Singled Out With Their Father's Honours: The Sons of Constantine and Ecclesiastical Politics (337-361 CE)

Abstract

This thesis considers the reigns of the sons of Constantine and ecclesiastical politics. It argues that we need to read the religious policies of the sons of Constantine more carefully within their wider political frameworks. The largely dominant ‘orthodox’ narratives are responsible for a perception of these reigns as being dictated by the whims and desires of bishops or by an overarching and consistent ‘imperial scheme’, rather than displaying the actual role of the emperors in such affairs. While it is easy to assume the prevalence of wily bishops and their agendas, closer examination of this period demonstrates the emergence of a more concrete perception of what this religious policy was. The need to challenge the centrality of, or at least to consider more closely, the pro-Nicene and orthodox narratives that describe the events of these twenty-four years becomes clear when we seek a more contextualised and nuanced reconstruction of the agency and policies of the emperors who reigned in this period. This will be demonstrated through three clear chronological studies that conveniently follow the three distinct periods of the reigns of the sons of Constantine. We see shifting imperial policies that are driven not by the influence of corrupting forces, but by the new circumstances of the period, both ‘religious’ and ‘secular’, and the emperor’s own agency.