Constans II (usurper)
Encyclopedia
Constans II was the eldest son of the Roman usurper
Roman usurper
Usurpers are individuals or groups of individuals who obtain and maintain the power or rights of another by force and without legal authority. Usurpation was endemic during roman imperial era, especially from the crisis of the third century onwards, when political instability became the rule.The...

 Constantine III and was appointed co-emperor by him from 409 to 411. He was killed during the revolts and fighting that ended his father’s reign.

Career

Elder son of Claudius Constantine
Constantine III (usurper)
Flavius Claudius Constantinus, known in English as Constantine III was a Roman general who declared himself Western Roman Emperor in Britannia in 407 and established himself in Gaul. Recognised by the Emperor Honorius in 409, collapsing support and military setbacks saw him abdicate in 411...

 and brother of Julian, in his youth Constans was a monk. In the summer of 408, his father, who had proclaimed himself Emperor the previous year in Britain and passed in Northern Europe, proclaimed him Caesar
Caesar (title)
Caesar is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator...

, and sent him with the general Gerontius
Gerontius (general)
Gerontius was a general of the Western Roman Empire, who first supported the usurper Constantine III and later opposed him in favour of another usurper, Maximus of Hispania.- Usurpation of Constantine III :Gerontius probably was of Breton origin...

 and the prefect Apollinaris into Hispania
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....

, to rule the province and fight some members of the House of Theodosius (four cousins of Honorius
Honorius (emperor)
Honorius , was Western Roman Emperor from 395 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of the eastern emperor Arcadius....

 -- Theodosiolus, Lagodius, Didimus and Verenianus) who had not recognised Constantine and had stayed loyal to the Emperor. After some initial defeats, Constans captured two of his enemies (Didymus and Theodosiolus), while the other two fled to Constantinople. He left his wife and household at Zaragoza under the care of Gerontius to return to report to Arles, where the two prisoners were put to death .

In Autumn 409, some barbarian population plundered Gaul, reached the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...

, swept away Roman defences and entered in Hispania. Constantine, without the approval of the Emperor Honorius
Honorius (emperor)
Honorius , was Western Roman Emperor from 395 to 423. He was the younger son of emperor Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of the eastern emperor Arcadius....

 elevated Constans to the rank of Augustus; Constans was to go to Hispania to settle the matter, but before leaving news came that Gerontius had stopped the invaders, had rebelled to Constantine, and had proclaimed Emperor one of his men, Maximus of Hispania
Maximus of Hispania
Maximus, also called Maximus Tiranus, was Roman usurper in Hispania . He had been elected by general Gerontius, who might have been his father....

. With the support of the barbarians, Gerontius spread over Constantine's territory; in 411, he captured the city of Vienne
Vienne, Isère
Vienne is a commune in south-eastern France, located south of Lyon, on the Rhône River. It is the second largest city after Grenoble in the Isère department, of which it is a subprefecture. The city's population was of 29,400 as of the 2001 census....

 and put Constans to death.

Legend

British legend, aided by Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth was a cleric and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography and the popularity of tales of King Arthur...

, states that Constans was elected by the Britons as king after Constantine's death. This contradicts the known history of Constans, as does the remainder of his British story. The legend claims Constans, older brother to Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther Pendragon
Uther Pendragon
Uther Pendragon is a legendary king of sub-Roman Britain and the father of King Arthur.A few minor references to Uther appear in Old Welsh poems, but his biography was first written down by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae , and Geoffrey's account of the character was used in...

, spent his early life studying at a monastery. During the succession crisis following Constantine's murder, Vortigern
Vortigern
Vortigern , also spelled Vortiger and Vortigen, was a 5th-century warlord in Britain, a leading ruler among the Britons. His existence is considered likely, though information about him is shrouded in legend. He is said to have invited the Saxons to settle in Kent as mercenaries to aid him in...

, leader of the Gewissei tribe of Celts, convinced Constans to leave the religious life and become king. The weak and unpopular former monk became a puppet, putting all but the title of his office into the hands of Vortigern. Vortigern eventually disposed of him by tricking some Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...

, liaisons in his employ, into murdering him in his sleep. The treacherous Vortigern took the throne for himself.

Primary sources

  • Zosimus
    Zosimus
    Zosimus was a Byzantine historian, who lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I . According to Photius, he was a comes, and held the office of "advocate" of the imperial treasury.- Historia Nova :...

    , Historia Nova, Book 6 Historia Nova
  • Orosius, Historiae adversum Paganos, 7.40

Secondary sources

  • Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin
    Arnold Hugh Martin Jones
    Arnold Hugh Martin Jones — known as A.H.M. Jones — was a prominent 20th century British historian of classical antiquity, particularly of the later Roman Empire.-Biography:...

    , John Robert Martindale, John Morris
    John Morris (historian)
    John Robert Morris was an English historian who specialised in the study of the institutions of the Roman Empire and the history of Sub-Roman Britain...

    , The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, volume 2, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN ISBN 0521201594
  • 3 Elton, Hugh, "Constans III (409-411 A.D.)", D.I.R.
  • Bury, J. B., A History of the Later Roman Empire from Arcadius to Irene, Vol. I (1889)
  • Gibbon, Edward, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1888)
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