Crispus Surivives!

Crispus, Son of Constantine the Great was his chosen hier. Crispus was an able military commander and trained to be emperor by his father. However, his fate was forever changed when his mother died and Constantine remarried. With his second wife fausta he had 3 sons. However, Crispus was still to be constantines hier and Fausta wished for her sons to have the throne. She accused Crispus of assaulting her and Constantine threw Crispus in jail and planned to have him killed. However, Helena, Constanines mother, suspected this and told constantine, and Crispus was to be freed and still be the hier to the throne. But it was too late as the prison guards already executed him.

I need a few answers to these questions. First, would christianity be promted by Crispus as his father did? Second, would there be any civil war between the sons? Third, would the empire be divided as theodosious wouldn't become emperor? could this save the west? would a united empire be able to beat the barbarians back across the Rhine? Fourth, Would rome and persia become enemies, because julian wouldn't be emperor and there would be no invasion of persia? could this save the byzantines from being weakened to the point of defeat by the Arabs?

Thoughts? opinions?
 
Crispus, Son of Constantine the Great was his chosen hier. Crispus was an able military commander and trained to be emperor by his father. However, his fate was forever changed when his mother died and Constantine remarried. With his second wife fausta he had 3 sons. However, Crispus was still to be constantines hier and Fausta wished for her sons to have the throne. She accused Crispus of assaulting her and Constantine threw Crispus in jail and planned to have him killed. However, Helena, Constanines mother, suspected this and told constantine, and Crispus was to be freed and still be the hier to the throne. But it was too late as the prison guards already executed him.

I need a few answers to these questions. First, would christianity be promted by Crispus as his father did? Second, would there be any civil war between the sons? Third, would the empire be divided as theodosious wouldn't become emperor? could this save the west? would a united empire be able to beat the barbarians back across the Rhine? Fourth, Would rome and persia become enemies, because julian wouldn't be emperor and there would be no invasion of persia? could this save the byzantines from being weakened to the point of defeat by the Arabs?

Thoughts? opinions?

A few Thoughts? opinions?;)

a) Depends on Crispus's views and circumstances. Presume he probably would do as Constantine's policy would be in place for a while and there would be no real reason to reverse it. Unless one side in the probable civil war seeks to end persecution of the non-Christians to win their support.

b) Almost certainly, unless all faust's [sp?] sons were killed. It happened OTL between Constantine's sons, when they all had the same mother.

c) The main barbarian invasions across the Rhine weren't until ~410AD. That would be well beyond Crispus's life-span. Even the Gothic settlement in the Balkans, initially as refugees fleeing the Huns, is likely to be well after his death. That's so far ahead that unless Rome is lucky enough to get a stable period of good emperors and peaceful succession, which is highly unlikely, there would be too many butterflies to be able to tell.

d) They will still be enemies as that dates way back and the Sassanids still want to reclaim the 'old' Persian empire, which means about 1/3 of the Roman one. Don't forget Julian's invasion of Persia was only partly to gain prestige. The Persians had been attacking the Roman frontier settlements for some time. [Probably also some attacks by the Romans on Persian settlements].

Steve
 
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