CONSTANTIUS I CHLORUS

((The Pale), ) died , summer 306, Eboracum, Britain [now York, North Yorkshire, Eng.] original name Flavius Valerius Constantius Roman emperor and father of Constantine I the Great. As a member of a four-man ruling body (tetrarchy) created by the emperor Diocletian, Constantius held the title caesar from 293 to 305 and caesar augustus in 305306. Of Illyrian descent, Constantius had a distinguished military career before serving as governor of Dalmatia (in modern Croatia). In 289 he renounced his wife, Helena, mother of Constantine, and married Theodora, the stepdaughter of the emperor Maximian. Four years later Constantius was adopted by Maximian and made his caesar. The two men, together with Diocletian and his caesar, Galerius, formed the tetrarchy. Constantius was assigned to rule Gaul and ordered to subdue Marcus Aurelius Carausius, a usurper in Britain. In 293 he captured Carausius' mainland base, Gesoriacum (modern Boulogne, Fr.). Three years later he invaded Britain and defeated and killed Allectus, who had murdered Carausius and succeeded him in power. Constantius then set about restoring frontier defenses. He took strong measures to eliminate Frankish and Saxon piracy, and in 298 he triumphed over the Alemanni in Gaul. His enforcement of Diocletian's edicts (303) against the Christians was deliberately lax; he demolished some churches but did not execute believers. When Diocletian and Maximian abdicated on May 1, 305, Constantius became the senior emperor in the West. He died the following year, and his troops proclaimed Constantine emperor.