Primary source · Latin
The Edict of Milan (the Milan settlement)
Constantine and Licinius · AD 313
What this text is
The letter from Milan that ended the age of persecution: free exercise of religion for Christians 'and for all,' with confiscated churches to be restored at state expense.
Interlinear passages
Word-for-word glosses of the original; the complete public-domain translation is linked below.
The meeting at Milan (Lactantius, DMP 48)
CumWhenfeliciterhappilytambothegoIConstantinusConstantineAugustusAugustusquamandetiamalsoegoILiciniusLiciniusAugustusAugustusapudatMediolanumMilanconvenissemushad met
Public-domain translations
William Fletcher (ANF, 1886)
When we, Constantine Augustus and Licinius Augustus, had happily met at Milan… we resolved to grant both to the Christians and to all men freedom to follow the religion which each preferred, that whatever Divinity dwells in heaven may be benevolent and propitious to us and to all under our rule.
Manuscript witnesses
Lactantius, De mortibus 48 & Eusebius, HE X.5 (carriers)
c. 313–325 (medieval copies)The 'Edict' is a letter of Licinius embodying the Milan agreement — extant only through the two Christian writers.
Provenance
Milan agreement, February AD 313; Licinius's letter posted at Nicomedia in June
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Lactantius: De Mortibus Persecutorum (OECT)J. L. Creed, 1984Critical text of the Latin carrier.
- Constantine and EusebiusTimothy D. Barnes, 1981The standard account of the toleration settlement.