Constans II Pogonatus

Constans II Pogonatus
born Nov. 7, 639, Constantinople
died Sept. 15, 668, Syracuse, Sicily

Byzantine emperor (641–68).

His reign saw the loss of Byzantium's southern and eastern provinces to the Arabs. Muslim Arabs took Egypt (642), invaded Armenia (647), and defeated Constans at sea in 655. A civil war among Arabs prevented them from attacking Constantinople, and he secured a nonaggression treaty with Syria (659). Within the empire he tried to force unity on the church, forbidding debate on divisive theological questions and exiling the pope when he objected (653). He made his son coemperor (654) and then aroused public outrage by ordering the murder of his own brother (660). He left Constantinople (663) and settled in Sicily, where he was assassinated.

* * *

▪ Byzantine emperor
born November 7, 630, Constantinople [now Istanbul]
died September 15, 668, Syracuse, Sicily

      Byzantine (Eastern Roman) emperor whose reign saw the loss of Byzantium's southern and eastern provinces to the Arabs.

      The son of the emperor Constantine III, Constans came to the throne in September 641, at age 11, after his father's death; during his minority the regency was under the control of the Senate of Constantinople. The Muslim Arabs seized Egypt from Byzantium in the second year of his reign and invaded Armenia in 647. In 655 he fought the naval battle of Phoenix (modern Finike, Turkey) off the coast of Asia Minor; his fleet was routed, and he escaped death only through the heroism of one of his soldiers. The murder of the caliph Uthmān ibn ʿAffānʿ in June 656 touched off a civil war among the Arabs that prevented them from attacking Constantinople, and in 659 Constans was able to secure a nonaggression treaty with the Arab governor of Syria. In 658 he successfully attacked the Slavs of Sclavinia and resettled captives in Asia Minor.

      Constans's internal policy was marked by an attempt to force unity on the church, after theological disputes had divided the empire; in 648 he issued an edict, the Typos, forbidding argument about the controversial question of the divine and human natures of Christ. Pope Martin I condemned the Typos, and Constans, holding to the old conception of a single Roman Empire comprising East and West, had the pope arrested and exiled in 653. A similar punishment was meted out to the theologian Maximus the Confessor (Maximus the Confessor, Saint) in 655. (Both men are revered as saints in the Greek calendar.) The following year he made his son Constantine co-emperor, excluding his brother Theodosius from the succession and ordering his murder in 660.

      Detested as a fratricide by his subjects in Constantinople, Constans in 663 left the capital and traveled westward, passing through northern Italy to Rome and then settling at Syracuse in Sicily. In 668 he alienated Pope Vitalian (Vitalian, Saint) by declaring Ravenna independent. His plans to make the city a permanent capital and a strategic centre for the defense of the West against the Arabs were cut short by his assassination.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Armenia — /ahr mee nee euh, meen yeuh/; for 3 also Sp. /ahrdd me nyah/, n. 1. an ancient country in W Asia: now divided between Armenia, Turkey, and Iran. 2. Also called, Armenian Republic. a republic in Transcaucasia, S of Georgia and W of Azerbaijan.… …   Universalium

  • Vitalian, Saint — ▪ pope Latin  Vitalianus   born , Segni, Duchy of Rome died , c. Jan. 27, 672, Rome; feast day January 27       pope from 657 to 672.       Consecrated as St. Eugenius I s successor on July 30, 657, Vitalian soon dealt peacefully with… …   Universalium

  • North Africa — North African. the northern part of Africa, esp. the region north of the tropical rain forest and comprised of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and that part of Egypt west of the Gulf of Suez. * * * Introduction       region of Africa comprising …   Universalium

  • Monothelite — Monothelitic /meuh noth euh lit ik/, adj. Monothelitism /meuh noth euh luy tiz euhm/, Monothelism, n. /meuh noth euh luyt /, n. Theol. a person who maintains that Christ has a single theanthropic will. Cf. Dyothelite. [1540 50; < ML monothelita …   Universalium

  • Martin I, Saint — ▪ pope born , Todi, Tuscany [Italy] died Sept. 16, 655, Cherson, Crimea [now Kherson, Ukraine]; feast day April 13       pope from 649 to 653.       Martin succeeded Theodore I in July 649. Martin s pontificate occurred during an extensive… …   Universalium

  • Byzantine emperors* — ▪ Table Byzantine emperors* Zeno 474–491 Anastasius I 491–518 Justin I 518–527 Justinian I 527–565 Justin II 565–578 Tiberius II Constantine (Tiberius II Constantinus) 578–582 Maurice 582–602 Phokas (Phocas) 602–610 Heraclius …   Universalium

  • II — (as used in expressions) Abdülhamid II Agesilaus II Alamgir II Aziz al Din Alamgir II Alexander II Amalric II Amenhotep II Anacletus II Andrew II Andronicus II Palaeologus Antigonus II Gonatas …   Universalium

  • Eugenius I, Saint — ▪ pope also known as  Eugene  born , Rome died June 2, 657, Rome; feast day June 2       pope from 654 to 657. He was elected while his predecessor, Pope St. Martin I (Martin I, Saint), was still alive in exile. Later, in a letter of September… …   Universalium

  • Leo II, Saint — ▪ pope born , Sicily died July 3, 683, Rome [Italy]; feast day July 3, formerly June 28       pope from 682 to 683. He promoted church music (he was an accomplished singer), opposed heresy, and maintained good relations with Constantinople.… …   Universalium

  • The Byzantine Empire —     The Byzantine Empire     † Catholic Encyclopedia ► The Byzantine Empire     The ancient Roman Empire having been divided into two parts, an Eastern and a Western, the Eastern remained subject to successors of Constantine, whose capital was at …   Catholic encyclopedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”