Editing Crispus

{{short description|Roman caesar from 317 to 326}}
{{other uses|Crispus (disambiguation)}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2008}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Crispus
| title        = [[Caesar (title)|Caesar]]
| titletext    = (1 March 317 - 326)
| image        = INC-1822-a Солид Крисп цезарь ок. 317 г. (аверс).png
| image_size   = 250px
| alt          = 
| caption      = ''[[Solidus (coin)|Solidus]]'' of Crispus marked:<br/>{{Smallcaps|{{Abbreviation|fl·|FLAVIUS}} {{Abbreviation|iul·|IULIUS}} crispus {{Abbreviation|nob·|NOBILISSIMUS}} {{Abbreviation|caes·|CAESAR}}}}
| succession   = 
| moretext     = 
| reign-type   = 
| regent       = 
| reg-type     = 
| birth_date   = c. 300
| birth_place  = [[Pula|Pola]], [[Istria]]
| death_date   = 326 AD (aged c. 26)
| death_place  = [[Pula|Pola]], [[Istria]]
| burial_place = 
| spouse       = Helena{{sfn|Jones|Martindale|Morris|p=409}}
| issue        = Flavius
| full name    = Flavius Julius Crispus{{sfn|Jones|Martindale|Morris|p=233}}
| dynasty      = [[Constantinian dynasty|Constantinian]]
| father       = [[Constantine I]]
| mother       = [[Minervina]]
| religion     = [[Religion in ancient Rome|Greco-Roman religion]]
}}
'''Flavius Julius Crispus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|r|ɪ|s|p|ə|s}}; {{Circa}} 300 – 326) was the eldest son of the [[Roman emperor]] [[Constantine the Great|Constantine I]], as well as his junior colleague ([[Caesar (title)|''caesar'']]) from March 317 until his execution by his father in 326. The grandson of the ''[[Augustus (title)|augustus]]'' [[Constantius I]], Crispus was the elder half-brother of the future ''augustus'' [[Constantine II (emperor)|Constantine II]] and became co-''caesar'' with him and with his cousin [[Licinius II]] at [[Serdica]], part of the settlement ending the [[Battle of Cibalae|Cibalensean War]] between Constantine and his father's rival [[Licinius I]]. Crispus ruled from [[Augusta Treverorum]] ([[Trier]]) in [[Roman Gaul]] between 318 and 323 and defeated the navy of Licinius I at the [[Battle of the Hellespont]] in 324, which with the land [[Battle of Chrysopolis]] won by Constantine forced the resignation of [[Licinius]] and his son, leaving Constantine the sole ''augustus'' and the [[Constantinian dynasty]] in control of the entire empire. It is unclear what the legal status of the relationship Crispus's mother [[Minervina]] had with Constantine was; Crispus may have been an [[illegitimate]] son.

Crispus's [[tutor]] in [[rhetoric]] was the [[Late Latin]] historian of [[Early Christianity]] [[Lactantius]]. After his elevation to imperial rank, at which point he was also entitled ''[[princeps iuventutis]]'' ("Prince of Youth"), the Latin rhetorician [[Nazarius (rhetorician)|Nazarius]] composed a [[panegyric]] preserved in the ''[[Panegyrici Latini]]'', which honoured Crispus's military victories over the [[Franks]] in {{Circa|319}}. Crispus was three times [[Roman consul]], for the years 318, 321, and 324.

According to the Latin histories of [[Ammianus Marcellinus]] and [[Aurelius Victor]], after a trial whose real circumstances are mysterious, Constantine executed Crispus at Pola ([[Pula]]) in 326. His stepmother [[Fausta]] was also put to death, and the [[Late Greek]] historian [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]] and the [[Byzantine Greek]] writer [[Joannes Zonaras]] wrote that Constantine had accused Crispus of [[incest]] with her. After his death, Crispus was subjected to ''[[damnatio memoriae]]''.

==Early life==
While Crispus’ year of birth is nowhere outright stated, he must have been born before 307.<ref name="crispus">Hans Pohlsander, [http://www.roman-emperors.sites.luc.edu/crispus.htm Crispus Caesar (317-326 A.D.)]</ref> By that time, his mother [[Minervina]] was either dead or set aside, as his father Constantine was married to [[Maximian]]’s daughter [[Fausta]]. 

Constantine entrusted his eldest son’s education to [[Lactantius]], one of the most important Christian teachers of that time.<ref name="crispus"/>
[[File:INC-1822-r Солид Крисп цезарь ок. 317 г. (реверс).png|thumb|Reverse of a ''solidus'' of Crispus, marked: {{Smallcaps|SECVRITAS REI PVBLICAE}} ("''the security of the State''")]] in 309–310. Crispus was probably 10–15 years old at the time.[12] Lactantius followed Crispus to Trier in 317, when Crispus was made Caesar (subordinate co-emperor) and sent to the city.

== Career==
By 313, there were two remaining ''augusti'' in control of the Roman Empire—Constantine in the west and his brother-in-law [[Licinius]] in the east. On 1 March 317, the two co-reigning ''augusti'' jointly proclaimed three new ''caesares'': Crispus, alongside his younger half-brother [[Constantine II (emperor)|Constantine II]], and his first cousin [[Licinius II|Licinius Junior]].{{sfn|Pohlsander|1984|p=86}} Constantine appointed Crispus as Commander of Gaul.{{sfn|Pohlsander|1984|p=87}} The new ''caesar'' soon held residence in Augusta Treverorum (modern [[Trier]]), regional capital of [[Germania]].

By October 322, Crispus was already married to a woman named Helena, as she bore him a child, a son Flavius, in that month. The [[Codex Theodosianus]] recorded Constantine’s celebration of the event.<ref name="crispus"/>

Crispus was leader in victorious military operations against the [[Franks]] and the [[Alamanni]] in 318, 320 and 323.{{sfn|Pohlsander|1984|p=87}} Thus he secured the continued Roman presence in the areas of Gaul and Germania. The soldiers adored him thanks to his strategic abilities and the victories to which he had led the [[Roman legion]]s.

Crispus spent the following years assisting Constantine in the war against by then hostile Licinius. In 324, Constantine appointed Crispus as the commander of his fleet which left the port of [[Piraeus]] to confront Licinius' fleet. The subsequent [[Battle of the Hellespont]] was fought at the straits of [[Bosporus]]. The 200 ships under the command of Crispus managed to decisively defeat the enemy forces, which were at least double in number. Thus Crispus achieved his most important and difficult victory which further established his reputation as a brilliant general.{{sfn|Pohlsander|1984|p=88}}

Following his navy activities, Crispus was assigned part of the legions loyal to his father. The other part was commanded by Constantine himself. Crispus led the legions assigned to him in another victorious [[battle of Chrysopolis|battle outside Chrysopolis]] against the armies of Licinius.

The two victories were his contribution to the final triumph of his father over Licinius. Constantine was the only ''augustus'' left in the Empire. He honoured his son for his support and success by depicting his face in imperial coins, statues, mosaics, cameos, etc. Eusebius of Caesaria wrote for Crispus that he is "an [[Imperator]] most dear to [[God]] and in all regards comparable to his father,” going as far as to compare their relationship to God the Father and God the Son.{{sfn|Pohlsander|1984|p=98}}

==Execution==
[[File:Crispuscng1005obverse.jpg|thumb|Reverse of a ''solidus'' marked: {{Smallcaps|{{Abbreviation|dn·|DOMINUS NOSTER}}·crispvs·nob·caes·}}]]
In 326, Crispus' life came to a sudden end.  On his father's orders he was executed, apparently without trial, at [[Pula|Pola]], [[Istria]], in the Augustan [[Roman Italy#Augustan organization|''regio'']] of [[Venetia et Histria]].{{sfn|Guthrie|1966|p=325}}  According to [[Sidonius Apollinaris]] and [[Gregory of Tours]], Crispus died through poison.{{sfn|Pohlsander|1984|p=100}}<ref>Gregory of Tours, ''History of the Franks'' I.36</ref> Soon afterwards, Constantine had his wife [[Fausta]] killed also, according to several sources in a hot bath or bathroom.{{sfn|Woods|1998|p=71-72}} Both Crispus and Fausta suffered ''[[damnatio memoriae]]'', their names being erased from inscriptions.{{sfn|Woods|1998|p=72}}

The reason for these deaths remain unclear.  The accounts of [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]] and [[Zonaras]] say that Crispus was executed due to suspicions that he was involved in an illicit relationship with Fausta,{{sfn|Pohlsander|1984|p=101}} but some scholars have been skeptical of this explanation.  For instance, T. D. Barnes argues that as Crispus was based at Trier, and Fausta at Constantinople, they would not have had the opportunity to have an affair.{{sfn|Woods|1998|p=73}} While Hans Pohlsander considers Barnes’ argument to be invalid on the basis that Crispus was in the East for long enough,{{sfn|Pohlsander|1984|p=104}} he suggests that the similarity of Zosimus' story to the myth of [[Phaedra (mythology)|Phaedra]] and [[Hippolytus of Athens|Hippolytus]] makes its veracity doubtful.{{sfn|Woods|1998|p=73}} He does, however, note that Constantine passed multiple laws on adultery in the same year, which may have been related to the deaths of Crispus and Fausta.{{sfn|Pohlsander|1996|p=53-54}} On the other hand, David Woods accepts the belief that the two were thought to have had a relationship, while suggesting that they were not actually executed.  According to his theory, Crispus was exiled to Pola as a punishment for his adultery and committed suicide by poison there, and Fausta's death was caused by an attempt to induce abortion to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy that resulted from her affair.{{sfn|Woods|1998|p=78&ndash;80}}

Pohlsander observed that Crispus “must have committed, or at least must have been suspected of having committed, some especially shocking offense to earn him a sentence of death from his own father.”<ref name="crispus"/> J. W. Drijvers concludes that the true explanation will never be known.{{sfn|Woods|1998|p=74}}

==In literature==
Crispus became a popular tragic hero after the success of Bernardino Stefonio's neo-Latin [[tragedy]] ''Crispus'', which was performed at the [[Roman College|Jesuit Collegio Romano]] in 1597. Closely modelled on [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]]'s ''[[Phaedra (Seneca)|Phaedra]]'', this became a model of [[Jesuits|Jesuit]] tragedy and one of the main bases for Alessandro Donati's 1631 ''Ars poetica Alexandri Donati Senensis e Societate Iesu''<ref> https://books.google.com/books/about/Ars_poetica_Alexandri_Donati_Senensis_e.html?id=apHn_2hMhZ4C </ref> and Tarquinio Galluzzi's 1633 ''Defense of Crispus''. The play was adapted for the French stage by [[François de Grenaille]] as ''L'Innocent malhereux'' (1639) and by [[François Tristan l'Hermite|Tristan l'Hermite]] as ''La Morte de Chrispe ou les maleurs du grand Constantine'' (1645). It was performed as an opera in Rome (1720) and London (1721), where it was entitled, ''Crispo: drama'',<ref>Marc Fumaroli, ''Heros et orateurs. Rhetoriques et dramaturgie corneliennes'', Geneva: Droz, 1996</ref> not to mention [[Donizetti]]'s 1832 opera ''[[Fausta (opera)|Fausta]]''. The story is also retold and embellished in chapter 31 of [[Sir Walter Scott]]'s novel ''[[Count Robert of Paris]]''. When [[Evelyn Waugh]] reworks the story in his novel ''[[Helena (Waugh novel)|Helena]]'' (1950), Crispus is innocent.

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite journal|last=Guthrie|first=Patrick|year=1966|journal=Phoenix|title=The Execution of Crispus|volume=20|issue=4|pages=325–331|doi=10.2307/1087057|jstor=1087057}}
* {{cite book |last=Jones |year=1971 |first=A.H.M. |author2=J.R. Martindale |author3=J. Morris |title=Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire |volume=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-07233-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/prosopography-later-roman-empire/PLRE-I |name-list-style=amp |author-link=A. H. M. Jones |author-link2=John Robert Martindale |author-link3=John Morris (historian) |ref={{sfnref|Jones|Martindale|Morris}}}}
* {{cite journal|last=Pohlsander|first=Hans A.|year=1984|journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte|title=Crispus: Brilliant Career and Tragic End|volume=33|issue=1|pages=79–106|jstor=4435872}}
*{{cite book |last=Pohlsander |first=Hans A. |year=1996 |title=The Emperor Constantine |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-31938-2}}
* {{cite book|first=Alessio |last=Torino|title=Bernardinus Stephonius S.J. Crispus-tragoedia|publisher=Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei|location=Rome|year= 2008}}
* {{cite journal|last=Woods|first=David|year=1998|journal=Greece & Rome|title=On the Death of the Empress Fausta|volume=45|issue=1|pages=70–86|doi=10.1093/gr/45.1.70|doi-access=free}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef | before= [[Ovinius Gallicanus]]|before2=[[Caesonius Bassus]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[List of Roman consuls|Roman consul]]| years=318 |regent1= [[Licinius|Licinius Augustus]] V }}
{{s-aft | after= [[Constantine I|Constantine Augustus]] V|after2=[[Licinius II|Licinius Caesar]]}}

{{s-bef | before= [[Constantine I|Constantine Augustus]] VI|before2=[[Constantine II (emperor)|Constantine Caesar]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[List of Roman consuls|Roman consul]]| years=321 |regent1= [[Constantine II (emperor)|Constantine Caesar]] II}}
{{s-aft | after= [[Petronius Probianus]]|after2=[[Amnius Anicius Julianus]]}}
{{s-bef | before= [[Acilius Severus (consul)|Acilius Severus]]|before2=[[Vettius Rufinus]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[List of Roman consuls|Roman consul]]| years=324 |regent1= [[Constantine II (emperor)|Constantine Caesar]] III}}
{{s-aft | after= [[Sextus Anicius Paulinus|Sex. Anicius Paulinus]]|after2=[[Valerius Proculus]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Roman emperors |state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:290s births]]
[[Category:326 deaths]]
[[Category:4th-century executions]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman generals]]
[[Category:Caesars (heirs apparent)]]
[[Category:Constantine the Great]]
[[Category:Constantinian dynasty]]
[[Category:Damnatio memoriae]]
[[Category:Executed ancient Roman people]]
[[Category:Flavii]]
[[Category:Generals of Constantine the Great]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman heirs apparent who never acceded]]
[[Category:4th-century Roman consuls]]
[[Category:Poisoned ancient Romans]]
[[Category:People executed by the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:People from Pula]]
[[Category:Sons of Roman emperors]]
[[Category:Tetrarchy]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]