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Perhaps she was taking cues from Marcy from Peanuts, who called Peppermint Patty "Sir Catherine of Aragon is now infamous as King Henry VIII’s rejected queen—but few people know her even darker history. Leo’s half brothers were nothing if not persistent. Irene sent a summons for the Sicilian governor Elpidios, but his loyal citizens stood by his side and refused to give him up. Her beauty alone seems to have gained her the marriage to Leo, son of the Emperor Constantine V Copronymus (740-75). She is most remembered for her marriage to Charlemagne in 803, unifying the Franks and the Byzantines. The council was further hallowed in the minds of the Greeks by the fact that it was to become the last Ecumenical Council recognized by the Greek Church. It all goes back to our girl Irene. It had become so extreme in the East—to the point of bordering on idolatry—that a reaction developed against the practice. Upon learning of this, the troops of the Armeniac theme (military province) rebelled, secured the liberation of the emperor, and excluded Irene and her entourage of eunuch supporters from the palace. The clergy may have reluctantly accepted Constantine VI’s divorce and subsequent marriage, but they just couldn’t stomach the idea of having a woman on the throne after his passing. He blinded one of his uncles, Nikephoros, and slit the tongues of the others. Since a woman could not legally hold any of these positions (least of all that of commander of the army), the idea of a female emperor was a contradiction in terms. When Irene found out they were plotting to get rid of her, she had their army caught, persecuted, and banished. Once he got the information, he broke his word and exiled Irene to Lesbos. With this, Irene finally achieve her long-time goal—only for everything to crumble around her. During her lacklustre reign, Irene ruthlessly schemed and plotted to keep the throne she would lose and regain three times, but she is chiefly … Irene chose Tarasios as the new patriarch and he called for a council to support “Bring Back Icons, We Love Icons, Woo Woo!” Delegates from Rome were supposed to attend, only for the council to be disrupted by furious icon-smashing soldiers. Noted for her liberality, her freeing of prisoners and, above all, for her convening of the Second Council of Nicaea, and for her efforts to restore the veneration of sacred images, Irene was popular among the people despite the irregularity of her conduct of the affairs of state. It was all a lie to get the icon-smashers out of town. Was his demise just good fortune…or something more sinister? However, the matchmaking didn’t lead to an actual wedding. Honest to God, that’s what this enormous disagreement boils down to—old timey religion is weird! Plus, allegedly the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrated her as a saint as well, although she was never canonized. Her name was Theodote, and she was Constantine’s mistress before he threw caution to the winds and decided to marry her. Your suggestions can be as general or specific as you like, from “Life” to “Compact Cars and Trucks” to “A Subspecies of Capybara Called Hydrochoerus Isthmius.” We’ll get our writers on it because we want to create articles on the topics you’re interested in. Though this Nikephorus shared his name, this one actually succeeded. She and her devout mother Laurentia are said to have often spent whole nights in the catacombs of Rome, keeping vigil in prayer beside the tombs of the martyrs. She was born into a noble family and was brought to Constantinople by Emperor Constantine V in 769 AD to marry his son, Leo IV. For nearly two decades, Irene's power as regent was secure, but as Constantine VI approached manhood, he was determined to rule for himself. Important Facts about Charlemagne. Clearly, Irene had been excited about the match between Rotrude and Constantine. There, on August 15, 797, he was blinded at his mother's orders, a frequently practiced maneuver that by Byzantine norms rendered a member of the imperial family unfit to reign. Our best guess as to how Irene snagged Leo’s hand? But the happy days didn’t last very long. An East Roman (Byzantine) empress, Irene of Athens (752-803) convened the Seventh Ecumenical Council and restored the veneration of icons in the Byzantine Empire. The collapse of Byzantine rule in Rome left the pope free of imperial influence but further alienated the center of the Church from the center of the Empire. Tell a friend. It is located in Central Greece in the southern part of the region of Attica. A. In any case, the rupture of the proposed union does not appear to have overly disturbed the empress, who, increasingly ambitious, had good reason not to want a daughter-in-law of such eminent rank. From the get go, Irene and Leo weren’t exactly a match made in heaven. Since this change in circumstances meant that Irene levelled up to become Leo’s Empress Consort, one can imagine she wasn’t too heartbroken about her father-in-law’s passing. Thanks for your help! Thereafter, until its extinction by Napoleon in 1806, the term "Roman Empire" was used throughout Western Europe to refer to the holdings of the Holy Roman Emperor, whereas, for as long as it lasted (i.e., until the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453), Europeans would refer to the Byzantine state—to the dismay and outrage of its rulers—as the "Empire of the Greeks.". Everyone knew that she called the shots. Unluckily for Irene, she hadn’t seen the end of Elpidios just yet. Madame de Pompadour didn't just share King Louis XV's bed, she also shared his power. the history of the Western world. Trust me, things will get worse later. In this way, she changed the course of European history and left a recognizable seal upon it for a millennium after her death. Some historians think that Irene ended things because she was a classic overbearing mom who didn’t want to share Constantine with anyone else. Irene of Athens was one of the most ruthless, ambitious, and forceful women ever to hold a throne and, in her determination to prevent her son from reigning and her boldness in daring to become the first woman ever to hold the Roman throne, she ranks with Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt and Catherine the Great as a profound breaker with dynastic tradition. Wrong. A son was born of this union but, although the patriarch was willing to grant a dispensation for the marriage, this son was considered illegitimate by the monks and the Church at large, and probably would never have reigned even if he had not died in infancy. Irene of Athens appears in 1 issues View all Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women's Fight for Their Rights. We don’t know much about her parents, but she was very young when they passed, leaving the poor little girl at the mercy of different relatives. When we do, we depend on our loyal, helpful readers to point out how we can do better. Rather, he was the holder of a composite of offices, titles, and positions, including that of commander in chief of the army, all of which had been traditionally held only by men. I knew that she was going to take it badly, but I had no idea about the insane lengths she would go to just to get revenge and mess with my life. Are you even an emperor if you don’t have power-hungry relatives trying to kick you off the throne? An East Roman (Byzantine) empress, Irene of Athens (752-803) convened the Seventh Ecumenical Council and restored the veneration of icons in the Byzantine Empire. A much more complex, intellectual, and refined argument, however, was offered by the Syrian Christian philosopher Mansur, better known as St. John of Damascus, held by both the Catholic and Orthodox churches to have been the last of the Greek "Fathers of the Church." Well, one of the reasons he never loved Maria was because he loved someone else: His mom’s lady-in-waiting. She thought submitting them to persecution and imprisonment would force Elpidios to surrender. Captured as he attempted to reach the East, where loyal troops might be secured, he was brought to the palace to the Porphyry Chamber, where he had been born but 27 years before. Please let us know if a fact we’ve published is inaccurate (or even if you just suspect it’s inaccurate) by reaching out to us at contribute@factinate.com. Irene of Byzantium (752-9 August 803) was the Empress of the Byzantine Empire from 797 to 802, succeeding Constantine VI of Byzantium and preceding Nicephorus I of Byzantium.. Following the deposition of the Byzantine empress Irene of Athens, the throne of the Byzantine Empire passed to a relatively short-lived dynasty, the Nikephorian dynasty, named after its founder, Nikephoros I.The empire was in a weaker and more precarious position than it had been for a long time and its finances were problematic. The first Byzantine Empress, Martina, had met a horrendous fate. She made sure that coins had both herself as well as her son on them, with her image on the obverse (the “heads” side of the coin). Well, up until now. It’s simple: She was hot. On the side of the iconoclasts were also found certain of the Isaurian (actually Syrian) emperors, and, it would appear, the urban mob. This basically meant that Irene was the de facto ruler of the entire Byzantine Empire. Their leader invaded Anatolia on Elpidios’s behest. Irene realized that she was finally without any options, and there was no way she would be able to continue her rule. Well, they resurfaced after his passing and decided to get the gang back together for one more shot at the throne. The first woman ever to hold the throne of the Roman Caesars in her own right, however illegally, the empress Irene was born to an obscure but noble Greek family of Athens. In this uncertain time, contenders began vying for the throne, but in the end, it was the public finance minister, Nikephoros, who deposed Irene. After decades of fighting for power, she just wanted to spend her final years in the palace as a private citizen, but Nikephoros had another plan up his sleeve. Irene struck back, vehemently denying that she had put them there. Anastos, M.V. She was sure they’d win, but she was so, so wrong. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and join our 5,024 subscribers to stay up to date on History of Royal Women's articles! Empire for a century (726-87, 815-43). His own half-brothers challenged his reign, forcing Irene and Leo to fight fire with fire. Constantine tied the knot with Maria of Amnia, his mama’s choice, but rebelled by making zero effort to make the marriage work. Yeah…I can’t really fault Irene for not wanting a repeat of that. While she definitely came from an honorable family, many other hopefuls were better suited to the title. In 771 AD she gave birth to the future Emperor Constantine VI and she became his regent when he inherited the throne at age nine on Leo's death in 780 AD. A well-born and highly educated court prelate, skilled in diplomacy, Tarasius was head of the imperial chancellery and de facto prime minister of the Empire. © Copyright 2021 by Factinate.com. Meanwhile, during the minority of her son, who was only ten when his father died, the empress contented herself with removing iconoclastic generals and other officers, and seeing to it that her husband's five brothers were one by one forced into monasteries to forestall any potential coups. He passed when the child was just four and with his demise, his son Leo officially became the Emperor. The couple did have two daughters, but the young emperor clearly didn’t consider them a reason to try and get along with his wife. She said that someone was framing her, which was a fair point. Her usurpation of the imperial throne created a theoretical justification for the coronation of Charlemagne. Fearing her son's growing independence, Irene pressed too far when she demanded that her own name precede that of his in all public documents. She had to deal with a conflict with the Franks, who seized some important land away from her. Irene had Constantine confined to the palace until he swore an “oath of fidelity to her.” If you think that strong-arming your Emperor-son into an unconvincing pledge of loyalty sounds like a recipe for disaster, you’re not wrong! However, like always, their plans failed—and Constantine made them regret it. Leo IV died on 8 September 780 and Irene became regent for their nine-year-old son Constantine VI. Let’s just…, Wikimedia Commons, Thammarith Likittheerameth, Entrancing Facts About Madame de Pompadour, France's Most Powerful Mistress, These People Got Revenge In The Most Ingenious Ways, Heartbreaking Facts About Frida Kahlo, The Surreal Talent, 40 Fantastic Facts About Science Fiction That Became Reality, 45 Scientific Facts About Differences Between Men and Women. Translated by H. Turtledove. The climate of Athens is benign: frost is rare (the minimum temperature is 32 °F, or 0 °C) and snow seldom lies, while the summers, though hot (maximum temperature is 99 °F, or 37 °C), are dry, and a fresh northeasterly wind often blows by day. The History of the Byzantine State. Also, to open the posts of this year, certainly later than planned, we begin with the Byzantine Empress Irene of Athens and how important she was to the Orthodox Eastern Church. Emperor Irene of Athens (797-802) was certainly no paragon of maternal love. The first woman ever to hold the throne of the Roman Caesars in her own right, however illegally, the empress Irene was born to an obscure but noble Greek family of Athens. Canons of the Second Council of Nicaea. This Nikephorus is not the same dude as the inept uncle/brother-in-law/brother who kept trying to oust Irene and her family from the throne. While there is no written evidence, it’s certainly possible. Exactly three years later, however, in January 795, Constantine shocked public opinion by repudiating his empress-wife, placing her in a convent, and, on October 7, 796, entering into an irregular marriage with Theodote, one of her ladies-in-waiting. Iconoclasm runs rampant but was the hallmark of the era. Intriguing Facts About Poppaea Sabina, Rome’s Wily Empress, Eleanor Of Aquitaine Was England’s Fiercest Queen—Until Her Brutal End, These People Shared The Worst Moments Of Their Lives…And They’re Utterly Brutal, These Mortifying Mistakes Make Us Want To Hit “Undo”, The Truth Always Comes Out: Dark Family Secrets Exposed, These Eerie Supernatural Experiences Sent A Chill Down Our Spines, These Mega Embarrassing Moments Still Made Us Burst Out Laughing, Tragic Facts About Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s First Wife, Couldn’t Pay Me To Go Back: Absolutely Wild Stories Of High School Drama, The Unforgettable Story Of Wu Zetian, China's Most Ruthless Empress. Tragically for Constantine, he wasn’t really the most confidence-inducing emperor of all time. At Factinate, we’re dedicated to getting things right. Jenkins, Romilly. Elpidios got out of that jam too, successfully escaping to Africa. ’ t easy ) the turbo-charged engine of our success repercussions that altered. 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