The Edict of Milan was a declaration that gave tolerance to all religions, but was especially focused on Christianity, within the Roman Empire. It was agreed upon at Milan by emperor Licinius who controlled the eastern half of the Roman Empire and emperor Constantine who controlled the western half of the Roman Empire in February 313 AD. With Constantine being the driving force behind the proclamation. Constantine was a Christian at the time of the edict, however, he wasn’t always Christian. Earlier that year, when Constantine was at war with emperor Maxentius for control of the Western Roman Empire at the Battle of Milvian Bridge that took place at the Tiber River in 312 AD. Before the battle, Constantine had a dream of a burning cross in the sky that had the words, “in this sign thou shalt conquer” written on it and after this dream, he had his men put the Christian symbol Chi-Rho on their shield, believing now that God was watching over him. Later that day, he defeated emperor Maxentius in an overwhelming …show more content…
It required any property taken from Christians to be given back, allowed for the building of new churches and overall gave Christians more rights and privileges. Going through the text of the edict, one can see how much of an impact Constantine had while creating it. With most Romans being polytheistic at the time and with the persecution of Christians running rampant as well. Constantine bravely laid down the foundation of spreading Christianity throughout the Roman Empire with the creation of the Edict of Milan. The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire came to an end with the edict as well as allow the religion to grow and spread throughout the Roman Empire. A few decades later Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire under