidus (chemistry), the line on a phase diagram below which a substance is completely solid * S ...
, a new
gold coin A gold coin is a coin that is made mostly or entirely of gold. Most gold coins minted since 1800 are 90–92% gold (22karat), while most of today's gold bullion coins are pure gold, such as the Britannia, Canadian Maple Leaf, and American Buffa ...
that became the standard for
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
and European currencies for more than a thousand years. The
Roman army The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval contin ...
was reorganized to consist of mobile units () and garrison troops () which were capable of countering internal threats and
barbarian invasions The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roman ...
. Constantine pursued successful campaigns against the tribes on the
Roman frontiers Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
—such as the
Franks The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
, the
Alemanni The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pres ...
, the
Goths The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...
and the
Sarmatians The Sarmatians (; grc, Σαρμαται, Sarmatai; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples of classical ant ...
—and resettled territories abandoned by his predecessors during the
Crisis of the Third Century The Crisis of the Third Century, also known as the Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis (AD 235–284), was a period in which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed. The crisis ended due to the military victories of Aurelian and with the ascensi ...
with citizens of Roman culture. Although Constantine lived much of his life as a
pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...
and later as a catechumen, he began to favor Christianity beginning in 312, finally becoming a Christian and being baptised by either
Eusebius of Nicomedia Eusebius of Nicomedia (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος; died 341) was an Arian priest who baptized Constantine the Great on his deathbed in 337. A fifth-century legend evolved that Pope Saint Sylvester I was the one to baptize Constantine, but this ...
, an
Arian Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God t ...
bishop, as attested by many notable Arian historical figures, or
Pope Sylvester I Pope Sylvester I (also Silvester, 285 – 31 December 335) was the bishop of Rome from 31 January 314 until his death. He filled the see of Rome at an important era in the history of the Western Church, yet very little is known of him. The acco ...
, which is maintained by the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and the
Coptic Orthodox Church The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي ...
. He played an influential role in the proclamation of the
Edict of Milan The Edict of Milan ( la, Edictum Mediolanense; el, Διάταγμα τῶν Μεδιολάνων, ''Diatagma tōn Mediolanōn'') was the February 313 AD agreement to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire. Frend, W. H. C. ( ...
in 313, which declared tolerance for Christianity in the Roman Empire. He convoked the
First Council of Nicaea The First Council of Nicaea (; grc, Νίκαια ) was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey) by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325. This ecumenical council was the first effort ...
in 325 which produced the statement of Christian belief known as the
Nicene Creed The original Nicene Creed (; grc-gre, Σύμβολον τῆς Νικαίας; la, Symbolum Nicaenum) was first adopted at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. In 381, it was amended at the First Council of Constantinople. The amended form is a ...
. The
Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...
was built on his orders at the purported site of Jesus' tomb in
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
and was deemed the holiest place in all of
Christendom Christendom historically refers to the Christian states, Christian-majority countries and the countries in which Christianity dominates, prevails,SeMerriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christendom"/ref> or is culturally or historically intertwine ...
. The papal claim to temporal power in the
High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...
was based on the fabricated
Donation of Constantine The ''Donation of Constantine'' ( ) is a forged Roman imperial decree by which the 4th-century emperor Constantine the Great supposedly transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the Pope. Composed probably in t ...
. He has historically been referred to as the "First Christian Emperor" and he did favor the Christian Church. While some modern scholars debate his beliefs and even his comprehension of Christianity, he is venerated as a
saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
in
Eastern Christianity Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Northeast Africa, the Fertile Crescent and ...
, and he did much for pushing Christianity towards the mainstream of Roman culture. The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire and a pivotal moment in the transition from
classical antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
to the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
. He built a new imperial residence at the city of
Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' cont ...
and renamed it
New Rome New Rome (Greek: Νέα Ῥώμη, ''Nea Rhomē''; ; Latin: ''Nova Roma''; ) was the original name given by the Roman emperor Constantine the Great in 330 CE to his new imperial capital, which was built as an expansion of the city of Byzantium o ...
, later adopting the name
Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
after himself, where it was located in modern
Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
. It subsequently became the capital of the empire for more than a thousand years, the later Eastern Roman Empire often being referred to in English as the ''
Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
'', a term never used by the Empire, invented by German historian ''
Hieronymus Wolf Hieronymus Wolf (13 August 1516 – 8 October 1580) was a sixteenth-century German historian and humanist, most famous for introducing a system of Roman historiography that eventually became the standard in works of medieval Greek history. Lif ...
''. His more immediate political legacy was that he replaced Diocletian's Tetrarchy with the ''de facto'' principle of dynastic succession by leaving the empire to his sons and other members of the
Constantinian dynasty The Constantinian dynasty is an informal name for the ruling family of the Roman Empire from Constantius Chlorus (died 306) to the death of Julian in 363. It is named after its most famous member, Constantine the Great, who became the sole rule ...
. His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and for centuries after his reign. The medieval church held him up as a paragon of virtue, while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference and the symbol of
imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texa ...
legitimacy and identity. Beginning with the
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
, there were more critical appraisals of his reign with the rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources. Trends in modern and recent scholarship have attempted to balance the extremes of previous scholarship.


Sources

Constantine was a ruler of major importance and has always been a controversial figure. The fluctuations in his reputation reflect the nature of the ancient sources for his reign. These are abundant and detailed, but they have been strongly influenced by the official propaganda of the period and are often one-sided; no contemporaneous histories or biographies dealing with his life and rule have survived. The nearest replacement is
Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian ...
's '' Vita Constantini''—a mixture of
eulogy A eulogy (from , ''eulogia'', Classical Greek, ''eu'' for "well" or "true", ''logia'' for "words" or "text", together for "praise") is a speech or writing in praise of a person or persons, especially one who recently died or retired, or as a ...
and
hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...
written between 335 and circa 339—that extols Constantine's moral and religious virtues. The ''Vita'' creates a contentiously positive image of Constantine, and modern historians have frequently challenged its reliability. The fullest secular life of Constantine is the anonymous ''
Origo Constantini ''Anonymus Valesianus'' (or ''Excerpta Valesiana'') is the conventional title of a compilation of two fragmentary vulgar Latin chronicles, named for its modern editor, Henricus Valesius, who published the texts for the first time in 1636, together ...
'', a work of uncertain date which focuses on military and political events to the neglect of cultural and religious matters.
Lactantius Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (c. 250 – c. 325) was an early Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperor, Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence, and a tutor to his son Cr ...
' ''
De mortibus persecutorum (''On the Deaths of the Persecutors'') is a hybrid historical and Christian apologetical work by the Roman philosopher Lactantius, written in Latin sometime after AD 316. Contents After the monumental Institutiones Divinae, Divine Institutes, t ...
'', a political Christian pamphlet on the reigns of
Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
and the
Tetrarchy The Tetrarchy was the system instituted by Roman emperor Diocletian in 293 AD to govern the ancient Roman Empire by dividing it between two emperors, the '' augusti'', and their juniors colleagues and designated successors, the '' caesares' ...
, provides valuable but tendentious detail on Constantine's predecessors and early life. The
ecclesiastical {{Short pages monitor


Modern sources

* Alföldi, Andrew. ''The Conversion of Constantine and Pagan Rome''. Translated by Harold Mattingly. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1948. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Paperback * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * David Mattingly (author), Mattingly, David. ''An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire''. London: Penguin, 2007. * * Odahl, Charles Matson. ''Constantine and the Christian Empire''. New York: Routledge, 2004. Hardcover Paperback * * * Paperback * Pohlsander, Hans.
Constantine I (306 – 337 A.D.)
" ''De Imperatoribus Romanis'' (2004b). Retrieved 16 December 2007. * Paperback * * * Scheidel, Walter. "The Monetary Systems of the Han and Roman Empires". In Scheidel, ed., ''Rome and China: Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World Empires''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, * * * * * Udoh, Fabian E. "Quand notre monde est devenu chretien", review, ''Theological Studies'', June 2008 * Paul Veyne, Veyne, Paul. ''L'Empire Gréco-Romain'', Paris: Seuil, 2005. * Paul Veyne, Veyne, Paul.''Quand notre monde est devenu chrétien'', Paris: Albin Michel, 2007. * 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. * * * * Wienand, Johannes (ed.). ''Contested Monarchy. Integrating the Roman Empire in the Fourth Century AD''. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2015. * * * *


Further reading

* Arjava, Antii. ''Women and Law in Late Antiquity''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. * * * * Cowan, Ross (2016).
Milvian Bridge AD 312: Constantine's Battle for Empire and Faith
'. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. * * Fourlas, Benjamin (2020). "St Constantine and the Army of Heroic Men Raised by Tiberius II Constantine in 574/575. Some Thoughts on the Historical Significance of the Early Byzantine Silver Hoard at Karlsruhe". ''Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums'' 62, 2015 [published 2020], 341–375. * Harries, Jill. ''Law and Empire in Late Antiquity''. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Hardcover Paperback * Hartley, Elizabeth. ''Constantine the Great: York's Roman Emperor''. York: Lund Humphries, 2004. . * 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 Paperback * Leithart, Peter J. Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom. Downers Grove: IL, InterVarsity Press 2010 * MacMullen, Ramsay. ''Christianizing the Roman Empire A.D. 100–400''. New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 1984. * MacMullen, Ramsay. ''Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997. * Percival J
On the Question of Constantine's Conversion to Christianity
, Clio History Journal, 2008 * * Velikov, Yuliyan (2013). ''Imperator et Sacerdos''. Veliko Turnovo University Press. (in Bulgarian)


External links


Complete chronological list of Constantine's extant writings
(archived 19 February 2013) * * Letters of Constantine




Encyclopædia Britannica, Constantine I
* Henry Stuart Jones (1911). "wikisource:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Constantine (emperors), Constantine (emperors)". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 6. (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press. pp. 988–992. *Charles George Herbermann and Georg Grupp (1908). "wikisource:Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Constantine the Great, Constantine the Great". In ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
BBC North Yorkshire's site on Constantine the Great

Constantine's time in York on the 'History of York'

Commemorations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Constantine 01 Constantine the Great, 272 births 337 deaths 3rd-century births 4th-century Christian saints 4th-century Roman consuls 4th-century Roman emperors Ancient Romans in Britain Angelic visionaries Burials at the Church of the Holy Apostles Byzantine saints Christian royal saints City founders Constantinian dynasty Converts to Christianity from pagan religions Deified Roman emperors Filicides Flavii Gothicus Maximus Greek people Illyrian emperors Illyrian people Military saints People from Niš Sons of Roman emperors Tetrarchy Valerii