Constans II (usurper)

Constans II
Co-emperor or Usurper of the Western Roman Empire
Siliqua of Constans II
Reign	407–409 (Caesar under Constantine III) 409–411 (Augustus with Constantine III, against Honorius)
Died	c. 18 September 411 Vienne, Viennensis
Full name Constans Augustus
Father	Constantine III
Religion	Nicene Christianity

Constans II (Welsh: Custennin) was the eldest son of the Western Roman Emperor Constantine III and was appointed co-emperor by him from 409 to 411. He was killed during the revolts and fighting that ended his father’s reign.

Elder son of Claudius Constantine and brother of Julian, in his youth Constans was a monk. In the summer of 408, his father, who had proclaimed himself Emperor the previous year in Britain and then crossed over into Gaul, proclaimed him Caesar, and sent him with the general Gerontius and the prefect Apollinaris into Hispania, to rule the province and fight members of the House of Theodosius (four cousins of Honorius – Theodosiolus, Lagodius, Didimus and Verenianus) who had not recognised Constantine and had stayed loyal to the Emperor. After some initial defeats, Constans captured two of his enemies (Didymus and Theodosiolus), while the other two fled to Constantinople. He left his wife and household at Zaragoza under the care of Gerontius to return to report to Arles, where the two prisoners were put to death .

In Autumn 409, barbarian invaders plundered Gaul, reached the Pyrenees, swept away Roman defences and entered into Hispania. Constantine, without the approval of the Emperor Honorius, elevated Constans to the rank of Augustus; Constans was to go to Hispania to settle the matter, but before leaving news came that Gerontius had stopped the invaders, had rebelled from Constantine, and had proclaimed Emperor one of his own men, Maximus of Hispania. With the support of the barbarians, Gerontius took over Constantine's territory; in 411, he captured the city of Vienne and put Constans to death.