Irene was born in Athens sometime between 750 and 755. However, the date of retrieval is often important. "Alexius was not yet, or very slightly,…, Vespasian Constantine reacted with swift punishment for those who opposed him. The palace was rife with tension and intrigue. In May, she again summoned the bishops to Nicaea. Dec 6, 2013 - Byzantine Kataphraktoi - 11th C ? The sweet-tempered Maria of Amnia, who grew up in an impoverished household, was the Byzantine Cinderella. It is not certain how clear this was to Irene and her court. Leo's policy initiated the first wave of iconoclasm in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and it met with strong resistance in Irene's hometown, which tried to break away from the empire along with the rest of Greece. Irene, (born c. 752, Athens—died Aug. 9, 803, Lesbos), Byzantine ruler and saint of the Greek Orthodox Church who was instrumental in restoring the use of icons in … 22 Dec. 2020 . Charlemagne was astute enough to realize, of course, that Irene's reign would one day end and that he would eventually be faced with an emperor legitimate in Byzantine eyes. Unknown manuscript They are considered the most important person in history born with the … Date of birth : - In this way, she became the first woman to sit upon the throne established by Augustus over eight centuries before and an all-male preserve until her time. Born around 778; died after 839; daughter of Charles I also known as Charlemagne (742–814), king of the Franks (r. 768–814), Holy Roman emperor (r. 800–814), and Hildegarde of Swabia (c. 757–783); sister of Gisella of Chelles (781–814); married Count Rorico, around 800; children: Louis (b. around 800), abbott of St. Denis. Greater Athens has an area of 165 square miles (427 square km). Athens is one of the oldest named cities in the world, having been continuously inhabited for perhaps 5,000 years. Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1978. Complete exact biopraphy of Irene of Athens from Historian personalities category updated and reviewed by autorized personel. Empress Irene of Athens was the first female ruler of the Byzantine Empire. Irene was related to the noble Greek Sarantapechos family of Athens. Irene of Athens. Date of death : - History of the Byzantine State. Regent of and co-emperor with Constantine VI (780–790); organized Seventh Ecumenical Council (Second Council of Nicaea, 787); deposed (790–792); reinstated as co-emperor with Constantine VI (792–797); was sole emperor (797–802); sought as wife by Charlemagne (800); overthrown and exiled (802). To the broad masses, however, especially the women, and to the monks who were drawn largely from the ranks of the common people, the line between the images and the sacred reality they were meant to represent was easily blurred. Born in Athens of a Greek noble family, between the years of 750 and 755, little is known regarding Irene Sarantapechaina's life before ascending to the Byzantine throne. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Everyone knew that she called the shots. Irene of Athens was the first woman to be sole ruler (Autokrator) of the Byzantine empire. Strong-willed and independent, capable of pursuing and holding power herself, Irene was extremely active in administering her own affairs. Despite the dissatisfaction with her rule, however, Irene had many friends, especially among the monks who adored her, and she was allowed to live out the rest of her life in dignified exile on the island of Lesbos where she died in 803. On October 31, 802, Nicephorus (I), the minister of public finance, seized his opportunity. Each of these women's stories is a great one, wrought with controversy and struggle, but Irene's story is one that is most commonly forgotten. But things had changed since she had first assumed power in 780. She had her name put first on imperial documents. ." The Roman Empire was governed by an autocracy (government by one person) centered on the position of the emperor. Many historians do not consider her a good empress but she was unique. A plot was then hatched to remove Irene from power and have her banished to Sicily, but she learned of this in time and had her son confined in the palace, demanding a direct oath of allegiance to herself from the military. In this way, she changed the course of European history and left a recognizable seal upon it for a millennium after her death. In August of the same year, he made Theodota his wife with the coerced blessing of the patriarch. "Irene of Athens (c. 752–803) Enemies, posing as friends, persuaded her that her favorite eunuch intended to seize power for himself. In Western eyes, that meant that there was only one emperor, since the West did not recognize a woman as emperor. Known as the Second Council of Nicaea or the Seventh Ecumenical Council, more than 300 bishops attended this conclave which lasted from September 13 to October 13, 787. Soon, fearing popular pressure to bring back the beloved Irene, Nicephorus exiled. Charlemagne agreed. This article has been rated as C-Class. 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. She then exiled them and their families from the city and forced them to return to their native towns. [1] Although she was an orphan, her uncle or cousin Constantine Sarantapechos was a patrician and possibly also a strategos ("general") of the theme of Hellas at the end of the eighth century. When Constantine formed a conspiracy to oust his mother, Irene learned of the plot and punished all involved. During this period from the fifth through the eighth centuries, the papacy had come to rely increasingly on the support of the Frankish kings, who, after the defeat of the Muslims at Poitiers in 732, could justly be hailed as the defenders of the faith. On the side of the iconophiles (image-lovers) or iconodules (image-adorers) were the papacy (with suitable cautions), the monks, and the female population. In 802, Irene was finally overthrown by a palace coup led by Nicephorus, her own minister of finance. The first assault upon the icons was launched in the Arab Empire, the caliphate, whose ruler Yazid II, supposedly under Jewish influence (the details are very unclear), ordered the icons in Syria to be destroyed. On the side of the iconoclasts were also found certain of the Isaurian (actually Syrian) emperors, and, it would appear, the urban mob. The city of Athens ( Ancient Greek : Ἀθῆναι, Athênai, ; Modern Greek : Ath'nai, Greek pronunciation: ) during the classical period of Ancient Greece (508-322 BC) was the major urban center of the notable polis ( city-state ) of the same name, located in Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. This appointment was part of Irene's consistent policy to rely on eunuch off… ." In the words of the chronicler Theophanes: "On September 8 God unexpectedly entrusted the rule to the most pious Irene and her son Constantine, so He could work a miracle through a widow-woman and an orphan child.". A After her death, she became a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). Though strengthened by a military victory against the Bulgars and on his way to meet the Arabs in battle, Constantine's perennial ineptitude allowed his mother to concoct a clever plot oiled with bribery, involving both civilian and army personnel. Prior to becoming empress regnant, Irene was empress consort from 775 to 780, and empress dowager and regent from 780 to 797. The ecclesiastical gathering was then reconvened in the nearby city of Nicaea, where the First Ecumenical Council had been held nearly 500 years before. Irene of Athens, Irene Sarantapechaina, 752-803, and son Constantinus, Konstantinus, 771-805. Jenkins, Romilly. Irene could now play on negative opinion against Constantine and plot to depose him. Irene was forging a link between East and West that could have far-reaching consequences for both halves of the Roman Empire. Irene of Athens, Byzantine basilissa, is comparable to Egyptian queen Hatshepsut, and Russian empress Catherine the Great. Irene was also known for her generous financial policies, which were especially friendly to monasteries. Influenced on legal history. Nevertheless, her abiding zeal for the icons is obvious, and her accomplishments in having them readmitted into the Orthodox Church still affect the church. But Irene would not yield the reins. dispersed by hostile troops recruited by Constantine VI to guard the capital and the papal representatives returned to Sicily, but Irene shrewdly had Constantine's troops shipped to Asia on the pretext of their being sent on a campaign against the Arabs. In more far-reaching matters, whenever icons came under attack in the future, those in favor of their use had all the carefully thought out and well-formulated arguments of Nicaea II at their disposal. Ruthless and ambitious, she is widely suspected of having poisoned her husband after which she governed the Empire as regent and sole ruler for 22 years. It had become so extreme in the East—to the point of bordering on idolatry—that a reaction developed against the practice. By 1412 BC, the settlement had become an important center of the Mycenaean civilization and the Acropolis was the site of a major Mycenaean fortress whose remains can be recognised from sections of the characteristic Cyclopean walls. Irene was born in Athens sometime between 750 and 755. Iconoclasm was especially prevalent in the eastern parts of the Empire; iconophilism in the West. Powerful Facts About Empress Irene, The Byzantine Rebel Beauty, brains, and an iron will: Irene of Athens used all of these to stay in power in the cut-throat world of the Byzantine Empire. Internal struggles were also weakening the army and the boundaries of the empire. She was born about 752. Treadgold, Warren. 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