on the throne. Irene was exiled to Lesbos and forced to support herself by spinning wool. She died the following year, on 9 August. Legacy A female relative of Irene, Theophano, was chosen in 807 by Emperor Nikephoros I as the bride of his son and heir Staurakios. Irene's zeal in restoring the icons and monasteries made Theodore the Studite praise her as a saint. She is commemorated by Byzantine Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians on 7 August. Media H. Rider Haggard incorporated Irene as a villain in his novel The Wanderer's Necklace. Notes References Primary sources Modern sources Barbe, Dominique (1990). Irène de Byzance: La femme empereur. Paris. Rosenwein, Barbara H. (2014). A Short History of the Middle Ages, second ed. University of Toronto Press, 80, 98–99. Sir Steven Runciman. "The Empress Irene." Conspectus of History 1.1 (1974): 1–11. Wace, Henry and William Smith (1882). A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines, J. Murray. External links De Imperatoribus Romanis – Constantine VI (780–797 AD) and Irene (797–802 AD) 750s births 803 deaths 780s in the Byzantine Empire 790s in the Byzantine Empire 800s in the Byzantine Empire 8th-century Byzantine emperors 9th-century Byzantine emperors 8th-century Byzantine empresses 9th-century Byzantine empresses 8th-century Greek people 9th-century Greek people 8th-century viceregal rulers Byzantine regents Isaurian dynasty Byzantine Iconoclasm Byzantine Athenians Augustae Dethroned monarchs Mothers of Byzantine emperors Byzantine Empresses regnant Empresses consort