Flavia Maxima Constantia
Encyclopedia
Flavia Maxima Constantia (361/362 – 383) was the first Empress consort of Gratian
of the Western Roman Empire
.
, Constantia was a posthumous child of Constantius II
by his third wife Faustina
. Her paternal grandparents were Constantine the Great and Fausta
.
Her paternal uncles included Crispus
, Constantine II
and Constans
. Her paternal aunts included Constantina
, wife of first Hannibalianus
and secondly Constantius Gallus
, and Helena
, wife of Julian the Apostate
.
, Cilicia
. He was heading west to face a revolt by Julian, his first cousin and brother-in-law. In a reported deathbed decision, Constantius officially acknowledged Julian as his heir. When Constantia was born sometime after, Julian was already firmly established on the throne.
On 26 June 363, Julian was fatally wounded in the Battle of Samarra
against the forces of Shapur II
of the Sassanid Empire
. He died a few hours following the conclusion of the battle. His death left Constantia the last confirmed descendant of the Constantinian dynasty
.
Constantia and her mother Faustina were present when Procopius
received the insignia of the imperial rites in Constantinople
. Faustina and her little daughter's presence suggested that Procopius was the rightful heir of the Constantinian dynasty
which was still held in reverence. Ammianus Marcellinus tells that Procopius "always bore with him on a litter the little daughter of Constantius and grand daughter of the great Constantine, with her mother Faustina, both when marching and when preparing for battle, thus exciting the soldiers to fight more resolutely for the imperial family, with which, as he told them, he himself was connected." At age four Constantia had become an instrument in another conflict for the Roman throne. On 27 May 366, Procopius was executed. Faustina does not resurface in sources following this defeat of her faction. Constantia survived the fall of her kinsman.
, Constantia and her escort were attacked by a raiding party including Quadi
and Sarmatians
. She barely evaded captivity. On 27 June 374, the dedication of a bath complex in Calabria
, first mentions Constantia as an empress alongside her stepmother-in-law Justina.
Within the year following the marriage, Valentinian I moved his headquarters to Aquincum
, Pannonia
to be better able to coordinate his conflict with the Quadi. Gratian and Constantia were left in charge of Trier
, implying that Gratian had started acting as co-ruler in more than name Gratian soon became the senior Western Emperor, with his younger half-brother Valentinian II
proclaimed co-emperor.
In 380, John Chrysostom
mentions Constantia still being alive. She is next mentioned in the Chronicon Paschale
dating the arrival of her remains in Constantinople to 31 August 383. She must have died earlier in the same year but the exact date and cause of her death are unknown. She was about twenty-one at the time of her death. Gratian had proceeded to marry Laeta but was himself assassinated on 25 August 383. The Chronicon gives her burial date as 1 December 383.
Gratian
Gratian was Roman Emperor from 375 to 383.The eldest son of Valentinian I, during his youth Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers. Upon the death of Valentinian in 375, Gratian's brother Valentinian II was declared emperor by his father's soldiers...
of the Western Roman Empire
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
.
Family
According to Ammianus MarcellinusAmmianus Marcellinus
Ammianus Marcellinus was a fourth-century Roman historian. He wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Antiquity...
, Constantia was a posthumous child of Constantius II
Constantius II
Constantius II , was Roman Emperor from 337 to 361. The second son of Constantine I and Fausta, he ascended to the throne with his brothers Constantine II and Constans upon their father's death....
by his third wife Faustina
Faustina (empress)
Faustina was an Empress of the Roman Empire and third wife of Emperor Constantius II. The main source for her biography is the account of historian Ammianus Marcellinus. Her origins and other names are unknown.-Marriage:...
. Her paternal grandparents were Constantine the Great and Fausta
Fausta
Fausta Flavia Maxima was a Roman Empress, daughter of the Roman Emperor Maximianus. To seal the alliance between them for control of the Tetrarchy, in 307 Maximianus married her to Constantine I, who set aside his wife Minervina in her favour. Constantine and Fausta had been betrothed since...
.
Her paternal uncles included Crispus
Crispus
Flavius Julius Crispus , also known as Flavius Claudius Crispus and Flavius Valerius Crispus, was a Caesar of the Roman Empire. He was the first-born son of Constantine I and Minervina.-Birth:...
, Constantine II
Constantine II (emperor)
Constantine II , was Roman Emperor from 337 to 340. Co-emperor alongside his brothers, his short reign saw the beginnings of conflict emerge between the sons of Constantine the Great, and his attempt to exert his perceived rights of primogeniture ended up causing his death in a failed invasion of...
and Constans
Constans
Constans , was Roman Emperor from 337 to 350. He defeated his brother Constantine II in 340, but anger in the army over his personal life and preference for his barbarian bodyguards saw the general Magnentius rebel, resulting in Constans’ assassination in 350.-Career:Constans was the third and...
. Her paternal aunts included Constantina
Constantina
Constantina , and later known as Saint Constance, was the eldest daughter of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great and his second wife Fausta, daughter of Emperor Maximian...
, wife of first Hannibalianus
Hannibalianus
Flavius Hannibalianus was a member of the Constantinian dynasty, which ruled over the Roman Empire in the 4th century.Hannibalianus was the son of Flavius Dalmatius, and thus nephew of Constantine I...
and secondly Constantius Gallus
Constantius Gallus
Flavius Claudius Constantius Gallus , commonly known as Constantius Gallus, was a member of the Constantinian dynasty and Caesar of the Roman Empire . Gallus was consul three years, from 352 to 354.- Family :...
, and Helena
Helena, wife of Julian
Helena was the wife of Julian, Roman Emperor in 360–363. She was briefly his Empress consort when Julian was proclaimed Augustus by his troops in 360. She died prior to the resolution of his conflict with Constantius II.-Family:...
, wife of Julian the Apostate
Julian the Apostate
Julian "the Apostate" , commonly known as Julian, or also Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer....
.
Early life
On 5 October 361, Constantius II died of a fever at Mopsucrenae, near TarsusTarsus (city)
Tarsus is a historic city in south-central Turkey, 20 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea. It is part of the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Turkey with a population of 2.75 million...
, Cilicia
Cilicia
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
. He was heading west to face a revolt by Julian, his first cousin and brother-in-law. In a reported deathbed decision, Constantius officially acknowledged Julian as his heir. When Constantia was born sometime after, Julian was already firmly established on the throne.
On 26 June 363, Julian was fatally wounded in the Battle of Samarra
Battle of Samarra
The Battle of Samarra took place 26 June 363, after the invasion of Sassanid Persia by the Roman Emperor Julian. A major skirmish, the fighting was indecisive but Julian was killed in the battle...
against the forces of Shapur II
Shapur II
Shapur II the Great was the ninth King of the Persian Sassanid Empire from 309 to 379 and son of Hormizd II. During his long reign, the Sassanid Empire saw its first golden era since the reign of Shapur I...
of the Sassanid Empire
Sassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
. He died a few hours following the conclusion of the battle. His death left Constantia the last confirmed descendant of the Constantinian dynasty
Constantinian dynasty
The Constantinian dynasty is an informal name for the ruling family of the Roman Empire from Constantius Chlorus to the death of Julian in 363. It is named after its most famous member, Constantine the Great who became the sole ruler of the empire in 324...
.
Constantia and her mother Faustina were present when Procopius
Procopius (usurper)
Procopius was a Roman usurper against Valens, and member of the Constantinian dynasty.- Life :According to Ammianus Marcellinus, Procopius was a native and spent his youth in Cilicia, probably in Corycus. On his mother's side, Procopius was related, a maternal cousin, to Emperor Julian, since...
received the insignia of the imperial rites in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
. Faustina and her little daughter's presence suggested that Procopius was the rightful heir of the Constantinian dynasty
Constantinian dynasty
The Constantinian dynasty is an informal name for the ruling family of the Roman Empire from Constantius Chlorus to the death of Julian in 363. It is named after its most famous member, Constantine the Great who became the sole ruler of the empire in 324...
which was still held in reverence. Ammianus Marcellinus tells that Procopius "always bore with him on a litter the little daughter of Constantius and grand daughter of the great Constantine, with her mother Faustina, both when marching and when preparing for battle, thus exciting the soldiers to fight more resolutely for the imperial family, with which, as he told them, he himself was connected." At age four Constantia had become an instrument in another conflict for the Roman throne. On 27 May 366, Procopius was executed. Faustina does not resurface in sources following this defeat of her faction. Constantia survived the fall of her kinsman.
Empress consort
In 374, Constantia would be about twelve-years-old. She was just reaching marriage-able age when she was sent west to marry Gratian, eldest son and co-ruler of Valentinian I. He was about fourteen. Near SirmiumSirmium
Sirmium was a city in ancient Roman Pannonia. Firstly mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by the Illyrians and Celts, it was conquered by the Romans in the 1st century BC and subsequently became the capital of the Roman province of Lower Pannonia. In 294 AD, Sirmium was...
, Constantia and her escort were attacked by a raiding party including Quadi
Quadi
The Quadi were a smaller Germanic tribe, about which little is definitively known. We only know the Germanic tribe the Romans called the 'Quadi' through reports of the Romans themselves...
and Sarmatians
Sarmatians
The Iron Age Sarmatians were an Iranian people in Classical Antiquity, flourishing from about the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD....
. She barely evaded captivity. On 27 June 374, the dedication of a bath complex in Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
, first mentions Constantia as an empress alongside her stepmother-in-law Justina.
Within the year following the marriage, Valentinian I moved his headquarters to Aquincum
Aquincum
The ancient city of Aquincum was situated on the North-Eastern borders of the Pannonia province within the Roman Empire. The ruins of the city can be found today in Budapest, the capital city of Hungary...
, Pannonia
Pannonia
Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
to be better able to coordinate his conflict with the Quadi. Gratian and Constantia were left in charge of Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
, implying that Gratian had started acting as co-ruler in more than name Gratian soon became the senior Western Emperor, with his younger half-brother Valentinian II
Valentinian II
Flavius Valentinianus , commonly known as Valentinian II, was Roman Emperor from 375 to 392.-Early Life and Accession :...
proclaimed co-emperor.
In 380, John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom , Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and his ascetic...
mentions Constantia still being alive. She is next mentioned in the Chronicon Paschale
Chronicon Paschale
Chronicon Paschale is the conventional name of a 7th-century Greek Christian chronicle of the world...
dating the arrival of her remains in Constantinople to 31 August 383. She must have died earlier in the same year but the exact date and cause of her death are unknown. She was about twenty-one at the time of her death. Gratian had proceeded to marry Laeta but was himself assassinated on 25 August 383. The Chronicon gives her burial date as 1 December 383.
External links
- Her article in the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
- Her article in the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire
- An article on her mother by Michael DiMaio, Jr.
- An article on her husband by Walter E. Roberts
- Page in "Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D." (2003) by Noel Emmanuel Lenski mentioning her marriage
- Page in "The Roman Empire at Bay: AD 180-395" (2004) by David Stone Potter mentioning her marriage