title: Lauryn Hill

text: In December 2003, Hill, during a performance in Vatican City, spoke of the "corruption, exploitation, and abuses" in reference to the molestation of boys by Catholic priests in the United States and the cover-up of offenses by Catholic Church officials. High-ranking church officials were in attendance, but Pope John Paul II was not present. The Catholic League called Hill "pathologically miserable" and claimed her career was "in decline". The following day, several reporters suggested that Hill's comments at the Vatican may have been influenced by her spiritual advisor, Brother Anthony.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In 2004, Hill contributed a new song, "The Passion", to "". A remix version with John Legend of his "So High" ended up receiving a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Around this time, Hill began selling a pay-per-view music video of the song "Social Drugs" through her website. Those who purchase the $15 video would only be able to view it three times before it expired. In addition to the video, Hill began selling autographed posters and Polaroids through her website, with some items listed at upwards of $500.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: For the first time since 1997, the Fugees performed in September 2004 at "Dave Chappelle's Block Party" in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The concert featured Hill's nearly a cappella rendition of "Killing Me Softly". The event was recorded by director Michel Gondry and was released on March 3, 2006, to universal acclaim. The Fugees also appeared at BET Awards 2005 during June 2005, where they opened the show with a 12-minute set. One track, "Take It Easy", was leaked online and thereafter was released as an Internet single in late September. It peaked at No. 40 on the "Billboard" R&B Chart.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In 2005, she told "USA Today", "If I make music now, it will only be to provide information to my own children. If other people benefit from it, then so be it." When asked how she now felt about the songs on "2.0", she stated "a lot of the songs were transitional. The music was about how I was feeling at the time, even though I was documenting my distress as well as my bursts of joy."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: The Fugees embarked on a European tour in late 2005. Old tensions between Hill and the other members of the group soon resurfaced, and the reunion ended before an album could be recorded; Jean and Michel both blamed Hill for the split. Hill reportedly demanded to be addressed by everyone, including her bandmates, as "Ms. Hill"; she also considered changing her moniker to "Empress". Hill's tardiness was also cited as a contributing factor.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill began touring on her own, although to mixed reviews; often arriving late to concerts (sometimes by over two hours), performing unpopular reconfigurations of her songs and sporting an exaggerated appearance. On some occasions, fans have booed her and left early. In June 2007, Sony Records said Hill had been recording through the past decade, had accumulated considerable unreleased material and had re-entered the studio with the goal of making a new album. Later that same year, an album titled "Ms. Hill", which featured cuts from "Miseducation", various soundtracks contributions and other "unreleased" songs, was released. It features guest appearances from D'Angelo, Rah Digga and John Forté. Also in June 2007, Hill released a new song, "Lose Myself", on the soundtrack to the film "Surf's Up".


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In early 2008, Marley and Hill's fifth child, Sara, was born. The couple were not living together, although Marley considered them "spiritually together" even while listing himself as single on social media. Hill later said that she and Marley "have [had] a long and complex history about which many inaccuracies have been reported since the beginning" and that they both valued their privacy. By August 2008, Hill was living with her mother and children in her hometown of South Orange, New Jersey.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Reports in mid-2008 claimed that Columbia Records then believed Hill to be on hiatus. Marley disputed these claims, telling an interviewer that Hill has enough material for several albums: "She writes music in the bathroom, on toilet paper, on the wall. She writes it in the mirror if the mirror smokes up. She writes constantly. This woman does not sleep". One of the few public appearances Hill made in 2008 was at a Martha Stewart book-signing in New Jersey, perplexing some in the press.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In April 2009, it was reported that Hill would engage in a 10-day tour of European summer festivals during mid-July of that year. She performed two shows for the tour and passed out on stage during the start of her second performance and left the stage. She refused to provide refunds for angry consumers. On June 10, Hill's management informed the promoters of the Stockholm Jazz Festival, which she was scheduled to headline, that she would not be performing due to unspecified "health reasons." Shortly afterward, the rest of the tour was canceled as well.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In January 2010, Hill returned to the live stage and performed in stops across New Zealand and Australia on the Raggamuffin Music Festival. Many of the songs that Hill had performed and recorded over the past six years were included on an April 2010 unofficial compilation album titled "Khulami Phase". The album also features a range of other material found on the "Ms. Hill" compilation. Hill appeared at the Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, California, in June 2010, her first live American performance in several years. An unreleased song called "Repercussions" was leaked via the Internet in late July 2010, debuting at No. 94 on "Billboard"'s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (and peaked at No. 83 the following week), making it her first Billboard chart appearance as a lead artist since 1999.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill joined the Rock the Bells hip-hop festival series in the U.S. during August 2010, and as part of that year's theme of rendering classic albums, she performed "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" in its entirety for the first time. She increased the tempo and urgency from the original recording, but at times had difficulty in communicating with her band. Hill continued touring, including a set at the 6th Annual Jazz in the Gardens, in Miami Gardens, Florida in December. In Spring 2011, Hill performed at the Coachella Valley Music Festival, New Orleans Jazz Fest, and at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. In July 2011, Hill gave birth to her sixth child, Micah, her first not with Rohan Marley; the father remains publicly unknown.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In February 2012, Hill performed a new song titled "Fearless Vampire Killer", during a sold-out performance at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C. In late 2012, Hill toured with rapper Nas; her portion of the tour, titled Black Rage, is named after her song, released October 30. Hill has described the song as being "about the derivative effects of racial inequity and abuse" and "a juxtaposition to the statement 'life is good,' which she believes can only be so when these long standing issues are addressed and resolved."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In June 2012, Hill was charged with three counts of tax fraud or failing to file taxes (Title 26 USC § 7202 Willful failure to collect or pay over tax) not tax evasion on $1.8 million of income earned between 2005 and 2007. During this time she had toured as a musical artist, earned royalties from both her records and from films she had appeared in, and had owned and been in charge of multiple corporations. In a long post to her Tumblr, Hill said that she had gone "underground" and had rejected pop culture's "climate of hostility, false entitlement, manipulation, racial prejudice, sexism, and ageism." She added, "When I was working consistently without being affected by the interferences mentioned above, I filed and paid my taxes. This only stopped when it was necessary to withdraw from society, in order to guarantee the safety and well-being of myself and my family."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In June 2012, Hill appeared in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark and pleaded guilty to the charges. Her attorney said she would make restitution for the back taxes she owed. By April 2013, Hill had paid back only $50,000 of the $554,000 she owed immediately. U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo criticized Hill, saying "This is not someone who stands before the court penniless. This is a criminal matter. Actions speak louder than words, and there has been no effort here to pay these taxes." Hill faced possible eviction from her rented home in South Orange as well as a civil lawsuit from the town for running a business out of a home without a zoning permit.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: On May 4, 2013, Hill released her first official single in over a decade, "Neurotic Society (Compulsory Mix)". She later published a message on her Tumblr describing how she was "required to release [it] immediately, by virtue of the impending legal deadline." The release received some criticism for lyrics that appeared to tie societal decay to certain LGBT social movements. Hill responded that the song was not targeted at any particular group but was instead focused on anyone hiding behind neurotic behavior. Following a deal with Sony Music, which involves Hill creating a new record label within the company, Hill was said to be scheduled to release her first album in fifteen years during 2013.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: On May 6, 2013, Hill was sentenced by Judge Arleo to serve three months in prison for failing to file taxes/tax fraud and three months' house arrest afterwards as part of a year of supervised probation. She had faced a possible sentence of as long as 36 months, and the sentence given took into account her lack of a prior criminal record and her six minor-aged children. By this point Hill had fully paid back $970,000 in back taxes and penalties she owed, which also took into account an additional $500,000 that Hill had in unreported income for 2008 and 2009. In the courtroom, Hill said that she had lived "very modestly" considering how much money she had made for others, and that "I am a child of former slaves who had a system imposed on them. I had an economic system imposed on me." Hill reported to the minimum-security Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury on July 8, 2013, to begin serving her sentence.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill was released from prison on October 4, 2013, a few days early for good behavior, and began her home confinement and probationary periods. She put out a single called "Consumerism" that she had finished, via verbal and e-mailed instructions, while incarcerated. Judge Arleo allowed her to postpone part of her confinement in order to tour in late 2013 under strict conditions.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: During 2014, Hill was heard as the narrator of "Concerning Violence", an award-winning Swedish documentary on the African liberation struggles of the 1960s and 1970s. She also continued to draw media attention for her erratic behavior, appearing late twice in the same day for sets at Voodoo Fest in November 2014.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In May 2015, Hill canceled her scheduled concert outside Tel Aviv in Israel following a social media campaign from activists promoting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign. She said she had wanted to also perform a show in Ramallah in the West Bank but logistical problems had proved too great. Hill stated: "It is very important to me that my presence or message not be misconstrued, or a source of alienation to either my Israeli or my Palestinian fans."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill contributed her voice to the soundtrack for "What Happened, Miss Simone?", a 2015 documentary about the life of Nina Simone, an American singer, pianist, and civil rights activist. Hill was originally supposed to record only two songs for the record, but ended up recording six. She also served as a producer on the compilation alongside Robert Glasper. Hill said of her connection to Simone: "Because I fed on this music ... I believed I always had a right to have a voice. Her example is clearly a form of sustenance to a generation needing to find theirs. What a gift." NPR critically praised Hill's performance on the soundtrack, stating: "This album mainly showcases Lauryn Hill's breadth and dexterity. Not formally marketed as Hill's comeback album, her six tracks here make this her most comprehensive set of studio recordings since "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" in 1998."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In April 2016, Hill hosted and headlined what was billed as the inaugural "Diaspora Calling!" festival at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn. The festival's purpose was to showcase the efforts of musicians and artists from around the African diaspora like Brooklyn Haitian Rara band Brother High Full tempo. The following month, Hill was approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes late for her show at the Chastain Park Amphitheatre in Atlanta, though members of Hill's team claimed it was only an hour after their scheduled start time. Moments after the less-than-40-minute show ended due to the venue's strict 11:00 p.m. closing time, Hill said her driver had gotten lost and she could not help that. Less than 48 hours later, after a large backlash from her fans on Twitter, she took to her Facebook page and stated she was late for the concert because of certain needs, including her need to "align her energy with the time."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill recorded a studio version of her song, "Guarding the Gates", for the movie "Queen & Slim" which was released on November 27, 2019. She had been singing this song during live performances for several years prior to the recording for the movie. This song appears on the album, "Queen & Slim: The Soundtrack".


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In 2012, she pleaded guilty to tax evasion and served a three-month prison sentence the following year.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill is widely considered to be one of the greatest rappers of all time, and has often been called the greatest female rapper. "The New York Times" once referred to Hill as "the most popular woman in hip-hop". Rapper Kool Moe Dee gave Hill the highest score of any rapper on his rap 'Report Cards' list from the book, "Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists." Furthermore Beyoncé once stated that she is "one of the best hip-hop rappers ever". In 1998, "Time" declared her as the "Queen of Hip Hop". The Academy of Achievement, "The Boston Globe", and "Billboard", among others, have also crowned her with the same title. In 2015, "Billboard" named her the seventh greatest rapper of all time on their "10 Best Rappers of All Time" list, with Hill being the only female rapper on the list.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Music critic Brandon Tensley argued that "few artists have marked culture as profoundly as Hill did with her solo debut". In 2012, "VH1" ranked Hill as one of the Greatest Woman in Music. Hill was also included on the "NPR" list of the '50 Great Voices'; and on the "Consequence of Sound" list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. In 2019, Hill ranked No. 1 on the "Ranker" poll of the greatest singer/rappers.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: With her solo music and work with Fugees, Hill is often credited as the artist who popularized the technique of blending rap and melodic singing together into one single song, sometimes referred to as melodic rap; this has since become popular, with many modern artists like Beyoncé, Drake, Nicki Minaj and Kanye West emulating it. Writing for "The Ringer", author Musa Okwonga wrote "Decades before the ubiquity of the MC who could also croon, she could channel the greatness of Nina Simone and Rakim in the same set." In Complex, Andy Gee commented that "the modern music landscape is dominated by artists like Drake and Nicki Minaj, who fall in the Lauryn Hill archetype as traditionalist-appeasing MCs who have records where they’re singing their hearts out."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Former RIAA president Hilary Rosen, recognized Hill as a leading contributor to the blurring of lines that distinguished hip hop and R&B. Minaj alluded to Hill's impact on melodic rap on the song "Can Anybody Hear Me", where she mentions that prior to fame, Def Jam Recordings wouldn't sign her because she wanted to integrate rapping and singing on her album, but the record label told her she "wasn't Lauryn Hill". Lizzo who started her career as a rapper, later incorporated singing into her debut record. She stated in an interview in 2018, "I was always afraid of being a singer, but then when I heard Lauryn Hill, I was like, maybe I can do both", further adding that her debut album drew influence from "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill", "rapping, singing, being political". According to Da Brat, Hill's "sound shifted the whole game".


title: Lauryn Hill

text: "Billboard" asserted in its 'The Lauryn Hill Effect' column that her early success was considered to be a breakthrough for female rappers. Author Nelson George noted, "the presence of women is increasing. The "Lauryn effect" is going to be very profound"; while Missy Elliott also added that "women are taking a stand and trying to get their foot in everything. Once the door's open for one, it's open for the next woman. Latifah opened the door for doing TV, and she might have opened it for Brandy. Now, it's open for everybody. This is just the beginning".


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In 1999, a public survey was conducted by MTV, which directly impacted its programming. In the survey, she was ranked the most respected solo artist, and placed among the acts that participants thought best defined their generation; with former Viacom executive Todd Cunningham referring to Hill as a "massive phenomenon". Music journalist Danyel Smith credited Hill with reviving the hip hop genre, following the murders of The Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill has often been cited as one of the most influential entertainers of her generation. In 2021, "Pitchfork" named her as one of the 200 most influential artists since 1996. Many artists have named Lauryn Hill as an inspiration to their careers, including pop artists Adele, Beyoncé, Dua Lipa, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Mumford & Sons, SZA, Doja Cat, H.E.R., P!nk, Kelly Clarkson; rappers Kanye West, Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Nicki Minaj, Nas, Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown, Rapsody; Afrobeats singers Tems, and Wizkid; and K-pop artists Jennie of Blackpink, CL of 2NE1, and RM of BTS.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Producer Savan Kotecha told "Vulture" that he and Ariana Grande were influenced by her and "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" album during the recording of Grande's fourth studio album "Sweetener". Multiple artists have titled their projects after the album including Freddie Gibbs ("The Miseducation of Freddie Gibbs)", Calboy & Lil Wayne ("Miseducation"), and Lil' Kim ("Mis-education of Lil' Kim"). Beyoncé also cited Hill as an inspiration to her during the making of her fourth album "4". Additional albums that were inspired by Hill include "Daytona" by Pusha T, "The College Dropout" by Kanye West, and "Immunity" by Clairo. Nicki Minaj has made mention of Hill's influence on her on multiple occasions; Including on 2020 US number one single "Say So Remix", In which Minaj raps, "Spittin' like Weezy, Foxy, plus Lauryn". Minaj has also referred to Hill as her idol and quoted the artist in her high school yearbook.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: John Legend attributes his early career success and his launch into the music industry to Hill, who gave him his first major opportunity as a pianist on the song "Everything Is Everything". Rapsody and Bebe Rexha have both cited Hill as their biggest musical inspiration, as well as UK grime rapper Stormzy naming her his biggest female musical influence. Furthermore musicians Erykah Badu and Jazmine Sullivan have both mentioned her as their musical hero. In addition Kehlani has a tattoo of Hill on her arm.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: After performing with Hill, The Weeknd described the experience as the "most important experience of my life". During her 2018 Grammy award acceptance speech, Spanish singer Rosalía thanked her for being influential to her. Ella Mai, Rihanna, H.E.R., Dan Smith of Bastille, and Adele have all called "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" their personal favorite album, musician Childish Gambino stated that it's his most-listened to album, while rappers J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar have cited it as their favorite album by a female artist.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: "Billboard" stated that Hill "is to hip-hop as a gardener is to soil", and added that "the rapper/singer planted classic gems in her catalog — especially her pristine 1998 debut "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" — that have become samples for many rap game MVPs".


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Her single "Doo Wop (That Thing)", was sampled by Drake (on the song "Draft Day"), Kanye West (on "Believe What I Say" from his album "Donda"), and interpolated by Lizzo (on the song "Break up Twice" from her album "Special"). In 2018, Hill became one of the most sampled artists of the year, when her single "Ex-Factor" was sampled on Cardi B's "Be Careful" and Drake's "Nice for What", while A$AP Rocky and Frank Ocean released "Purity" which sampled "I Gotta Find Peace of Mind". J. Cole's songs "Cole Summer" and "Can I Holla At Ya" from his EP "Truly Yours", both contain samples of songs from "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill's vocals from the her songs with the Fugees has been sampled or interpolated by countless artists, including Dj Khaled & Nas, Busta Rhymes, The Weeknd & Kendrick Lamar, Meek Mill, Jay-Z (on the song "Moonlight", from his "" album), and Mariah Carey released (on the single "Save the Day", from her compilation album "The Rarities"). Furthermore, multiple artists have sampled Hill's songs from her live album "MTV Unplugged No. 2.0" including Frank Ocean (on the Jazmine Sullivan-featured "Rushes" from his 2016 album "Endless"), Method Man ("Say"). and most notably Kanye West ("All Falls Down" featuring Syleena Johnson).


title: Lauryn Hill

text: The Broadway musical "Hamilton" was heavily influenced by Hill, with creator Lin-Manuel Miranda naming Hill as his favorite rapper, and referencing Hill's single "Lost Ones" on the song "We Know", and Hill's verse from the Fugees single "Ready or Not", on the song "Helpless" from the musical. "The Simpsons" episode "The Miseducation of Lisa Simpson" was titled after Hill's debut solo album. The BET network series "Tales", episode "Ex-Factor", was based on and titled after Hill's single of the same name.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In 1999, Hill partnered with Levi Strauss & Co. to create custom outfits for her "Miseducation Tour". The partnership ushered in a new generation of black musicians partnerships with major brands, with journalist Thembisa Mshaka of "Okayplayer" proclaiming "when Levi Strauss put its name next to Lauryn Hill, a new course was charted. The Fortune 500 brand partnerships with black musicians that are ubiquitous today were seeded by the success of Lauryn's solo debut". A custom ensemble made for Hill by Levi's was put on display during the "Levi Strauss: A History of American Style" exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Well known for styling her hair in locs, braids, bantu knots and afros, Hill is often associated with the revival of the natural hair movement. She has been credited as one of the people who’ve helped normalize locs, and introduced them to pop culture. Author Joan Morgan noted that "for a young person who was growing up in the '90s and liked that natural look but didn't want to identify as Rasta, there was really no example until Lauryn Hill." Hill is also frequently listed among the people who've defined modern bantu knots and afros. "Ebony" noted that she "helped to usher in a new standard of beauty for Black women -one grounded in the richness and authenticity of their African heritage."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: PopSugar placed her on their list of the '18 Moments in Hair History That Changed the World', and wrote "When searching for the originator in the recent natural hair revival, you must look to Lauryn Hill. She emerged as the feminine lead in The Fugees and broke Grammy records as a soloist, all while popularizing dreadlocks in the mainstream." "Stylist" mentioned Hill gracing the cover of "Time" in locs, and being named on of "People"'s 50 Most Beautiful People in 1999, as one of the most definitive moments in the history of black hair.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In an interview with "Vogue", R&B singer SZA, stated "The only girl that I could look to for natural hair inspiration growing up was Lauryn Hill." According to celebrity hairstylist Yusef Williams, who styled Rihanna's hair on the set of "Ocean's 8", the singer "channeled her inner Lauryn Hill" while wearing locs for her role in the movie. Halle Bailey named Hill as one of her beauty icons, while mentioning "I love Lauryn Hill's hair".


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In 2015, "Vogue" mentioned her as one of the female hip hop entertainers of 1990s, whose style they considered to be influential to 2010s fashion, with Emily Barasch of "Vogue", writing "Lauryn Hill's sense of style endures today, as nineties nostalgia continues to pervade the runways." She was hailed as a "fashion and music icon" by "CR Fashion Book" and was also included on the list of the most stylish rappers of all time by Complex.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: She is often named as a leading contributor in the modern popularization of the hoop earring, which first grew in popularity among black women in the 1970s, before reaching a wider audience after female hip hop artists like Hill wore them in the 1980s and 1990s. Considered as an inspiration for Kanye West's fashion; R&B singer Solange also cited Hill among her style influences in an interview for "Fashionista."


title: Lauryn Hill

text: British fashion designer John Galliano chose Hill as his muse for the 2000 Spring/Summer Dior collection, he designed; The Hill-inspired collection featured models wearing dreadlocks and hoop earrings, and introduced the Dior 'Saddle Bag', which was made famous by the character Carrie Bradshaw in the television series "Sex and the City"; and according to "Who What Wear", it is one of the ten most popular designer handbags ever. In 2017, the hip hop-based collection designed by Alexander Wang, as well as Tory Burch's resort collection, were both inspired by Hill.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: The Men's Spring/Summer 2021 Louis Vuitton collection designed by Virgil Abloh, drew influence from Hill, with Abloh mentioning Hill as his "forever muse". Hill later performed at Abloh's memorial service after he died from a rare form of cancer in December 2021. She was also named among Daniel Roseberry's influences for the Spring/Summer 2022 Schiaparelli collection. Designers Esteban Cortazar, Kerby Jean-Raymond of Pyer Moss, and Humberto Leon of Kenzo, and Demna Gvasalia of Balenciaga, have also noted her as an inspiration.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill has won numerous accolades throughout her career, including eight Grammy Awards (including Album of the Year), the most won by a female rapper, five MTV Video Music Awards (including Video of the Year), four NAACP Image Awards (including the President's Award), four Guinness World Records, and three American Music Awards. In 2021, she was among the inaugural nominees for the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame, and was inducted in 2022.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Hill won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album as a member of The Fugees, for their album "The Score", becoming the first woman to win the award. "The Score" peaked at No. 1 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, making Hill the first female rapper to top the chart as a member of The Fugees; her first solo studio album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill", also peaked at No. 1, making Hill the first solo female hip hop act to reach No. 1 on that chart. The album sold more than 422,000 copies in its first week, which had broke the record previously held by Madonna, for highest first-week sales by a female artist. Both "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" and its lead single "Doo Wop (That Thing)" debuted at No. 1 in the US, making Hill the first act to have debuted at No. 1 on both the "Billboard" 200 and Hot 100 with their first entries on each chart. The album also topped the "Billboard" Year-End Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, making it the only album by a female artist to accomplish this feat.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: At the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, Hill received ten Grammy Award nominations and won five that night, including Album of the Year, with "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" being the first Hip hop album to win the award. She also set the record for most nominations for a female artist in one night, broke the record at the time previously set by Carole King for the most wins by a female artist in one night, and became the first female rapper to win the Best New Artist award. Furthermore, she also became the first black solo act to win MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In 1999, following the success of her first solo album, Hill landed on the cover of "Time" magazine, being the only black musician to land on the cover during that decade. With "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill", she became a pioneer in the neo soul movement, when the album was one of the first in the genre to achieve mainstream success, and became the best-selling neo soul album of all time. The album has also been inducted into the Library of Congress. "NPR" ranked it 2nd on its list of "The 150 Greatest Albums Made by Women". "Rolling Stone" listed it as the 10th-Greatest Album of All Time, on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, in 2020.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: In 2021, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America(RIAA), making Hill the first female hip hop artist to ever receive a Diamond certification in the United States. That same year, "Rolling Stone" placed her single "Doo Wop (That Thing)" and the Fugees version of "Killing Me Softly" on their revised list of the 500 Greatest Songs. The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture included "Doo Wop (That Thing)" on their "Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap" box set.


title: Lauryn Hill

text: Along with having a successful music career as a member of The Fugees and as a solo artist, Hill also achieved success as a songwriter and producer for other artists. Hill has written songs for Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige, CeCe Winans and produced songs for Whitney Houston and Santana, among others. In 2015, she received the Golden Note Award from American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers(ASCAP); while additionally winning songwriting awards for her songwriting credits on Drake's "Nice for What", Aretha Franklin's "A Rose Is Still a Rose", Cardi B's "Be Careful", Mary J. Blige's "All That I Can Say", and Kanye West's "All Falls Down".


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine I (; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, and the first to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterranea (now Niš, Serbia), he was the son of Flavius Constantius, a Roman army officer of Illyrian origin who had been one of the four rulers of the Tetrarchy. His mother, Helena, was a Greek Christian of low birth. She was a saint and is attributed with the conversion of her son. Constantine served with distinction under the Roman emperors Diocletian and Galerius. He began his career by campaigning in the eastern provinces (against the Persians) before being recalled in the west (in AD 305) to fight alongside his father in Britain. After his father's death in 306, Constantine became emperor. He was acclaimed by his army at Eboracum (York, England), and eventually emerged victorious in the civil wars against emperors Maxentius and Licinius to become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire by 324.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Upon his ascension to emperor, Constantine enacted numerous reforms to strengthen the empire. He restructured the government, separating civil and military authorities. To combat inflation, he introduced the solidus, a new gold coin that became the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. The Roman army was reorganized to consist of mobile units () and garrison troops () which were capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. Constantine pursued successful campaigns against the tribes on the Roman frontiers—such as the Franks, the Alemanni, the Goths and the Sarmatians—and resettled territories abandoned by his predecessors during the Crisis of the Third Century with citizens of Roman culture.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Although he lived much of his life as a pagan and later as a catechumen, he began to favor Christianity beginning in 312, finally becoming a Christian and being baptised by either Eusebius of Nicomedia, an Arian bishop, as attested by many notable Arian historical figures, or Pope Sylvester I, which is maintained by the Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church. He played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313, which declared tolerance for Christianity in the Roman Empire. He convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325 which produced the statement of Christian belief known as the Nicene Creed. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built on his orders at the purported site of Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem and was deemed the holiest place in all of Christendom. The papal claim to temporal power in the High Middle Ages was based on the fabricated Donation of Constantine. He has historically been referred to as the "First Christian Emperor" and he did favor the Christian Church. While some modern scholars debate his beliefs and even his comprehension of Christianity, he is venerated as a saint in Eastern Christianity, and he did much for pushing Christianity towards the mainstream of Roman culture.


title: Constantine the Great

text: The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire and a pivotal moment in the transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. He built a new imperial residence at the city of Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople (now Istanbul) after himself. It subsequently became the capital of the empire for more than a thousand years, the later Eastern Roman Empire being referred to as the "Byzantine Empire" by modern historians. His more immediate political legacy was that he replaced Diocletian's Tetrarchy with the "de facto" principle of dynastic succession by leaving the empire to his sons and other members of the Constantinian dynasty. His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and for centuries after his reign. The medieval church held him up as a paragon of virtue, while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference and the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity. Beginning with the Renaissance, there were more critical appraisals of his reign with the rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources. Trends in modern and recent scholarship have attempted to balance the extremes of previous scholarship.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine was a ruler of major importance and has always been a controversial figure. The fluctuations in his reputation reflect the nature of the ancient sources for his reign. These are abundant and detailed, but they have been strongly influenced by the official propaganda of the period and are often one-sided; no contemporaneous histories or biographies dealing with his life and rule have survived. The nearest replacement is Eusebius's "Vita Constantini"—a mixture of eulogy and hagiography written between 335 and circa 339—that extols Constantine's moral and religious virtues. The "Vita" creates a contentiously positive image of Constantine, and modern historians have frequently challenged its reliability. The fullest secular life of Constantine is the anonymous "Origo Constantini", a work of uncertain date which focuses on military and political events to the neglect of cultural and religious matters.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Lactantius' "De mortibus persecutorum", a political Christian pamphlet on the reigns of Diocletian and the Tetrarchy, provides valuable but tendentious detail on Constantine's predecessors and early life. The ecclesiastical histories of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret describe the ecclesiastic disputes of Constantine's later reign. Written during the reign of Theodosius II (r. 402–450), a century after Constantine's reign, these ecclesiastical historians obscure the events and theologies of the Constantinian period through misdirection, misrepresentation, and deliberate obscurity. The contemporary writings of the orthodox Christian Athanasius and the ecclesiastical history of the Arian Philostorgius also survive, though their biases are no less firm.


title: Constantine the Great

text: The epitomes of Aurelius Victor ("De Caesaribus"), Eutropius ("Breviarium"), Festus ("Breviarium"), and the anonymous author of the "Epitome de Caesaribus" offer compressed secular political and military histories of the period. Although not Christian, the epitomes paint a favourable image of Constantine but omit reference to Constantine's religious policies. The "Panegyrici Latini", a collection of panegyrics from the late 3rd and early 4th centuries, provide valuable information on the politics and ideology of the tetrarchic period and the early life of Constantine. Contemporary architecture—such as the Arch of Constantine in Rome and palaces in Gamzigrad and Córdoba—epigraphic remains, and the coinage of the era complement the literary sources.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine was born in Naissus (today Niš, Serbia), part of the Dardania province of Moesia on 27 February, AD 272. His father was Flavius Constantius who was born in the same region (then called Dacia Ripensis) and a native of the province of Moesia. His original full name, as well as that of his father, is not known. His "praenomen" is variously given as Lucius, Marcus and Gaius. Whatever the case, "praenomina" had already disappeared from most public records by this time. He also adopted the name "Valerius", the "nomen" of emperor Diocletian, following his father's ascension as caesar.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine probably spent little time with his father who was an officer in the Roman army, part of Emperor Aurelian's imperial bodyguard. Being described as a tolerant and politically skilled man, Constantius advanced through the ranks, earning the governorship of Dalmatia from Emperor Diocletian, another of Aurelian's companions from Illyricum, in 284 or 285. Constantine's mother was Helena, a Greek woman of low social standing from Helenopolis of Bithynia. It is uncertain whether she was legally married to Constantius or merely his concubine. His main language was Latin, and during his public speeches he needed Greek translators.


title: Constantine the Great

text: In July 285, Diocletian declared Maximian, another colleague from Illyricum, his co-emperor. Each emperor would have his own court, his own military and administrative faculties, and each would rule with a separate praetorian prefect as chief lieutenant. Maximian ruled in the West, from his capitals at Mediolanum (Milan, Italy) or Augusta Treverorum (Trier, Germany), while Diocletian ruled in the East, from Nicomedia (İzmit, Turkey). The division was merely pragmatic: the empire was called "indivisible" in official panegyric, and both emperors could move freely throughout the empire. In 288, Maximian appointed Constantius to serve as his praetorian prefect in Gaul. Constantius left Helena to marry Maximian's stepdaughter Theodora in 288 or 289.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Diocletian divided the empire again in 293, appointing two caesars to rule over further subdivisions of East and West. Each would be subordinate to their respective augustus but would act with supreme authority in his assigned lands. This system would later be called the Tetrarchy. Diocletian's first appointee for the office of caesar was Constantius; his second was Galerius, a native of Felix Romuliana. According to Lactantius, Galerius was a brutal, animalistic man. Although he shared the paganism of Rome's aristocracy, he seemed to them an alien figure, a semi-barbarian. On 1 March, Constantius was promoted to the office of caesar, and dispatched to Gaul to fight the rebels Carausius and Allectus. In spite of meritocratic overtones, the Tetrarchy retained vestiges of hereditary privilege, and Constantine became the prime candidate for future appointment as caesar as soon as his father took the position. Constantine went to the court of Diocletian, where he lived as his father's heir presumptive.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine received a formal education at Diocletian's court, where he learned Latin literature, Greek, and philosophy. The cultural environment in Nicomedia was open, fluid, and socially mobile; in it, Constantine could mix with intellectuals both pagan and Christian. He may have attended the lectures of Lactantius, a Christian scholar of Latin in the city. Because Diocletian did not completely trust Constantius—none of the Tetrarchs fully trusted their colleagues—Constantine was held as something of a hostage, a tool to ensure Constantius' best behavior. Constantine was nonetheless a prominent member of the court: he fought for Diocletian and Galerius in Asia and served in a variety of tribunates; he campaigned against barbarians on the Danube in 296 and fought the Persians under Diocletian in Syria in 297, as well as under Galerius in Mesopotamia in 298–299. By late 305, he had become a tribune of the first order, a "tribunus ordinis primi".


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine had returned to Nicomedia from the eastern front by the spring of 303, in time to witness the beginnings of Diocletian's "Great Persecution", the most severe persecution of Christians in Roman history. In late 302, Diocletian and Galerius sent a messenger to the oracle of Apollo at Didyma with an inquiry about Christians. Constantine could recall his presence at the palace when the messenger returned, when Diocletian accepted his court's demands for universal persecution. On 23 February 303, Diocletian ordered the destruction of Nicomedia's new church, condemned its scriptures to the flames, and had its treasures seized. In the months that followed, churches and scriptures were destroyed, Christians were deprived of official ranks, and priests were imprisoned. It is unlikely that Constantine played any role in the persecution. In his later writings, he attempted to present himself as an opponent of Diocletian's "sanguinary edicts" against the "Worshippers of God", but nothing indicates that he opposed it effectively at the time. Although no contemporary Christian challenged Constantine for his inaction during the persecutions, it remained a political liability throughout his life.


title: Constantine the Great

text: On 1 May 305, Diocletian, as a result of a debilitating sickness taken in the winter of 304–305, announced his resignation. In a parallel ceremony in Milan, Maximian did the same. Lactantius states that Galerius manipulated the weakened Diocletian into resigning and forced him to accept Galerius' allies in the imperial succession. According to Lactantius, the crowd listening to Diocletian's resignation speech believed, until the last moment, that Diocletian would choose Constantine and Maxentius (Maximian's son) as his successors. It was not to be: Constantius and Galerius were promoted to "augusti", while Severus and Maximinus, Galerius' nephew, were appointed their caesars respectively. Constantine and Maxentius were ignored.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Some of the ancient sources detail plots that Galerius made on Constantine's life in the months following Diocletian's abdication. They assert that Galerius assigned Constantine to lead an advance unit in a cavalry charge through a swamp on the middle Danube, made him enter into single combat with a lion, and attempted to kill him in hunts and wars. Constantine always emerged victorious: the lion emerged from the contest in a poorer condition than Constantine; Constantine returned to Nicomedia from the Danube with a Sarmatian captive to drop at Galerius' feet. It is uncertain how much these tales can be trusted.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine recognized the implicit danger in remaining at Galerius' court, where he was held as a virtual hostage. His career depended on being rescued by his father in the West. Constantius was quick to intervene. In the late spring or early summer of 305, Constantius requested leave for his son to help him campaign in Britain. After a long evening of drinking, Galerius granted the request. Constantine's later propaganda describes how he fled the court in the night, before Galerius could change his mind. He rode from post-house to post-house at high speed, hamstringing every horse in his wake. By the time Galerius awoke the following morning, Constantine had fled too far to be caught. Constantine joined his father in Gaul, at Bononia (Boulogne) before the summer of 305.


title: Constantine the Great

text: From Bononia, they crossed the English Channel to Britain and made their way to Eboracum (York), capital of the province of Britannia Secunda and home to a large military base. Constantine was able to spend a year in northern Britain at his father's side, campaigning against the Picts beyond Hadrian's Wall in the summer and autumn. Constantius' campaign, like that of Septimius Severus before it, probably advanced far into the north without achieving great success. Constantius had become severely sick over the course of his reign and died on 25 July 306 in Eboracum. Before dying, he declared his support for raising Constantine to the rank of full augustus. The Alamannic king Chrocus, a barbarian taken into service under Constantius, then proclaimed Constantine as augustus. The troops loyal to Constantius' memory followed him in acclamation. Gaul and Britain quickly accepted his rule; Hispania, which had been in his father's domain for less than a year, rejected it.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine sent Galerius an official notice of Constantius' death and his own acclamation. Along with the notice, he included a portrait of himself in the robes of an augustus. The portrait was wreathed in bay. He requested recognition as heir to his father's throne and passed off responsibility for his unlawful ascension on his army, claiming they had "forced it upon him". Galerius was put into a fury by the message; he almost set the portrait and messenger on fire. His advisers calmed him and argued that outright denial of Constantine's claims would mean certain war. Galerius was compelled to compromise: he granted Constantine the title "caesar" rather than "augustus" (the latter office went to Severus instead). Wishing to make it clear that he alone gave Constantine legitimacy, Galerius personally sent Constantine the emperor's traditional purple robes. Constantine accepted the decision, knowing that it would remove doubts as to his legitimacy.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine's share of the empire consisted of Britain, Gaul, and Spain, and he commanded one of the largest Roman armies which was stationed along the important Rhine frontier. He remained in Britain after his promotion to emperor, driving back the tribes of the Picts and securing his control in the northwestern dioceses. He completed the reconstruction of military bases begun under his father's rule, and he ordered the repair of the region's roadways. He then left for Augusta Treverorum (Trier) in Gaul, the Tetrarchic capital of the northwestern Roman Empire. The Franks learned of Constantine's acclamation and invaded Gaul across the lower Rhine over the winter of 306–307. He drove them back beyond the Rhine and captured kings Ascaric and Merogais; the kings and their soldiers were fed to the beasts of Trier's amphitheatre in the "adventus" (arrival) celebrations which followed.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine began a major expansion of Trier. He strengthened the circuit wall around the city with military towers and fortified gates, and he began building a palace complex in the northeastern part of the city. To the south of his palace, he ordered the construction of a large formal audience hall and a massive imperial bathhouse. He sponsored many building projects throughout Gaul during his tenure as emperor of the West, especially in Augustodunum (Autun) and Arelate (Arles). According to Lactantius, Constantine followed a tolerant policy towards Christianity, although he was not yet a Christian. He probably judged it a more sensible policy than open persecution and a way to distinguish himself from the "great persecutor" Galerius. He decreed a formal end to persecution and returned to Christians all that they had lost during them.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine was largely untried and had a hint of illegitimacy about him; he relied on his father's reputation in his early propaganda, which gave as much coverage to his father's deeds as to his. His military skill and building projects, however, soon gave the panegyrist the opportunity to comment favourably on the similarities between father and son, and Eusebius remarked that Constantine was a "renewal, as it were, in his own person, of his father's life and reign". Constantinian coinage, sculpture, and oratory also show a tendency for disdain towards the "barbarians" beyond the frontiers. He minted a coin issue after his victory over the Alemanni which depicts weeping and begging Alemannic tribesmen, "the Alemanni conquered" beneath the phrase "Romans' rejoicing". There was little sympathy for these enemies; as his panegyrist declared, "It is a stupid clemency that spares the conquered foe."


title: Constantine the Great

text: Following Galerius' recognition of Constantine as caesar, Constantine's portrait was brought to Rome, as was customary. Maxentius mocked the portrait's subject as the son of a harlot and lamented his own powerlessness. Maxentius, envious of Constantine's authority, seized the title of emperor on 28 October 306. Galerius refused to recognize him but failed to unseat him. Galerius sent Severus against Maxentius, but during the campaign, Severus' armies, previously under command of Maxentius' father Maximian, defected, and Severus was seized and imprisoned. Maximian, brought out of retirement by his son's rebellion, left for Gaul to confer with Constantine in late 307. He offered to marry his daughter Fausta to Constantine and elevate him to augustan rank. In return, Constantine would reaffirm the old family alliance between Maximian and Constantius and offer support to Maxentius' cause in Italy. Constantine accepted and married Fausta in Trier in late summer 307. Constantine gave Maxentius his meagre support, offering Maxentius political recognition.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine remained aloof from the Italian conflict, however. Over the spring and summer of 307, he had left Gaul for Britain to avoid any involvement in the Italian turmoil; now, instead of giving Maxentius military aid, he sent his troops against Germanic tribes along the Rhine. In 308, he raided the territory of the Bructeri and made a bridge across the Rhine at Colonia Agrippinensium (Cologne). In 310, he marched to the northern Rhine and fought the Franks. When not campaigning, he toured his lands advertising his benevolence and supporting the economy and the arts. His refusal to participate in the war increased his popularity among his people and strengthened his power base in the West. Maximian returned to Rome in the winter of 307–308 but soon fell out with his son. In early 308, after a failed attempt to usurp Maxentius' title, Maximian returned to Constantine's court.


title: Constantine the Great

text: On 11 November 308, Galerius called a general council at the military city of Carnuntum (Petronell-Carnuntum, Austria) to resolve the instability in the western provinces. In attendance were Diocletian, briefly returned from retirement, Galerius, and Maximian. Maximian was forced to abdicate again and Constantine was again demoted to caesar. Licinius, one of Galerius' old military companions, was appointed augustus in the western regions. The new system did not last long: Constantine refused to accept the demotion and continued to style himself as augustus on his coinage, even as other members of the Tetrarchy referred to him as a caesar on theirs. Maximinus was frustrated that he had been passed over for promotion while the newcomer Licinius had been raised to the office of augustus and demanded that Galerius promote him. Galerius offered to call both Maximinus and Constantine "sons of the augusti", but neither accepted the new title. By the spring of 310, Galerius was referring to both men as augusti.


title: Constantine the Great

text: In 310, a dispossessed Maximian rebelled against Constantine while Constantine was away campaigning against the Franks. Maximian had been sent south to Arles with a contingent of Constantine's army, in preparation for any attacks by Maxentius in southern Gaul. He announced that Constantine was dead and took up the imperial purple. In spite of a large donative pledge to any who would support him as emperor, most of Constantine's army remained loyal to their emperor, and Maximian was soon compelled to leave. When Constantine heard of the rebellion, he abandoned his campaign against the Franks and marched his army up the Rhine. At Cabillunum (Chalon-sur-Saône), he moved his troops onto waiting boats to row down the slow waters of the Saône to the quicker waters of the Rhone. He disembarked at Lugdunum (Lyon). Maximian fled to Massilia (Marseille), a town better able to withstand a long siege than Arles. It made little difference, however, as loyal citizens opened the rear gates to Constantine. Maximian was captured and reproved for his crimes. Constantine granted some clemency but strongly encouraged his suicide. In July 310, Maximian hanged himself.


title: Constantine the Great

text: In spite of the earlier rupture in their relations, Maxentius was eager to present himself as his father's devoted son after his death. He began minting coins with his father's deified image, proclaiming his desire to avenge Maximian's death. Constantine initially presented the suicide as an unfortunate family tragedy. By 311, however, he was spreading another version. According to this, after Constantine had pardoned him, Maximian planned to murder Constantine in his sleep. Fausta learned of the plot and warned Constantine, who put a eunuch in his own place in bed. Maximian was apprehended when he killed the eunuch and was offered suicide, which he accepted. Along with using propaganda, Constantine instituted a "damnatio memoriae" on Maximian, destroying all inscriptions referring to him and eliminating any public work bearing his image.


title: Constantine the Great

text: The death of Maximian required a shift in Constantine's public image. He could no longer rely on his connection to the elder Emperor Maximian and needed a new source of legitimacy. In a speech delivered in Gaul on 25 July 310, the anonymous orator reveals a previously unknown dynastic connection to Claudius II, a 3rd-century emperor famed for defeating the Goths and restoring order to the empire. Breaking away from tetrarchic models, the speech emphasizes Constantine's ancestral prerogative to rule, rather than principles of imperial equality. The new ideology expressed in the speech made Galerius and Maximian irrelevant to Constantine's right to rule. Indeed, the orator emphasizes ancestry to the exclusion of all other factors: "No chance agreement of men, nor some unexpected consequence of favor, made you emperor," the orator declares to Constantine.


title: Constantine the Great

text: The oration also moves away from the religious ideology of the Tetrarchy, with its focus on twin dynasties of Jupiter and Hercules. Instead, the orator proclaims that Constantine experienced a divine vision of Apollo and Victory granting him laurel wreaths of health and a long reign. In the likeness of Apollo, Constantine recognized himself as the saving figure to whom would be granted "rule of the whole world", as the poet Virgil had once foretold. The oration's religious shift is paralleled by a similar shift in Constantine's coinage. In his early reign, the coinage of Constantine advertised Mars as his patron. From 310 on, Mars was replaced by Sol Invictus, a god conventionally identified with Apollo. There is little reason to believe that either the dynastic connection or the divine vision are anything other than fiction, but their proclamation strengthened Constantine's claims to legitimacy and increased his popularity among the citizens of Gaul.


title: Constantine the Great

text: By the middle of 310, Galerius had become too ill to involve himself in imperial politics. His final act survives: a letter to provincials posted in Nicomedia on 30 April 311, proclaiming an end to the persecutions, and the resumption of religious toleration.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Eusebius maintains “divine providence […] took action against the perpetrator of these crimes” and gives a graphic account of Galerius’ demise:


title: Constantine the Great

text: “Without warning suppurative inflammation broke out round the middle of his genitals, then a deep-seated fistula ulcer; these ate their way incurably into his innermost bowels. From them came a teeming indescribable mass of worms, and a sickening smell was given off, for the whole of his hulking body, thanks to over eating, had been transformed even before his illness into a huge lump of flabby fat, which then decomposed and presented those who came near it with a revolting and horrifying sight.”


title: Constantine the Great

text: Galerius died soon after the edict's proclamation, destroying what little remained of the Tetrarchy. Maximinus mobilized against Licinius and seized Asia Minor. A hasty peace was signed on a boat in the middle of the Bosphorus. While Constantine toured Britain and Gaul, Maxentius prepared for war. He fortified northern Italy and strengthened his support in the Christian community by allowing it to elect Eusebius as bishop of Rome.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Maxentius' rule was nevertheless insecure. His early support dissolved in the wake of heightened tax rates and depressed trade; riots broke out in Rome and Carthage; and Domitius Alexander was able to briefly usurp his authority in Africa. By 312, he was a man barely tolerated, not one actively supported, even among Christian Italians. In the summer of 311, Maxentius mobilized against Constantine while Licinius was occupied with affairs in the East. He declared war on Constantine, vowing to avenge his father's "murder". To prevent Maxentius from forming an alliance against him with Licinius, Constantine forged his own alliance with Licinius over the winter of 311–312 and offered him his sister Constantia in marriage. Maximinus considered Constantine's arrangement with Licinius an affront to his authority. In response, he sent ambassadors to Rome, offering political recognition to Maxentius in exchange for a military support, which Maxentius accepted. According to Eusebius, inter-regional travel became impossible, and there was military buildup everywhere. There was "not a place where people were not expecting the onset of hostilities every day".


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine's advisers and generals cautioned against preemptive attack on Maxentius; even his soothsayers recommended against it, stating that the sacrifices had produced unfavourable omens. Constantine, with a spirit that left a deep impression on his followers, inspiring some to believe that he had some form of supernatural guidance, ignored all these cautions. Early in the spring of 312, Constantine crossed the Cottian Alps with a quarter of his army, a force numbering about 40,000. The first town his army encountered was Segusium (Susa, Italy), a heavily fortified town that shut its gates to him. Constantine ordered his men to set fire to its gates and scale its walls. He took the town quickly. Constantine ordered his troops not to loot the town and advanced into northern Italy.


title: Constantine the Great

text: At the approach to the west of the important city of Augusta Taurinorum (Turin, Italy), Constantine met a large force of heavily armed Maxentian cavalry. In the ensuing Battle of Turin Constantine's army encircled Maxentius' cavalry, flanked them with his own cavalry, and dismounted them with blows from his soldiers' iron-tipped clubs. Constantine's armies emerged victorious. Turin refused to give refuge to Maxentius' retreating forces, opening its gates to Constantine instead. Other cities of the north Italian plain sent Constantine embassies of congratulation for his victory. He moved on to Milan, where he was met with open gates and jubilant rejoicing. Constantine rested his army in Milan until mid-summer 312, when he moved on to Brixia (Brescia).


title: Constantine the Great

text: Brescia's army was easily dispersed, and Constantine quickly advanced to Verona where a large Maxentian force was camped. Ruricius Pompeianus, general of the Veronese forces and Maxentius' praetorian prefect, was in a strong defensive position since the town was surrounded on three sides by the Adige. Constantine sent a small force north of the town in an attempt to cross the river unnoticed. Ruricius sent a large detachment to counter Constantine's expeditionary force but was defeated. Constantine's forces successfully surrounded the town and laid siege. Ruricius gave Constantine the slip and returned with a larger force to oppose Constantine. Constantine refused to let up on the siege and sent only a small force to oppose him. In the desperately fought encounter that followed, Ruricius was killed and his army destroyed. Verona surrendered soon afterwards, followed by Aquileia, Mutina (Modena), and Ravenna. The road to Rome was now wide open to Constantine.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Maxentius prepared for the same type of war he had waged against Severus and Galerius: he sat in Rome and prepared for a siege. He still controlled Rome's Praetorian Guard, was well-stocked with African grain, and was surrounded on all sides by the seemingly impregnable Aurelian Walls. He ordered all bridges across the Tiber cut, reportedly on the counsel of the gods, and left the rest of central Italy undefended; Constantine secured that region's support without challenge. Constantine progressed slowly along the "Via Flaminia", allowing the weakness of Maxentius to draw his regime further into turmoil. Maxentius' support continued to weaken: at chariot races on 27 October, the crowd openly taunted Maxentius, shouting that Constantine was invincible. Maxentius, no longer certain that he would emerge from a siege victorious, built a temporary boat bridge across the Tiber in preparation for a field battle against Constantine. On 28 October 312, the sixth anniversary of his reign, he approached the keepers of the Sibylline Books for guidance. The keepers prophesied that, on that very day, "the enemy of the Romans" would die. Maxentius advanced north to meet Constantine in battle.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Maxentius' forces were still twice the size of Constantine's, and he organized them in long lines facing the battle plain with their backs to the river. Constantine's army arrived on the field bearing unfamiliar symbols on their standards and their shields. According to Lactantius "Constantine was directed in a dream to cause the heavenly sign to be delineated on the shields of his soldiers, and so to proceed to battle. He did as he had been commanded, and he marked on their shields the letter Χ, with a perpendicular line drawn through it and turned round thus at the top, being the cipher of Christ. Having this sign (☧), his troops stood to arms." Eusebius describes a vision that Constantine had while marching at midday in which "he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, "In Hoc Signo Vinces"" ("In this sign thou shalt conquer"). In Eusebius's account, Constantine had a dream the following night in which Christ appeared with the same heavenly sign and told him to make an army standard in the form of the "labarum". Eusebius is vague about when and where these events took place, but it enters his narrative before the war begins against Maxentius. He describes the sign as Chi (Χ) traversed by Rho (Ρ) to form ☧, representing the first two letters of the Greek word (Christos). A medallion was issued at Ticinum in 315 which shows Constantine wearing a helmet emblazoned with the "Chi Rho", and coins issued at Siscia in 317/318 repeat the image. The figure was otherwise rare and is uncommon in imperial iconography and propaganda before the 320s. It was not completely unknown, however, being an abbreviation of the Greek word chrēston (good), having previously appeared on the coins of Ptolemy III Euergetes in the 3rd century BC.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine deployed his own forces along the whole length of Maxentius' line. He ordered his cavalry to charge, and they broke Maxentius' cavalry. He then sent his infantry against Maxentius' infantry, pushing many into the Tiber where they were slaughtered and drowned. The battle was brief, and Maxentius' troops were broken before the first charge. His horse guards and praetorians initially held their position, but they broke under the force of a Constantinian cavalry charge; they also broke ranks and fled to the river. Maxentius rode with them and attempted to cross the bridge of boats (Ponte Milvio), but he was pushed into the Tiber and drowned by the mass of his fleeing soldiers.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine entered Rome on 29 October 312 and staged a grand "adventus" in the city which was met with jubilation. Maxentius' body was fished out of the Tiber and decapitated, and his head was paraded through the streets for all to see. After the ceremonies, the disembodied head was sent to Carthage, and Carthage offered no further resistance. Unlike his predecessors, Constantine neglected to make the trip to the Capitoline Hill and perform customary sacrifices at the Temple of Jupiter. However, he did visit the Senatorial Curia Julia, and he promised to restore its ancestral privileges and give it a secure role in his reformed government; there would be no revenge against Maxentius' supporters. In response, the Senate decreed him "title of the first name", which meant that his name would be listed first in all official documents, and they acclaimed him as "the greatest augustus". He issued decrees returning property that was lost under Maxentius, recalling political exiles, and releasing Maxentius' imprisoned opponents.


title: Constantine the Great

text: An extensive propaganda campaign followed, during which Maxentius' image was purged from all public places. He was written up as a "tyrant" and set against an idealized image of Constantine the "liberator". Eusebius is the best representative of this strand of Constantinian propaganda. Maxentius' rescripts were declared invalid, and the honours that he had granted to leaders of the Senate were also invalidated. Constantine also attempted to remove Maxentius' influence on Rome's urban landscape. All structures built by him were rededicated to Constantine, including the Temple of Romulus and the Basilica of Maxentius. At the focal point of the basilica, a stone statue was erected of Constantine holding the Christian "labarum" in its hand. Its inscription bore the message which the statue illustrated: "By this sign, Constantine had freed Rome from the yoke of the tyrant."


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine also sought to upstage Maxentius' achievements. For example, the Circus Maximus was redeveloped so that its seating capacity was 25 times larger than that of Maxentius' racing complex on the Via Appia. Maxentius' strongest military supporters were neutralized when he disbanded the Praetorian Guard and Imperial Horse Guard. The tombstones of the Imperial Horse Guard were ground up and used in a basilica on the Via Labicana, and their former base was redeveloped into the Lateran Basilica on 9 November 312—barely two weeks after Constantine captured the city. The Legio II Parthica was removed from Albano Laziale, and the remainder of Maxentius' armies were sent to do frontier duty on the Rhine.


title: Constantine the Great

text: In the following years, Constantine gradually consolidated his military superiority over his rivals in the crumbling Tetrarchy. In 313, he met Licinius in Milan to secure their alliance by the marriage of Licinius and Constantine's half-sister Constantia. During this meeting, the emperors agreed on the so-called Edict of Milan, officially granting full tolerance to Christianity and all religions in the empire. The document had special benefits for Christians, legalizing their religion and granting them restoration for all property seized during Diocletian's persecution. It repudiates past methods of religious coercion and used only general terms to refer to the divine sphere—"Divinity" and "Supreme Divinity", "summa divinitas". The conference was cut short, however, when news reached Licinius that his rival Maximinus had crossed the Bosporus and invaded European territory. Licinius departed and eventually defeated Maximinus, gaining control over the entire eastern half of the Roman Empire. Relations between the two remaining emperors deteriorated, as Constantine suffered an assassination attempt at the hands of a character that Licinius wanted elevated to the rank of Caesar; Licinius, for his part, had Constantine's statues in Emona destroyed. In either 314 or 316, the two augusti fought against one another at the Battle of Cibalae, with Constantine being victorious. They clashed again at the Battle of Mardia in 317 and agreed to a settlement in which Constantine's sons Crispus and Constantine II, and Licinius' son Licinianus were made "caesars". After this arrangement, Constantine ruled the dioceses of Pannonia and Macedonia and took residence at Sirmium, whence he could wage war on the Goths and Sarmatians in 322, and on the Goths in 323, defeating and killing their leader Rausimod.


title: Constantine the Great

text: In 320, Licinius allegedly reneged on the religious freedom promised by the Edict of Milan and began to oppress Christians anew, generally without bloodshed, but resorting to confiscations and sacking of Christian office-holders. Although this characterization of Licinius as anti-Christian is somewhat doubtful, the fact is that he seems to have been far less open in his support of Christianity than Constantine. Therefore, Licinius was prone to see the Church as a force more loyal to Constantine than to the Imperial system in general, as the explanation offered by the Church historian Sozomen.


title: Constantine the Great

text: This dubious arrangement eventually became a challenge to Constantine in the West, climaxing in the great civil war of 324. Constantine's Christian eulogists present the war as a battle between Christianity and paganism; Licinius, aided by Gothic mercenaries, represented the past and ancient paganism, while Constantine and his Franks marched under the standard of the "labarum". Outnumbered but fired by their zeal, Constantine's army emerged victorious in the Battle of Adrianople. Licinius fled across the Bosphorus and appointed Martinian, his "magister officiorum", as nominal augustus in the West, but Constantine next won the Battle of the Hellespont and finally the Battle of Chrysopolis on 18 September 324. Licinius and Martinian surrendered to Constantine at Nicomedia on the promise their lives would be spared: they were sent to live as private citizens in Thessalonica and Cappadocia respectively, but in 325 Constantine accused Licinius of plotting against him and had them both arrested and hanged; Licinius' son (the son of Constantine's half-sister) was killed in 326. Thus Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Diocletian had chosen Nicomedia in the East as his capital during the Tetrarchy—not far from Byzantium, well situated to defend Thrace, Asia, and Egypt, all of which had required his military attention. Constantine had recognized the shift of the empire from the remote and depopulated West to the richer cities of the East, and the military strategic importance of protecting the Danube from barbarian excursions and Asia from a hostile Persia in choosing his new capital as well as being able to monitor shipping traffic between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Licinius' defeat came to represent the defeat of a rival centre of pagan and Greek-speaking political activity in the East, as opposed to the Christian and Latin-speaking Rome, and it was proposed that a new Eastern capital should represent the integration of the East into the Roman Empire as a whole, as a center of learning, prosperity, and cultural preservation for the whole of the Eastern Roman Empire. Among the various locations proposed for this alternative capital, Constantine appears to have toyed earlier with Serdica (present-day Sofia), as he was reported saying that ""Serdica is my Rome"". Sirmium and Thessalonica were also considered. Eventually, however, Constantine decided to work on the Greek city of Byzantium, which offered the advantage of having already been extensively rebuilt on Roman patterns of urbanism during the preceding century by Septimius Severus and Caracalla, who had already acknowledged its strategic importance. The city was thus founded in 324, dedicated on 11 May 330 and renamed "Constantinopolis" ("Constantine's City" or Constantinople in English). Special commemorative coins were issued in 330 to honor the event. The new city was protected by the relics of the True Cross, the Rod of Moses and other holy relics, though a cameo now at the Hermitage Museum also represented Constantine crowned by the tyche of the new city. The figures of old gods were either replaced or assimilated into a framework of Christian symbolism. Constantine built the new Church of the Holy Apostles on the site of a temple to Aphrodite. Generations later there was the story that a divine vision led Constantine to this spot, and an angel no one else could see led him on a circuit of the new walls. The capital would often be compared to the 'old' Rome as "Nova Roma Constantinopolitana", the "New Rome of Constantinople".


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine was the first emperor to stop the persecution of Christians and to legalize Christianity, along with all other religions/cults in the Roman Empire. In February 313, he met with Licinius in Milan and developed the Edict of Milan, which stated that Christians should be allowed to follow their faith without oppression. This removed penalties for professing Christianity, under which many had been martyred previously, and it returned confiscated Church property. The edict protected all religions from persecution, not only Christianity, allowing anyone to worship any deity that they chose. A similar edict had been issued in 311 by Galerius, senior emperor of the Tetrarchy, which granted Christians the right to practise their religion but did not restore any property to them. The Edict of Milan included several clauses which stated that all confiscated churches would be returned, as well as other provisions for previously persecuted Christians. Scholars debate whether Constantine adopted his mother Helena's Christianity in his youth or whether he adopted it gradually over the course of his life.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine possibly retained the title of "pontifex maximus" which emperors bore as heads of the ancient Roman religion until Gratian renounced the title. According to Christian writers, Constantine was over 40 when he finally declared himself a Christian, making it clear that he owed his successes to the protection of the Christian High God alone. Despite these declarations of being a Christian, he waited to be baptized on his deathbed, believing that the baptism would release him of any sins he committed in the course of carrying out his policies while emperor. He supported the Church financially, built basilicas, granted privileges to clergy (such as exemption from certain taxes), promoted Christians to high office, and returned property confiscated during the long period of persecution. His most famous building projects include the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Old St. Peter's Basilica. In constructing the Old St. Peter's Basilica, Constantine went to great lengths to erect the basilica on top of St. Peter's resting place, so much so that it even affected the design of the basilica, including the challenge of erecting it on the hill where St. Peter rested, making its complete construction time over 30 years from the date Constantine ordered it to be built.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine might not have patronized Christianity alone. A triumphal arch was built in 315 to celebrate his victory in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge which was decorated with images of the goddess Victoria, and sacrifices were made to pagan gods at its dedication, including Apollo, Diana, and Hercules. Absent from the arch are any depictions of Christian symbolism. However, the arch was commissioned by the Senate, so the absence of Christian symbols may reflect the role of the Curia at the time as a pagan redoubt.


title: Constantine the Great

text: In 321, he legislated that the "venerable Sunday" should be a day of rest for all citizens. In 323, he issued a decree banning Christians from participating in state sacrifices. After the pagan gods had disappeared from his coinage, Christian symbols appeared as Constantine's attributes, the chi rho between his hands or on his labarum, as well on the coinage. The reign of Constantine established a precedent for the emperor to have great influence and authority in the early Christian councils, most notably the dispute over Arianism. Constantine disliked the risks to societal stability that religious disputes and controversies brought with them, preferring to establish an orthodoxy. His influence over the Church councils was to enforce doctrine, root out heresy, and uphold ecclesiastical unity; the Church's role was to determine proper worship, doctrines, and dogma.


title: Constantine the Great

text: North African bishops struggled with Christian bishops who had been ordained by Donatus in opposition to Caecilian from 313 to 316. The African bishops could not come to terms, and the Donatists asked Constantine to act as a judge in the dispute. Three regional Church councils and another trial before Constantine all ruled against Donatus and the Donatism movement in North Africa. In 317, Constantine issued an edict to confiscate Donatist church property and to send Donatist clergy into exile. More significantly, in 325 he summoned the First Council of Nicaea, most known for its dealing with Arianism and for instituting the Nicene Creed. He enforced the council's prohibition against celebrating the Lord's Supper on the day before the Jewish Passover, which marked a definite break of Christianity from the Judaic tradition. From then on, the solar Julian Calendar was given precedence over the lunisolar Hebrew calendar among the Christian churches of the Roman Empire.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine made some new laws regarding the Jews; some of them were unfavorable towards Jews, although they were not harsher than those of his predecessors. It was made illegal for Jews to seek converts or to attack other Jews who had converted to Christianity. They were forbidden to own Christian slaves or to circumcise their slaves. On the other hand, Jewish clergy were given the same exemptions as Christian clergy.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Beginning in the mid-3rd century, the emperors began to favor members of the equestrian order over senators, who had a monopoly on the most important offices of the state. Senators were stripped of the command of legions and most provincial governorships, as it was felt that they lacked the specialized military upbringing needed in an age of acute defense needs; such posts were given to equestrians by Diocletian and his colleagues, following a practice enforced piecemeal by their predecessors. The emperors, however, still needed the talents and the help of the very rich, who were relied on to maintain social order and cohesion by means of a web of powerful influence and contacts at all levels. Exclusion of the old senatorial aristocracy threatened this arrangement.


title: Constantine the Great

text: In 326, Constantine reversed this pro-equestrian trend, raising many administrative positions to senatorial rank and thus opening these offices to the old aristocracy; at the same time, he elevated the rank of existing equestrian office-holders to senator, degrading the equestrian order in the process (at least as a bureaucratic rank). The title of "perfectissimus" was granted only to mid- or low-level officials by the end of the 4th century.


title: Constantine the Great

text: By the new Constantinian arrangement, one could become a senator by being elected praetor or by fulfilling a function of senatorial rank. From then on, holding actual power and social status were melded together into a joint imperial hierarchy. Constantine gained the support of the old nobility with this, as the Senate was allowed to elect praetors and quaestors in place of the usual practice of the emperors directly creating magistrates ("adlectio"). An inscription in honor of city prefect Ceionius Rufus Albinus states that Constantine had restored the Senate "the "auctoritas" it had lost at Caesar's time".


title: Constantine the Great

text: The Senate as a body remained devoid of any significant power; nevertheless, the senators had been marginalized as potential holders of imperial functions during the 3rd century but could dispute such positions alongside more upstart bureaucrats. Some modern historians see in those administrative reforms an attempt by Constantine at reintegrating the senatorial order into the imperial administrative elite to counter the possibility of alienating pagan senators from a Christianized imperial rule; however, such an interpretation remains conjectural, given the fact that we do not have the precise numbers about pre-Constantine conversions to Christianity in the old senatorial milieu. Some historians suggest that early conversions among the old aristocracy were more numerous than previously supposed.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine's reforms had to do only with the civilian administration. The military chiefs had risen from the ranks since the Crisis of the Third Century but remained outside the Senate, in which they were included only by Constantine's children.


title: Constantine the Great

text: In the 3rd century, the production of fiat money to pay for public expenses resulted in runaway inflation, and Diocletian tried unsuccessfully to re-establish trustworthy minting of silver and billon coins. Silver currency was overvalued in terms of its actual metal content and therefore could only circulate at much discounted rates. Constantine stopped minting the Diocletianic "pure" silver "argenteus" soon after 305, while the billon currency continued to be used until the 360s. From the early 300s on, Constantine forsook any attempts at restoring the silver currency, preferring instead to concentrate on minting large quantities of the gold solidus, 72 of which made a pound of gold. New and highly debased silver pieces continued to be issued during his later reign and after his death, in a continuous process of retariffing, until this bullion minting ceased in 367, and the silver piece was continued by various denominations of bronze coins, the most important being the "centenionalis". These bronze pieces continued to be devalued, assuring the possibility of keeping fiduciary minting alongside a gold standard. The author of "De Rebus Bellicis" held that the rift widened between classes because of this monetary policy; the rich benefited from the stability in purchasing power of the gold piece, while the poor had to cope with ever-degrading bronze pieces. Later emperors such as Julian the Apostate insisted on trustworthy mintings of the bronze currency.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine's monetary policies were closely associated with his religious policies; increased minting was associated with the confiscation of all gold, silver, and bronze statues from pagan temples between 331 and 336 which were declared to be imperial property. Two imperial commissioners for each province had the task of getting the statues and melting them for immediate minting, with the exception of a number of bronze statues that were used as public monuments in Constantinople.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine had his eldest son Crispus seized and put to death by "cold poison" at Pola (Pula, Croatia) sometime between 15 May and 17 June 326. In July, he had his wife Empress Fausta (stepmother of Crispus) killed in an overheated bath. Their names were wiped from the face of many inscriptions, references to their lives were eradicated from the literary record, and their memory was condemned. Eusebius, for example, edited out any praise of Crispus from later copies of "Historia Ecclesiastica", and his "Vita Constantini" contains no mention of Fausta or Crispus. Few ancient sources are willing to discuss possible motives for the events, and the few that do are of later provenance and are generally unreliable. At the time of the executions, it was commonly believed that Empress Fausta was either in an illicit relationship with Crispus or was spreading rumors to that effect. A popular myth arose, modified to allude to the Hippolytus–Phaedra legend, with the suggestion that Constantine killed Crispus and Fausta for their immoralities; the largely fictional "Passion of Artemius" explicitly makes this connection. The myth rests on slim evidence as an interpretation of the executions; only late and unreliable sources allude to the relationship between Crispus and Fausta, and there is no evidence for the modern suggestion that Constantine's "godly" edicts of 326 and the irregularities of Crispus are somehow connected.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Although Constantine created his apparent heirs "caesars", following a pattern established by Diocletian, he gave his creations a hereditary character, alien to the tetrarchic system: Constantine's caesars were to be kept in the hope of ascending to empire and entirely subordinated to their augustus, as long as he was alive. Adrian Goldsworthy speculates an alternative explanation for the execution of Crispus was Constantine's desire to keep a firm grip on his prospective heirs, this—and Fausta's desire for having her sons inheriting instead of their half-brother—being reason enough for killing Crispus; the subsequent execution of Fausta, however, was probably meant as a reminder to her children that Constantine would not hesitate in "killing his own relatives when he felt this was necessary".


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine considered Constantinople his capital and permanent residence. He lived there for a good portion of his later life. In 328 construction was completed on Constantine's Bridge at Sucidava, (today Celei in Romania) in hopes of reconquering Dacia, a province that had been abandoned under Aurelian. In the late winter of 332, Constantine campaigned with the Sarmatians against the Goths. The weather and lack of food reportedly cost the Goths dearly before they submitted to Rome. In 334, after Sarmatian commoners had overthrown their leaders, Constantine led a campaign against the tribe. He won a victory in the war and extended his control over the region, as remains of camps and fortifications in the region indicate. Constantine resettled some Sarmatian exiles as farmers in Illyrian and Roman districts and conscripted the rest into the army. The new frontier in Dacia was along the Brazda lui Novac line supported by new castra. Constantine took the title "Dacicus maximus" in 336.


title: Constantine the Great

text: In the last years of his life, Constantine made plans for a campaign against Persia. In a letter written to the king of Persia, Shapur, Constantine had asserted his patronage over Persia's Christian subjects and urged Shapur to treat them well. The letter is undatable. In response to border raids, Constantine sent Constantius to guard the eastern frontier in 335. In 336, Prince Narseh invaded Armenia (a Christian kingdom since 301) and installed a Persian client on the throne. Constantine then resolved to campaign against Persia. He treated the war as a Christian crusade, calling for bishops to accompany the army and commissioning a tent in the shape of a church to follow him everywhere. Constantine planned to be baptized in the Jordan River before crossing into Persia. Persian diplomats came to Constantinople over the winter of 336–337, seeking peace, but Constantine turned them away. The campaign was called off, however, when Constantine became sick in the spring of 337.


title: Constantine the Great

text: From his recent illness, Constantine knew death would soon come. Within the Church of the Holy Apostles, Constantine had secretly prepared a final resting-place for himself. It came sooner than he had expected. Soon after the Feast of Easter 337, Constantine fell seriously ill. He left Constantinople for the hot baths near his mother's city of Helenopolis (Altinova), on the southern shores of the Gulf of Nicomedia (present-day Gulf of İzmit). There, in a church his mother built in honor of Lucian the Apostle, he prayed, and there he realized that he was dying. Seeking purification, he became a catechumen and attempted a return to Constantinople, making it only as far as a suburb of Nicomedia. He summoned the bishops and told them of his hope to be baptized in the River Jordan, where Christ was written to have been baptized. He requested the baptism right away, promising to live a more Christian life should he live through his illness. The bishops, Eusebius records, "performed the sacred ceremonies according to custom". He chose the Arianizing bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, bishop of the city where he lay dying, as his baptizer. In postponing his baptism, he followed one custom at the time which postponed baptism until after infancy. It has been thought that Constantine put off baptism as long as he did so as to be absolved from as much of his sin as possible. Constantine died soon after at a suburban villa called Achyron, on the last day of the fifty-day festival of Pentecost directly following Pascha (or Easter), on 22 May 337.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Although Constantine's death follows the conclusion of the Persian campaign in Eusebius's account, most other sources report his death as occurring in its middle. Emperor Julian (a nephew of Constantine), writing in the mid-350s, observes that the Sassanians escaped punishment for their ill-deeds, because Constantine died "in the middle of his preparations for war". Similar accounts are given in the "Origo Constantini", an anonymous document composed while Constantine was still living, which has Constantine dying in Nicomedia; the "Historiae abbreviatae" of Sextus Aurelius Victor, written in 361, which has Constantine dying at an estate near Nicomedia called Achyrona while marching against the Persians; and the "Breviarium" of Eutropius, a handbook compiled in 369 for the Emperor Valens, which has Constantine dying in a nameless state villa in Nicomedia. From these and other accounts, some have concluded that Eusebius's "Vita" was edited to defend Constantine's reputation against what Eusebius saw as a less congenial version of the campaign.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Following his death, his body was transferred to Constantinople and buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles, in a porphyry sarcophagus that was described in the 10th century by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in the "De Ceremoniis". His body survived the plundering of the city during the Fourth Crusade in 1204 but was destroyed at some point afterwards. Constantine was succeeded by his three sons born of Fausta, Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans. A number of relatives were killed by followers of Constantius, notably Constantine's nephews Dalmatius (who held the rank of caesar) and Hannibalianus, presumably to eliminate possible contenders to an already complicated succession. He also had two daughters, Constantina and Helena, wife of Emperor Julian.


title: Constantine the Great

text: Constantine reunited the empire under one emperor, and he won major victories over the Franks and Alamanni in 306–308, the Franks again in 313–314, the Goths in 332, and the Sarmatians in 334. By 336, he had reoccupied most of the long-lost province of Dacia which Aurelian had been forced to abandon in 271. At the time of his death, he was planning a great expedition to end raids on the eastern provinces from the Persian Empire.


title: Constantine the Great

text: In the cultural sphere, Constantine revived the clean-shaven face fashion of earlier emperors, originally introduced among the Romans by Scipio Africanus and changed into the wearing of the beard by Hadrian. This new Roman imperial fashion lasted until the reign of Phocas in the 7th century.


title: Constantine the Great

text: The Holy Roman Empire reckoned Constantine among the venerable figures of its tradition. In the later Byzantine state, it became a great honor for an emperor to be hailed as a "new Constantine"; ten emperors carried the name, including the last emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. Charlemagne used monumental Constantinian forms in his court to suggest that he was Constantine's successor and equal. Monarchs Charlemagne, Henry VIII, Philip II of Spain and Basil I claimed descent from Constantine. Constantine acquired a mythic role as a warrior against heathens. His reception as a saint seems to have spread within the Byzantine empire during wars against the Sasanian Persians and the Muslims in the late 6th and 7th century. The motif of the Romanesque equestrian, the mounted figure in the posture of a triumphant Roman emperor, became a visual metaphor in statuary in praise of local benefactors. The name "Constantine" enjoyed renewed popularity in western France in the 11th and 12th centuries.


title: Constantine the Great

text: The Niš Constantine the Great Airport is named in honor of him. A large cross was planned to be built on a hill overlooking Niš, but the project was cancelled. In 2012, a memorial was erected in Niš in his honor. The "Commemoration of the Edict of Milan" was held in Niš in 2013. The Orthodox Church considers Constantine a saint (Άγιος Κωνσταντίνος, Saint Constantine), having a feast day on 21 May, and calls him "isapostolos" (ισαπόστολος Κωνσταντίνος)—an equal of the Apostles.


title: Constantine the Great

text: During Constantine's lifetime, Praxagoras of Athens and Libanius, pagan authors, showered Constantine with praise, presenting him as a paragon of virtue. His nephew and son-in-law Julian the Apostate, however, wrote the satire "Symposium, or the Saturnalia" in 361, after the last of his sons died; it denigrated Constantine, calling him inferior to the great pagan emperors, and given over to luxury and greed. Following Julian, Eunapius began – and Zosimus continued – a historiographic tradition that blamed Constantine for weakening the empire through his indulgence to the Christians.


title: Constantine the Great

text: During the Middle Ages, European and Near-East Byzantine writers presented Constantine as an ideal ruler, the standard against which any king or emperor could be measured. The Renaissance rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources prompted a re-evaluation of his career. German humanist Johannes Leunclavius discovered Zosimus' writings and published a Latin translation in 1576. In its preface, he argues that Zosimus' picture of Constantine offered a more balanced view than that of Eusebius and the Church historians. Cardinal Caesar Baronius criticized Zosimus, favoring Eusebius' account of the Constantinian era. Baronius' "Life of Constantine" (1588) presents Constantine as the model of a Christian prince. Edward Gibbon aimed to unite the two extremes of Constantinian scholarship in his work "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (1776–89) by contrasting the portraits presented by Eusebius and Zosimus. He presents a noble war hero who transforms into an Oriental despot in his old age, "degenerating into a cruel and dissolute monarch".


title: Constantine the Great

text: Modern interpretations of Constantine's rule begin with Jacob Burckhardt's "The Age of Constantine the Great" (1853, rev. 1880). Burckhardt's Constantine is a scheming secularist, a politician who manipulates all parties in a quest to secure his own power. Henri Grégoire followed Burckhardt's evaluation of Constantine in the 1930s, suggesting that Constantine developed an interest in Christianity only after witnessing its political usefulness. Grégoire was skeptical of the authenticity of Eusebius' "Vita", and postulated a pseudo-Eusebius to assume responsibility for the vision and conversion narratives of that work. Otto Seeck's "Geschichte des Untergangs der antiken Welt" (1920–23) and André Piganiol's "L'empereur Constantin" (1932) go against this historiographic tradition. Seeck presents Constantine as a sincere war hero whose ambiguities were the product of his own naïve inconsistency. Piganiol's Constantine is a philosophical monotheist, a child of his era's religious syncretism. Related histories by Arnold Hugh Martin Jones ("Constantine and the Conversion of Europe", 1949) and Ramsay MacMullen ("Constantine", 1969) give portraits of a less visionary and more impulsive Constantine.