Minervina
Minervina was a partner of the Roman Emperor Constantine I and the mother of his first son Crispus.
About Minervina little is known. The information about her relationship with Constantine and her son Crispus come from several late-antique sources: both the written shortly after 395 Epitome de Caesaribus as well as the later historian Zosimus ( 500 ) they mention only in passing in connection with the appointment of Crispus to Caesar ( Under Emperor ) - there it is respectively referred to as concubine. A panegyric, which was held on Constantine's marriage with Fausta in the year 307, indicates an earlier marriage of Constantine, without explicitly mentioning Minervina.
It is disputed whether it was in the relationship with Constantine Minervina only a cohabiting or whether the couple was married. In the former case Crispus would have been an illegitimate son. Edward Gibbon, a historian of the Enlightenment, Minervina interpreted as an " obscure but lawful object of adolescent attachment of Constantine " and accepted it as a legitimate wife of Constantine. In contrast, later about Otto Seeck resisted ( early 20th century ), which is located at the comments made by Zosimus, the Epitome de Caesaribus and the Middle Byzantine historian John Zonaras (which could fall back on older templates) oriented and the location in the panegyric as a reference pointed to another woman. In the recent time, however, about Timothy D. Barnes and the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire Minervina have accepted as legal wife of Constantine. Barnes makes reference to the use of this question unreliable, pagan historian Zosimus Eunapius by, the Epitome and Zonaras.
The chronology of the relationship is uncertain. Crispus was probably born in the year 305 AD. In the year 307 Constantine married Fausta then - a political marriage, because she was the Emperor Maximian, whose support wanted to secure the daughter of Constantine. Whether Minervina been violated 307 by Constantine or was already dead, is also no longer be determined.