Licinius
Template:Short description Template:About Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Roman emperor
Valerius Licinianus Licinius (Template:IPAc-en;<ref>Template:Cite Merriam-Webster</ref> Greek: Λικίνιος; c. 265 – 325) was Roman emperor from 308 to 324. For most of his reign, he was the colleague and rival of Constantine I, with whom he co-authored the Edict of Milan that granted official toleration to Christians in the Roman Empire. He was finally defeated at the Battle of Chrysopolis (AD 324), and was later executed on the orders of Constantine I.
Early reignEdit
Born to a Dacian<ref name=Jones509>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=DiMaio>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> peasant family in Moesia Superior, Licinius accompanied his close childhood friend and future emperor Galerius, on the Persian expedition in 298.<ref name=Jones509 /> He was trusted enough by Galerius that in 307 he was sent as an envoy to Italy, to attempt to reach some sort of agreement with the usurper Maxentius.<ref name=Jones509 /> When Galerius went to deal with Maxentius personally after the death of Severus II, he left the eastern provinces in Licinius' care.<ref name=Gibbon>Template:Cite book</ref>
Upon his return to the east Galerius elevated Licinius to the rank of Augustus in the West on 11 November 308, and under his immediate command were the Balkan provinces of Illyricum, Thrace and Pannonia.<ref name=DiMaio /> In 310 he took command of the war against the Sarmatians, inflicting a severe defeat on them.<ref name=Lendering>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On the death of Galerius in May 311,<ref name="EB"/> Licinius entered into an agreement with Maximinus Daza to share the eastern provinces between them. By this point, not only was Licinius the official Augustus of the west but he also possessed part of the eastern provinces as well, as the Hellespont and the Bosporus became the dividing line, with Licinius taking the European provinces and Maximinus taking the Asian.<ref name=DiMaio />
An alliance between Maximinus and Maxentius forced the two remaining emperors to enter into a formal agreement with each other.<ref name=Gibbon /> So, in March of 313, Licinius married Flavia Julia Constantia, half-sister of Constantine I,Template:Citation needed at Mediolanum (now Milan); they had a son, Licinius the Younger, in 315. Their marriage was the occasion for the jointly-issued "Edict of Milan" that reissued Galerius' previous edict allowing Christianity (and any religion one might choose) to be professed in the Empire,<ref name=DiMaio/> with additional dispositions that restored confiscated properties to Christian congregations and exempted Christian clergy from municipal civic duties.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The redaction of the edict as reproduced by Lactantius – who follows the text affixed by Licinius in Nicomedia on 14 June 313, after Maximinus' defeat – uses neutral language, expressing a will to propitiate "any Divinity whatsoever in the seat of the heavens".<ref>Lactantius, De Mort. Pers., ch. 48, cf. Internet History Sourcebooks Project, Fordham University, [1]. Accessed 31 July 2012</ref>
Daza in the meantime decided to attack Licinius. Leaving Syria with 70,000 men, he reached Bithynia, although the harsh weather he encountered along the way had gravely weakened his army. In April 313, he crossed the Bosporus and went to Byzantium, which was held by Licinius' troops. Undeterred, he took the town after an eleven-day siege. He moved to Heraclea, which he captured after a short siege, before moving his forces to the first posting station. With a much smaller body of men, possibly around 30,000,<ref>Kohn, George Childs, Dictionary Of Wars, Revised Edition, p. 398.</ref> Licinius arrived at Adrianople while Daza was still besieging Heraclea. Before the decisive engagement, Licinius allegedly had a vision in which an angel recited him a generic prayer that could be adopted by all cults which Licinius then repeated to his soldiers.<ref>Carrié & Rousselle, L'Empire Romain en Mutation, p. 229</ref> On 30 April 313, the two armies clashed at the Battle of Tzirallum, and Daza's forces were crushed. Daza escaped, disguised as a slave, and fled to Nicomedia,<ref name=Gibbon /> where he fortified the area around the Cilician Gates. Licinius' army broke through and Daza retreated to Tarsus, where Licinius continued to press him on land and sea. The war between them ended only with Daza's death in August 313.<ref name=DiMaio />
Licinius sought out and killed multiple relatives of the Tetrarchs - Daza's wife and two children, Severus' son Flavius Severianus, Galerius' son Candidianus, Diocletian's wife Prisca, and Galeria Valeria, daughter of Diocletian and wife of Galerius.Template:Sfn
Given that Constantine had already crushed his rival Maxentius in 312, the two men decided to divide the Roman world between them. As a result of this settlement, the Tetrarchy was replaced by a system of two emperors, called Augusti: Licinius became Augustus of the East, while his brother-in-law, Constantine, became Augustus of the West.<ref name="EB"/>
After making the pact, Licinius rushed immediately to the East to deal with another threat, an invasion by the Persian Sassanid Empire.<ref name=Gibbon />
Conflict with Constantine IEdit
Template:See also In 316, a civil war erupted between Licinius and Constantine, in which Constantine used the pretext that Licinius was harbouring Senecio, whom Constantine accused of plotting to overthrow him.<ref name=Gibbon /> Constantine prevailed at the Battle of Cibalae in Pannonia (8 October 316).<ref name=DiMaio /> As a result of this defeat Licinius named Valerius Valens as his co-emperor (whom he originally intended to replace Constantine), only for Licinius to suffer a humiliating defeat on the plains in the Battle of Mardia (also known as the Battle of Campus Ardiensis) in Thrace which occurred either in late 316 or early 317. The two emperors were reconciled after these two battles and Licinius had his co-emperor Valens killed.<ref name=DiMaio />
Over the next seven years, the two imperial colleagues maintained an uneasy truce.<ref name=Gibbon /> Licinius kept himself busy with a campaign against the Sarmatians in 318,<ref name=DiMaio /> but temperatures rose again in 321 when Constantine pursued some Sarmatians, who had been ravaging some territory in his realm, across the Danube into what was technically Licinius's territory.<ref name=DiMaio /> When he repeated this with another invasion, this time by the Goths who were pillaging Thrace under their leader Rausimod, Licinius complained that Constantine had broken the treaty between them.
Constantine wasted no time going on the offensive. Licinius's fleet of 350 ships was defeated by Constantine's fleet in 323. Then in 324, Constantine, tempted by the "advanced age and unpopular vices"<ref name="EB"/><ref name=Gibbon /> of his colleague, again declared war against him and having defeated his army of 165,000 men<ref>Grant p. 46</ref> at the Battle of Adrianople (3 July 324), succeeded in shutting him up within the walls of Byzantium.<ref name="EB"/><ref name=DiMaio /> The defeat of the superior fleet of Licinius in the Battle of the Hellespont by Crispus, Constantine's eldest son and Caesar, compelled his withdrawal to Bithynia, where a last stand was made; the Battle of Chrysopolis, near Chalcedon (18 September),<ref name="EB">Template:1911</ref> resulted in Licinius' final submission.<ref name=Gibbon /> In this conflict Licinius was supported by the Gothic prince Alica. Due to the intervention of Flavia Julia Constantia, Constantine's sister and also Licinius' wife, both Licinius and his co-emperor Martinian were initially spared, Licinius being imprisoned in Thessalonica, Martinian in Cappadocia; however, both former emperors were subsequently executed. After his defeat, Licinius attempted to regain power with Gothic support, but his plans were exposed, and he was sentenced to death. While attempting to flee to the Goths, Licinius was apprehended at Thessalonica. Constantine had him hanged, accusing him of conspiring to raise troops among the barbarians.<ref name=Gibbon /><ref>Grant, pp. 47–48</ref>
Character and legacyEdit
As part of Constantine's attempts to decrease Licinius's popularity, he actively portrayed his brother-in-law as a pagan supporter. This may not have been the case; contemporary evidence tends to suggest that he was at least a committed supporter of Christians at one point.Template:Citation needed He co-authored the Edict of Milan which ended the Great Persecution, and re-affirmed the rights of Christians in his half of the empire. He also added the Christian symbol to his armies, and attempted to regulate the affairs of the Church hierarchy just as Constantine and his successors were to do. His wife was a devout Christian.<ref>Peter J. Leithart, Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom. Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL: 2010, Template:ISBN, p. 101</ref>
It is possible that he converted.<ref name="abbott">Template:Cite book</ref> However, Eusebius of Caesarea, writing under the rule of Constantine, charges him with expelling Christians from the Palace and ordering military sacrifices to pagan gods, as well as interfering with the Church's internal procedures and organization.<ref>James Richard Gearey, "The Persecution of Licinius". MA thesis, University of Calgary, 1999, Chapter 4. Available at [2] Template:Webarchive. Accessed 31 July 2012.</ref> It has been theorized that he originally supported Christians along with Constantine, but later in his life turned against them and to paganism.<ref name="abbott"/>
Finally, on Licinius's death, his memory was branded with infamy; his statues were thrown down; and by edict, all his laws and judicial proceedings during his reign were abolished.<ref name=Gibbon /> Such official erasure from the public record has come to be called damnatio memoriae.
Family treeEdit
Template:Simplified Tetrarchs family tree
ReferencesEdit
SourcesEdit
- Template:Cite book
- Grant, Michael (1993), The Emperor Constantine, London. Template:ISBN
- Pears, Edwin. “The Campaign against Paganism A.D. 324.” The English Historical Review, Vol. 24, No. 93 (January 1909): 1–17.
- Template:Wikicite
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