Irene becomes sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire
Irene had her son Constantine VI seized and blinded in the Porphyra, the purple chamber of the palace where he had been born, and became the first woman to rule the Byzantine Empire in her own name (797–802). The West treated the imperial throne as vacant, which helped to justify the coronation of Charlemagne in 800.
- Date
- between 15 August and 19 August 797exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Constantinopletoday: Istanbul, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Irene of Athens, Constantine VI, Byzantine Empire
- Threads
- Early medieval Europe (500–1000)
- Also known as
- Empress Irene; Императрица Ирина; Blinding of Constantine VI; Ослепление Константина VI; Irene of Athens; Ирина Афинская
Irene, an Athenian of the Sarantapechos family, was married to the future emperor Leo IV and after his death in 780 governed for her nine-year-old son Constantine VI; in 787 she restored the veneration of icons at the Second Council of Nicaea. When Constantine grew up, the rivalry between mother and son came into the open: in 790 the army proclaimed him sole ruler, but in 792 he restored her as co-ruler. Military defeats, the blinding of his uncle Nikephoros and of the general Alexios Mosele, and his divorce and second marriage to Theodote in 795, which monks of Sakkoudion including Theodore the Stoudite condemned, cost him support. In the summer of 797 Irene’s partisans tried to seize him; he escaped to Bithynia but was handed over by men of his own entourage, brought back to Constantinople and blinded with such cruelty that, in Theophanes’ words, it was done “with a view to making him die”. Theophanes dates the blinding to Saturday, 15 August, but that day was a Tuesday; following P. Speck, historians usually place it on Saturday, 19 August 797. Constantine’s later fate is unknown: he may have died of his wounds or lived on for some years, but not beyond 805.
Irene now ruled alone. In two of her laws she is styled basileus — emperor rather than empress — and on her coins she appears in full imperial regalia. Tax concessions made her popular in the capital, but her reign was marked by conspiracies harshly suppressed, by the rivalry of her eunuch ministers Staurakios and Aetios, and by a peace with Harun al-Rashid bought with tribute in 798. Frankish annalists sneered at a “female empire” among the Greeks, and on Christmas Day 800 Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor. Negotiations for a marriage between Irene and Charlemagne were cut short when the finance minister Nikephoros deposed her on 31 October 802. She died in exile on Lesbos on 9 August 803. Theodore the Stoudite praised her as a saint for restoring the icons, and some Orthodox calendars commemorate her on 7 August, though her name is not in the Menaion.
Connections
Related events
- Second Council of Nicaea24 September – 23 October 787 · Balkans and AnatoliaAs regent, Irene had restored the veneration of icons in 787
- Reign of Harun al-Rashidbetween 14 September and 17 September 786 – 24 March 809 · Middle East and EgyptHarried by Abbasid raids, Irene had to buy a truce from Harun al-Rashid in 798 with an annual tribute
- Coronation of Charlemagne25 December 800 · Western and Central EuropeWith a woman on the throne in Constantinople, the Franks and the pope treated the imperial title as vacant
Same place
- Founding of Constantinople11 May 330 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Theodosian Walls of Constantinoplebetween 404 and 408 – 413 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Imperial school in the Capitol of Constantinople27 February 425 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Reign of Theodosius II1 May 408 – 28 July 450 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Theodosian Code15 February 438 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Nika riots13–18 January 532 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Corpus Juris Civilis7 April 529 – 16 November 534 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Plague of Justinian541–549 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Reign of Justinian I1 August 527 – 14 November 565 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Silkworm eggs are smuggled to Constantinoplebetween 552 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Phocas overthrows Maurice23 November 602 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Reign of Heraclius5 October 610 – 11 February 641 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Avar–Persian siege of Constantinople29 June – 7 August 626 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Invention of Greek firec. 672 · Balkans and Anatolia
- First Arab siege of Constantinople674–678 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Third Council of Constantinople7 November 680 – 16 September 681 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Second Arab siege of Constantinoplebetween 15 July and 15 August 717 – 15 August 718 · Balkans and Anatolia
- The Ecloga: law code of Leo III and Constantine Vbetween 726 and 741 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Plague in Constantinople, 746–747746 – between 747 and 748 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’ attack on Constantinople18 June – 4 August 860 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium11 June 941 – 944 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Sack of Constantinople12–13 April 1204 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Reconquest of Constantinople25 July 1261 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Fall of Constantinople29 May 1453 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Accession of Suleiman the Magnificent30 September 1520 · Balkans and Anatolia
Adjacent events in the thread
- Viking raid on Lindisfarne8 June 793 · Western and Central Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Saxon Wars772–804
Eastern Europe
- The Khazar rulers adopt Judaismbetween 740 and 861
- Volyntsevo culture: the Slavs of the Dnieper Left Bank in the Khazar agebetween 700 and 750 – between 813 and 833
- Saltovo-Mayaki culturec. 750 – between 900 and 950
Middle East and Egypt
- Reign of Harun al-Rashidbetween 14 September and 17 September 786 – 24 March 809
Central and Northern Asia
- Trisong Detsen: the Tibetan Empire at its height and the founding of Samyebetween 755 and 756 – 797
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Building of Borobudurc. 780 – c. 833
North America
- Pueblo I: villages of surface rooms on the Colorado Plateauc. 750 – c. 900
- The Late Woodland period in eastern North Americac. 500 – c. 1000
- Plum Bayou Mounds: a planned ceremonial centre in the Arkansas valleyc. 650 – c. 1050
Latin America
- Wari culture and the Middle Horizon state in the Central Andesc. 600 – c. 1000
- Tiwanaku culture at its height by Lake Titicacac. 600 – c. 1000
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Irene of Athens
- Wikipedia (English): Constantine VI
- Wikipedia (Russian): Ирина (византийская императрица)
- Wikipedia (Russian): Константин VI Слепой
- Garland L. Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium, AD 527–1204. — London: Routledge, 1999.
- Herrin J. Women in Purple: Rulers of Medieval Byzantium. — London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001.
- Speck P. Kaiser Konstantin VI.: Die Legitimation einer fremden und der Versuch einer eigenen Herrschaft. Bd. I–II. — München, 1978. — S. 307–308.
- Preiser-Kapeller J., Kislinger E. “The sun was darkened for seventeen days” (AD 797): An Interdisciplinary Exploration of Celestial Phenomena between Byzantium, Charlemagne, and a Volcanic Eruption // Medieval Worlds. — 2022. — No. 17. — P. 3–58.