Constantine and Heroclonas

When Emperor Heraclius died on 11 February 641, he left two of his sons in charge. Each was from a different mother.

Constantine, his son by his first wife, Fabia Eudokia, had been crowned co-emperor on 22 January 613, when the child was only eight months old. This honorary title was a way to ensure succession in the event of the father's death, but did not give him the emperor's authority while his father lived. (The illustration shows a gold solidus with father and son displayed.)

Heraclonas, his son by Martina, had been made a caesar (a royal title but not the same as emperor) at the age of six years, on 1 January 632. On that same day, Constantine was given a consulship, which made him one of the highest-ranking men in the empire with actual authority. Heroclonas was named "Augustus" and essentially a co-emperor on 4 July 638.

Heraclius' favoring of Martina, who naturally tried to promote her own children over that of her step-son, led to a weakening of Constantine's roles.

At Heraclius' death, however, Constantine became senior emperor. Constantine promoted his own son, Constans (who was only 10 years old) to caesar, ignoring Martina's other sons. Because Heraclonas was so young, Martina made decisions on his behalf, often arguing with Constantine.

Some of Constantine's supporters feared that Martina and Heraclonas would try to overthrow him, and advised him to make sure the army was loyal. Constantine sent two million solidi to Valentinus, to ensure that the army would support Constans.

Constantine died within a few months of becoming emperor. The cause is assumed to be tuberculosis, although rumors that he was poisoned by Martina persisted. That's when the money sent to Valentinus came in handy, as I'll explain tomorrow.

The Heraclian Dynasty

For a century (610 - 711), Heraclius and his descendants were emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire, ruling over the Byzantines from Constantinople. To get these descendants, he had two marriages.

The first was to Fabia Eudokia, betrothed to him before he became emperor. She and her mother were kidnapped by the previous emperor, Phocas, to try to prevent Heraclius from attacking Constantinople. They were released by members of the Greens, who favored Heraclius in his revolt. Once they were safely with Heraclius, he was able to enter Constantinople. Heraclius and Fabia married on the same day he was crowned emperor, 5 October 610, and she was given the title Augusta. Their son was Constantine III, who would succeed Heraclius.

Fabia died on 13 August 612. Heraclius then married Martina in 613. Her mother was Maria, Heraclius' sister, making him her uncle.

There have been several times in history when laws of consanguinity were proposed, suggesting various degrees of relatedness that were prohibited. Marriage to your niece was certainly one of these prohibited unions, whichever set of rules you chose to apply. The crime of incest, and the respect for the deceased Fabia Eudokia, led to disapproval by the population of this new marriage. Heraclius' own family rejected this choice; his brother Theodore frequently condemned it.

Heraclius kept Martina with him on campaigns, but military failures were attributed to her and the inappropriate marriage. The couple had several children:

• Constantine, who died young
• Fabius, who had a paralyzed neck and died young
• Theodosius, born deaf-mute

These children may have suffered due to the inbreeding of Heraclius with a close relative. The population pointed fingers at this "evidence" that the marriage was cursed.

There were children who survived and became rulers themselves, however. When Heraclius was on his deathbed, he asked that his son by Fabia, Constantine, and a son by Martina, Heraclonas, be honored. Constantine and Martina did not get along, however, which was going to cause trouble in the near future. See you tomorrow. (The illustration is a much later coin struck to commemorate Heraclius.)

Emperor Heraclius

Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (reigned 610 - 641) was mentioned here when he tried to make the whole empire follow Monothelitism. The idea that Jesus had only a single "energy" and not two (the human and the divine) was not well-received by everyone. That was not the only issue of Heraclius' reign.

Born c.575 in (we think) Armenia, his father (Heraclius the Elder) was a general under Emperor Maurice during the time of Bahram Chobin's revolt against the Iranian emperors Hormizd IV and his son, Khosrow II. Maurice made Heraclius the Elder the Exarch (regional governor) of Africa.

In 608, Heraclius the Elder and his son led a revolt against Emperor Phocas (reigned 602 to 610). Phocas had overthrown Maurice years earlier, but was so unpopular that when the younger Heraclius approached Constantinople, the elite imperial guard that was led by Phocas' son-in-law defected to Heraclius. The son-in-law, Priscus, supported the overthrow and was later given a command against the Persians. Another group in favor of change that supported the revolt was the Greens.

Heraclius the Younger became emperor. The illustration shows him sentencing Phocas, although a generation later an historian said Heraclius slew Phocas himself without any formality. The Elder was still securing Egypt. When news came that his son was made emperor, the father is said to have rejoiced. He died shortly after, however.

Heraclius was crowned on 5 October 610. Much of his reign was spent dealing with the danger from the east. War with the Sassanian Empire (602 - 628) lost him Syria and Egypt. When Khosrow II was overthrown by his son, Kavad II, Kavad II wanted peace. The war against the Persians ended, but the military losses on both sides were significant.

As a sign of good faith, Kavad offered the True Cross to Heraclius in 628. Heraclius returned it to Jerusalem a year or two later.

Unfortunately, here was another enemy to the East, the Rashidun Caliphate, who conquered the Sassanian Empire first and then came for the West, taking Armenia, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. What was gained from Persian Zoroastrians was lost to Arab Muslims.

He established the Heraclian dynasty that lasted a century. There was a problem with his descendants, however, and that was the problem of incest. I'll explain more tomorrow.

Monothelitism

The Western Roman Empire and Eastern Byzantine Empire had many differences over the centuries. Some of the biggest differences were religious. One such was the Filioque controversy: did the Holy Spirit proceed from the father, or the Father and the Son? Another was the question of Monothelitism.

Monothelitism ("one will") had come up in the 600s in opposition to dyothelitism ("dual wills"), the doctrine that Jesus had two "wills": a divine aspect and a human aspect. Monothelitism was the opinion that he had one will, a single "energy."

The debates over this had started generations earlier. The Church had determined that Jesus was the Son of God, but exactly how a human could also be God was still being argued. The First Council of Nicaea had decreed that Jesus was fully divine, and any other thought was heretical (this was to combat Arianism; this is the council where Nicholas of Myra reportedly slapped Arius). By declaring that God's Son became a man, they opened the door to discussion (and debate) over how two different natures could combine in a human being.

The debates could be fierce, and fights broke out over them. Emperor Heraclius (610 - 641) suggested monothelitism in order to establish one unifying doctrine. Patriarch of Constantinople Sergius I wrote to Pope Honorius, arguing that the idea of two wills in Jesus could lead to the argument that his human and divine wills were opposed to each other. (Consider the scene in Gethsemane when Jesus asks if fate can be taken away.) Sergius wanted Honorius to agree that divisive arguments should be suppressed. Honorius went along at first, but arguments arose that monothelitism was inconsistent with orthodoxy.

When Constans II came to power in 641, the debate in the Eastern Mediterranean was still raging. Constans tried to suppress it by decree, which did not endear him to either faction. This decree, called the Type of Constans, made it illegal to discuss whether Christ had one or two natures or energies and the matter was to be forgotten. He was 17 years old at the time, and did not care much about religion.

When Pope Martin I wrote to him, telling him to condemn both monothelitism and his own decree, Constans had Martin arrested and brought to Constantinople for trial. Martin was exiled to Crimea. When Adrian of Canterbury—a monk and an acquaintance of Constans—was traveling through Gaul, he was detained by Frankish authorities (Ebroin, Mayor of the Palace) on suspicion of being there to create disruption. The only disruption I can imagine of which he might be accused is regarding monothelitism, which the Roman Catholic West opposed.

When Constans died, his son, Constantine IV, was asked to rule on the subject, but he refused, saying it should be determined by church synods. Several were held over the following years, and monothelitism was declared erroneous.

Before we leave Constans, however, I want to talk about the last years of his reign that did not have anything to do with religion, including his connections with China. See you next time.