was relieved by his army after six hours and defeated the enemy. He defeated them again at Vindonissa thereby strengthening the defences of the Rhine frontier. In 300, he fought against the Franks on the Rhine frontier, and as part of his overall strategy to buttress the frontier, Constantius settled the Franks in the deserted parts of Gaul to repopulate the devastated areas. Nevertheless, over the next three years the Rhine frontier continued to occupy Constantius' attention. From 303 – the beginning of the Diocletianic Persecution – Constantius began to enforce the imperial edicts dealing with the persecution of Christians, which ordered the destruction of churches. The campaign was avidly pursued by Galerius, who noticed that Constantius was well-disposed towards the Christians, and who saw it as a method of advancing his career prospects with the aging Diocletian. Of the four Tetrarchs, Constantius made the least effort to implement the decrees in the western provinces that were under his direct authority, limiting himself to knocking down a handful of churches. Eusebius denied that Constantius destroyed Christian buildings, but Lactantius records that he did. Accession as Augustus and death Between 303 and 305, Galerius began maneuvering to ensure that he would be in a position to take power from Constantius after the death of Diocletian. In 304, Maximian met with Galerius, probably to discuss the succession issue and Constantius either was not invited or could not make it due to the situation on the Rhine. Although prior to 303 there appeared to be tacit agreement among the Tetrarchs that Constantius's son Constantine and Maximian's son Maxentius were to be promoted to the rank of caesar once Diocletian and Maximian had resigned the purple, by the end of 304 Galerius had convinced Diocletian (who in turn convinced Maximian) to appoint Galerius's nominees Severus and Maximinus as caesares. Diocletian and Maximian stepped down as co-emperors on 1 May 305, possibly due to Diocletian's poor health. Before the assembled armies at Mediolanum, Maximian removed his purple cloak and handed it to Severus, the new caesar, and proclaimed Constantius as augustus. The same scene played out at Nicomedia (İzmit) under the authority of Diocletian. Constantius, notionally the senior emperor, ruled the western provinces, while Galerius took the eastern provinces. Constantine, disappointed in his hopes to become a caesar, fled the court of Galerius after Constantius had asked Galerius to release his son as Constantius was