Constans Flavius Julius
320 – 350 · Generation XVII · Western emperor (r. AD 337–350) · Constantinian
Constans (AD 320 – AD 350). Western emperor (r. AD 337–350). Ruled the West for thirteen years and was hunted down by the usurper Magnentius’s men near the Pyrenees. Caesar from 333, he received Italy, Illyricum and Africa in the division that followed his father’s death, and opened his reign with a victory over the Sarmatians. When his eldest brother invaded Italy in 340, Constans’s forces killed him near Aquileia, and the prefecture of Gaul fell to him as well. With his remaining brother Constantius II the friction never eased, not least over the exiled bishop Athanasius of Alexandria — who repaid his protector by eulogizing him as “the most pious Augustus”. He campaigned against the Franks, and in 343 crossed to Roman Britain, the last legitimate emperor to set foot there until Manuel II more than a thousand years later. The surviving accounts charge him with misrule, though they may echo the propaganda of the faction that overthrew him.
One of 10 people of Constantinian (246–363) in this archive. Constantine’s house — the first Christian emperors, and a new capital in the east.
Line of descent: Constantius Chlorus → Constantine the Great → Constans Flavius Julius.
Parents
- Constantine the Great (272 – 337)
- Fausta Flavia Maxima (289 – 326)
Siblings
- Crispus Flavius Julius (300 – 326) (half)
- Constantine II Flavius Claudius (316 – 340)
- Constantius II Flavius Julius (317 – 361)
- Constantina Flavia Julia (318 – 354)
- Helena the Younger (325 – 360)