Constantine the Great

Constantine was the son of a Roman officer, Constantius, who became one of the empire's co-emperors. When his father died at York in Britain in 306, the troops there proclaimed Constantine emperor, and years of fighting with rival emperors followed. Before the battle of the Milvian Bridge outside Rome in 312, according to his biographer Eusebius, he saw a sign in the sky and was told that in this sign he would conquer; he had his soldiers mark their shields with a Christian symbol and won the battle. In 313 he and his co-emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, granting toleration to Christians and returning their property. By 324 he ruled the whole empire alone. In 325 he called the Council of Nicaea, where bishops wrote the first form of the Nicene Creed. He rebuilt the old Greek city of Byzantium as a new capital, named Constantinople, now Istanbul, dedicated in 330. He was baptized shortly before his death in 337.

Faith: Ascribed his success to his conversion to Christianity and the support of the Christian God. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica