Irene of Athens

Born into the Sarantapechos family around 750, Irene was chosen as bride to the iconoclast Emperor Leo IV in 768, though she quietly held iconophile sympathies. Widowed in 780, she ruled as regent for her son Constantine VI and in 787 convened the Second Council of Nicaea, condemning iconoclasm as heresy and ending the first iconoclast period. As Constantine matured, he pushed against her grip; revolts in the early 790s briefly installed him as sole ruler, but Irene clawed back power in 792 as "co-emperor." In 797 she organized a conspiracy - her supporters gouged out Constantine's eyes, and he was imprisoned and likely died soon after. She declared herself sole ruler, the first woman to hold that title in Roman history, but the empire's losses and her gender made her a target. Pope Leo III used the pretext of a woman's "inability" to rule to crown Charlemagne Emperor of the Romans in 800, fracturing the empire's claim to universal authority. A revolt in 802 toppled her; she was exiled to Lesbos and died there within the year.