Constantine the Great was one of the most important figures of Byzantium and Christianity, yet there is a dark chapter in the emperor’s reign that historians cannot fathom.
The execution of his oldest son Crispus and his wife Empress Fausta is a tragic episode in the history of the Eastern Roman Empire that is full of glorious moments.
In the 4th century AD, and especially during Constantine’s reign, the Roman Empire was in a transitional period. Emperor Flavius Valerius Constantinus, as was the real name of Constantine the Great, was the first Roman emperor who converted to Christianity. He is also the one who proclaimed Constantinople the Capital of the Empire, naming the city after himself.
His life was full of victorious battles, intrigues, controversies, and tragic stories. But what stands out in the turbulent course of his reign is the execution of his son Crispus (Κρίσπος in Greek) and his wife Fausta (Φαούστα in Greek). Why did Constantine give the order to execute two people so close to him—two people that history says he loved?
Constantine’s son Crispus
Flavius Julius Crispus was the eldest son of Constantine. The most likely year of his birth was 302 AD, while some historians suggest 305. He was born in the eastern regions of the Roman Empire, and his mother was Minervina. It has not been historically clarified whether Minervina was Constantine’s first official wife or his concubine. The second version is considered more likely. However, Crispus was the couple’s only child.
Constantine the Great always had Crispus with him and assigned his education to the orator Lactantius. Crispus showed special abilities from a very young age, and his father appointed him commander of Gaul. As a teenager, he then settled in Treviri (present-day Trier, Germany), and, in January 322 AD, he married Helen, who, in October of the same year, gave him a son whose name has not been discovered.
In 318, 320, and 323 AD, Crispus led victorious campaigns against the Franks and the Alamanni, thus strengthening the Roman presence in the region. In 322, he visited Rome with his father, where he was received with great honor by the people. In the following years, Crispus proved decisive in the war against Licinius.
In 324 AD, Constantine appointed him captain of his fleet. Crispus sailed from the port of Piraeus, and in the waters of the Hellespont, he fought with the much stronger fleet of Licinius. Constantine’s two hundred ships, under the command of Crispus, decisively defeated Licinius’ fleet which had twice as many ships. After the naval battle was over, Crispus with a part of the Roman legions pursued the defeated Licinius and engaged him in yet another victorious battle outside Chrysoupolis. The rest of the legions followed under the orders of Constantine.
Constantine was very proud of his son, and, to honor him, he ordered and minted coins with the image of Crispus and made statues, mosaics, and ceramic figures of the young Caesar. Orations were written extolling the virtues of Crispus, and Eusebius wrote of the god-loving Crispus, who is worthy of being compared to his father. It should be noted that Crispus had not converted to Christianity.
The wife Fausta
Fausta Maxima Flavia was born and raised in Rome, probably in 289 AD. She was the daughter of Emperor Maximilian. She married Constantine the Great in 307 AD at Treverius (Trier, Germany) when she was 17 or 18 years old. They had at least a 15-year age difference between them. The marriage was politically motivated, as it sealed the armistice agreement between her father and Constantine.
Fausta was a beauty by the standards of the time. She was also intelligent and ambitious. Constantine gradually appreciated her and fell in love with her. Together, they had three sons, the later emperors Constantine II, born on August 7, 316, Constantius II, born on August 7, 317, and Constans, born in 320 or 323. They also had two daughters: Constantina and Helen. No dates of birth have been preserved for the two daughters of the imperial couple.
Characteristic of the appreciation that Constantine had for Fausta was the fact that in 324 AD he awarded her the highly honorary title of Augusta.
Two events marked Fausta’s life. When her father (Maximilianos) decided to violate the agreement with Constantine he confided in her. She betrayed him to her husband who arrested Maximilianos. Then, Fausta instructed him to execute her father stressing that as long as he was alive it was possible that he would conspire against him again. Constantine executed Maximilianos. Shortly thereafter, at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine faced and defeated his wife’s brother, Maxentius. Maxentius in his attempt to escape drowned in the river Tiber and by order of Constantine his head was cut off, nailed to a tree and the soldiers paraded it through the streets of Rome.
Constantine orders the executions
Historians agree that Constantine valued and loved Crispus and his relationship with Fausta was quite good. This is the reason that historians find the execution of the two perplexing.
In 326 AD, Constantine ordered his firstborn son to be put to death. Crispus was executed in Pula (Croatia) with “cold poison,” as mentioned in texts of the time. Some historians argue the texts mean “the coldness of poison.” The fact is that the young man died of poisoning due to the orders of his father. A few months later, Fausta was also executed (probably in Rome). They locked her in a bath and gradually raised the temperature until Constantine’s wife died of suffocation.
The emperor ordered the names of the two executed to be removed from all records, not to be mentioned by historians, and their memory erased forever.
Historians gather that the two executions were connected. But why did Constantine give such an order?
Two historians, Zosimus in the 6th century and John Zonaras in the 12th century give an explanation, which is the most widely accepted interpretation of the emperor’s decision.
Fausta was jealous of Crispus because he was her husband’s favorite son. She feared that Constantine would sideline the sons he had with her for the sake of Crispus. To trap him, she invited him to a private meeting and confessed her supposed love to him, suggesting that they enter into an illicit relationship. Crispus refused.
Then Fausta told Constantine that his son was in love with her and forced her to have an illicit affair. When she rejected him, Crispus tried to rape her. Enraged, Constantine ordered the execution of his son. Aurelius Victor wrote in “Epitomia” that Constantine’s mother, Eleni, was enraged by the execution of her grandson. She pointed out to the emperor that he should have investigated Fausta’s complaints before acting. Constantine realized his mistake and investigated what his wife had told him. He found that it was not true and ordered her execution as well.
This version is the most accepted but not historically verifiable because the historians who cited it did not live at the time of the events. There are also those who argue Crispus and Fausta did indeed have an affair and its revelation led to their execution.
Constantine believed Crispus had committed such a serious offense that he ordered “damnatio memoriae,” erasing his name from history. If Constantine later discovered Fausta’s deception, why didn’t he restore his son’s name?
But if indeed son and stepmother had an affair, why was Fausta not immediately executed together with Crispus? To this question, the hypothetical answer given is that perhaps Fausta was pregnant and they were waiting for her to give birth before executing her.
However, if the emperor’s wife had indeed committed adultery, she would have been executed according to the law following an imperial decree for the issuance of which there are no references.
Nevertheless, the execution of his first-born son and wife marked the life of Constantine. He was a ruthless emperor who often acted impulsively, carried away by his anger. What exactly led to the execution of Crispus and Fausta will probably never be historically clarified.
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