Why is empress irene infamous?

Question

i's stil doing a report and am stumped on one of the paragraphs.

Answer 1

When her son grew older and tried to wrest his indepencence from his mother, Irene had him blinded and imprisoned. She then took the title of Emperor for herself, becoming the first woman to rule the empire. Irene was also rumored to have considered a marriage to Charlemagne, who visited Constantinople during her reign.

From the outset Irene appears to have had political ambitions and was certainly concerned to emphasise her status as regent, and more than regent. On her first coins she not Constantine VI holds the orb, and she is referred to as Constantine's co-ruler, while Constantine's name is placed on the reverse, the less important side of the coin.

Her selection in 781 of a bride for her son was also significant -- Rotrud (called in Greek Erythro) a daughter of Charlemagne. As Empress Irene's position was not entirely secure, she had his wife and sons scourged, tonsured and imprisoned. Empress Irene was a strong proponent of the use of Icons in the Christian church, a practice that had been prohibited for 60 years. After violent opposition from Iconoclasts, Irene managed to arrange the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, at which the use of Icons was restored. For this and for her patronage of monasteries, Irene is considered a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Answer 2

Yes. Her zeal in restoring images and monasteries has given her a place among the saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Her most notable act was the restoration of the orthodox veneration of icons or images, a policy which she had always secretly favoured, though compelled to abjure it in her husband's lifetime.

Irene ranks with Egyptian queen Hatshepsut and Russian empress Catherine the Great as a breaker of male-dominated dynasties. When Irene of Athens was crowned sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire in 797, she became the first woman ever to hold the throne of the old Roman Empire.

Her illegal claim to the throne allowed the Frank king Charlemagne to be crowned Roman emperor in the West. This coronation ended the Byzantine Empire's power in Europe and forever changed European history.

Answer 3

Go to:

www.mabelyn.com/infamous_women

historymedren.about.com/library/who/bl...

Answer 4

She referred to herself as Emperor instead of Empress, her husband found icons in her poss ions and then refused to sleep with her, and she was eventually exiled to the Greek Island of Lesbos

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_(empr...

http://www.roman-emperors.org/irene.htm