Irene of Athens

Irene was born in Athens sometime between 750 and 756.[2][lower-alpha 2] She was a member of the noble Greek Sarantapechos family, which had significant political influence in central mainland Greece.[2] Although she was an orphan, her uncle or cousin Constantine Sarantapechos was a patrician and possibly also a strategos ("military general") of the theme of Hellas at the end of the eighth century.[2] Constantine Sarantapechos's son Theophylact was a spatharios and is mentioned as having been involved in suppressing a revolt in 799.[2] According to Theophanes the Confessor, Irene was related to Theophano of Athens who would become empress consort after her marriage to the Byzantine emperor Staurakios.[7]

Gold solidus showing Irene as regent along her son Constantine VI; Irene took control of the throne and ruled the empire solo until 790.

Leo IV died on 8 September 780 and Irene became regent for their nine-year-old son Constantine VI.[15] Rumors were circulated claiming that Leo IV had died of a fever after putting on the jeweled crown that had been dedicated by either Maurice (ruled 582–602) or Heraclius (ruled 610–641).[14] Irene herself may have promoted this rumor in an effort to smear her deceased husband's memory.[14]

In October, only six weeks after Leo IV's death, Irene was confronted with a conspiracy led by a group of prominent dignitaries that sought to raise Caesar Nikephoros, a half-brother of Leo IV, to the throne.[14] Irene had Bardas (the former strategos of the Armeniac Theme), Gregory (the logothete of the dromos), and Konstantinos (the count of the excubitors) scourged, tonsured, and banished.[14] She replaced all of them with dignitaries who were loyal to her.[14] She had Nikephoros and his four brothers ordained as priests, a status which disqualified them from ruling, and forced them to serve communion at the Hagia Sophia on Christmas Day 780.[14] On the same day, Irene returned the crown her husband had removed as part of a full imperial procession.[14] Possibly hoping to placate supporters of her husband's family, Irene is reported to have proposed that Leo IV's sister Anthousa should join her as co-regent, but Anthousa is said to have rejected the offer.[16]

Irene of Athens (or Irene Doukaina) in the Pala d'Oro, Venice.

From the beginning, Irene seems to have taken more power for herself than was traditionally expected of female regents.[17] Her earliest coins depict both herself and her son Constantine VI on the obverse, listing them as co-rulers rather than as ruler and regent.[17] Furthermore, Irene is shown holding the orb, not Constantine, and only Irene's name is listed on the obverse of the coin, with Constantine VI's name only listed on the reverse, the less important side. Also, in all orders, both oral and written, Irene's name took precedence over her son's name, and she signed her orders in the name of the emperor in her own right and her name took precedence in the oath of allegiance. Apart from that, she did not allow Constantine any voice in public affairs.[17] At the same time, Irene appears to have been well aware that her position as regent was insecure.[17] The last female regent of the Byzantine Empire had been Empress Martina, who had only managed to survive as regent for less than a year before her tongue was cut out and she was exiled to the island of Rhodes.[14] Most people were probably expecting that Irene's reign would come to a similarly swift and bloody end.[14]

As early as 781, Irene began to seek a closer relationship with the Carolingian dynasty and the Papacy in Rome. She negotiated a marriage between her son Constantine and Rotrude, a daughter of Charlemagne by his third wife Hildegard. During this time Charlemagne was at war with the Saxons, and would later become the new king of the Franks. Irene went as far as to send an official to instruct the Frankish princess in Greek; however, Irene herself broke off the engagement in 787, against her son's wishes.

Irene next had to subdue a rebellion led by Elpidius, the strategos of Sicily. Irene sent a fleet, which succeeded in defeating the Sicilians. Elpidius fled to Africa, where he defected to the Abbasid Caliphate. After the success of Constantine V's general, Michael Lachanodrakon, who foiled an Abbasid attack on the eastern frontiers, a huge Abbasid army under Harun al-Rashid invaded Anatolia in summer 782. The strategos of the Bucellarian Theme, Tatzates, defected to the Abbasids, and Irene had to agree to pay an annual tribute of 70,000 or 90,000 dinars to the Abbasids.[18]

Ending iconoclasm

Main article: Seventh ecumenical council

15th century mural depicting Irene and Constantine VI at the Seventh ecumenical council of 787.

Irene's most notable act was the restoration of the veneration of icons (images of Christ or the saints). Having chosen Tarasios, one of her partisans and her former secretary, as Patriarch of Constantinople in 784, she summoned two church councils. The first of these, held in 786 at Constantinople, was frustrated by the opposition of the iconoclast soldiers. The second, convened at Nicaea in 787 and known as the seventh ecumenical council, formally revived the veneration of icons and reunited the Eastern church with that of Rome.[19][20] The council determined that the honorary veneration (timētikē proskynēsis) of the holy icons was permitted, and that the true adoration (alēthinē latreia) was preserved for God alone. It further stated that the honor paid to the icon eventually passes over to the individual that it represtents.[21]

While this greatly improved relations with the Papacy, it did not prevent the outbreak of a war with the Franks, who took over Istria and Benevento in 788. In spite of these reverses, Irene's military efforts met with some success: in 782 her favoured courtier Staurakios subdued the Slavs of the Balkans and laid the foundations of Byzantine expansion and re-Hellenization in the area. Nevertheless, Irene was constantly harried by the Abbasids, and in 782 and 798 had to accept the terms of the respective Caliphs Al-Mahdi and Harun al-Rashid.

Gold solidus showing Irene and Constantine VI as co-emperors in c. 793-797 after Irene's return to the throne.

As Constantine approached maturity he began to grow restless under the autocratic sway of his mother. Although Constantine VI had reached the age of majority, Irene continued to administer the affairs of state in his place and was autocratess of the Romans. Constantine no longer accepted his secondary status and attempted to free himself by force, but this attempt was met and crushed by the Empress, who demanded that the oath of fidelity should thenceforward be taken in her name alone. Irene also tried to convince the army to legitimize her absolute power over the state. The discontent which this caused swelled into open resistance in 790, and the soldiers, headed by the army of the Armeniacs, formally proclaimed Constantine VI as the sole ruler.[20]

As an attempt to restore order to the state, Constantine, in a hollow semblance of friendship, restored Irene's titles and confirmed her position as ruler on 15 January 792. As a result, the Irene-Constantine duumvirate began.[22] However, the rivalry remained, Irene's faction also returned, with her powerful eunuch minister Staurakios once again at the helm, they began to take revenge on anyone who had opposed them in the past or present. In 797 Irene, by cunning intrigues with the nobles, officers, bishops, and courtiers organized a conspiracy against Constantine. He was forced to flee to the provinces for aid, but even there participants in the plot threatened him. Seized by his attendants (his mother's allies) on the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus, Constantine was carried back to the palace at Constantinople and was blinded on 19 August. It is unknown whether he managed to survive this event.[lower-alpha 3]

Gold solidus showing Irene as the sole emperor in c. 797-802 after the dismissal and blinding of Constantine.

Although it is often asserted that, as monarch, Irene called herself "basileus" (Greek: βασιλεύς), 'emperor', rather than "basilissa" (βασίλισσα), 'empress', in fact there are only three instances where it can be proven that she used the title "basileus": two legal documents in which she signed herself as "Emperor of the Romans" and a gold coin of hers found in Sicily bearing the title of "basileus". In relation to the coin, the lettering is of poor quality and the attribution to Irene may be problematic. She used the title "basilissa" in all other documents, coins, and seals.[24]

Refusing to recognize Irene's reign, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor.

Irene's unprecedented position as an empress ruling in her own right was emphasized by the coincidental rise of the Carolingian Empire in Western Europe, which rivaled Irene's Byzantium in size and power. Charlemagne invaded Italy early on in his reign, annexing the Lombard kingdom of Italy. He also campaigned against the Saxon tribes in northern Germany for more than thirty years, annexing their territory and compelling them to convert to Christianity, and defeated the Avars in Central Europe. In the Iberian Peninsula, Charlemagne's expedition against al-Andalus led to the creation of a buffer zone between Francia and the Islamic world called the Spanish Marches. Charlemagne also increasingly modelled his rule after that of the Roman emperors by sponsoring enormous construction programs, exemplified by the building of his favourite residence at Aachen (in modern-day Germany), standardizing weights and measures and supporting intellectual and artistic endeavors in the Carolingian renaissance.

Charlemagne was crowned Emperor by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day, 800. The clergy and nobles attending the ceremony proclaimed Charlemagne as "Augustus". In support of Charlemagne's coronation, some argued that the imperial position was actually vacant, deeming a woman unfit to be emperor; however, Charlemagne made no claim to the Eastern Roman Empire. Whether he actually desired a coronation at all, remains controversial – his biographer Einhard related that Charlemagne had been surprised by the Pope – but the Eastern Empire felt its role as the sole Roman Empire threatened and began to emphasize its superiority and its Roman identity. Relations between the two empires remained difficult. Irene is said to have endeavored to bring about a marriage alliance between herself and Charlemagne, but according to Theophanes the Confessor, who alone mentions it, the scheme was frustrated by Aetios, one of her favorites.[20][25]

Presumed sarcophagus of Irene of Athens in Hagia Sophia.

In 802 the patricians conspired against her, deposing her on 31 October, and placing Nikephoros, the minister of finance (logothetēs tou genikou), on the throne. Irene was exiled to Lesbos and forced to support herself by spinning wool.[20] She died the following year, on 9 August.[26][27]

A female relative of Irene, Theophano, was chosen in 807 by Emperor Nikephoros I as the bride of his son and heir Staurakios.

Irene's zeal in restoring the icons and monasteries made Theodore the Studite praise her as a saint.[28] She is listed in some Byzantine Catholic and Eastern Orthodox sources as a saint commemorated on 7 August, but her name is not found in the Menaion.[29]

Primary sources

• Theophanes (1997) [c. 820]. Chronographia. Translated by Mango, Cyril. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198225683.

Modern sources

• Ostrogorsky, George (1956). History of the Byzantine State. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
• Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
• Lagarde, André (1915). The Latin Church in the Middle Ages. Translated by Archibald Alexander. Charles Scribner's Sons.
• Barbe, Dominique (1990). Irène de Byzance: La femme empereur. Paris.
• Rosenwein, Barbara H. (2014). A Short History of the Middle Ages, second ed. University of Toronto Press, 80, 98–99.
• Sir Steven Runciman. "The Empress Irene." Conspectus of History 1.1 (1974): 1–11.
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Irene s.v. Irene (752–803)". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 792.
• Herrin, Judith (2001). Women in Purple:Rulers of Medieval Byzantium. London: Phoenix Press. ISBN 1-84212-529-X.
• Garland, Lynda (1999), "Irene (769–802)", Byzantine Empresses: Women and Power in Byzantium, AD 527–1204, Routledge, pp. 73–94, ISBN 978-0-415-14688-3
• Martindale, J.R. (2001). Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire. ISBN 978-1-897747-32-2.
• Lilie, Ralph-Johannes, ed. (2013). Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit (in German).
• Wace, Henry and William Smith (1882). A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines, J. Murray.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Irene of Athens.

• De Imperatoribus Romanis – Constantine VI (780–797 AD) and Irene (797–802 AD)