Constantine II

1. (Flavius Claudius Constantinus) A.D. 317-340, emperor of Rome 337-340 (son of Constantine I).

2. born 1940, king of Greece 1964-74, in exile since 1967.

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Greek Constantinos

born June 2, 1940, Psikhikó, near Athens, Greece

King of Greece (1964–74).

Son of Paul I (1901–64), he succeeded his father in 1964. After a military coup in 1967, he and his family fled to Rome. The military regime appointed a regent in his place and granted him a free return if he wished. In 1973 the military regime proclaimed a republic and abolished the monarchy. In 1974 a civilian referendum officially ended the monarchy.

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▪ Roman emperor

Latin in full  Flavius Claudius Constantinus 

born 316, Arelate, Viennensis [now Arles, France]

died 340

      Roman emperor from 337 to 340.

      The second son of Constantine the Great (ruled 306–337), he was given the title of caesar by his father on March 1, 317. When Constantine the Great died in 337, Constantine II and his brothers, Constans (Constans I) and Constantius II, each adopted the title augustus and divided the empire among themselves. Constantine II became ruler of Britain, Gaul, and Spain. He soon claimed Italy and Africa from Constans and, early in 340, unexpectedly invaded Italy. Penetrating to Aquileia, Constantine was met by the vanguard of the army of Constans and was killed in the ensuing battle.

▪ king of Greece

born June 2, 1940, Psikhikó, near Athens

      king of Greece from 1964 to 1974.

      After spending World War II in exile in South Africa, Constantine returned to Greece in 1946. When his father became King Paul I in 1947, Constantine became crown prince and succeeded to the throne upon his father's death on March 6, 1964. Fearing leftist infiltration of the army, he dismissed Premier Georgios Papandreou in July 1965 and appointed interim premiers until April 21, 1967, when a military coup forestalled the election he was planning for May of that year. Attempting a counter-coup from northern Greece on Dec. 13, 1967, he had few sympathizers and almost immediately fled to Rome with his family. The military regime retained control of the monarchy and appointed a regent in Constantine's place, granting the king a free return if he so desired.

      On June 1, 1973, the military regime ruling Greece proclaimed a republic and abolished the Greek monarchy. A referendum on July 29, 1973, confirmed these actions. After the election of a civilian government in November 1974, another referendum on the monarchy was conducted on December 8. The monarchy was rejected, and Constantine, who had protested the vote of 1973, accepted the result.

▪ king of Scotland

died 952

 one of the greatest of early Scottish kings, his long reign (900–943) being proof of his power during a period of dynastic conflicts and foreign invasions.

      During the first part of his reign the kingdom was still beset by the Norsemen. In his third year they wasted Dunkeld and all of Alba. They were repulsed, however, in Strathearn the following year. In his eighth year Rognwald, the Danish king of Dublin, with earls Ottir and Oswle Crakaban, ravaged Dunblane. Six years later the same leaders were defeated on the Tyne by Constantine in a battle whose site and incidents are told in conflicting stories; it appears certain, however, that Constantine saved his dominions from further serious attacks by the Vikings.

      In spite of his wars, Constantine found time in the early part of his reign for two important reforms, one ecclesiastical and the other civil. In his sixth year (906) he established the Scottish church, which the Pictish kings had earlier suppressed. Two years later, on the death of Donald, king of the Britons of Strathclyde, Constantine procured the election of his own brother Donald to that kingdom.

      He had now to meet a more formidable foe, the West Saxons, whose kings were steadily moving northward. In league with other northern kings, Constantine was decisively defeated at the Battle of Brunanburh (937) by King Athelstan. The slaughter was devastating. A son of Constantine was slain, as were four kings and seven earls. Constantine himself escaped to Scotland, where in old age he resigned the crown for the tonsure and became abbot of the Culdees of St. Andrews. He was succeeded by a cousin, Malcolm I.

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