| Constans II | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Constans II | |
| Roman emperor in theWest | |
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| Predecessor | |
| Successor |
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| Co-emperors |
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| Died | 411 Vienne |
| Father | Constantine III |
| Religion | Nicene Christianity |
Constans II (died 411) was the son of theWestern Roman emperorConstantine III and served as his co-emperor from 409 to 411. When his father rebelled against the ruling emperorHonorius and the army inBritain acclaimed him as emperor in early 407, Constans was amonk. He was summoned toGaul, appointed to the position ofcaesar (heir) and swiftly married so that adynasty could be founded. InHispania, Honorius's relatives took up arms in 408 and expelled Constantine's administration. An army under Constans and the generalGerontius was sent to deal with this and re-established Constantine's authority.
Honorius acknowledged Constantine as co-emperor in early 409 and Constantine immediately raised Constans to the position ofaugustus (emperor), theoretically equal in rank to both Honorius and Constantine. Later in 409 Gerontius rebelled, proclaimed his clientMaximus emperor and incited barbarian groups which had recently invaded Gaul to rise up. Constans was sent to Hispania to quash the revolt, but suffered a defeat and withdrew to Arelate (modernArles). In 410, Constans was sent to Hispania with another army. Gerontius had strengthened his forces with barbarians and won a battle against Constans; the latter withdrew north and was defeated again and killed atVienne early in 411. Gerontius then besieged Constantine in Arelate and killed him.
Following the death of theRoman emperorTheodosius I in 395 theRoman Empire was divided between his two sons, seventeen-year-oldArcadius became emperor of theEastern Roman Empire and ten-year-oldHonorius emperor of theWestern.[1] Honorius was underage and the leading generalStilicho became highly influential and the de facto commander-in-chief of the Roman armies in the west.[2] The Western Empire was suffering from incursions of large groups fromGermanic tribes, whom the Romans referred to generically as "barbarians".[3] Despite Roman distaste for the "barbarians", theimperial army recruited increasing numbers of them, and some rose to senior positions.[4][5] During this periodRoman Britain suffered raids by theScoti,Saxons andPicts.[6] In 402 Stilicho needed soldiers for wars with invading groups ofVisigoths in Italy, and so strippedHadrian's Wall in northern Britain of troops.[7][8]
In 406 the approximately 6,000 troops of the Roman field army based in Britain were dissatisfied.[note 1][10][11] They had not been paid for several years, a large contingent had left to fight on the continent four years earlier and had not returned, the garrisons of the coastal defences had been withdrawn to form the new field army and their commander had been replaced.[12][8] They revolted and determined to choose their own leader. Their first choice was a man namedMarcus whom they appointed emperor. After a short period, unhappy with his performance, they killed him and appointedGratian. He also failed to meet the troops' expectations and they killed him after four months.[13]
On 31 December 406 several tribes of barbarian invaders, including theVandals,Sueves andAlanscrossed the Rhine and overran theRoman defensive works in a successful invasion of Gaul.[note 2][14] The troops in Britain next chose as their leader a man who shared the name of the famed emperor of the early fourth century,Constantine the Great, who had himself risen to power through a military coup in Britain. Flavius Claudius Constantinus[15][16] was a common soldier and early in 407, possibly in February, his fellow soldiers acclaimed him as emperor;[15][17][18] by some accounts purely because his name recalled the earlier glories of his namesake.[16] Rebellion in Roman Britain was not unusual: the contemporarytheologianJerome described it as a province rich inusurpers.[19] It was on the periphery of the Empire and there was a common view that it was overlooked in terms of resources and patronage.[20] Such revolts were usually short-lived; Constantine was uncommon both in establishing a lasting power base and in successfully exporting his rebellion to the mainland.[21]
Constantine moved quickly: he appointed generals in Gaul and crossed theChannel atBononia (modern Boulogne). He took with him all of the 6,000 or so mobile troops left in Britain and theircommander, the generalGerontius. The Roman army of Gaul declared for him,[21] followed by the civilian administration inHispania (modern Spain and Portugal).[22] The Western Roman government in Italy did not respond to the Germanic invasion of Gaul, while Constantine's forces got the better of at least one confrontation with the Vandals. Constantine also negotiated agreements with the Germanic groupings of theFranks,Alamanni andBurgundians, thus securing the line of the Rhine. The main Vandal force and their allies moved into northern Gaul (modern Belgium).[23][24]
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Little is known of Constans, the eldest son of Constantine, before his father was declared emperor.[25] He was amonk at the time his father rebelled, when he was summoned to the new imperial court. When Constantine reached Arelate (modernArles), which he made his capital, he appointed Constans to the position ofcaesar – a senior, formal position that also recognised him as heir.[26][27] According to some historians he was renamed "Constans" at this point – to evoke memories of the youngest son of Constantine the Great, also namedConstans, who became an emperor after his father's death. The ex-monk was swiftly married so adynasty could be founded.[28][29][30]
The Western Roman Empire was in conflict with the Eastern Roman Empire and had a tenuous alliance with a large force of Visigoths underAlaric.[31] Caught between different threats, Honorius and Stilicho sent a small army led bySarus the Goth to put down Constantine's revolt while their main army waited on events.[32] Sarus defeated one of Constantine's armies in apitched battle. Constantine then personally moved against Sarus, but was besieged inValence.[33][34] After a week of siege another army, led by Gerontius and his fellow-generalEdobichus and largely made up of freshly recruited Franks and Alamanni, arrived to relieve Valence. Sarus was forced to retreat into Italy.[35] With this success Constantine established control over most of Gaul and over the Alpine passes into Italy.[36]
At the time of Constantine's initial landing on the continent, Honorius's many partisans in Hispania had been either unwilling or militarily unable to oppose his assumption of control. When Sarus seemed on the verge of ending Constantine's revolt, two members of Honorius's family – Didymus andVerinianus – rebelled and overthrew Constantine's regime in Hispania. Even with Sarus's withdrawal to Italy, the knowledge of the large new army assembling atTicinum (modernPavia) with the intention of shortly engaging Constantine encouraged them to persist and even to attempt to seal thePyrenean passes.[37] Constantine feared that Honorius's cousins would organise an attack from that direction while troops under Sarus and Stilicho attacked him from Italy catching him in apincer manoeuvre. He struck first, at Hispania.[35]
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Early in 408 Constans was sent with Gerontius and an army into Hispania.[35] Their army forced a pass and received reinforcements. Constans established himself atCaesaraugusta (modernSaragossa) and rebuilt the civilian administration while Gerontius took the army and decisively defeated Honorius's supporters at a battle inLusitania, capturing Didymus and Verinianus. With Hispania back under Constantine's control Constans left his new wife at Caesaraugusta and returned to Arelate to report to his father. Didymus and Verinianus accompanied him and were executed there as civilian rebels.[22][38] By May 408 Constantine had taken over the existing imperial administration and officials in Gaul, and appointed a new chief minister (with the title ofpraetorian prefect)[39][40] andarchbishop of Arelate.[41] Constantine commenced minting large quantities of good-quality coins at Arelate and attempted to present himself as the equal of the western and eastern emperors.[35]
On 1 May 408 the eastern emperor, Arcadius, died, leaving a seven-year-old heir,Theodosius II. A disagreement arose between Stilicho and Honorius, who each wished to travel toConstantinople – the capital of the Eastern Empire – to represent the Western Empire's interests. Stilicho got his way: he was to leave for the east and Honorius was to remain inRavenna, the capital of the Western Empire.[42][43] But a rift between him and Honorius was obvious. Much of Honorius's court, led by the senior bureaucratOlympius, worked to oppose Stilicho by spreading rumours that he wished to travel east to depose Theodosius and set his son,Eucherius, on the throne. On 13 August Honorius was formally reviewing the army about to set out from Ticinum against Constantine. With him were many of the senior officers and officials of the Western Empire. The troops mutinied, slaughtering Stilicho's supporters but respecting the person of the Emperor. Stilicho sought sanctuary, then surrendered and was executed on 22 August.[44]
The native parts of the army of Italy, encouraged by Olympius, started slaughtering Goths: the wives and children of their fellow soldiers who were living in Italian cities, sometimes overtly as hostages for their husbands and fathers' good behaviour, were easy targets. Those Goths who could fled north and joined Alaric, greatly increasing his fighting strength. Alaric promptly crossed the Alps and headed south through Italy, devastating the countryside. He camped his army outside Rome and demanded a huge ransom.[45]
Late in 408 Constantine sent an embassy to Ravenna. Needing to placate him, Honorius acknowledged him as co-emperor and sent apurple robe as formal recognition.[note 3] The pair were jointconsuls for 409. At around this time Constantine raised Constans to the position of co-emperor, theoretically equal in rank to Honorius or Theodosius, as well as to Constantine.[47][48][49] Honorius continued to refuse to reach an agreement with Alaric. In retaliation Alaric elevated his own emperor, thesenatorPriscus Attalus, and in 410 the Visigoths entered Rome andpillaged the city for three days.[50]
In spring or summer 409 Constans was sent back to Hispania. Either before Constans left Arelate or while he was travelling, Gerontius rebelled and proclaimed his clientMaximus emperor. Maximus was an important figure in his own right, but it was clear he was controlled by Gerontius.[33][51] They set up court atTarraco (modernTarragona). Gerontius, concerned that he would not be able to withstand the military force Constans could bring to bear, attempted to incite the barbarians who had entered Gaul late in 406 against Constantine. These had been quiescent in the north of the territory, but now set off across Gaul for the rich territories ofAquitaine andNarbonensis (modern southern and south-west France) which they devastated. Concentrating on the threat from Constans, Gerontius weakened his garrisons in the Pyrenean passes and in autumn 409 much of the barbarian force entered Hispania.[52][53] Eventually Gerontius reached an arrangement with some of these groups whereby they supplied him with military forces, which enabled him to take the offensive against Constans.[53]
Meanwhile, Constans, with an army commanded by a general named Justus, attempted to subdue Gerontius. He failed, although no details are known, and returned to Arelate in spring 410. At about the same time Constantine returned from an abortive invasion of Italy. Given the difficulties the Visigoths were creating in Italy, Gerontius was considered a greater threat than Honorius.[54][55] Edobichus was again sent north to raise troops from the Franks while Constans returned to confront Gerontius with a fresh army. Details are again unclear, but it seems likely that Gerontius was simultaneously advancing on Arelate. The two armies clashed and Constans was defeated. He fell back to the north with what was left of his army, hoping to be reinforced by Edobichus. But Gerontius caught him atVienne, probably early in 411, defeated his army and killed Constans. Gerontius's army then marched on Arelate and besieged Constantine.[56]
In 411 Honorius appointed a new general,Flavius Constantius, who took the army of Italy over the Alps and arrived at Arelate while Gerontius was outside the city. Many of Gerontius's troops deserted to Constantius and Gerontius withdrew to Hispania with the remainder. There, in a hopeless position, Gerontius committed suicide.[57][58] Constantius's army took over the siege. Meanwhile, Edobichus raised troops in northern Gaul among the Franks and Alamanni,[57] combined them with those of the army of Gaul still loyal to Constantine and marched to Constantine's assistance. Constantius defeated this force in an ambush.[59] After the troops guarding the Rhine abandoned him to support yet another claimant to the imperial throne – the Gallic RomanJovinus – Constantine despaired, and he and his surviving son Julian surrendered to Constantius.[60] Despite the promise of his life, and his beingordained, Constantine and Julian were beheaded in either August or September 411 on Constantius's order.[15] Constantine's head was mounted on a pole and presented to Honorius on 18 September.[57] Constantius took over Stilicho's role as the main power in the Western Empire and generalissimo.[57] He was broadly able to recover the situation for the central authorities and to enable reconstruction. Gaul was pacified, the barbarians in Hispania were in large part subdued, the Visigoths were settled on land in Aquitaine as Roman allies.[61] Roman rulenever returned to Britain after Constantine stripped its defences.[62]
InGeoffrey of Monmouth's popular and imaginativeHistoria Regum Britanniae Constantine III is also known as Constantine II of Britain and Constans is elected by theBritons as their king after Constantine's death. Hence Constans, through his younger brotherUther Pendragon, becomes an uncle of the legendaryKing Arthur.[63][64]
| Legendary titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | King of Britain withVortigern | Succeeded by |
