In 313 AD, shortly after the end of the persecution of Christians by the emperor Diocletian, Western Roman Emperor Constantine I and Licinius (who controlled the Balkans) issued the Edict of Milan, which granted religious freedom to all. It was a letter signed by the Roman emperors proclaiming religious toleration in the Roman Empire. It gave Christianity a legal status, but did not make Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. It did, however, end religious persecution in the Roman Empire.