Roman emperor
Constantine the Great
Active
324–337 CE
Founder of Constantinople, he put imperial power at the service of Christianity. He did not change the Jews' legal status much, but his legislation treated them with hostility. He began the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
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The major turning point came with Constantine the Great (324 to 337), founder of Constantinople. After a divine vision on the eve of a battle, he and nearly all his successors used legislation and the state to support Christianity and reduce the influence of the Jews. With the exception of Julian (361 to 363), Christianity would have imperial backing from the fourth century on.
Constantine did not change the Jews' legal status much; he even lifted the ban on their visiting Jerusalem and mourning the Temple's loss. But his legislation took a hostile tone, calling Judaism a 'nefarious sect'.
The fourth century was the turning point. After his mother, Helena, traveled to Jerusalem and uncovered relics believed to be of Jesus's cross, Constantine began building at the site the church that became known as the Holy Sepulchre. By the fifth century there were churches elsewhere in Jerusalem and at places linked with Jesus, such as Galilee, attracting more pilgrims and immigrants.
Christianity began as the faith of a small minority in the Roman Empire. It was in 313 that Constantine became a Christian emperor, and Christianity in time became the official religion. The process was not straight: Julian, the last pagan emperor, who ruled briefly in the early 360s, tried and failed to turn back the empire's Christianization.
Roman imperial law had long recognized Judaism's status, and Jews were citizens of the empire. The first-century rebellion against Roman rule in Judea did not alter Jews' legal position elsewhere. Even once the empire was Christian, state and Church interests never fully coincided, and across the whole Middle Ages the two frequently competed for authority over the Jews.