Stephen at the Palace of Daphne, alongside his younger brother David, who was made . A description of the ceremony is preserved in De Ceremoniis which says that the kamelaukion (caesar cap) of Heraclonas was removed from his head and replaced with the imperial crown. The same kamelaukion was then placed on David's head. Heraclius died of edema on 11 February 641, leaving the Empire jointly to his eldest son, Constantine III, and Heraclonas, who were both proclaimed emperor in late May 641. At the time of his elevation to co-emperor, Heraclonas was only 15 years old, whereas Constantine was 28, which effectively gave the real power to Constantine. Much of the Byzantine public objected to Heraclius will, as Heraclonas was the result of an avunculate marriage—a marriage between an uncle and niece—which many felt was illegal, thereby making Heraclonas a bastard. Also considered objectionable was the fact that Constantine's ten-year-old son, Constans II, was not elevated alongside Constantine and Heraclonas, breaking the tradition of the succession of senior emperorship from father to eldest son, when possible. It was also thought that the lack of elevation could have precluded him from the succession entirely. Shortly after Constantine took the throne, he was informed by his finance minister, Philagrius, that Heraclius had created a secret fund for Martina, administered by Patriarch Pyrrhus. Constantine confiscated this account, using it to help meet the budget for the spring military payroll, which, along with the traditional accessional donatives that comprised half of the payroll, totaled 2,016,000 nomisma. Constantine appointed Valentinus as the commander of the main eastern army, in the hopes of retaining at least the Egyptian coastline. However the Byzantine general Theodore was still unable to repel the Arab attacks. Constantine summoned Cyrus of Alexandria, made him Prefect of Egypt, and instructed him to prepare to reinforce Alexandria. Before this invasion could take place, Babylon surrendered to the Arabs, allowing them to besiege Alexandria. Heraclius will also stated that Martina should serve as mother and empress-regent (sharing significant power), but this part was rejected by the Senate. Because of Heraclonas young age, Martina ruled through him, consistently opposing the policies of Constantine, leading to the creation of two different political factions. Constantine's faction was initially the more powerful of the two, but this control was weakened by a flagging economy and the loss of Egypt to the Arabs. Shortly after, on 25 May