hidden underneath Irene's pillow. Leo IV launched an investigation and discovered the courtiers who had brought the icons. He had them tortured and scolded Irene for violating the law and breaking with her faith. Irene insisted that she had not known the icons were there. After the incident, Leo refused to have marital relations with Irene ever again.Lynda Garland, a historian of the Byzantine Empire, states that this story too closely resembles a different story told about the later empress Theodora, wife of Theophilos, to be historically true. Nonetheless, she maintains that it is possible that Irene may have been trying to fill the palace with supporters of iconophilism, which may have triggered Leo IV's crackdown. Regent and empress: ruling over empire Leo IV died on 8 September 780 and Irene became regent for their nine-year-old son Constantine VI. Rumors were circulated claiming that Leo IV had died of a fever after putting on the jeweled crown that had been dedicated by either Maurice (ruled 582–602) or Heraclius (ruled 610–641). Irene herself may have promoted this rumor in an effort to smear her deceased husband's memory. In October, only six weeks after Leo IV's death, Irene was confronted with a conspiracy led by a group of prominent dignitaries that sought to raise Caesar Nikephoros, a half-brother of Leo IV, to the throne. Irene had Bardas (the former strategos of the Armeniac Theme), Gregory (the logothete of the dromos), and Konstantinos (the count of the excubitors) scourged, tonsured, and banished. She replaced all of them with dignitaries who were loyal to her. She had Nikephoros and his four brothers ordained as priests, a status which disqualified them from ruling, and forced them to serve communion at the Hagia Sophia on Christmas Day 780. On the same day, Irene returned the crown her husband had removed as part of a full imperial procession. Possibly hoping to placate supporters of her husband's family, Irene is reported to have proposed that Leo IV's sister Anthousa should join her as co-regent, but Anthousa is said to have rejected the offer. From the beginning, Irene seems to have taken more power for herself than was traditionally expected of female regents. Her earliest coins depict both herself and her son Constantine VI on the obverse, listing them as co-rulers rather than as ruler and regent. Furthermore, Irene is shown holding the orb, not Constantine, and only Irene's