Hello, historians, and welcome.

My name is Ms. Krijnauw.

Together, we are going to travel back in time to learn about the Romans, where we are answering the question, what is the story of Christianity's rise? In this lesson, we will learn about Constantine's conversion to Christianity.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain why the Romans acceptance of Christianity changed during Constantine's rule.

Before we start the lesson, I would like to introduce you to some key words.

These are words that will come up during the lesson.

You might want to take a note of them so that when we do encounter them, you can refer back to your notes to remind yourself of their meaning.

Here are words, emperor, convert, rival, vision, bishop.

Well done.

Let's find out what the words mean.

The first word is emperor.

An emperor is a ruler of an empire.

Convert.

To convert to a new religion or belief is to change to a different religion or belief.

Rival.

A rival is a person who competes with someone else to get what only one of them can have.

Vision.

A vision is a dream or an idea in your imagination.

And the last word is bishop.

A bishop is a religious leader in some Christian churches.

Pause the video here if you'd like to make a note of these words.

And when you are ready to start the lesson, press play.

This lesson about Constantine's conversion to Christianity has three learning cycles.

The first learning cycle is entitled Constantine's rise to power.

In this lesson, we are going to learn about Constantine I.

He was also known as Constantine the Great.

Now, he was a Roman emperor from 306 to 337 CE.

What made him special was that he was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity.

Constantine has been remembered as an important person in history as he changed Roman opinions about Christianity, but his rise to power was not an easy one.

Let's make sure this new information sticks.

Why has Constantine I being remembered as an important person in history? Pause a video here.

And when you are ready to hear the answer, press play.

Let's reflect on a possible answer.

It's because he was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, and so he changed Roman opinions about Christianity.

Well done if your answer was similar to this one.

Let's find out how Constantine not only became the emperor, but also how it came to be that he converted to Christianity.

Constantine was born in the Roman Empire in the city of Naissus, which is located in present day Serbia.

Around 280 CE, at that time, Diocletian was the Roman emperor, and he had split the empire into a Western Roman Empire and an Eastern Roman Empire because it had become so big that it was difficult to manage and rule properly.

Constantine's father was a military officer.

He was well respected, and Emperor Diocletian held him in high esteem.

And so in 293 CE, Constantine's father was made a Caesar, or a deputy emperor of one of the sections of the Roman Empire.

When Constantine was still a child, he was sent to the Eastern Empire to be brought up and educated at the court of the Emperor Diocletian who ruled over the Eastern Roman Empire.

Here, Constantine received a very high standard of education so that he could read and write in Latin and Greek.

However, Emperor Diocletian did not allow Christianity to be practised in the Roman Empire.

Constantine witnessed many Christians being persecuted and treated badly.

Even though Constantine was not a Christian at that time, some historians believe that witnessing the Christians being treated cruelly had a great effect on Constantine.

Let's check our understanding of what we have just learned by sorting the statements about Emperor Diocletian according to whether they are true or false.

And the statements are Emperor Diocletian divided the Empire, Emperor Diocletian united the Empire, Emperor Diocletian persecuted Christians, Emperor Diocletian was the first Christian emperor.

Pause the video here.

And when you are ready for the answers, press play.

Let's find out which of these statements are true and which are false.

Emperor Diocletian divided the empire.

That statement is true.

Emperor Diocletian united the empire.

That's false.

Emperor Diocletian persecuted Christians.

That one's true.

And Emperor Diocletian was the first Christian emperor.

That one, of course, is false.

Well done if you've got those correct.

As Constantine grew older, he became a skilled soldier, just like his father.

He fought in battles and gained a reputation for being a clever and brave warrior.

And so in 305 CE, when Constantine's father became the emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Constantine joined his father's army in Britain.

And together, they fought many rebels there.

Sadly, while in Britain, his father suddenly died in the year 306 CE, and the Roman army who had been fighting under Constantine's father immediately wanted Constantine to be the emperor.

This was the start of Constantine's journey to become the emperor of the whole Roman Empire.

But if he wanted to be the only, the sole ruler of the empire, he would have to fight his rivals, Maxentius, who was now the new emperor of the Western Roman Empire, and Licinius, the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire.

And that brings us to the end of the first learning cycle.

Let's complete task A.

Complete the paragraph by filling in the blanks.

Constantine was born around 280 CE when, hm, was the Roman emperor.

The emperor did not allow, hm, to be practised in the Roman Empire.

Constantine witnessed many Christians being, hm, and treated badly.

He wanted to be the emperor of the whole empire.

To achieve this, he would have to fight his, hm, the emperors of the Western and Eastern Roman Empire.

Pause the video here.

And when you are ready for the answers, press play.

Are you ready to hear the answers? Here they are.

Constantine was born around 280 CE when Diocletian was the Roman emperor.

The emperor did not allow Christianity to be practised in the Roman Empire.

Constantine witnessed many Christians being persecuted and treated badly.

He wanted to be the emperor of the whole empire.

To achieve his goal, he would have to fight his rivals, the emperors of the Western and Eastern Roman Empire.

Good work.

The second learning cycle of this lesson is entitled Constantine's vision.

In 312 CE, Constantine rated himself and his troops to do battle with one of his rivals, Maxentius.

So on the one hand, there was Maxentius.

He had declared himself emperor in Rome, seizing power in the western part of the empire.

And on the other hand, there was Constantine, who had been declared emperor by his father's troops in Britain, and he wanted to be emperor of the west.

These two armies were to meet at Milvian Bridge near Rome, but according to Christian tradition and reports from later sources, Constantine saw a vision of a cross in the sky on the march to the battle.

It's said that Constantine believed that the vision was a sign that God would protect him and his army in the battle against his rival.

Following this vision, Constantine has said to have converted to Christianity.

Let's pause the lesson here for a moment to check our understanding.

Before the battle of Milvian Bridge, Constantine had a vision of a cross in the sky.

Following the vision, Constantine is said to have converted to Christianity.

Write a sentence to explain what converted means.

Pause the video here.

And when you are ready to check your answer, press play.

Let's find out what the answer is.

Converted means that Constantine changed his religion to Christianity.

Well done if your answer is similar to this.

After his vision, Constantine ordered his soldiers to put a Christian symbol known as the Chi-Rho on their shields before the battle.

This ancient Christian symbol means Christ.

Constantine did win the battle against his rival, Maxentius.

Constantine believed that it showed that God was on his army's side.

After his victory, Constantine entered Rome as the first Roman emperor to have converted to Christianity, which helped the Romans accept the religion.

Let's consolidate our learning.

Say whether the following statement is true or false.

The symbol of the Christian cross was important to Constantine.

Pause the video here a moment.

And when you are ready for the answer, press play.

The Christian symbol indeed was important to Constantine.

That statement is true, but let's justify our answer.

Let's give a reason why we say the statement is true.

Is it A, he had a vision of a cross in the sky, which he took to mean that all Christians should be persecuted, or, he had a vision of a cross in the sky, which he took to mean that God would protect him in battle? Pause the video here.

And when you're ready for the answer, press play.

The symbol of the Christian cross was important to Constantine because he had a vision of it in the sky, which he took to mean that God would protect him in battle.

Well done if you got that right.

We are now ready for the second learning task of this lesson.

Tell your learning partner the consequences of Constantine's vision of a cross in the sky before the Battle of Milvian Bridge.

Use the following words and phrases in your answer, sign of God's protection, converted to Christianity, soldiers' shields, won the battle, entered Rome.

Pause the video here.

And when you are ready to reflect on the answer, press play.

Here is an example of an answer that you could have given.

It's said that Constantine believed that the vision was a sign of God's protection in the battle.

Following the vision, Constantine converted to Christianity, and he ordered that a Christian symbol be put on his soldiers' shields before the battle.

Constantine won the battle against his rival, which suggested that God was on his army's side.

Constantine entered Rome as the first Roman emperor to have converted to Christianity, which helped the Romans accept their religion.

Well done if your answer was similar to this one, and an extra well done if you used all the words and phrases highlighted in green.

The third learning cycle of this lesson is entitled The Christian emperor.

Constantine believed that he was successful in battle because of his conversion to Christianity and because of the support of God.

As a result, he allowed Christianity to flourish in the Roman Empire.

In 313 CE, he created a law called the Edict of Milan to stop the persecution of Christians.

The edicts made it legal for Christians to practise their religion openly and allowed freedom of worship for all faiths throughout the empire.

Let's check our understanding of what we have just learned.

Is the following statement true or false? Constantine forced everyone in the Roman Empire to be Christian during his rule.

Pause the video here.

And when you are ready to hear the answer, press play.

That statement, of course, is false.

Let's justify our answer.

Let's give a reason why we say that statement is false.

Is it because A, he passed the Edict of Milan, which allowed freedom of worship, which encouraged people to convert to Christianity, or B, he wanted everyone in the Roman Empire to worship him and the Roman gods and to not convert to Christianity? Pause the video here.

And when you're ready for the answer, press play.

The statement is false because he passed the Edict of Milan that allowed freedom of worship, which encouraged people to convert to Christianity.

Well done if you got that answer right.

In the year 324 AD, Constantine had another important battle, this time against Licinius.

Licinius ruled the eastern part of the Roman Empire.

Constantine's soldiers fought hard and they won a battle.

With this victory, Constantine became the emperor of the entire Roman Empire.

Now, he could bring the east and west together under one rule.

He then decided that he wanted a new capital for his empire, so he chose a place called Byzantium and decided to make it the new capital.

Constantine didn't just stop a building a city, he gave it a special name, Constantinople, meaning the city of Constantine.

Constantinople became the new heart of the Roman Empire.

Although Rome was a wonderful city, Constantine thought that Constantinople's location was better for trade and offence.

At that time, there were some arguments among Christians about whether Jesus was divine or whether he was just a really good person.

Constantine did not want these arguments to cause the Romans to not accept Christianity.

And so in 325 CE, he brought together Christian leaders called bishops to try to agree the first set of rules about Christianity.

This meeting was called the Council of Nicaea.

Bishops from different places gathered to talk, discuss, and share their ideas.

Eventually, they agreed that everyone should believe that Jesus was truly a divine special being.

This is still used in Christian teaching today and it helped bring unity among Christians and encouraged more Romans to accept Christianity.

Let's check our understanding.

Which statement best describes what the Council of Nicaea was? Is it A, a gathering of Roman soldiers who had converted to Christianity, B, a gathering of Christian bishops to agree the first set of rules about Christianity, or C, a gathering of Christians meeting in secret to agree the first set of rules about Christianity? Pause the video here.

And when you are ready for the answer, press play.

The answer is B, the Council of Nicaea was a gathering of Christian bishops to try to agree the first set of rules about Christianity.

Which statement best describes the impact of the Council of Nicaea? Is it A, it negatively impacted the acceptance of Christianity as the Christian bishops could not agree on anything, or B, it's had no impact on the acceptance of Christianity as a Roman still did not want people to be Christian, or C, it had a positive impact on the acceptance of Christianity as a Christian bishops' agreement created unity? Pause the video here.

When you're ready for the answer, press play.

And the answer is, C, the Council of Nicaea had a positive impact on the acceptance of Christianity.

Well done if you got that correct.

We are now ready for the third learning task of this lesson.

Finish the sentence starters to explain why the Romans acceptance of Christianity changed during Constantine's rule.

The sentence starters are Constantine grew up in a time when Christians were, hm.

One day, while marching into battle, Constantine had a, hm.

After winning the battle, Constantine became the, hm.

Shortly after he issued the Edict of Milan, making it legal for, hm.

Constantine also brought together Christian bishops at the Council of Nicaea to try to, hm.

These rules help create, hm.

Pause the video here.

And when you are ready for the answers, press play.

Let's find out what the answers are.

Constantine grew up in a time when Christians were persecuted.

One day, while marching into battle, he had a vision of a cross in the sky and he converted to Christianity.

After winning the battle, Constantine became the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, which helped the Romans accept the religion.

Shortly after, he issued the Edict of Milan, making it legal for Christians to practise their religion openly so more people converted to Christianity.

Constantine also brought together Christian bishops at the Council of Nicaea to try to agree the first set of rules about Christianity.

These rules helped create unity among Christians and encourage the acceptance of their religion.

Well done if your answers look similar to these.

We have now come to the end of this lesson, but before we finish, let's summarise what we have learned about Constantine's conversion.

By 312 CE, Constantine had become the emperor of the Western Roman Empire by defeating his rivals in battles.

Before one of these battles, he had a vision of a cross.

He ordered his soldiers to paint crosses on their shields.

Constantine converted to Christianity, saying all religions could be practised and Christians should not be persecuted.

In 324 CE, Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire and he created a new Eastern capital at Byzantium.

In 325 CE, Constantine brought together Christian bishops to try to agree the first set of rules about Christianity.

Well done for all your hard work during this lesson.

I've really enjoyed travelling back in time with you.

I hope to see you again very soon.