Home > Irene (empress)

Originally a poor but beautiful Athenian orphan, she speedily gained the love and confidence of her feeble husband, and at his death in 780 was left by him sole guardian of the empire and of their ten-year-old son Constantine VI.

Seizing the supreme power in the name of the latter, Irene ruled the empire at her own discretion for ten years, displaying great firmness and sagacity in her government.

Her most notable act was the restoration of the orthodox veneration of icons or images, a policy which she always had secretly favoured, though compelled to abjure it in her husband's lifetime. Having elected Tarasius, one of her partisans, to the patriarchate in 784Events August 31 Paul IV abdicates as Patriarch of Constantinople December 25 Tarasius elected Patriarch of Constantinople The Japanese capital moved away from Nara. End of the Nara period. Births Hrabanus Maurus, German poet Deaths 784., she summoned two church councils. The former of these, held in 786Events A council is organized in Constantinople, but disturbed by soldiers Beatus of Liebana, Spanish monk, publishes his Commentary on the Apocalypse. Births Emperor Saga of Japan Emperor Junna of Japan Deaths See also Intel Pentium4 786. at ConstantinopleConstantinople (Roman name: Constantinopolis; Greek: Konstantinoupolis or ) is the former name of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Its original name was Byzantium ( Greek: Byzantion or Bυζαντιο&nu pronounced roughly B, was frustrated by the opposition of the soldiers. The second, convened at NicaeaNicaea is also the ancient name of the French city Nice. Nicaea (now #x130;znik is a city in Anatolia (now part of Turkey) which is known primarily as the site of two major meetings (or Ecumenical councils) in the early history of the Christian church. in 787Events Second Council of Nicaea ends the first iconoclastic period in the Byzantine Empire Canual succeeds Talorgen as king of the Picts. the first three Viking ships landed in Wessex/England and the Norsemen started to plunder towns and coastal monasteri, formally revived the adoration of images and reunited the Eastern churchEastern Orthodox Christianity (Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox) is the modern name primarily applied to the Christian church that claims to be the original historical church started by Christ Jesus and his Apostles 2000 years ago. They claim unbroken apo with that of RomeRome ( Italian and Latin Roma is the capital city of Italy, and of its Lazio region. It is located on the lower Tiber river, near the Mediterranean Sea, at 41°50'N, 12°15'E. The Vatican City State, a sovereign enclave within Rome, is the seat of the Roman. (See Seventh Ecumenical Council.)

As Constantine approached maturity he began to grow restive under her autocratic sway. An attempt to free himself by force was met and crushed by the empress, who demanded that the oath of fidelity should thenceforward be taken in her name alone. The discontent which this occasioned swelled in 790 into open resistance, and the soldiers, headed by the Armenian guard, formally proclaimed Constantine VI as the sole ruler.

A hollow semblance of friendship was maintained between Constantine and Irene, whose title of empress was confirmed in 792; but the rival factions remained, and Irene, by skillful intrigues with the bishops and courtiers, organized a powerful conspiracy on her own behalf. Constantine could only flee for aid to the provinces, but even there he was surrounded by participants in the plot. Seized by his attendants on the Asiatic shore of the Bosporus, the emperor was carried back to the palace at Constantinople; and there, by the orders of his mother, his eyes were stabbed out. An eclipse of the sun and a darkness of seventeen days' duration were attributed by the common superstition to the horror of heaven.

Irene reigned in prosperity and splendour for five years. She is said to have endeavoured to negotiate a marriage between herself and Charlemagne; but according to Theophanes, who alone mentions it, the scheme was frustrated by Aëtius, one of her favourites. A projected alliance between Constantine and Charlemagne's daughter, Rothrude , was in turn broken off by Irene. In 802 the patricians, upon whom she had lavished every honour and favour, conspired against her, and placed on the throne Nicephorus, the minister of finance. The haughty and unscrupulous princess, "who never lost sight of political power in the height of her religious zeal," was exiled to Lesbos and forced to support herself by spinning. She died the following year. Her zeal in restoring images and monasteries has given her a place among the saints of the Eastern Orthodox church.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica