# Constantine defeats Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge, a civil-war killing of a rival court

Date: 312

## The fact

On 28 October 312 Constantine’s army defeated Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge on the Tiber. Maxentius died in the river. Rome’s rival western court ended by battle, not by a senate ballot.

It is one event.

## Context

A civil-war victory can later be captioned as Christian liberation.

[Constantine the Great](/people/constantine-the-great)’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below. Sharing a field with them is not a reason to drop a documented act, and it is not a reason to assign later consequences done in the name after death.

28 October 312 is received battle date. Maxentius drowned. Eusebius and Lactantius later attach a vision/labarum. Those attachments are not a staff diary.
Named person as heading of the dated public instrument. Later editors, museums, printers, or offices share publication. Complex where later carriers date the row.

## Evidence and sources

Britannica’s Milvian Bridge entry and Livius independently date the battle; Lactantius/Eusebius are later Christian narrators, not a casualty roll.

Official or archival record: Lactantius, Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died — New Advent (https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0705.htm; New Advent / Catholic Encyclopedia fathers).

## Significance

Winning the West by drowning a rival emperor is a humanitarian-harm path of civil war.

Do not treat a chi-rho legend as a 312 autograph. Split Milan 313.

Winning the West by drowning a rival emperor is a humanitarian-harm path of civil war.

## What is established and what is not

Established: received 28 October 312 battle and Maxentius’s death. Not established: a Factrail headcount, or that a heavenly sign was photographed.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Established here: a sourced, dated public instrument with a named contribution by Constantine the Great.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date, signatory, or non-occurrence; a demonstrated forgery; or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of other causes.

## People

- Constantine the Great: https://factrail.ai/people/constantine-the-great

## Drivers

- Humanitarian Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/humanitarian-access

## Sources

- https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-the-Milvian-Bridge
- https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0705.htm

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/co-milvian-bridge-312