February 27 – Happy Birthday, Constantines

nPostednon February 27, 2016

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nOnnthis date in 272, Constantine was born. He became a Roman emperor andn“the Great” was added to his name at some point…

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nAboutna millennium and a half later, on this date in 1711, ConstantinenMavrocordatos was born. He later became a prince and ruler within the Ottoman Empire.

n Constantinenthe Great rose through the Roman military based on his ownnabilities, but his army-officer father became a “deputy emperor”n– a sort of vice-emperor, or junior emperor, which confusingly wasnknown as a “Caesar,” second in command to the senior emperor,nknown as an “Augustus.” At the time there were at four men withnthe power of leading the enormous Roman Empire: an Augustus and anCaesar in the West and an Augustus and a Caesar in the East.
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nLater,nhis father was raised up to being the Augustus of the West, and whennhis father died, Constantine was acclaimed as emperor (Augustus) bynhis army. n

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nThentransfer of power was not super peaceful. There was a series of civilnwars and the various Caesars and Augusti fought among each other.nConstantine led his army to victory after victory, and by the yearn324, he became the one emperor of both the Western and Eastern RomannEmpires.

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Here are some things Constantine is famous for:

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nHen built a new imperial fortress at Byzantium, in what is now Turkey,n and then renamed the city after himself: Constantinople. (This cityn is now named Istanbul.) Constantinople became the capital of then Roman Empire for more than a thousand years (although we now calln this empire the Eastern Roman Empire or the Byzantine Empire).

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Even though Constantine rose to power largely
“through the sword” – some see his power
as coming “from the cross.”

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nHen was the first Roman emperor to claim to be converted ton Christianity, and he legalized the religion throughout the empire.n He called the First Council of Nicaea, which is an important part ofn the history of Christianity—and some Christians still honorn Constantine as a saint. n

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nConstantinen separated civil and military authority. That is a split that mostn modern democracies and republics use. For example, the electedn president and governors and mayors rule civil life, and police andn civil judges enforce civil laws – but admirals and four- andn five-star generals rule the military, and there are separaten military police and military courts for enforcing military laws.

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nConstantinen not only ruled a unified Roman Empire, he also enlarged it. Hen attacked some of the tribes on the frontiers of the empire,n including lands that had been considered a part of the Roman Empiren but had been abandoned by earlier emperors – and he won prettyn much every campaign. Constantine had reorganized his army inton mobile field units and garrison soldiers; this reorganizationn probably accounts for some of Constantine’s success.

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nParagonn of virtue and military hero? Or monstrous tyrant who ruled harshly?n Different groups have portrayed Constantine differently. Modernn historians generally take a middle ground.

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ConstantinenMavrocordatos was a Greek noblenwho was born in Constantinople and who ruled as Prince of Wallachianand as Prince of Moldavia. He didn’t rule for one long period of timen– I guess things were not so peaceful in the Ottoman Empire, in then1700s. Instead, his reign over Wallachia went something like this:

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n1730n (just part of the year)

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n1731n – 1733

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n1735n – 1741

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n1744n – 1748

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n1756n – 1758

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n1761n – 1763

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nAndnhis rule over Moldavia was during some of his “off” times:

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n1733n – 1735

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n1741n – 1743

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n1748n – 1749

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n1769n n

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Ifnyou’re like me, you have no idea where Wallachia was; it was locatednin what is now Romania. n

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nIfnyou’re like me, you will wonder if Moldavia is the same thing asnmodern Moldova; actually, the western half of historical Moldavia isna part of Romania, the eastern side is the Republic of Moldova, andnsome northern and southeastern chunks are now parts of Ukraine.

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nWhatnConstantine the Great and Constantine Mavrocordatos have in common,nbesides for their name and birthday, is the city of Constantinople.nSo here is a photo essay of Byzantium / Constantinople / Istanbul:

Istanbul is a modern city, but you can
still see some of the ancient walls and gates
in places.

Many of the Christian churches were converted
into Muslim mosques, although many Christian
churches and some Jewish synagogues can be
found in the city.