Edict of Milan: a Source Analysis on the Results of the Document

763 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The influence of Constantine's conversion to Christianity

Emperor Constantine was the key to a major religious change in the Roman Empire. Paganism was the religious practice of the early empire, and while paganism was publically expressed those who followed Christianity were persecuted. These Christians had their property and pride ripped away from them if they did not recant their religious views. This was a harsh life for those who followed Christianity until Emperors Constantine and Licinius meeting in Nicomedia to create the Edict of Milan. The edict, created in the year 313, proved to be a major change in the religious culture of the Roman Empire by granting religious freedom to Christians and all other religions practiced in the empire; not only were Christians now able to freely practice their beliefs but all property, land, and belongings that were once stolen from them were to be returned. Given their new freedom Christians began to become more public and had different branches all with separate views on how the religion should be practiced. The Edict of Milan gave rise to the freedom of Christianity, however what was not intended by the edict was that as the popularity and diversity of Christianity rose this gave birth to the beginning of Christian wars; the first war was that of Christians versus the Pagans and the second, more violent was that of the Christians versus each other.
The initial thoughts of the Edict of Milan were kept with Emperor Constantine. The conclusion of the Battle at the Milvian Bridge between Constantine and his rival emperor Maxentius had displayed Constantine’s strong views towards Christianity for it was when he had won the battle the emperor attributed the victory to the God of the Christians. Between this and Constantine’s building and funding t...

... middle of paper ...

...
The Christian wars were the result of the Edict of Milan allowing such a broad range of religious freedom and not having a way to protect against it. With any large amount of religions, all with different views, in the same area there are bound to be disagreements between the different factions. These disagreements are what caused the different groups to not be able to live peacefully together and also what had caused the period of self-destruction in Rome between all of the different Christian groups. The edict was a good plan that was created by Emperor Constantine; however he and Emperor Licinius should created a section of the edict to standardize how Christian practices would take place. Having been standardized the fighting between the different factions would not have happened, because all of the extra factions would have not had the power to exist at all.

Show More
Related

  • The First Crusade Sparknotes

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although there was no compassionate relationship between the “eastern and western branches of Christianity,” Pope Urban II of Europe was aware of the Islamic threat to the Byzantium Empire and was subject to support the eastern branch after he heard about the oppression forced on his fellow Christians. In November of 1095, Foss Claims, “Pope Urban II was determined to save the honour and the soul of Europe.” Throughout his book Foss identifies the persuasive speech at the Council of Claremont, the siege of Antioch, and Capture of the Holy

    Read More

  • The First Crusades Analysis

    1928 Words  | 4 Pages

    The First Crusade is often cited as one of the most damnable consequences of religious fanaticism. A careful inspection of the circumstances and outcomes, however, will reveal a resultant political restructuring of Europe under the banner of Christendom. The purpose of this investigation is to investigate Pope Urban II’s motives in initiating the First Crusade, with a particular focus on the consolidation of the Western Church’s influence in Europe. Among the primary sources that will be consulted are the letter sent by Patriach Alexios of Constantinople to Urban, and an account of Urban’s speech at Clermont. Relevant excerpts from both of these primary sources, as well as contextual evidence and a wide array of historiography, will be taken

    Read More

  • Paganism and Vestal Virgins

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...eligious practices. Christianity affected not only the Roman Empire but many other countries as well, altering their practices and making way for worship in the present day.

    Read More

  • Impact of Religion, Structure, and Education on the Decline of Constantinople

    956 Words  | 2 Pages

    Constantinople was established as the new capital of the Roman Empire in A.D. 330 by Constantine on the Bosporus Strait. Constantinople, or the city of Constantine, was strategically placed on the Bosporus Strait for trade and defense purposes that would later allow for cultural diffusion. As a result of replacing Rome, Constantinople was under immense Roman influence. Their culture as well as architecture was based on Rome’s. Constantinople was occupied with buildings modeled after those in Rome. Along with being the new capital of the Roman Empire and under Roman influence, Constantinople was the center of Roman region. Constantine made Christianity legal and emperor Theodosius made Christianity the empire’s official religion. By moving the capital from Rome to Constantinople, Constantine moved the center of Rome’s religion to Constantinople. But this was Constantinople before the political and religious changes that could have caused the decline of Constantinople if it wasn’t for the influential continuities.

    Read More

  • The Rise And Fall Of Christianity And Afro-Eurasia

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    The rise of Christianity in Rome did not come easily. It came with much destruction and death. The spark of Christianity in Rome came from an appearance of Martyrs in Rome. Martyrs were people that were executed for going against the common beliefs of pagan (polytheistic) ways. (Tignor, 2011, p. 286) Because of these awful executions, Christianity is said to be based off of “the blood of martyrs.” One of their main ways of spreading Christianity was through the sharing of their writings and by 300 CE there was an exceptional amount of book production throughout Rome. (Tignor, 2011, p. 289) “Christianity operated as one among many minority religions in the Roman Empire, and on several occasions experienced widespread persecution, especially under the emperors Nero (r. 54–68), Decius (r. 249–251), and Diocletian (r. 284–305). However, the situation changed radically under the emperor Constantine (r. 306–337), who in 313 issued the Edict of Milan that made Christianity a legitimate religion in the empire.” (Melton, 2010, p. 634)

    Read More

  • St. Augustine: The Theory Of Just War

    1344 Words  | 3 Pages

    The theory of Just War can be found back over centuries to the philosophy of St. Augustine and beyond. Augustine was one of the first important figures to be challenged by the concerns raised by justified warfare. Christianity, despite significant prosecution, grew out of the Roman Empire, which was Pagan. The evolving Christianity was fundamentally pacifist, giving rise to the refusal of Christians to fight in the Roman army; violence was against Jesus’ teaching to turn the other cheek, never seek revenge, not to defend themselves and to forgive seventy times seven. Similarly, they could not justify fighting for a pagan empire, and since initially, they were expecting Jesus to return soon, warfare was not considered an important priority. However, when Emperor Constantine became Christian, he made Christianity the official religion of the empire. Up until this point, Christianity remained pacifist. This was the problem that Augustine was faced with; justifying warfare for a Christian empire.

    Read More

  • The Spread of Christianity Throughout Europe

    1185 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the greatest empire in the western world began to crumble one city at a time, the leader of the Roman Empire, Constantine, under pressure from external and internal sources moved the capital of Rome to Constantinople around 330 AD. The movement of the capital was after his conversion to Christianity in 312 AD, a growing religion throughout the empire despite being officially illegal. Constantine was not the devote saint that the church may speak of today, “from 312-320 Constantine was tolerant of paganism, keeping pagan gods on coins and retaining his pagan high priest title "Pontifex Maximus" in order to maintain popularity with his subjects, possibly indicating that he never understood the theology of Christianity” (Ferguson & Grupp, 1998). The first Christian Emperor claimed to have converted after a victorious battle with his brother and there are many that corroborate this story it appears highly suspicious to only promote Christian ideals and worship. Constantine was not even the Emperor that made Christianity the religion of the Roman people, but simply permitted religiou...

    Read More

  • Gregory of Tours’ Clovis' Conversion to Orthodox Christianity

    2541 Words  | 6 Pages

    Eusebius’ account of Constantine’s conversion is comparable to Gregory of Tours’ accounts of Clovis’ and Gundobad’s conversions to Christianity, in the sense that they all initially called upon the “Christ-God” (albeit Gundobad perhaps indirectly) to come to their aid, which he did, during periods of military crisis. The si...

    Read More

  • How Did Constantine The Great Conversion To Christianity?

    1045 Words  | 3 Pages

    Constantine went far beyond the Edict of Milan, which extended indulgence of Christians during the persecution. By 313 A.D., Constantine had donated the property of Lateran, where a new cathedral, the Basilica Constantiniana was soon built, to the bishop of Rome. Constantine had an arch erected in his honour at Rome after the defeat of Maxentius ascribed the victory to the “inspiration of the Divinity”. After his victory over Licinius in 324, Constantine wrote that he had come from the farthest shores of Britain as God’s chosen instrument for the suppression of impiety. Later, in a letter he proclaimed that he had come to bring peace and prosperity to all lands, with the help of God. He gave vast amounts of money from his own personal treasury to the churches of God, to help enlarge the sacred buildings and to decorate the sanctuaries. Throughout his life, Constantine ascribed his success to his conversion to Christianity and the support of the Christian

    Read More

  • The Roman Empire: The Fall Of The Western Empire

    1646 Words  | 4 Pages

    This led to a decrease in traditional Roman values because before Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire the Roman people had a strong belief in polytheism. Because the polytheistic view was abandoned no one saw the Emperor as a deity which in turn took power away from the Emperor. People began to shift their belief in the city to a belief in one sole deity. With such a large focus on the new religion many religious leader began to rise in political sectors. This was negative for the Roman people because their government was already weak and with the increasing of political power being given to the religious leaders it would only began to further make governing harder. It was really hard for a weakened government that originally based itself on polytheism to change to monotheism because it would only to serve to remove more power from the

    Read More

  • Roman Empire Essay

    528 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are certain traits the Roman Empire possessed which contributed greatly to the growth of Christianity. The Roman Empire, most importantly, united a great variety and cultures and people into what became one nation; the resulting unity and communication between so many peoples eased the spread of Christianity all over the world. Of the Roman emperors, even the extremely rude ones assisted in spreading the Christian faith; not despite, but relieved by their pursuit Christianity grew rapidly. Finally, the oppressed and broken nature of the plebeians made them very liable to and eager of the Christian message.

    Read More

  • Edict Of Milan Christian Toleration Effects

    1213 Words  | 3 Pages

    Constantine felt that the acceptance of Christianity would cause the religion to grow numerically and have greater influence in all areas of society. He also felt Christianity was the best religious choice for the people under his rule and beyond. Without the Edict of Milan, Christians would of been forced to continue secretly meeting in underground churches. Also, the pagan torture would have persisted and the confiscation and plundering of Christian churches would have still remained. Without the recognition of Christianity, the Christians would not have been able to maintain equal status with people from other religions.

    Read More

  • Essay: Christianity In Rome

    585 Words  | 2 Pages

    Christianity became more prevalent in Roman society as time went on because it appealed to Rome and what Roman ideals were. In the beginning Romans were skeptical of changing religion, but as the years went by, the Romans adopted and changed. Christianity appealed to the Roman ideals, as it gave certain perks that their current polytheistic religion did not offer to them. The emperors of Rome had many different views on Christianity; some emperors encouraged change, and others were more traditional and wanted to stick to their current, polytheistic religion. Roman views on Christianity have changed drastically from the early years of the Roman Empire to the 4th century, as well as its appeal to the ordinary Roman citizen.

    Read More

  • Constantine the Great

    1346 Words  | 3 Pages

    Constantine the Great, first Christian Emperor, originator of Constantinople, creator of the Byzantine Empire, military conqueror, and honored saint, has been labeled by many the most instrumental emperor of the Roman Empire. Constantine played a crucial role in the development of Europe during the Middle Ages, and founded Christianity as the formal religion of the Roman Empire. His dynamic yet effective predominance laid the infrastructure of European development. From his humble beginnings, to his command of the Roman Empire, to his final days, Constantine’s impact on world history and Christianity has left behind an unforgettable legacy. He was described by Eusebius as “such an emperor as all history records not.” Ware compared him to, “a watershed in the history of the Church.” Additionally, Meyendorff states, “No single human being in history has contributed to the conversion of so many to the Christian faith.” Norwich declared that “No ruler in all of history has ever more fully merited his title of ‘the Great’…Constantine has serious claim to be considered the most influential man in all of history.” Some of Constantine’s notable acts in the history of Christianity was his calling of the first Ecumenical Council at Nicaea, his institution of freedom for Christianity with the Edict of Milan, and the relocation of the capital of empire from Rome to Constantinople.

    Read More

  • The Fall of the Roman Empire

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    When Christianity became the religion in Rome, some people accepted the change and some people did not. Christianity was brought into the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine during his reforms after a period of crisis in the late Roman Empire. The change in Religion was too big of a modification to society for some people to handle, and instead stuck with the old Roman religion of polytheism. The change in religion caused internal chaos in the empire because not everyone accepted Christianity in empire when the religion changed. With Christianity becoming the new religion, it also changed where people saw who had power, which changed the people of Rome’s believe in the emperor to God because of the religion change. Before Christianity came to Rome, people believed in polytheism, so emperors were basically gods, so the change represents the acceptance of something else to believe in. While Christianity helped with the fall of Rome, the expansion of the empire also assisted in the fall of the Roman Empire.

    Read More

More about Edict of Milan: a Source Analysis on the Results of the Document

Open Document