Eager to establish her position, in 782 Irene had tried to arrange the marriage of her son to the daughter of Charlemagne, the most powerful ruler in Western Europe other than the pope. Charlemagne called off the marriage in 786, probably as a response to the fact that she had planned to convene the ecumenical council without consulting him first. Therefore in 788, she married Constantine to the daughter of a wealthy official in Greece.
Up to this point, Irene had maintained the pretense that Constantine was the real power in Byzantium, but when
Yang Kuei-fei
Like Irene, Yang Kuei-fei (YAHNG gway-FAY; d. 756) exerted enormous influence over a great empire; but unlike Irene, she did so from the background, and never officially ruled. Yang Kuei-fei was a concubine—a woman whose role toward her husband is like that of a wife, but without the social and legal status of a wife—to Hsuan Tsung (shwee-AHND-zoong; ruled 712-56), who ruled China's T'ang (TAHNG) dynasty at the height of its power.
Yang Kuei-fei was said to be one of the only obese women in Chinese history who was also considered a great beauty. She started out as concubine of Hsuan Tsung's son before the emperor decided he wanted her for himself—along with her two sisters. Later she took the general An Lu-shan (703-757) under her wing as her
Adopted son and (according to palace rumors) lover.
While the emperor, overcome by love for Yang Kuei-fei, neglected his official duties, others struggled for control. Principal among these were Yang's brother and An Lu-shan, who had long been a trusted friend of Hsuan Tsung. T'ang forces suffered a defeat by Arab troops in 751, and An Lu-shan, seeing his chance to take power, launched a rebellion in 755.
Angry palace officials blamed Yang and her brother for the uprising, and pressured Hsuan Tsung to order her execution, which he did. Two years later, An Lu-shan was killed. The tragic story of Yang Kuei-fei would later become a favorite theme among Chinese poets and writers.
She demanded that her name appear before his on official documents, her son rebelled. A power struggle followed, and by 790 Constantine succeeded in taking control. He embarked on a series of unsuccessful wars, however, and became so unpopular that in January 792 he brought Irene back into a position of authority.
This would prove to be a bad decision for Constantine, considering his mother's desire for power, and in January 795, he made another ill-advised move when he left his wife and married one of her ladies-in-waiting. Irene had supported her son in this action, probably because she knew that it would turn many church officials against him—and it did. Realizing that his mother was prepared to remove him, Constantine tried to escape, but he was captured, and on August
15, 797, Irene had him blinded. As a result of this mutilation, he died soon afterward, a result Irene apparently intended.
World History
