Emperor Constantine had four sons, three of whom he saw as
the foundation of a dynasty that would continue his project of reforming the
Roman Empire into something that could survive for future centuries. The
problem was that his sons did not inherit from him the qualities that might
have made that possible.
Constantine’s first son, Crispus, was born to his first
wife, Minervina, in around the year 300. However, he died in 326 having been
tried, condemned and executed, on his father’s orders, for crimes that have
never been fully explained.
The other three sons were born to Fausta, Constantine’s
second wife, and were Constantine (born in 316 and known as Constantine II),
Constantius (born in 317 and known as Constantius II) and Constans (probably
born in 323). The rather confusing names are a clear enough indication of
Constantine’s dynastic plans.
Emperor Constantine I died in 337, which meant that his sons
were aged 21, 20 and (probably) 14. Constans was certainly a minor at the time,
so his elder brother Constantine II (see above coin) acted as his regent.
Constantius (the middle brother) was clearly the most
ambitious and ruthless of the three, and he took it upon himself to eliminate
any possible opposition from outside the brotherhood. He therefore ordered the
arrest and execution of every other male descendent of Constantius I (grandfather
of the three brothers) and his second wife Theodora. There were only two
exceptions, namely Gallus and Julian who were his wife’s nephews (Constantius
had married a first cousin). The boys (aged under 10) were taken away to be
held in virtual house arrest in Diocletian’s former palace.
Fraternal rivalry
In 340 Constans reckoned that he was old enough to take full
control of that part of the western empire (Italy and Illyricum) that Constantine I had decreed should be his. However,
Constantine II, who was in charge of Gaul, Spain and Britain, saw things
differently.
In 340 Constantius, who ruled the eastern empire, called for
help from his elder brother to deal with a threat from the Persian empire under
Shapur II. Constantine saw an opportunity to attack his younger brother
Constans as he passed through Italy, but the boot was on the other foot.
Constantine fell victim to an ambush and Constans was thus able to assume
control of the whole of the western empire. East and west now harboured deep
suspicions about each other’s intentions.
The rivalry between Constans and Constantius expressed
itself in a number of ways, including religion. Although they were both nominally
Christian emperors, they had their own ideas about the degree to which pagan
elements should be allowed to continue in religious practice. There were also
debates between churchmen in the western and eastern halves of the empire about
the issues that led to Constantine I’s promulgation of the Nicene Creed in 325.
Constantius was keen to summon a new council at which the creed would be
“improved”.
With the western churchmen being backed by Constans and the
eastern churchmen having the backing of Constantius, it seemed for a while that
civil war would break out with religion as its prime cause. However, quite
unexpectedly, in 345 Constantius backed down and allowed Constans to have his
way. It would seem that the future of Christianity was not something that
Constantius thought worth fighting over.
Constans would not enjoy his victory for long. The parts of
his realm that had formerly been ruled by his brother Constantine felt
neglected and a rival for the throne appeared in the form of Flavius
Magnentius, the commander of the army in Gaul. In January 350, during a visit
to Gaul by Constans, assassins hired by Magnentius attacked and murdered the
youngest of the brothers, leaving just Constantius II as the sole survivor.
Constantius was now faced by two threats, namely Shapur in
the east and Magnentius in the west, with the eastern problem being the more
pressing one. In the event, dealing with Shapur was not as difficult as he
first feared and in the summer of 350 he was able to turn his attention
westwards.
A job for Gallus
However, Constantius was well aware that running the empire
was no longer a job for one man. He now remembered that he had two surviving
cousins, namely Gallus and Julian, still languishing in exile ten years after
he had placed them there. He gave Gallus the rank of Caesar together with the
task of keeping order in the east while Constantius was elsewhere. Julian was
also released and was allowed to get himself an education at Constantinople.
The armies of Constantius and Magnentius met in battle at
Mursa (in modern Croatia) in 351. It was a victory for Constantius but both
sides suffered huge casualties. After a second battle in 353, at Mons Seleucus
in Gaul, Magnentius committed suicide.
Meanwhile, Gallus made the mistake of exercising more power
than he had been authorized to do. Constantius was not a man to take that sort
of thing lying down and he had his cousin executed for treason. The same fate
befell another pretender in the west, named Silvanus. Constantius now called on
Gallus’s brother, Julian, to be his Caesar in the west while he returned to
take full control in the east.
A job for Julian
Julian was an interesting character, not least because he
threatened to undo the move of the empire towards Christianity and return it to
paganism. He proved to be a wily operator, which was a good quality to have
when his boss was a tyrant like Constantius who had already executed just about
everyone in sight who was related to him, leaving Julian as the sole survivor.
Julian reckoned that the way to make himself look good in
Constantius’s eyes was to arrange matters so that all failures in the western
empire could be ascribed to other people. This was what he did when a band of
raiders, the Alamanni, invaded his territory and Julian left his commanders to
take the blame for the failure to repel them. Almost by accident, Julian
managed to capture the king of the Alamanni, which duly impressed Constantius
who then began to entrust Julian with real authority.
Julian also copied Constantius by only dealing with officials
at one remove – via correspondence and emissaries – thus instilling a sense of
fear in them. This ensured that nobody stepped out of line.
However, Julian was also ambitious and he felt that he was
destined to become emperor. Constantius may have suspected that Julian could
not be entirely trusted, but he had problems of his own to deal with on his
eastern front thanks to Shapur II once again threatening to invade.
In the summer of 359 the Persians invaded and besieged the
city of Amida (modern Diyarbakır in eastern Turkey). The city fell eventually,
but the Persians then withdrew because of the time they had lost in mounting a
summer campaign. Constantius knew that they would return, but in order to
defeat them he needed more troops, which could only come from the west and be
supplied by Julian.
This gave Julian the opportunity he needed to exploit the
widespread discontent felt in the west towards Constantius. In March 360 he
allowed himself to be declared Augustus and to propose to Constantius that the empire
should be split between them, which was a deal that Constantius had no choice
but to accept.
In 361 Julian went even further by leading an army into the
Balkans, this being an obvious threat to Constantius’s authority. However,
before open warfare could erupt Constantius died of a fever, leaving Julian in
sole command of the empire.
© John Welford
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