Constantine--by then, sole emperor--by refusing to marry the man her father had chosen to succeed him, Romanos Argyros, stating that Romanos was already married—his wife having become a nun to allow Romanos to marry into the imperial family. Theodora further claimed that since Romanos and she were third cousins, it was too close a blood relationship for marriage to occur. Consequently, Constantine VIII chose Theodora's sister. Zoë married Romanos three days before her father died. With the accession of Romanos, Theodora prudently retreated back into the gynaeceum, with its daily religious routines. Still, Zoë persuaded her husband to appoint one of his own men as the chief of Theodora's household, with orders to spy on her. Shortly afterwards, Theodora was accused of plotting to marry the Bulgarian prince Presian and usurp the throne with him. Presian was blinded and sent to a monastery; Theodora was not punished. In 1031 she was implicated in a similar conspiracy, this time with Constantine Diogenes, the Archon of Sirmium. Theodora was forcibly confined in the monastery of Petrion. During a visit, Zoë compelled her sister to "assume the monastic habit." Theodora remained there for the next 11 years as Zoë managed the empire with her husbands Romanos III and, after his death, Michael IV. Co-empress with Zoë With Michael IV's death in December 1041, Zoë adopted Michael's nephew, who was crowned as Michael V. Although he promised to respect Zoë, he promptly banished her to a monastery on the Princes' Islands on charges of attempted regicide. This treatment of the legitimate heir to the Macedonian dynasty caused a popular uprising in Constantinople, and on 19 April 1042, the people revolted against Michael V in support of not only Zoë, but Theodora as well. Michael V, desperate to keep his throne, initially brought Zoë back from Princes' Island and displayed her to the people, but the population rejected his proposal that he continue to rule alongside Zoë. Key members of the court decided that flighty Zoë needed a co-ruler, and backed the people's demand that it should be Theodora. A delegation, headed by the patrician Constantine Cabasilas, went to the monastery at Petrion to convince Theodora to become co-empress. Theodora, accustomed to a life of religious contemplation, rejected their pleas out of hand, and fled to the convent chapel to seek sanctuary. Constantine and his retinue pursued her, forcibly dragged her out and exchanged her