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,[b] 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.
Reign
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][c]
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]
Family
In 629 or 630, Constantine married
Gregoria, the daughter of Niketas.[10] They had two sons, and perhaps a daughter:
^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]
^Theophanes dates the event to 613, but he also states that it occurred in the 5th
indiction, that is, 617. Official documents indicate that it occurred in the next indictional cycle, that is, 632.[12]
El-Cheikh, Nadia Maria (1999). "Muḥammad and Heraclius: A Study in Legitimacy". Studia Islamica. 62 (89). Maisonneuve & Larose: 5–21.
doi:
10.2307/1596083.
ISSN0585-5292.
JSTOR1596083.
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.
ISBN978-3-7001-0260-1.