 Her position was tenuous because of the means by which she gained the throne, and because she was not a member of the ruling Komnenian dynasty.To shore up her position, she sent off her dead husband's second wife and sons to Constantinople where they could be watched over by her father.In spite of her precipitous actions, Irene believed the Empire needed a man to rule it, and appealed to her father to send her a husband from amongst the Byzantine nobles.