[THE CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA]

Constantine the Great

Life

His coins give his name as M., or more frequently as C., Flavius Valerius
Constantinus. He was born at Naissus, now Nisch in Servia, the son of a
Roman officer, Constantius, who later became Roman Emperor, and St. Helena,
a woman of humble extraction but remarkable character and unusual ability.
The date of his birth is not certain, being given as early as 274 and as
late as 288. After his father's elevation to the dignity of Caesar we find
him at the court of Diocletian and later (305) fighting under Galerius on
the Danube. When, on the resignation of his father Constantius was made
Augustus, the new Emperor of the West asked Galerius, the Eastern Emperor,
to let Constantine, whom he had not seen for a long time, return to his
father's court. This was reluctantly granted. Constantine joined his
father, under whom he had just time to distinguish himself in Britain
before death carried off Constantius (25 July, 306). Constantine was
immediately proclaimed Caesar by his troops, and his title was acknowledged
by Galerius somewhat hesitatingly. This event was the first break in
Diocletian's scheme of a four-headed empire (tetrarchy) and was soon
followed by the proclamation in Rome of Maxentius, the son of Maximian, a
tyrant and profligate, as Caesar, October, 306.

During the wars between Maxentius and the Emperors Severus and Galerius,
Constantine remained inactive in his provinces. The attempt which the old
Emperors Diocletian and Maximian made, at Carmentum in 307, to restore
order in the empire having failed, the promotion of Licinius to the
position of Augustus, the assumption of the imperial title by Maximinus
Daia, and Maxentius' claim to be sole emperor (April, 308), led to the
proclamation of Constantine as Augustus. Constantine, having the most
efficient army, was acknowledged as such by Galerius, who was fighting
against Maximinus in the East, as well as by Licinius.

So far Constantine, who was at this time defending his own frontier against
the Germans, had taken no part in the quarrels of the other claimants to
the throne. But when, in 311, Galerius, the eldest Augustus and the most
violent persecutor of the Christians, had died a miserable death, after
cancelling his edicts against the Christians, and when Maxentius, after
throwing down Constantine's statues, proclaimed him a tyrant, the latter
saw that war was inevitable. Though his army was far inferior to that of
Maxentius, numbering according to various statements from 25,000 to 100,000
men, while Maxentius disposed of fully 190,000, he did not hesitate to
march rapidly into Italy (spring of 312). After storming Susa and almost
annihilating a powerful army near Turin, he continued his march southward.
At Verona he met a hostile army under the prefect of Maxentius' guard,
Ruricius, who shut himself up in the fortress. While besieging the city
Constantine, with a detachment of his army, boldly assailed a fresh force
of the enemy coming to the relief of the besieged fortress and completely
defeated it. The surrender of Verona was the consequence. In spite of the
overwhelming numbers of his enemy (an estimated 100,000 in Maxentius' army
against 20,000 in Constantine's army) the emperor confidently marched
forward to Rome. A vision had assured him that he should conquer in the
sign of the Christ, and his warriors carried Christ's monogram on their
shields, though the majority of them were pagans. The opposing forces met
near the bridge over the Tiber called the Milvian Bridge, and here
Maxentius' troops suffered a complete defeat, the tyrant himself losing his
life in the Tiber (28 October, 312). Of his gratitude to the God of the
Christians the victor immediately gave convincing proof; the Christian
worship was henceforth tolerated throughout the empire (Edict of Milan,
early in 313). His enemies he treated with the greatest magnanimity; no
bloody executions followed the victory of the Milvian Bridge. Constantine
stayed in Rome but a short time after his victory. Proceeding to Milan (end
of 312, or beginning of 313) he met his colleague the Augustus Licinius,
married his sister to him, secured his protection for the Christians in the
East, and promised him support against Maximinus Daia. The last, a bigoted
pagan and a cruel tyrant, who persecuted the Christians even after
Galerius' death, was now defeated by Licinius, whose soldiers, by his
orders, had invoked the God of the Christians on the battle-field (30
April, 313). Maximinus, in his turn, implored the God of the Christians,
but died of a painful disease in the following autumn.

Of all Diocletian's tetrarchs Licinius was now the only survivor. His
treachery soon compelled Constantine to make war on him. Pushing forward
with his wonted impetuosity, the emperor struck him a decisive blow at
Cibalae (8 October, 314). But Licinius was able to recover himself, and the
battle fought between the two rivals at Castra Jarba (November, 314) left
the two armies in such a position that both parties thought it best to make
peace. For ten years the peace lasted, but when, about 322, Licinius, not
content with openly professing paganism, began to persecute the Christians,
while at the same time he treated with contempt Constantine's undoubted
rights and privileges, the outbreak of war was certain, and Constantine
gathered an army of 125,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry, besides a fleet of
200 vessels to gain control of the Bosporus. Licinius, on the other hand,
by leaving the eastern boundaries of the empire undefended succeeded in
collecting an even more numerous army, made up of 150,000 infantry and
15,000 cavalry, while his fleet consisted of no fewer than 350 ships. The
opposing armies met at Adrianople, 3 July, 324, and Constantine's well
disciplined troops defeated and put to flight the less disciplined forces
of Licinius. Licinius strengthened the garrison of Byzantium so that an
attack seemed likely to result in failure and the only hope of taking the
fortress lay in a blockade and famine. This required the assistance of
Constantine's fleet, but his opponent's ships barred the way. A sea fight
at the entrance to the Dardanelles was indecisive, and Constantine's
detachment retired to Elains, where it joined the bulk of his fleet. When
the fleet of the Licinian admiral Abantus pursued on the following day, it
was overtaken by a violent storm which destroyed 130 ships and 5000 men.
Constantine crossed the Bosporus, leaving a sufficient corps to maintain
the blockade of Byzantium, and overtook his opponent's main body at
Chrysopolis, near Chalcedon. Again he inflicted on him a crushing defeat,
killing 25,000 men and scattering the greater part of the remainder.
Licinius with 30,000 men escaped to Nicomedia. But he now saw that further
resistance was useless. He surrendered at discretion, and his noble-hearted
conqueror spared his life. But when, in the following year (325), Licinius
renewed his treacherous practices he was condemned to death by the Roman
Senate and executed.

Henceforth, Constantine was sole master of the Roman Empire. Shortly after
the defeat of Licinius, Constantine determined to make Constantinople the
future capital of the empire, and with his usual energy he took every
measure to enlarge, strengthen, and beautify it. For the next ten years of
his reign he devoted himself to promoting the moral, political, and
economical welfare of his possessions and made dispositions for the future
government of the empire. While he placed his nephews, Dalmatius and
Hannibalianus in charge of lesser provinces, he designated his sons
Constantius, Constantine, and Constans as the future rulers of the empire.