Competing Elevations: Licinius and Maximinus’s Claims
Between 308 and 311, Galerius elevated Licinius and Maximinus Daia pressed for higher rank, multiplying rival Augusti. Carnuntum hosted councils; Nicomedia drafted compromises; alliances shifted like shield walls in the rain. The more titles the college printed, the less unity the purple held.
What Happened
After York and Rome, the Tetrarchy’s neat geometry warped. To counter Maxentius and balance Constantine, Galerius raised Licinius—an able officer and old comrade—to imperial rank. Maximinus Daia, Caesar in the East, bristled. He styled himself Augustus in practice if not in initial proclamation and demanded parity. A system built for four now strained under contested fives and sixes [11][16][15].
Conferences followed. At Carnuntum on the Danube, senior figures, including the retired Diocletian, tried to reimpose order—confirming some, demoting others, and attempting to wall off Maxentius as an outlaw. The settlements looked tidy on parchment from Nicomedia; on the ground, loyalties ran with armies and cities [11][16].
By 311, the empire had too many purple‑cloaked men to fit the college’s design. Constantine ruled from Trier; Maxentius held Rome and Italy; Licinius commanded the Balkans as Galerius’ man; Maximinus Daia stretched his authority in the East. Coin portraits and inscriptions tried to keep up, but they could not force a single story. The sound was diplomatic—envoys’ sandals on marble floors—punctuated by the duller drum of mobilizations.
Felix Romuliana’s courts and Nicomedia’s halls now staged bargaining rather than unity. The college still issued laws, including the crucial religious reversals to come, but the Tetrarchy as a succession engine had fractured into an armed debate [11][16][15].
Why This Matters
These competing elevations dissolved the Tetrarchy’s core promise: predictable succession. Titles multiplied, legitimacy blurred, and the empire drifted toward resolution by battle rather than by roster [11][16].
Within the engineered succession theme, this is the unmaking: rule‑by‑four turns into a precarious plural without rules that bind ambition. Personal alliances and opportunism replaced collegial discipline [16].
In the broader narrative, this political fragmentation forms the backdrop for policy shifts like Galerius’ 311 toleration—an attempt to quiet at least one arena of conflict—as well as the Constantine–Licinius settlement of 313, which would end the religious fight even as it left the question of sole rule open [3][6][5].
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People Involved
Key figures who played a role in Competing Elevations: Licinius and Maximinus’s Claims
Licinius
Licinius, a Balkan soldier and friend of Galerius, was elevated as Augustus at the 308 settlement to stabilize the Tetrarchy’s West. He soon allied with Constantine, married his half-sister Constantia, and co-authored the 313 agreement popularly called the Edict of Milan, guaranteeing free worship and restitution of Christian property throughout the empire. Though later a rival of Constantine, in this timeline he is the indispensable partner who turned a weary toleration into a formal policy and broke Maximinus Daia’s resistance in the East.
Maximinus Daia
Maximinus Daia, a nephew of Galerius from the Balkan countryside, was raised to Caesar in 305 and ruled Syria and Egypt with a heavy hand. A staunch pagan, he intensified the Great Persecution in his territories, encouraged anti-Christian petitions, and resisted concessions even after Galerius’s 311 edict of toleration. When Constantine and Licinius agreed on the 313 religious settlement, Maximinus defied it, only to be defeated by Licinius and die in flight later that year. In this timeline he is the last holdout of the old order—ambitious, coercive, and ultimately swept aside.
Constantine I
Constantine, son of Constantius, was acclaimed by the army at York in 306 and soon transformed the Tetrarchy’s civil wars into a new imperial order. He defeated rival claimants, confronted Maxentius and Maximinus Daia, and—together with Licinius—issued the 313 settlement known as the Edict of Milan, guaranteeing free worship and the restitution of Christian property. In this timeline he stands at the hinge: the Tetrarchy’s promise of order collapses into rivalry, and Constantine reframes legitimacy around personal victory and religious toleration, opening the path to a Christian empire.
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