biography
| name: |
Constantine I (Emperor),
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known as the Great, originally Flavius Valerius Constantinus
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (c.274–337)
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| biography:
| Roman emperor, born in Naissus, Moesia, the eldest son of Constantius Chlorus. Though proclaimed emperor by the army at York on his father's death in 306, it was not until his defeat of Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge in Rome (312) that he became emperor of the West; and only with his victory over Licinius, the emperor of the East, that he became sole emperor (324). Believing that his victory in 312 was the work of the Christian God, he became the first emperor to promote Christianity, from which came the byname ‘Great’. His Edict of Milan (313), issued jointly with Licinius, brought toleration to Christians throughout the empire, and his new capital at Constantinople, founded on the strategically important site of Byzantium (324), was from the outset a Christian city. |
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