The political and military reforms of Diocletian and Constantine did what?

Answer 1

Diocletian

· Established the autocratic rule by emperors which characterised the Later Empire.

· Established the tetrarchy (rule by four). In 285 He appointed his fellow general Maximian as co-emperor. Diocletian was in charge of the East and Maximian was in charge of the West. In 393 the two men became senior emperors (Augusti) with the appointment of two junior emperors (Caesars): Constantius Chlorus and Galerius

· Subdivided the empire into four major administrative units (praetorian prefectures) under the charge of one of the four emperors: Galliae (Gaul, Britain and Hispania) headed by Constantius Chlorus, Italia et Africa (Italy and north-eastern Africa) headed by Maximian, Illyricum (the Balkan Peninsula except for Thrace (in eastern Bulgaria) and Oriens (East, Thrace, the Roman territories in Asia, Egypt and eastern Libya) headed by Diocletian.

· Created four new imperial capitals: Nicomedia (in north-western Turkey), Milan (in northern Italy), Sirmium (in Serbia) and Augusta Trevorum (Triers in south-western Germany).

· Doubled the number of provinces of the empire to over 100 to weaken the power of the provincial governors.

· Grouped the provinces into 12 dioceses headed by a vicarius, an official who was the deputy of the praetorian prefect, the highest official at Diocletian's court. This gave the emperor a more direct and tighter control over the empire,

· Reduced the role of the governors to mainly acting as judges in the lower courts.

· Tax collection was conducted by both the vicarius and the governor (previously only the governor did this).

· Separated civil and military power (both had previously been held by the governors) by creating duces, who were independent of the civil service and the military commanders in two or three of the new provinces.

· Doubled the size of the imperial bureaucracy was doubled.

· Reformed the coin system. The new coins were the aureus/solidus (gold), argenteus (silver), follis (coper with some added silver) and radiatus (copper). These coins were of higher quality than previous ones. The reform was an attempt to stem runaway inflation.

· When the monetary reform failed to stem inflation, Diocletian issued the Edict of Maximum Prices, but it proved unenforceable.

Constantine I

· Ended Diocletian's tetrarchy when he became sole emperor.

· Continued the autocratic style of rule of Diocletian

· Retained the administrative reforms of Diocletian: the doubled number the provinces, the dioceses, the vicarii (plural of vicarious), the doubled size of the bureaucracy, and the separation between civil and military power.

· Revived the status and administrative role of the senatorial rank reversing a pro- equestrian (cavalryman) rank trend in which the equestrians had come to monopolise the senior offices of state. He opened up administrative posts to senatorial men and made existing equestrian office holders senators.

Thus, the senatorial rank became part of the imperial hierarchy. Senator were now also allowed to elect two types of officials: the praetors and the quaestors.

· Created a new imperial capital, redeveloping the city of Byzantium and renaming it Constantinople (City of Constantine).

· Completed the termination of the Great Persecution of the Christians which had been unleashed by Diocletian with the Edict of Milan in 313. It reiterated the toleration of the Christians which had been decreed by the Edict of Toleration by the emperor Galerius of 311. Constantine was also the first emperor who sponsored Christianity and introduced laws which favoured the Christians.

· Dealt with runaway inflation by concentrating of the large-scale issue of a gold coin, the solidus, and temporality did not issue new silver coins, which he started to mint late during his reign. He managed to do so by confiscating the treasuries and statues of pagan temples to smelt gold and make coins. The confiscations were also used to finance the development of the new imperial capital.

Uncertain

· A new gold coin was issued, the solidus. It is unclear whether it was Diocletian or Constantine who introduced this coin.

· In 4th century, the Roman military was divided into frontier armies under the command of duces and permanent field armies under the command of the emperor, or other military officers. The frontier armies patrolled the borders and dealt with small-scale raids. The field armies dealt with larger-scale raids and conducted large-scale attacks across the frontiers; they were later called ripenses or limitanei. It is not entirely clear who introduced these reforms and modern historians disagree as to whether it was Diocletian or Constantine.

Both

Besides the autocratic style of rule and the administrative reforms, both Diocletian and Constantine:

· Made the curiales, wealthy local elite people who acted as city councillors and who collected local taxes, pay for shortfalls in tax collection out of their own pockets. Since they many curiales to evade their duties, they were tied to their posts by making them hereditary. If they fled their cities, they were arrested and returned to their positions.

· Promulgated decrees which made people's professions hereditary.

· Many coloni (free tenant farmers) fled to the latifundia (large landed estates) and became tenants of the large landowners who paid a rent in the form of sharecropping to escape heavy tax collection. Both Diocletian and Constantine issued decrees which tied them to their landlords, reducing them to serf-like status. In exchange the landlords undertook tax collection on their estates. Constantine issued a degree by which captured escaping coloni could be kept in chains as if they were slaves. Several subsequent emperors issued this type of edicts. Many coloni became bagaudae, bandits

Although temporarily successful, in long run such authoritarian policies stifled the very vitality the Late Empire needed to revive its sagging fortunes.

Answer 2

Constantine the Great ended the tetrarchy (rule by four), a system with four emperor in charge introduced by Diocletian, by winning two civil wars and becoming sole emperor. However, he retained Diocletian's other administrative reforms, such as the doubling of the number of provinces of the empire, the grouping of the provinces into 12 dioceses under the control of imperial officials (the vicarii), the reduction of the power of the provincial governors, the separation of civilian and military powers and the doubling of the size of the imperial bureaucracy.

Both Diocletian and Constantine tried to address the problem of runaway inflation which had been cause by a devaluation of the gold coins and silver coins whose precious metal content had been continuously reduced. Diocletian increased the gold content of the aureus, a gold coin, and issued a new silver coin of higher value. His reform failed to solve the problem. Constantine concentrated on the minting of a new gold coin (the solidus) which became the standard of Roman currency and remained stable. In the long run this resolved the problem of inflation, but did not benefit the poor who could not afford gold coins and had to rely on copper coins vulnerable to inflation.

Answer 3

enabled the Roman Empire to withstand the invasions of the Aryan tribes

Answer 4

enlarged two institutions- the army and civil service-which drained public funds.

Answer 5

He made the army stronger and powerful for the romans