Constantine_III_(Byzantine_emperor)
Heraclius Constantine
Byzantine emperor in 641
Heraclius Constantine (Latin: Heraclius novus Constantinus; Greek: Ἡράκλειος νέος Κωνσταντῖνος, translit. Hērákleios néos Kōnstantĩnos; 3 May 612 – 25 May 641), often enumerated as Constantine III,[lower-alpha 2] was one of the shortest reigning Byzantine emperors, ruling for three months in 641. He was the eldest son of Emperor Heraclius and his first wife Eudokia.
| Heraclius Constantine | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emperor of the Romans | |||||||||
 | |||||||||
| Byzantine emperor | |||||||||
| Reign | 11 February – 25 May 641 | ||||||||
| Predecessor | Heraclius | ||||||||
| Successor | Heraclonas | ||||||||
| Co-emperor | Heraclonas | ||||||||
| Born | 3 May 612[1] | ||||||||
| Died | 25 May 641[lower-alpha 1] (aged 29) Chalcedon, Bithynia (now Kadıköy, Istanbul) | ||||||||
| Spouse | Gregoria | ||||||||
| Issue | Constans II Theodosius Manyanh | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Dynasty | Heraclian | ||||||||
| Father | Heraclius | ||||||||
| Mother | Eudokia | ||||||||
| Religion | Chalcedonian Christianity | ||||||||
Constantine was crowned co-emperor by his father on 22 January 613 and shortly after was betrothed to his cousin, Gregoria, a daughter of his father's first cousin, Nicetas.[10] As the couple were second cousins, the marriage was technically incestuous, but this consideration must have been outweighed by the advantages of the match to the family as a whole. Furthermore, its illegality paled into insignificance beside Heraclius' marriage to his niece Martina the same year. In comparison, Constantine's marriage was far less scandalous than that of his father.[11] Constantine assumed an honorary consulship on 1 January 632, and at the same ceremony his brother Heraclonas was raised to the rank of caesar.[12][lower-alpha 3]
Constantine became senior emperor when his father died on 11 February 641. He reigned together with his younger half-brother Heraclonas, the son of Martina. His supporters feared action against him on the part of Martina and Heraclonas, and the treasurer Philagrius advised him to write to the army, informing them that he was dying and asking for their assistance in protecting the rights of his children. He also sent a vast sum of money, more than two million solidi (gold coins), to Valentinus, an adjutant of Philagrius, to distribute to the soldiers to persuade them to secure the succession for his sons after his death. He died of tuberculosis after only three months, on 25 May, leaving Heraclonas sole emperor.[13] A rumor that Martina had him poisoned led first to the imposition of Constans II as co-emperor and then to the deposition, mutilation, and banishment of Martina and her sons.[10]
In 629 or 630, Constantine married Gregoria, the daughter of Niketas.[10] They had two sons, and perhaps a daughter:
- Constans II, who succeeded as emperor
- Theodosius[14]
- Manyanh, who reportedly married Yazdegerd III.[15][16]
- Or, according to the Necrologium, 20 April, which would make a total reign of 99 days (counting from 11 January) as opposed to the "103 days" (from 11 February) indicated by Nikephoros.[2] The latter date, 11 February, is traditionally the most accepted.[3]
- The Byzantines themselves did not use regnal numbers, which are instead applied to the emperors by modern historians. There is particular confusion surrounding the name 'Constantine III' as it is also applied to the earlier Constantine III (r. 407–411) of the Western Roman Empire. The name has also, at least once, been used as an alternative name for Heraclius Constantine's son Constans II.[6] The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium uses 'Herakleios Constantine' instead of 'Constantine III' and uses 'Constantine III' solely for the Western emperor,[7] while the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire uses the numeral solely for the Byzantine emperor.[4] He is even more rarely called Heraclius II.[8][9][1]
- Grierson 1962, p. 48.
- Rösch 1978, pp. 170.
- Bussell 1910, pp. xii, 268.
- Smith 1849, p. 1405.
- Ostrogorsky 1956, pp. 100–101.
- Theophanes, AM 6108 (n.2)
- Ostrogorsky 1956, pp. 112–113.
- Crawford, Peter (13 October 2021). Justinian II: The Roman Emperor Who Lost His Nose and His Throne and Regained Both. Pen and Sword. p. 33. ISBN 9781526755339.
- Bussell, Frederick William (1910). The Roman Empire: Essays on the constitutional history from the accession of Domitian (81 A.D.) to the retirement of Nicephorus III (1081 A.D.). New York: Longmans, Green, and Co.
- Bury, J.B. (1889). "Genealogical Table of the House of Heraclius". A History of the Later Roman Empire: From Arcadius to Irene. Macmillan Publishers.
- Jones, A.H.M.; J.R. Martindale & J. Morris (1971). "Constantinus 38". Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Vol. III. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521072336.
- Cameron, Alan (1988). "Flavius: a Nicety of Protocol". Latomus. 47 (1): 26–33. JSTOR 41540754.
- Franzius, Enno (2021). "Heraclius". Encyclopedia Britannica.
- Fournet, Jean-Lu (2022). The Rise of Coptic: Egyptian Versus Greek in Late Antiquity. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691230238.
- Grierson, Philip (1962). "The Tombs and Obits of the Byzantine Emperors (337–1042)". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 16. doi:10.2307/1291157. ISSN 0070-7546. JSTOR 1291157.
- Foss, Clive (2005). "Emperors named Constantine". Revue numismatique (in French). 6 (161): 93–102. doi:10.3406/numi.2005.2594.
- Hächler, Nikolas (2022). Berger, Albrecht (ed.). "Heraclius Constantine III – Emperor of Byzantium (613–641)". Byzantinische Zeitschrift. 115 (1). De Gruyter: 69–116. doi:10.1515/bz-2022-0004. ISSN 1868-9027.
- Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). "Herakleios Constantine". Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195046526.
- El-Cheikh, Nadia Maria (1999). "Muḥammad and Heraclius: A Study in Legitimacy". Studia Islamica. 62 (89). Maisonneuve & Larose: 5–21. doi:10.2307/1596083. ISSN 0585-5292. JSTOR 1596083.
- Ostrogorsky, George (1956). History of the Byzantine State. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
- Smith, William, ed. (1849). "List of Kings". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 3.
- Rösch, Gerhard (1978). Onoma Basileias: Studien zum offiziellen Gebrauch der Kaisertitel in spätantiker und frühbyzantinischer Zeit. Byzantina et Neograeca Vindobonensia (in German). Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 978-3-7001-0260-1.
Heraclius Constantine Born: 3 May 612 Died: 25 May 641 | ||
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Byzantine emperor 613–641 with Heraclius, 613–641 and Heraclonas, 641 |
Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Heraclius in 611, then lapsed |
Roman consul 632 |
Succeeded by Lapsed, Heraclonas in 639 |