Constans
Roman emperor from 337 to 350 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Flavius Julius Constans (c. 323 – 350), also called Constans I, was Roman emperor from 337 to 350. He held the imperial rank of caesar from 333, and was the youngest son of Constantine the Great.
| Constans | |||||||||
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| Roman emperor in the West | |||||||||
| Augustus | 9 September 337 – January 350 | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Constantine I | ||||||||
| Successor | Magnentius and Vetranio | ||||||||
| Co-rulers |
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| Caesar | 25 December 333 – 9 September 337 | ||||||||
| Born | 322 or 323 | ||||||||
| Died | January 350 (aged 27)[2] Vicus Helena, southwestern Gaul | ||||||||
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| Dynasty | Constantinian | ||||||||
| Father | Constantine I | ||||||||
| Mother | Fausta | ||||||||
| Religion | Nicene Christianity | ||||||||
After his father's death, he was made augustus alongside his brothers in September 337. Constans was given the administration of the praetorian prefectures of Italy, Illyricum, and Africa.[3] He defeated the Sarmatians in a campaign shortly afterwards.[3] Quarrels over the sharing of power led to a civil war with his eldest brother and co-emperor Constantine II, who invaded Italy in 340 and was killed in battle by Constans's forces near Aquileia.[3] Constans gained from him the praetorian prefecture of Gaul.[3] Thereafter there were tensions with his remaining brother and co-augustus Constantius II (r. 337–361), including over the exiled bishop Athanasius of Alexandria,[3] who in turn eulogized Constans as "the most pious Augustus... of blessed and everlasting memory."[4] In the following years he campaigned against the Franks, and in 343 he visited Roman Britain,[3] the last legitimate emperor to do so.[5]
In January 350, Magnentius (r. 350–353) the commander of the Jovians and Herculians, a corps in the Roman army, was acclaimed augustus at Augustodunum (Autun) with the support of Marcellinus, the comes rei privatae.[6] Magnentius overthrew and killed Constans.[3][6] Surviving sources, possibly influenced by the propaganda of Magnentius's faction,[7] accuse Constans of misrule and of homosexuality.[3]