Primary Source: Edict of Milan 1. The Edict of Milan was a government decree requiring the wrongdoings against the Christians be reversed as quickly as possible. The authors of the document were Constantine and Licinius. The authors of the document hold authority positions within the Roman Empire. With their sense of authority and it being a government decree, the tone was very serious and the language was formal. The seriousness of the document and the authority of the authors gives it creditability. 2. The document was written to correct the wrongdoings performed against the Christians and to win favor of the Christian deity. The document itself states several times that “no man whatsoever should be denied the right to follow and choose …show more content…
Three ideas from the Edict of Milan that are important are correcting the wrongdoings performed against the Christians, granting religious tolerance, and mandating a speedy process. Undoing all the acts of hatred was important. The Christians were persecuted and taking steps to undo that persecution will lead to the “peace” mentioned in the text. Granting religious tolerance to all, not just Christians, will also lead to peace. If a group of people are being persecuted in society there is no way peace can be met. The final idea is that correcting the wrongdoings will be done in a speedy manner. People put off doing what they do not want to do as long as possible. If the document did not mandate that the process be done quickly, the people would have put off correcting the wrongdoings as long as they could. 4. The document portrays the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. The fact that the Edict of Milan must guarantee the right to worship to Christians shows that they were persecuted for their beliefs. The document requires that the land of the Christians be returned to them. This means that before this decree, the Christians had their property stolen. Overall, the status of Christians in the Roman Empire prior to the Edict of Milan was a poor