Constantine was the most influential of
Roman emperors (and I know this for a fact
).
"
Constantine was the most influential of the
Roman emperors, and
his actions and deeds are
still affecting people to this day"(not a whole lot of influence from
Augustus still...wait a minute...the month of August).
An interesting question to ask is, “without
Constantine would Christianity have flourished?”
The Catholic
Church went on to become the most important institution in
medieval Europe. It was a
part of everyones life from cradle to grave. Out of the three groups: those who fight, those who pray and those who
work, those who prayed were the first estate. They were most important as they got people into heaven. Priests prayed for your soul while you either worked or fought.
We are talking over a 1,000 years of direct influence here.
Medieval Europe transformed into modern Europe, but Constantine's influence and that of the
Church did not disappear. Just one example- the colonization of the New World. This can be viewed as one of the many Crusades. The Crusades were started by the
Church. Understanding crusading is integral to understanding the
medieval world; and the
Church found loopholes to justify crusading from examples set by
Constantine and writings of early
Church fathers like Augustine.
I could go on for quite a while, but when we are talking most influential, "there can be only one!"
Poll
