Constant II

Constant II Pogonat (630 - 668), wire of Constantin III and Grégoria, is Byzantine Empereur of 641 with 668.

Initially fore-mentioned Héraclius , it reaches the imperial throne under the name of Constant II at the 11 years age, the Senate assuming regency. It must face, at the time of its advent, with the ambitions of his cousin Martine, widow of Héraclius and suspectée to have to fair to perish Constantin III to place his son Héraclonas on the throne: in September 641, it makes them stop and cut the language before exiling them with Rhodos.

Under its reign, the Moslem armed conquer many Byzantine territories, in particular the rich person province of Egypt which is definitively lost for the Empire.

In 642, Alexandria fall to the hands from the Moslem general `Amr, who kills the exarque of Carthage and is made pour a tribute by the Byzantines.

Before launching out to shift against Buckwheats, Constant II must reunify its empire, divided by the quarrel of the Monothélisme and by the intrigues of Martine.

The edict of Constant

In 647, the pope Theodore {{Ier}} excommunicates the oecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, Paul; in reaction, Constant promulgates in 648 the edict of Constant, issuing that any argument was to be forgotten and that the state of the businesses prevailed on any controversy.

The edict also specifies that if a bishop again dares to evoke the subject, it must be whipped and banished.

Constant in June 653 II fact of stopping the pope Martin I {{er}} by the exarque one of Ravenne. After one year of detention to Naxos, the pope is brought to Constantinople where he was shown of plot against the emperor and was condemned to death. After several weeks of captivity and a call to the leniency of the patriarch in his favor, his sorrow was commuted to banishment; it was off-set in the Crimea where it died six months later.

The temptation of the Occident

In front of the agitation which shakes Balkans and the threats which weigh on the Sicily, Constant decides to leave Constantinople to establish its permanent capital in Occident. It thus leaves Constantinople for Naples, then Rome and Syracuse where it fixes its capital. During these years of wandering, the Eastern provinces of the Empire are placed under the administration of his/her oldest son, who will succeed to him under the name of Constantin IV.

He dies in his bath on September 15th 668 in his Western retirement, assassinated by one of his servants who strikes it with a soap-dish.

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