More Constantinian aftermath. because to be fair to good old Diocletian, Constantine fucked up arranging a neat succession even more.
So: Constantine rules uncontested, changes the Roman world, also uncontested, - there are few Emperors who have made that big and irrevocably a change as having Christianity go from Great Persecution to State Religion, as his nephew will find out - , moves the Empire's capital to Byzantium, which gets renamed into Constantinope and gets a massive building program. The Nicean Council happens, and speaking of that: Sure, his dream of One Emperor, One Religion is already having to deal with the fact Christians, no longer persecuted, love nothing better than arguing with other Christians, and Arius vs Athanasius won't be the last schism threatening row, not to mention that one of his younger sons is an Arian and another follows Athanasius-like Orthodoxy, but hey. Nobody would dispute his greatness.
Then he inexplicably decides it's been too long since the last war with the Persian Empire, makes noises in that direction which are replied to, and dies, famously finally getting baptized on his deathbed (by a bishop named Eusebius, who is an Arian, which becomes a tad inconvenient later because the Arian heresy is seen as heresy etc.). Note what he HASN'T done: said which of his three remaining sons (after poor Crispus' demise, sniff) is supposed to be the next Augustus. Instead, he made them all three Caesars. And because three's a crowd and not big enough, he also made two of his nephews Caesars. Reminder: Helena had just the one kid from Constantius Chlorus, Constantine, but Theodora had many, boys and girls both.) We therefore have Fausta's sons Constantine (II), Constantius (II) and Constans plus two nephews all of equal rank (i.e. appointed Caesar) when Constantine (I and Great) dies.
Next, we have "The massacre of the princes", which is just what it sounds like. The son who is closest to Constantinople when Constantine dies, Constantius, races back (all the sons are either supposed to go ff fighting Persians or leading the troops in other corners of the Empire) and organizes the funeral. And then, depending on the historian, either Constantius organizes the death of every single male offspring of the Chlorus/Theodora marriage and the sons of said offsprings except for the two youngest (Gallus and Julian, who are very young children), or some soldiers do it completely on their own initiative because they hate the Theodora line of the family that much. (Three guesses as to which version becomes more widely believed.) The two survivors of said massacre, little Gallus and little Julian, aren't allowed to remain with their surviving female relations but are exiled to Cappadocia (for their own protection, of course, because Theodora's descendants are so hated).
Now there are three, and if anyone thinks the fact they are three full brothers and have all three been raised as Christians, think again. It's brother vs brother vs brother. Constans offs big brother Constantine. Constantius would have killed Constans but doesn't have to, because a new player, one Magnentius who thinks he wants to be Emperor, too, enters the scene, and fights and defeats Constants. This leaves Constantius with an opportunity (kill Magnentius in the name of brother avenging) and a problem (because the Empire is still too big to be ruled alone). Now, in theory, he could accept Magnentius as a fellow Emperor, of course. But in practice, Constantius' own sole claim to the throne rests on the fact he's the son of Constantine the Great. If he justifies it by bloodline, he can't accept any other Emperors who aren't related to Constantine the Great, and he's just made sure there aren't many relations left. So he decides to make the older of the two surviving cousins, Gallus, his Caesar, and even marries him to his (Constantius') sister. This works for a while; Magnentius is defeated, in one of the bloodiest battles of this latest Roman Civil War (supposedly 50 000 dead soldiers), Gallus rules a part of the Empire. Incidentally, all these dead well trained soldiers mean that the Roman armies start to suffer from serious losses, and there's a reason right there as to why it won't last undivided much longer and why invading barbarians are just around the corner.
Of course, Gallus ruling doesn't last long just because he's now not just a cousin but a brother-in-law, and soon it's Constantius vs Gallus. Gallus' wife heads off to Milan to mediate between husband and brother but dies en route, and then all bets are off. For some reason, Gallus is stupid enough to believe the story that Constantius plans to elevate him from Caesar to Augustus if he shows up in Milan as well. No such thing happens; Gallus gets executed.
This means young Julian, hitherto only noticeable as the most bookish member of the not large anymore family, is the sole other survivor, because Constantius doesn't have any sons. This means he now gets to be appointed Caesar, oh joy. To everyone's surprise, Julian - with zero military and political training because remember, he and Gallus grew up in genteel housearrest in Cappadokia - actually proves himself to be good at soldiering and ratches up impressive victories in Gaul. Impressive enough to get paranoid Constantius thinking dark thoughts, and yes, next it's Julian vs Constantius, but then Constantius actually dies of natural causes before their forces can meet on the battlefield, and young Julian becomes Emperor. And instantly reveals he has very INTERESTING religious ideas. Yes, he's Julian the Apostate, and he'll only rule two years before dying as the last member of the short lived Constantinian dynasty.
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Re: Constantinian Aftermath
Date: 2023-01-04 06:47 pm (UTC)So: Constantine rules uncontested, changes the Roman world, also uncontested, - there are few Emperors who have made that big and irrevocably a change as having Christianity go from Great Persecution to State Religion, as his nephew will find out - , moves the Empire's capital to Byzantium, which gets renamed into Constantinope and gets a massive building program. The Nicean Council happens, and speaking of that: Sure, his dream of One Emperor, One Religion is already having to deal with the fact Christians, no longer persecuted, love nothing better than arguing with other Christians, and Arius vs Athanasius won't be the last schism threatening row, not to mention that one of his younger sons is an Arian and another follows Athanasius-like Orthodoxy, but hey. Nobody would dispute his greatness.
Then he inexplicably decides it's been too long since the last war with the Persian Empire, makes noises in that direction which are replied to, and dies, famously finally getting baptized on his deathbed (by a bishop named Eusebius, who is an Arian, which becomes a tad inconvenient later because the Arian heresy is seen as heresy etc.). Note what he HASN'T done: said which of his three remaining sons (after poor Crispus' demise, sniff) is supposed to be the next Augustus. Instead, he made them all three Caesars. And because three's a crowd and not big enough, he also made two of his nephews Caesars. Reminder: Helena had just the one kid from Constantius Chlorus, Constantine, but Theodora had many, boys and girls both.) We therefore have Fausta's sons Constantine (II), Constantius (II) and Constans plus two nephews all of equal rank (i.e. appointed Caesar) when Constantine (I and Great) dies.
Next, we have "The massacre of the princes", which is just what it sounds like. The son who is closest to Constantinople when Constantine dies, Constantius, races back (all the sons are either supposed to go ff fighting Persians or leading the troops in other corners of the Empire) and organizes the funeral. And then, depending on the historian, either Constantius organizes the death of every single male offspring of the Chlorus/Theodora marriage and the sons of said offsprings except for the two youngest (Gallus and Julian, who are very young children), or some soldiers do it completely on their own initiative because they hate the Theodora line of the family that much. (Three guesses as to which version becomes more widely believed.) The two survivors of said massacre, little Gallus and little Julian, aren't allowed to remain with their surviving female relations but are exiled to Cappadocia (for their own protection, of course, because Theodora's descendants are so hated).
Now there are three, and if anyone thinks the fact they are three full brothers and have all three been raised as Christians, think again. It's brother vs brother vs brother. Constans offs big brother Constantine. Constantius would have killed Constans but doesn't have to, because a new player, one Magnentius who thinks he wants to be Emperor, too, enters the scene, and fights and defeats Constants. This leaves Constantius with an opportunity (kill Magnentius in the name of brother avenging) and a problem (because the Empire is still too big to be ruled alone). Now, in theory, he could accept Magnentius as a fellow Emperor, of course. But in practice, Constantius' own sole claim to the throne rests on the fact he's the son of Constantine the Great. If he justifies it by bloodline, he can't accept any other Emperors who aren't related to Constantine the Great, and he's just made sure there aren't many relations left. So he decides to make the older of the two surviving cousins, Gallus, his Caesar, and even marries him to his (Constantius') sister. This works for a while; Magnentius is defeated, in one of the bloodiest battles of this latest Roman Civil War (supposedly 50 000 dead soldiers), Gallus rules a part of the Empire. Incidentally, all these dead well trained soldiers mean that the Roman armies start to suffer from serious losses, and there's a reason right there as to why it won't last undivided much longer and why invading barbarians are just around the corner.
Of course, Gallus ruling doesn't last long just because he's now not just a cousin but a brother-in-law, and soon it's Constantius vs Gallus. Gallus' wife heads off to Milan to mediate between husband and brother but dies en route, and then all bets are off. For some reason, Gallus is stupid enough to believe the story that Constantius plans to elevate him from Caesar to Augustus if he shows up in Milan as well. No such thing happens; Gallus gets executed.
This means young Julian, hitherto only noticeable as the most bookish member of the not large anymore family, is the sole other survivor, because Constantius doesn't have any sons. This means he now gets to be appointed Caesar, oh joy. To everyone's surprise, Julian - with zero military and political training because remember, he and Gallus grew up in genteel housearrest in Cappadokia - actually proves himself to be good at soldiering and ratches up impressive victories in Gaul. Impressive enough to get paranoid Constantius thinking dark thoughts, and yes, next it's Julian vs Constantius, but then Constantius actually dies of natural causes before their forces can meet on the battlefield, and young Julian becomes Emperor. And instantly reveals he has very INTERESTING religious ideas. Yes, he's Julian the Apostate, and he'll only rule two years before dying as the last member of the short lived Constantinian dynasty.