Flavia Valeria Constantina[a](also sometimes calledConstantiaandConstantiana;Greek:Κωνσταντίνα;b. after 307/before 317 – d. 354), later known asSaint Constance,[2]was the eldest daughter of Roman emperorConstantine the Greatand his second wifeFausta,daughter of EmperorMaximian.Constantina may have received the title ofAugustafrom her father, and is venerated as asaint,having developed amedievallegend wildly at variance with what is known of her actual character.
| Constantina | |
|---|---|
| Augusta | |
 Saint Constantia's Vision before the Tomb of Saints Agnes and Emerentiana,byPietro da Cortona | |
| Born | 307-317 |
| Died | 354 Caeni Gallicani,Bithynia |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | Hannibalianus Constantius Gallus |
| Issue | Constantia Anastasia |
| Dynasty | Constantinian |
| Father | Constantine the Great |
| Mother | Fausta |
Life
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Some time before mid 320s, Constantina was born to the emperor Constantine and empress Fausta. She was sister toConstantine II,Constans,Constantius II,Helenaand half-sister toCrispus.In 335, Constantina married her cousinHannibalianus,son ofFlavius Dalmatius,whomConstantine Ihad createdRex Regum et Ponticarum Gentium,"King of Kings and Ruler of the Pontic Tribes". From her first marriage, Constantina may have had a daughter, Constantia, who later marriedMemmius Vitrasius Orfitusand become mother of Rusticiana, wife ofQuintus Aurelius Symmachus.[3]After Constantine died, great purges of the imperial family occurred and her husband was executed in 337.[4]
For the second time,Constantius IIgave Constantina to Hannibalianus' cousin, and her own half cousinGallus.Gallus was created aCaesarof the East and his name changed toConstantius Gallusto further his legitimacy around 349/350, which also presumably was the time of their marriage. Gallus was twenty-five or twenty-six at the time, whereas Constantina was substantially his senior. Her second marriage produced a daughter Anastasia, whose full name and fate are unknown.[5]
Constantina and Constantius Gallus were then sent from Rome toSyriaatAntiochto govern that portion of theEastern Roman Empire.[6]She would not return to Rome until her death. In AD 354, when Constantius called for Gallus, the caesar sent Constantina to her brother, with the purpose to mitigate his position in Constantius' consideration. While on her way to meet with Constantius II, she died at Caeni Gallicani inBithynia(Asia Minor). The cause of her death was a sudden high fever of unknown cause.[7]Her body was sent back to Rome and entombed nearVia Nomentanain a mausoleum her father, Emperor Constantine I, had started building for her. This mausoleum would later become known as thechurch of Santa Costanza,when Constantina was venerated as saint. Herporphyrysarcophagus is on exhibit in theVatican Museums.[8]
Political role
editUpon marrying Hannibalianus her father allegedly made herAugusta.However, this claim is preserved only byPhilostorgiusamong ancient sources and has been debated.[9]After her husband was executed in AD 337, Constantina disappeared from the imperial record until AD 350. This was whenMagnentiusrevolted against her brother Constantius II causing political upheaval in the Western parts of the empire. This prompted her to become directly involved in the revolt. Using her Augusta status and political network, she claimedVetranioas Caesar, encouraging him to challenge Magnentius.[10]This allowed her to protect her own interests and preserve her power.[6]
Not only did Constantina exercise influence on her own, she was inherently, as a female member of the imperial Roman family, a political tool. As a widow, she could be offered in marriage to secure political alliance. This happened twice. In AD 350, in order to attempt a peaceful compromise by arranging marriage, Magnentius offered to marry Constantina and have Constantius II marry his daughter.[11]But Constantius II refused this offer. Shortly after, in AD 351, Constantius II used Constantina for a different political purpose and gave her in marriage to Constantius Gallus who was madeCaesarin the Eastern Roman Empire and they moved to Antioch.[6]
ThePassio Artemii(12) alleges that the marriage was meant to ensure Gallus' loyalty[12]but it may have had at least as much to do with Constantina who, besides having known power as Constantine's daughter and Hannibalianus' wife, had prompted the opposition ofVetranio[13]toMagnentius,and whose hand had been sought from Constantius by ambassadors of Magnentius himself.[14]
The marriage, besides benefiting Constantius, extricated her from a dangerous situation in the empire and placed her in a position from which she might control the younger and inexperiencedCaesar,an interest she shared with Constantius. On the other hand, it is possible that Constantius saw the marriage as a way to remove his intrusive – perhaps treasonous – sister from the volatile west. If the mention in thePassio Artemii(11) of letters from Constantina to her brother preserves a genuine tradition, it is possible Constantina even initiated the proposal that she marry Gallus.
Gallus ruled over the East fromAntioch,and his purpose was to keep under control theSassanidmenace. Gallus, however, alienated the support of his subjects with his arbitrary and merciless rule. Constantina supported her husband. It is in Antioch that Constantina appeared to become politically active in the way of imperial Roman women. According toAmmianus Marcellinus,she largely operated hidden from the public view but was still sinister, brutal and controlling. He suggests that she called for the murder of several people: during an interrogation about people killed on his orders, "Gallus...had just enough strength to reply that most of them had been massacred at the insistence of his wife Constantina".[15]She accepted a necklace as a bribe for securing the execution of a nobleman.[16]In ancient historical sources, she was generally perceived as a cruel and violent but politically dynamic figure.
When, after receiving the complaints of the Anthiocheans, Constantius II summoned both Gallus and Constantina, but according to Ammianus Constantina, in her last attempt at using her political power, journeyed ahead to meet with her brother the emperor to try to pacify him in his conflict with her husband Constantius Gallus, during which she died from illness.[17]
Character assessment
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Ammianus Marcellinusportrays Constantina as cruel, violent, and arrogant: "her pride was swollen beyond measure; she was a Fury in mortal form, incessantly adding fuel to her husband's rage, and as thirsty for human blood as he".[7]
Later in the 18th century,Edward Gibbon,influenced by Ammianus Marcellinus' rhetoric, likened Constantina toone of the infernal furies tormented with an insatiate thirst of human blood.The historian said that she encouraged the violent nature of Gallus rather than persuading him to show reason and compassion. Gibbon stated that her vanity was accentuated while the gentle qualities of a woman were absent in her makeup when she would have accepted a pearl necklace in return for consenting to the execution of a worthy nobleman.[18]
Medieval legend
editIn theMiddle Ages,Constantina developed a legend, connected with the life ofAgnes of Rome;the origins of this are unclear, though she was certainly buried in a mausoleum,Santa Costanza,attached to the large Constantinian basilica over the catacomb where Agnes is buried. The mausoleum survives largely intact, but now only parts of the wall of the basilica survive. In the version told by theGolden Legend,she caughtleprosy,and was then miraculously cured when praying at Agnes' tomb, which is supposed to be at the site of the later Basilica ofSant'Agnese fuori le muraalongside the earlier basilica. (The EthiopianSynaxariumdescribesConstantine Isending his sick daughter toAbu Menato be cured, and credits her with findingMenas' body, after which Constantine ordered the construction of a church at the site.)[19]Constantina took a vow of chastity, and converted her fiancé Gallicanus, and eventually left her wealth to her servants John and Paul for them to spend on Christian works. The story, with considerable elaborations, survives in various literary forms, and as a figure from the life of Agnes, Constantina appears in the late 14th enamelled scenes on theRoyal Gold Cupin theBritish Museum.[20]
Cult and recognition of her holiness
editHer relics were placed byPope Alexander IVunder a new altar. Today, the grave of Constantina is in the church of Santa Costanza, Rome. It was only in the 16th century that Constantina, Attica, and Artemia were placed for the first time in martyrologies. The feast day of Constantina is 18 February. Attica and Artemia are venerated, in addition, on 28 January and 17 February. Together, they are venerated on 25 February and 25 June.[21]
Notes
editReferences
edit- ^Mémoires de la Société archéologique de Touraine.Vol. 4. Archaeological Society of Touraine. 1855. p. 19.
- ^St Constance Church (2014)."Our Patron".Retrieved28 December2020.
- ^Alan Cameron (1996). "Orfitus and Constantius: a note on Roman gold-glasses," inJournal of Roman archaeology,p. 301.
- ^Ammianus Marcellinus, xiv 1.2.
- ^Flavius Claudius Iulianus,Epistola ad Athenienses,272 D.
- ^abcDiMaio 1996
- ^abAmmianus Marcellinus 1986,p. 41
- ^Webb 2001,p. 252
- ^Hillner 2018
- ^Hillner 2018
- ^Gibbon 1854,p. 377
- ^Gibbon 1854,p. 388
- ^Jones, Martindale & Morris 1971,p. 222
- ^Müller 1841–1870,Peter the Patrician fr. 16, p. 190
- ^Ammianus Marcellinus 1986,p. 62
- ^Ammianus Marcellinus, xiv 1.3.
- ^"she set out in the hope that as he was her brother she would be able to soften him".Ammianus Marcellinus 1986,p. 58
- ^Gibbon 1854,p. 389
- ^Grossmann, Peter (1998). "The Pilgrimage Center of Abû Mînâ". in D. Frankfurter (ed.),Pilgrimage & Holy Space in Late Antique Egypt.Leiden-Boston-Köln, Brill: p. 282
- ^Kleinhenz 2004,p. 251
- ^Stadler, J.E.; Home, F.J.; Ginal, J.N. (1858–1882).SS. Constantia, Attica et Artemia.Augsburg. p. 663.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Sources
edit- Primary sources
- Ammianus Marcellinus,Res Gestae Libri XXXI.
- Ammianus Marcellinus(1986). Walter Hamilton (ed.).The later Roman Empire (A.D. 354–378).Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books.ISBN978-0-14-044406-3.
- Secondary sources
- Crawford, Peter (2016).Constantius II: Usurpers, Eunuchs, and the Antichrist.Pen & Sword.ISBN978-1-78340-055-3.
- DiMaio, Michael (15 November 1996)."Constantina (daughter of Constantine I)".De Imperatoribus Romanis.
- Gibbon, Edward(1854).The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire.London: John Murray.
- Kleinhenz, Christopher (2004)."Constantina".Medieval Italy an encyclopedia.New York: Routledge.ISBN978-0-415-93929-4.Retrieved21 August2011.
- Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin; Martindale, John Robert; Morris, John (1971).The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire.Cambridge University Press. p. 222.ISBN0-521-07233-6.
- Müller, Karl(1841–1870).Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum(in Latin). Paris: Didot.Vols.1,2,3,4,5
- Webb, Matilda (2001).The Churches and Catacombs of Early Christian Rome.Brighton: Sussex Academic Press. p. 41.ISBN1-902210-57-3.
- Hillner, Julia (24 May 2018)."Constantina, daughter of Constantine, wife of Gallus Caesar, and patron of St. Agnes at Rome".