its conquest by the Turks in 1453.

The careers of Irene and her successor, Theodora, the two
image-worshipping empresses, in the contrast of the vicissitudes of
their lives with the rapidity of their rise and the splendor of their
power, offer materials for romance more truly than for sober history.
Each was born in private station; and in each case it must have required
rare beauty and fascination and high intellectual gifts to fill so
successfully the exalted position of Empress of the Romans, and to
overturn the iconoclastic reforms of their predecessors on the throne.
Each of them, too, when regent, was grossly neglectful of the son over
whose youth she presided, and whom she should have fitted for the high
station to which he was destined. Yet herein lies the marked difference
between the two queens: Irene finally expelled her son from his royal
station, and sent him to pass his life as a blinded monk in a secluded
cell; Theodora, finding she could no longer control the wild nature of
her son, whose training she had neglected, retired from the court and
sought relief in a life of penitence. For their pious acts, both
empresses were canonized as orthodox saints, but Irene must ever be
regarded as a demon at heart, while Theodora must pass as a misguided
and self-deceived woman, who, in the performance of her religious
duties, overlooked the most important task just at hand. But we are
anticipating our consideration of Theodora, the second Irene.

The iconoclastic controversy was renewed by Nicephorus, who usurped the
throne of Irene, as he was of Oriental extraction and therefore in
sympathy with the so-called heretics. Neither Nicephorus nor his
successor during a period of political anarchy came to a peaceful end,
but Michael II., in 829 died a natural death in the royal palace, still
wearing the crown he had won, and leaving the throne to his son
Theophilus, destined to rank as the Haroun Al Raschid of Byzantine
romance and story. Michael had married Euphrosyne, the daughter of
Irene's son, Constantine VI., and the last scion of Leo the Isaurian.
Euphrosyne had already taken the veil, but, to bring about a union which
might probably continue the line of Leo, the patriarch absolved her from
her vows, and she passed from the convent to the palace as Empress of
the East. Yet, so far as we know, there was no issue of the marriage,
and Michael's son--Theophilus--by a former wife succeeded his father on
the throne.