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SOME OBSERVATIONS ON KARL - HEINZ SCHWARTE’S ‘DIOKLETIAN’S CHRISTENGESETZ’ by WINRICH A. LÖHR In 1994, the German historian Karl-Heinz Schwarte published a paper in which he challenged the scholarly consensus according to which the legal basis of the ‘Great Persecution’ consisted in four edicts that had been suc- cessively promulgated during the reign of Diocletian. 1 Schwarte argued that there had been only one edict which prescribed the destruction of the churches and the burning of the holy books and ordered everyone to sacri ce. It was the edict’s intention to destroy Christianity by enforcing mass apostasy. By these drastic measures Diocletian wished to prepare and underpin the smooth transition from the rst to the second tetrarchy. In the following I wish to give a brief outline of Schwarte’s arguments and conclusions, put forward some arguments that question their validity and conclude by sketching a di V erent view. I Schwarte (= Sch.) starts his argument by pointing out that the consen- sus view of Diocletian having issued four edicts is sustained by systemati- cally favouring Eusebius’ account of the persecution over against Lactantius’ © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2002 Vigiliae Christianae 56, 75-95 I am grateful
Vigiliae Christianae – Brill
Published: Jan 1, 2002
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