By the time Constantine was 31, he was in line to become emperor of the western empire—and more. In the spring of , with 40, soldiers behind him, Constantine rode toward Rome to confront an enemy whose numbers were four times his own. Maxentius, vying for supremacy in the West, waited in Rome with his Italian troops and the elite Praetorian Guard, confident no one could successfully invade the city. But Constantine's army was already overwhelming his foes in Italy as he marched toward the capital.
Maxentius turned to pagan oracles, finding a prophecy that the "enemy of the Romans" would perish. But Constantine was still miles away. So, bolstered by the prophecy, Maxentius left the city to meet his foe. Meanwhile, Constantine saw a vision in the afternoon sky: a bright cross with the words By this sign conquer.
As the story goes, Christ himself told Constantine in a dream to take the cross into battle as his standard. Though accounts vary, Constantine apparently believed the omen to be a word from God.
When he awoke early the next morning, the young commander obeyed the message and ordered his soldiers to mark their shields with the now famous Chi-Rho. Maxentius's troops fled in disarray toward the surging Tiber. The would-be emperor attempted to escape over the wooden bridge erected to span the stream, but his own army-turned-mob, pressing through the narrow passage, forced him into the river, where he drowned by the weight of his armor.
Constantine entered Rome the undisputed ruler of the West, the first Roman emperor with a cross in his diadem. Once supreme in the West, Constantine met Licinius, the ruler of the Balkan provinces, and issued the famous Edict of Milan that gave Christians freedom of worship and directed the governors to restore all the property seized during the severe Diocletian persecution.
Eusebius in his Church History recorded the Christian jubilation: "The whole human race was freed from the oppression of the tyrants. We especially, who had fixed our hopes upon the Christ of God, had gladness unspeakable.
Constantine's faith was still imprecise, but few questioned its authenticity. In Constantine sent a message to the assembled bishops at the Council of Arles. He wrote about how God does not allow people "to wander in the shadows" but reveals to them salvation: "I have experienced this in others and in myself, for I walked not in the way of righteousness.
For a decade, though, he wavered. For example, on the Arch of Constantine, which celebrates his Milvian Bridge victory, pagan sacrifices usually depicted on Roman monuments are absent. Then again, there are still no Christian symbols, and Victory and the Sun God are honored. Constantine I's father became the Western Roman emperor in After his father's death, Constantine fought to take power.
He became the Western emperor in and the sole Roman emperor in Constantine was also the first emperor to adhere to Christianity. He issued an edict that protected Christians in the empire and converted to Christianity on his deathbed in His father, Flavius Valerius Constantius, was an officer in the Roman army. Constantine's mother, Helena, was from humble beginnings; it is unknown whether she was the wife or concubine of Constantius.
In , Constantine's father left Helena to marry the stepdaughter of Maximian, the Western Roman emperor. Constantine's father was elevated to deputy emperor under Maximian in Constantine himself was sent to the court of Diocletian, the Eastern Roman emperor. There, Constantine was educated in Latin and Greek.
He likely also witnessed the persecution of Christians. Constantine then joined his father on a military campaign and fought alongside him in Britain. The next year, Constantius died at Eboracum now York. Constantine was declared emperor by his troops. To make the designation official, he began to fight for power. During a period of civil war, Constantine defended his position against different Roman factions, including Maxentius, Maximian's son.
Accounts of Constantine's life state that, following a vision, he had ordered a Christian symbol to be painted on his soldiers' shields. Yet in AD , when Constantine was on his way to Rome to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his accession, Crispus was suddenly arrested on unspecified charges and promptly executed. All official record of Crispus was destroyed. In gratitude for being cured of leprosy by Pope Sylvester I, Constantine gave to the papacy Rome, Italy and all the western provinces.
In his generosity, the emperor also handed the Pope estates elsewhere in the empire, and sovereignty over other sees dioceses of the Church in Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Antioch. Were the pair illicit lovers?
Did the two plot a coup together? Both theories have been proposed. It is notable that, in later years when they became emperors, the sons of Fausta never retracted the official condemnation of their mother. In AD , Constantine founded a new, Christian capital for the empire.
After considerable deliberation, he chose the existing city of Byzantium, a Greek colony founded in BC. Unlike Rome, Byzantium was well situated strategically, being located near the military danger zones of the Danube and Syria. After the fall of the Roman west, Byzantium — or Constantinople, as it became known — was the centre of imperial government for the next thousand years.
In the spring of AD , Constantine fell gravely ill. He had put off baptism until then, perhaps because being baptised in one form of Christianity would alienate followers of the others. In the end Constantine was baptised by a pro-Arian bishop; that is, one who believed that Jesus was separate from the Father and not part of a single Trinitarian being.
Constantine first wished to be baptised in the River Jordan. Then, as his condition deteriorated, he tried to return to Constantinople, but died on the journey. He was 65 years old. He was buried in the resting place he had carefully chosen in the Church of the Twelve Apostles.
Today, after the ravaging of Constantinople by Crusader and Ottoman conquerors, the location of that church is unknown. Constantine did not merely change the destiny of Europe. For centuries, Roman civilisation was protected in the east by Constantinople, which stopped barbarian hordes from crossing the Bosporus.
Then, in later years, Constantinople and the crumbling Byzantine Empire held back the Muslim armies, allowing Europe to slowly regain its population and economic strength. When Constantinople finally fell, the Ottoman armies thereafter advanced as far west as Vienna.
Had Constantinople not held the line until , the eastern invaders might well have entirely overrun Europe before then. Christianity was at one point just as strong in the Sassanian Persian empire, but has never been more than a minority religion in the region. And it was an explicitly Christian coalition that eventually threw back the Ottoman Muslims at Vienna in Sign in.
Back to Main menu Virtual events Masterclasses. Once he gained control of the entire Roman Empire, Constantine set about an ambitious programme of reform. Photo by Getty Images. What was the tetrarchy and how did it work? The Arch of Constantine in Rome salutes the victory over Maxentius.
Constantine hands over significant territories to Pope Sylvester I. More on: Europe.
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