Constans – 408-411 AD

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Constans II

408-411 AD

Son of Constantine III

Constans II was the son of Constantine III, the usurper of Britain. He was raised to the rank of Augustus by his father sometime during 408 AD, at the time of the invasion of Spain, which he led. In 408AD, Constantine III sent his son, Constans, to Spain to put down the troops who were loyal to Honorius. After his victory, he returned to Gaul. However, the former general he left in charge of Spain, named Gerontius, rebelled and named his son as emperor Maximus. They marched upon Gaul and there met Constans, who came under siege while in Vienne during 411 AD. Gerontius and Maximus succeeded in capturing the young emperor and subsequently put him to death.

Times were difficult in the West, and desperate measures were required to preserve the order. The soldiers abandoned hope that Honorius would defend the western provinces, as he was occupied with trying to keep the Visigoths out of Italy. So they hailed their own emperor three times in rapid succession – Marcus, Gratian, and Constantine III. The first two were killed quickly and issued no coins, but the last survived approximately four years before he was captured and executed.

Though the Picts of Scotland had just ravaged Britain, Constantine III crossed the Channel into Gaul to fend off Honorius’ general Sarus and to try to expel the Burgundians, Vandals, Alans, Alemanni, Franks, and Suevi who had crossed the frozen Rhine into Germany and Gaul. Constantine III found success and eventually enlarged his domain to include Britain, northern Spain, Germany, Gaul, and Rhaetia. His victories were significant, but his gains were temporary, as rebellions soon arose in Britain and in Spain.

Constans II apparently was a monk before he was hailed Caesar. Even his younger brother Julian seems to have been given the title nobilissimus at the time Constans II was hailed Caesar, but nothing else is known of him. In 408 AD, Constans II was sent to Spain with his father’s magister militum, Gerontius, to secure the peninsula. Their work was only partially successful, and Constans II returned to Gaul with two ringleaders of the pro-Honorius resistance, Verenianus and Didymus, both of whom were executed at Arles. By 409 Constans’ father had raised him from Caesar to Augustus.

Until this specimen, the only coins known for Constans II were siliquae from Arles and Trier, the inscriptions of which confirmed he held the rank of Augustus. This unique solidus, instead, was struck at Caesaraugusta, the only city, outside of Gaul, where we know, according to historical sources, that Constans II stayed for a short period. This solidus was recently published by the scholar Dominique Hollard in the Bulletin de la Société Française de Numismatique where he hypothesizes that this coin is a donativum struck by Constans II when he was raised to the status of Augustus.

Before this recent article, we already had a new theory about the mint of Caesaraugusta. In 2016, when David Berthood, published an unrecorded siliqua from Trier, he attributed the mint mark SM CS, known on very few Constans siliquae, to Caesaraugusta, comparing them with the contemporary specimens minted by Maximus at Barcelona, bearing the mintmark SM BA as officina. This attribution appears to be correct because we know that during the Roman Empire, the officinas used to indicate the mint names by using their first two consonants, such as: TR for Trevorum, MD for Medionalum, RV for Ravenna, etc. It is therefore plausible that CS indicates Caesaraugusta. If Berthood’s attribution is correct, we could not agree on his chronology since he inserts, chronologically, first the silique of Maximus minted at Barcelona and later those of Constantine.

Holland explains why this dating is problematic: in September or October 409, the Vandals and other Germanic tribes crossed the Pyrenees, and Maximus was in Tarraco, preparing his army. It therefore seems unlikely that Constans II would have been at Caesaraugusta during that period. Furthermore, his campaign in Spain was very short-lived, considering his rapid retreat chased by Gerontius. For this reason, Holland theorises that this issue and, most likely, the solidus could have been a donativum minted by Constans II for his generals and his guards in Caesaragusta when he received the title of Augustus.

However, this raises another question: when did he receive that title? Bastien suggested the end 409AD or the beginning of 410AD, but, as we wrote, Holland is of the opinion that this is too late. At the beginning of 409AD, Honorius recognised Constans’ father, Constantine III, as Augustus after Athalaric’s threat in Italy. So, it is possible that Constantine III gave to his son, already Caesar, the title of Augustus. Consequently, Constans II minted a gold issue to celebrate this event before moving from Caesaraugusta to Arles in Gaul. Following this theory, we believe it would be correct to bring forward the dating of the Constans II issues bearing the mint-mark CS, to the Autumn of 408AD and the Spring 409AD, when he was at Caesaraugusta and he celebrated his rise to Augustus, minting donativa for his most important officers and magistrates.