Eirene 1 was a native of Hellas; she was married to Leo 4 (the future emperor Leo IV) by his father Constantine V (Konstantinos 7) in December 769 and was also crowned Augusta by Constantine V (Konstantinos 7): Nic. Brev. de Boor 77, Mango 87 cf. Zon. XV 8. 3 (from Athens, she was married to Leo by the emperor, who crowned her Augusta and gave her the name Eirene - καὶ τῷ πρώτῳ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ καὶ βασιλεῖ ἠγάγετο γυναῖκα ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν καὶ ἐμνηστεύσατο ταύτην αὐτῷ, στέψας αὐτὴν Αὐγούσταν καὶ καλέσας Εἰρήνην).

Coming from Athens (ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν), she entered Constantinople from Hieria on 1 November 769; on 3 November, in the presence of the patriarch, she was betrothed to the emperor Leo IV (Leo 4) in the Church of the Pharos in the palace, and then, on 17 December, she was crowned empress in the Triklinos of the Augustaion (ἐστέφη ἐν τῷ τρικλίνῳ τοῦ Αὐγουστέως ἡ βασίλισσα Εἰρήνη) and then went to the Oratory of St Stephanos in Daphne and married Leo (ἔλαβε τὰ τοῦ γάμου στέφανα σὺν τῷ τοῦ Κωνσταντίνου υἱῷ Λέοντι τῷ βασιλεῖ): Theoph. AM 6261.

Wife of Leo IV (Leo 4) and mother of Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) (who was born on 14 January, 771): Theoph. AM 6262 (ἐτέχθη Λέοντι τῷ βασιλεῖ καὶ Εἰρήνῃ υἱός, καὶ ὠνομάσθη Κωνσταντῖνος), Theoph. AM 6273 (Εἰρήνη ἡ εὐσεβεστάτη ἅμα τῷ υἱῷ αὐτῆς Κωνσταντίνῳ), Theoph. AM 6274 (τῷ βασιλεῖ Κωνσταντίνῳ, τῷ υἱῷ αὐτῆς), Theoph. AM 6281 (καὶ ἔζευξεν αὐτὴν Κωνσταντίνῳ τῷ Βασιλεῖ καὶ υἱῷ αὐτῆς), cf. Theoph. Cont. II 24 (p. 79), Zon. XV 8. 3 (καὶ καλέσας Εἰρήνην, ἐξ ἧς ἐτέχθη τῷ Λέοντι παῖς Κωνσταντῖνος ὀνομασθείς), Chron. 1234, §188 (II, p.4), Const. Porph., De Cer. II 42 (Reiske, 647).

She had a cousin (Anonyma 10) who was married in 777 to the Bulgar Teleryg 1: Theoph. AM 6269 (ζεύξας αὐτῷ καὶ τὴν τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ Εἰρήνης ἐξαδέλφην). She had a nephew (ἀνεψιόν - perhaps cousin), Theophylaktos 8, and was therefore related to Theophylaktos's father, Konstantinos 15: Theoph. AM 6291 (ἡ βασίλισσα Εἰρήνη ἀποστέλλει πρὸς τὸν πατρίκιον Κωνσταντῖνον τὸν Σεραντάπηχον Θεοφύλακτον, τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, σπαθάριον ὄντα καὶ ἀνεψιὸν αὐτῆς). He was either her uncle or her cousin or her brother-in-law. She was related also to Theophano 1 (also from Athens, who in 807 was married to Staurakios 2): Theoph. AM 6300 (προσγενῆ τῆς μακαρίας Εἰρήνης), Zon. XV 14. 19 (τῷ δὲ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ Σταυρακίῳ ἀγαγέσθαι γυναῖκα ὁ βασιλεὺς βουληθεὶς Θεοφανὼ τὴν Ἀθηναίαν, προσγενῆ τῆς βασιλίσσης Εἰρήνης οὖσαν καὶ ἤδη κατηγγυημένην ἀνδρί, διαζεύξας αὐτοῦ ἀθέσμως τῷ Σταυρακίῳ συνέζευξε).

After her son (Konstantinos 8) was crowned emperor on 14 April 776, she was herself escorted in procession to Hagia Sophia by the Scholai: Theoph. AM 6268. She became joint ruler with her young son on 8 September, indiction 4 (780): Theoph. AM 6273 (Εἰρήνη ἡ εὐσεβεστάτη ἅμα τῷ υἱῷ αὐτῆς Κωνσταντίνῳ παραδόξως θεόθεν τὴν βασιλείαν ἐγχειρίζεται). Under her the iconoclast policies of Constantine V (Konstantinos 7) were reversed: Theoph. AM 6273, cf. Zon. XV 10. 1-2 (became joint ruler with her son Constantine VI on the death of Leo; a supporter of icons). Because of her son's youth, she assumed control of the government: Chron. 1234, §188 (II, p.4).

In 782 she opened negotiations with the Frankish king Charlemagne (Karoulos 1) and betrothed her son (Konstantinos 8) to Charlemagne's daughter Erythro 1: Theoph. AM 6274 (see Konstaes 1, Mamalos 1 and Elissaios 1). In 788 she cancelled this arrangement and instead betrothed her son (Konstantinos 8) to Maria 2 (Maria of Amnia); the marriage was celebrated in November 788: Theoph. AM 6281, cf. Zon. XV 10. 10-12 (betrothed him first to the daughter of Karoulos 1, then to the daughter (rightly granddaughter) of Philaretos 1). To select a bride for her son, Konstantinos 8, she arranged a bride show, at which she, Konstantinos 8 and Staurakios 1 chose Maria 2 (the granddaughter of Philaretos 1): Nicetas, Vita S. Philareti, pp. 135, 143.

Augusta, mother of the emperor Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8), she ruled jointly with her son: Nicetas, Vita S. Philareti, pp. 135, 143. In 790, after an attempt by her son to assert himself failed (see Staurakios 1), she chastised him and then began to secure oaths from the armies of the empire that so long as she was alive they would not accept the rule of her son: Theoph. AM 6282, Zon. XV 11. 21. The themata of Asia Minor turned against her and gave their support to Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8), who was able to expel Staurakios 1 and all the eunuchs of Eirene 1's household (cf. Aetios 1) and to confine Eirene 1 to the palace of Eleutherios, which she herself had built: Theoph. AM 6283, Zon. XV 11. 23-27. She was allegedly reconciled to her son after two years and proclaimed queen: Chron. 1234, §188 (II, p. 4). She allegedly prompted her son Konstantinos 8 to force his wife Maria 2 to become a nun in order to make him unpopular and assist her own plans to rule: Theoph. AM 6287. In 797 she plotted against her son with the leaders of the tagmata; he tried to escape but was brought back to Constantinople by her supporters on 15 August and blinded in so brutal a fashion that he died, allegedly as intended by Eirene 1 and her advisers; she became sole ruler thenceforth: Theoph. AM 6289, Zon. XV 13. 4ff. After descending into a life of abandon, Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) was brought back to Constantinople where his mother had his eyes put out: Chron. 1234, §188 (II, p. 4).

In May 799 she fell seriously ill and her reign was thereafter troubled by the rivalry of her two leading eunuchs and advisers, Aetios 1 and Staurakios 1: Theoph. AM 6291. In 801/802 envoys reached Constantinople from Charlemagne and pope Leo III (Karoulos 1 and Leo 11) with proposals for the marriage of Eirene 1 with Charlemagne (Karoulos 1) and the unification of East and West; Eirene 1 is said to have been ready to agree but the opposition of the eunuch Aetios 1 prevented it: Theoph. AM 6294, Zon. XV 13. 22-23. She was the addressee of a letter from Theodoros 15 (Theodore the Stoudite), written in March/April 801, applauding the decision to lighten the tax burdens; she is addressed as δέσποινα ἡμῶν πανάγαθε, Εἰρήνη ἱερόψυχε and Εἰρήνη θεονομάσιε): Theod. Stud., Ep. 7 (addressed Εἰρήνῃ βασιλίσσῃ).

On 31 October 802, a group of high officials formerly among her closest supporters supported the proclamation of Nikephoros 8 as emperor; Eirene 1 was placed under guard in the Palace of Eleutherios and then in the Great Palace; she received promises from the new emperor that she would be spared and would be allowed to live in the Palace of Eleutherios, which she had constructed herself, and in return disclosed to him full details of the imperial finances; she was then sent by him into exile, to live in a monastery (which she had also built herself) on the island of Prinkipos; later, in November 802, during a spell of bad weather, he had her transferred to the island of Lesbos to be kept under close guard and to be visited by no-one; there she died on 9 August, 803; her body was transferred to her monastery on the island of Prinkipo: Theoph. AM 6295, cf. Zon. XV 13. 25-31 (overthrown and replaced by Nikephoros 8; the rebellion took place while she was indisposed and staying in her own palace of Eleutherios), 14. 1-5 (she disclosed the whereabouts of the imperial treasures, then was exiled to the island of Prinkipos, where she had founded a monastery), 14. 12 (to avoid a possible restoration attempt, she was further exiled to Lesbos, where she died), Chron. 1234, §189 (II, p. 4) (when Nikephoros 8 became emperor, she became a nun in Athens).

She was first buried in her own monastery, in the chapel of St Nicholas in the Church of the Theotokos, in a new sarcophagus: Vita Irenae, p. 27. Subsequently she was buried, like her husband Leo V (Leo 15), in a sarcophagus of Proconnesian marble in the Mausoleum of Justinian at the Church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople: Const. Porph., De Cer. II 42 (Reiske 645).

Her reign was later regarded in the iconophile tradition as a time when peace was restored to the church; she was a defender of the faith, with the support of the patriarch Tarasios 1, and in her time monasticism flourished: Vita Nicetae Medicii (BHG 1341) 30, cf. Theoph. Cont. I 15 (pp. 26-27), Scyl., p. 14, Vita S. Theophylacti 10 (an orthodox empress, succeeded by Nikephoros 8).

Grandmother of Euphrosyne 1: Theoph. Cont. II 24 (p. 79). Mother of the emperor Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8); in the year 1110 Sel. (798/799) she had her son blinded because of his lascivious conduct and became sole ruler: Chron. 813, p. 251, 9-15 = p. 190. Mother of the emperor Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8); as he was a minor she governed and was proclaimed with him: Bar Hebr., 117. She made a three year peace with the Arabs, when an army under Harun 1 was trapped by the Romans: Bar Hebr., p. 118. She was alleged by Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) to be involved in an affair with Alpidi (Elpidios 2) and he ordered that she be deprived of her imperial title: Bar Hebr., p. 119. Later they were reconciled and he ordered that Eirene 1 receive again her imperial title: Bar Hebr., p. 119. She had her son blinded after his conduct deteriorated and she then ruled alone; she made Aetios 1 her second in command; then when the Romans chose Nikephoros 8 to be their ruler she at first treated him with honour but then with Aetios 1 plotted with some monks to murder him (Nikephoros 8); the plot was discovered and Eirene 1 was exiled to Athens, where she became a nun: Bar Hebr., p. 120.

For seals from her reign, see Zacos and Veglery 40a-c, 41, Likhachev, "Nekotorie", p. 531, fig. 66.

(Publishable link for this person: )