@@falconeshield their marriage created new European superstate which took over 2/3 of Europe but by 1756 royal family was overthrown by military cabal of Greek , French and German officer rebellions. After 80 year of modern dictatorship state became supreme entity not royal family not god but state which started genoxxidal expansion into middle East and by 1890 60 million undesirable were killed . Alliance of rus , wu , Japanese and 14 small indian states built time machine as only way to defeat this industrial monster who had burned complete middle East North Africa and 1/3 of America's .
Irene is one of those cases where I do feel that you can make a moral argument that she was reprehensible. even by the times she lived in, because of what she did to her own child for power. (ps I include Constantine the 1 for the same reasons).
Except by the way she did this, she effectively destroy her own dynasty (she was too old to have kids and Iconoclasm still have popularity despite her attempts to end it, especially among the army who would spell end for her).
@@deviousalemanni4235Why? It would have not changed anything. Irene was too old to have kids and Charlemagne was not strong enough to force his will in Constantinople.
ALSO I think she did cancel one wedding between Charlemagne's daughter and her son. SO she did destroy the Byzantine-HRE alliance earlier. @@deviousalemanni4235
@@deviousalemanni4235 they were never going to marry, the proposed marriage was between two of their children. and even if they had united their families and somehow convinced frankish and byzantine society to go along with it, it probably would’ve collapsed in a generation or two. the cultural and religious differences between east and west were already too strong. plus neither side viewed the either as legitimate-byzantines saw charlemagne as a barbaric usurper and the franks didn’t believe women could hold the throne.
To be fair, many mother regents were willing to peacefully hand over the reins of power to their sons and, if they had any residual cred, work with their son instead of against him. Shoutout to my baby Anne of Austria, who weathered a civil war to set the stage for Louis XIV. himself.
Constantine: Mom what you reading? Irene: Oh just Egyptian history. You know this Hatshepsut lady had some right ideas. Taking over power during your regency, not giving it up, ruling until you die as an undisputed queen. Constantine: But you'd never do that right Mom? Irene: Oh my sweet boy of course not. I don't want to have to wear a fake beard and have every one call me by he/him pronouns. Constantine: Why would we do that? Irene: You're right we don't do that. Okay taking over I'm Empress now.
@@OsirisLord To be fair, Hatshepsut at least doesn't seem to have had any violent disputes with her successor. Whether he was OK with her ruling Egypt or just didn't complain too much (as in, never plotted against her) we'll never know. It seems to have been a similar situation to Catherine the Great and her son Paul, where by the time the rightful heir came of age, the female usurper's position was so stable even he would have to contend with serious opposition if he wanted to take the throne, and so waiting for her to kick the bucket was just safer. Hell, it's even possible (though we can't prove it) that Tuthmose and Hatshepsut got along well as people, which wasn't the case with Paul and Catherine.
Jack, Hatshepsut of Egypt is the iteration of this story where the Queen in question wins - never loses power but reins for 20 years as the only (one of two - forgot Cleopatra) female Pharoah of Egypt. There were other powerful Queens Regent of Egypt, but all of them ruled for their sons. Hatshepsut was the only one to get the court and country to acknowledge her as full Pharoah in her own right. Her claim by bloodline was as strong, if not stronger than her stepson's and Egyptian law did not actually prohibit female rule at that time - probably because no one imagined the possibility socially. It meant there was no legal impediment, but she must have been a master of statescraft and a force of will, because she would have needed to get the priesthood/aristocracy behind her to support her claim. She not only did, but kept that support, even after her stepson came of age. Egypt's natural system of rulership may have aided this, since co-regency was a common thing that many pharoahs did. It served to provide a smooth transition of power and clear heir, to have the old pharoah and new pharoah share power for a while. So instead of having to choose one over the other, Egypt could simply recognize them both. The widespread idea that she dressed up in male clothes to enforce her authority is inaccurate however. Statues of her depict her female shape and in hieroglyphs her name and the word for Pharoah are made feminine. The false beard was a part of the royal insignia and worn by every Pharoah as a sign of kingship. Even the male ones with their own beards.
Ever since I first learned about the Charlemagne/Irene proposal, I have been so fascinated by the prospect. I really need to look and see if anyone has written any alternate history fiction about it.
Another interesting one is Otto III marrying future empress Zoe (basil ii niece). Zoe actually landed in Italy to marry him but the guy died of malaria.
That ending. You can't tease me with the HRE and the Byzantine Empire merging only for it to be derailed by a rando pulling a political Leeroy Jenkins that actually works. That's just not fair. Stupid RNG ruining perfect political machinations! Also we need the option to pull that stunt in Crusader Kings 3. XD
Half of the Julio-Claudians didn't even want to breathe, let alone rule. Tiberius was an emo, Claudius just wanted to play dice games in bars and read Etruscan poems, Nero just wanted to play the lyre and read Greek stories. Had Drusus or Germanicus or Marcellus not gotten unalived by Livia then maybe they'd have kept the power for far longer.
When I was in junior high school taking Latin for a language, my teacher gave us all Julio-Claudian names that we had to research and use in class. I orginally hated that he gave me Agrippina [the Younger] because of the way it sounded... until I researched her. She is by far one of my favorite bad girls of history. I'm so excited to learn about her more successful successor
Latin? Good for you! I started Latin in the 9th grade, but they only offered it for two years. The Latin did help me with the French, though. Crustulis tuis fruere!
@deborahberger5816 Sola lingua bona est lingua mortua! I agree that learning Latin was like having a secret weapon when branching out into the other Romance languages.
I still find it crazy that after Agrippina and Nero kicked the bucket, we got 3 back-to-back civil wars in the space of a year over which rebel general got to be Emperor. It's almost like a foreshadowing to the Crisis of the 3rd Century.
What is this, a crossover episode? (but seriously, I LOVE how you connected these two figures across time; so many people forget that the byzantine empire WAS the roman empire!)
"History doesnt repeat itself, but it rhymes!" I really enjoy being a student of history. The truth tends to be stranger than fiction. Something personal i am working on, is refraining from leaving comments that are a wall of text. Something i have noticed though, if you google a history question, and google directly shows you a paragraph answer. That answer is usually very incorrect, borderline false
In an ironic sense, he had a daughter Euphrosyne (from his first wife) who would bring Icons back (again) indirectly with a bride show that resulted in Theodora being paired with Theophilos, the father of Michael III. Theodora, like Irene, ended the Iconoclasm after her husband's short reign but she lacked the opposition like Irene had and actually had more fanfare even among the army. By that point though, Iconoclasm wasn’t as heavily enforced (even the army had Icon worshippers infiltrating their ranks, one of the being Bardas-Theodora’s brother) and loss of Crete and sack of Amoria under Michael III and Theophilos--both Iconoclasts--respectively kinda lost its appeal among military with Theophilos supposedly renouncing it upon his death bed (even by then, he might have disillusioned with Iconoclasm since Amoria happened to be his hometown):
I guess? Though she never had to move against Paul, just seize the power in her own right instead of as regent; which if the previous times the tzar was a kid with a mother regent (Ivan VI. and Ivan the Terrible) are anything to go by was only fortunate for both of them. Also, despite their squabbles, Catherine's support base was strong enough that after her death, Paul was able to just peacefully succeed her - sure, his son Alexander COULD'VE used the rumors that Catherine wanted to name him the heir instead of his father to rally up support and seize the throne, but like. That would be kinda pointless, since he was his dad's successor anyway. Paul was later assassinated by a brother of Catherine's last boytoy and Alexander might or might not have known about the whole thing in advance, but that had less to with anything Catherine might've done and more with the fact that Paul was an incompetent weirdo.
Charlemagne and Irene...I'm just gonna sit here in the corner and think about what level of insane history we missed out due to Random Finance Minister, starting with the Gordon's "The Fools' Guild" series.
Suggestion: When all the heirs are dead and you have to make do: Henry VII and his victory in the wars of the roses. Lovef the video jack! You're awesome
Constantine the dung named is a widely underrated emperor because of iconophiles, which denigrate his rule because of iconoclasm, most of the stories from the iconophiles were outright propaganda. And most Scholars agree that iconoclasm was not issue for the common folk but more an internal church and elitist debate. It only became ratified that the icons were central to orthodoxy under Irene.
Nikephoros I then did a decent job fixing the finances and moved greeks back to the peninsula leading to the later revival. But also did pretty bad militarily ultimately resulting in him dying in battle, and Krum the khan of the bulgars turning his skull into a drinking cup.
Messalina tried overthrowing Claudius by marrying her lover, and was executed. Then Byzantine Empress Zoe pulled the same trick centuries later and succeeded.
Some recent histories of this period are of the opinion that the role of iconoclasm was deliberately exaggerated because it was seen by later historians as a more appropriate legacy to be a pious woman than where her real successes lay--even if the army under her suffered reverses against the caliphate, the empire simultaneously was extremely successful at beginning to recover the fragmented Balkans, acquiring huge amounts of new subjects that strengthened the empire in the long run, especially after Nikephoros "random finance minister" I completely reworked the economy from the ground up to make it actually work efficiently after centuries of neglect. Despite the usurpations, they were a powerful one-two combo for the empire's recovery!
That finance minister is a Giga Chad. The problem with people today is that they don’t have the confidence to walk into the White House and declare themselves president.
That finance minister, Nikephorus, unfortunately proved to be a pretty terrible emperor. He immediately ended the annual tribute to the Abbasids, prompting Caliph Harun Al-Rashid to denounce Nikephorus as the "Dog of the Romans" and sent a vicious letter ending with the statement "Thou shalt not hear, but thou shall behold my reply", signaling that he was about to invade and take Nikephorus' lunch money. Which he did. With an army 150,000 strong. Nikephorus didn't stand a chance. Harun didn't even bother to take any land, he just humiliated Nikephorus and took the tribute he was owed plus interest and guaranteed future tribute. Nikephorus tried to soothe his ego by invading and conquering the Bulgars in 811 (less than ten years after seizing power). However this too was a disaster as his army was lured into an ambush and massacred. Nikephorus ended up as the Bulgar khan Krum's personal favourite goblet. Or rather, his skull did. It seems Karma REALLY had it out for Nikephoros for his coup against Irene and delivered a far more prolonged and lingering revenge plus delightfully gruesome end than Irene could have.
Never!! Never wondered about a book!! Mostly due to the predictive writing styles. What one should do is basically read a few lines on each page till something interesting comes up.
Irene was at least in her late forties, possibly early fifties, when the marriage was proposed. There was no way she was going to bear a child for Charlemagne, it was just a way for old Karl to boost his credibility as Roman Emperor.
Huh, thanks. I am split though, on one hand, more land for the Roman Empire. But on the other hand, possibly submitting to some germanic/francish pretender.
Constantine VI, also known as Constantine "the Blinded”, was emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 780 to 797 CE, although for most of his reign his mother, Irene the Athenian, ruled as regent. When Constantine did finally get a go at ruling in his own right, he was anything but successful. Deposed by his own mother, Constantine was infamously blinded by her in the royal palace and, as was the intention, he died from his injuries. Constantine was the son of Leo IV (r. 775-780 CE) and when, in 780 CE, his father died of fever, aged just 30, Constantine became emperor Constantine VI. However, as the new emperor was still a minor at nine or ten years of age, his mother Empress Irene ruled as his regent, a role she performed until 790 CE. Irene had immediate problems and had to quash a rebellion led by the other sons of Constantine V (r. 741-775 CE) and half-brothers of Leo IV. Once that was dealt with, she ensured the loyalty of the palace entourage by dismissing any ministers and military commanders of questionable affiliation. To this end, she trusted two court eunuchs, in particular, Staurakios and Aetios. Irene attempted to further entrench her position by arranging a marriage alliance with the Franks and promising Constantine to Rotrude, the daughter of the Franks' king Charlemagne. For unknown reasons, Irene changed her mind, though, and in 787 CE she found an alternative wife for her son, one Mary of Amnia, a pious but slightly boring girl selected via the traditional “bride show” which Byzantine rulers organised for their offspring. The Frankish-Byzantine alliance would have been an intriguing one and joined the two halves of the old Roman Empire but the opportunity would come around again, as we shall see. As ever, the borders of the Byzantine Empire needed constant vigilance and defence. Irene enjoyed certain successes against both the Slavs in Greece and Arabs in Asia Minor. Closer to home, Irene convened a Church council in Constantinople in 786 CE which, despite initial opposition from members of the army who thought defeats on the battlefield were God's punishment for the widespread veneration of icons, decreed an official end to iconoclasm, that is, the destruction of icons, a key feature of her predecessor's reigns. The regent then went one step further and invited 350 bishops to the Seventh Ecumenical Council in September 787 CE which ruled to restore the orthodoxy of the veneration of icons in the Christian Church. Unfortunately, the young emperor was not actually up to the task of ruling. Serious and immediate defeats against the Bulgars and a shameful truce against the Arabs did nothing to aid his popularity. Even on the battlefield, where an emperor might gain some admirers for heading his own troops, Constantine's cowardice had been revealed as he panicked and fled before the enemy. In a bizarre postscript, Constantine VI did, in a sense, later return from the dead in the guise of the usurper Thomas the Slav, who led a rebellion against emperor Michael II (r. 820-829 CE) between 821 and 823 CE. Thomas, to add legitimacy to his otherwise spurious claim to the Byzantine throne, spread about the story that Constantine VI had not, in fact, died when his mother Irene had blinded him but had managed to escape Constantinople and he was the very same person, dead set on getting back what was rightfully his. Thomas even had himself crowned emperor in Antioch, but it was all to no avail and his rebellion was quashed by Michael in 823 CE.
@@falconeshield Uh Because the Pro Orthodox Writer Monk Theophanes who lived under her reign and was present at the Council of Nicaea 787 wrote an entire chronology of the Roman Empire from 284 to 813 a short while before his death. He praises Irene for her Orthodox agenda and ruling but even he can’t defend her blinding her son the Legitimate Emperor and talks neutrally about the Arab defeating her armies.
should honestly make a video about King Karl bernadotte From nothing to became only successful France General from Napoleon and his family stile lives today
Honestly, given what Agripina and Caligula’s father Tiberius was accused of by Suetonius and likely did to them, it’s not exactly shocking how messed up they both were.
So, ahem... a) Caligula and Agrippina weren't Tiberius' children. In fact, their dad seemed to be pretty chill... And then he died. And Tiberius proceeded to slaughter their whole family for the crime of their mom saying he killed said dad. Jack Rackham has a video about Sejanus that summarizes the whole messed up situation. b) If you mean the pedophilia, it's now considered more or less certain that Suetonius either made that up, or repeated some wild bullshit someone else made up before him. Most likely because the Romans didn't like that their emperor just fucked off to his vacation home and never came home, like ever, so they started speculating about what could he possibly do there that he doesn't want to return to their amazing, beautiful city? The truth is that Tiberius was a paranoid, curmodgeonly old man who was probably just chilling there.
Thanks to Keeps for sponsoring this video! Head to keeps.com/jackrackam to get a special offer
Hi Jack! Love your content and happy new year 😊😊😊😊❤❤❤
@@danielsantiagourtado3430😅😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
Happy Belated New Year Jack. And you came out swinging with a fun video. I enjoyed this one. Great job.
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes."-Mark Twain
@@giladpellaeon1691---An interesting way of putting it
Fun fact, Agripinna had been exiled to some island and had spent some time there sponge diving. She was an excellent swimmer.
Too bad she didnt have talent at avoiding murder
Hot
I’m not sure why but imagining Roman’s with snorkels is too funny
@@RomanumChristumthey didn't use snorkels, Or anything really, when diving, just like all the other ancient people
Ancient Roman snorkels, blessed by the Pope! Get them while they're hot! @@arcotroll8530
The random guy who became emperor was actually a time traveler who stopped the marriage between Irene and Charlemagne to prevent something terrible.
It does stink of it.
But what could be more terrible than what led to the current events?
@@falconeshield Giga Hitler with the entire Roman Empire behind him
@@falconeshield their marriage created new European superstate which took over 2/3 of Europe but by 1756 royal family was overthrown by military cabal of Greek , French and German officer rebellions. After 80 year of modern dictatorship state became supreme entity not royal family not god but state which started genoxxidal expansion into middle East and by 1890 60 million undesirable were killed . Alliance of rus , wu , Japanese and 14 small indian states built time machine as only way to defeat this industrial monster who had burned complete middle East North Africa and 1/3 of America's .
Considering Nikephoros died by having his head turned into a drinking cup, he was a shit time traveler.
@@falconeshield He was sent by them... the corpo ESG globo homo
The buzzer beater finesse of lying your way into the emperorship is crazy
“Man things are really hectic right now, fuck it. Hail Mary!”
Dude rolled a nat20 like 4 times
Irene is one of those cases where I do feel that you can make a moral argument that she was reprehensible. even by the times she lived in, because of what she did to her own child for power. (ps I include Constantine the 1 for the same reasons).
Except by the way she did this, she effectively destroy her own dynasty (she was too old to have kids and Iconoclasm still have popularity despite her attempts to end it, especially among the army who would spell end for her).
@@powerist209the marriage to charlemagne would have beem awesome
@@deviousalemanni4235Why? It would have not changed anything. Irene was too old to have kids and Charlemagne was not strong enough to force his will in Constantinople.
ALSO I think she did cancel one wedding between Charlemagne's daughter and her son.
SO she did destroy the Byzantine-HRE alliance earlier.
@@deviousalemanni4235
@@deviousalemanni4235 they were never going to marry, the proposed marriage was between two of their children. and even if they had united their families and somehow convinced frankish and byzantine society to go along with it, it probably would’ve collapsed in a generation or two. the cultural and religious differences between east and west were already too strong. plus neither side viewed the either as legitimate-byzantines saw charlemagne as a barbaric usurper and the franks didn’t believe women could hold the throne.
BUT MOOOMMMM! - Every Prince with his mother as his Regent ever
To be fair, many mother regents were willing to peacefully hand over the reins of power to their sons and, if they had any residual cred, work with their son instead of against him. Shoutout to my baby Anne of Austria, who weathered a civil war to set the stage for Louis XIV. himself.
Constantine: Mom what you reading?
Irene: Oh just Egyptian history. You know this Hatshepsut lady had some right ideas. Taking over power during your regency, not giving it up, ruling until you die as an undisputed queen.
Constantine: But you'd never do that right Mom?
Irene: Oh my sweet boy of course not. I don't want to have to wear a fake beard and have every one call me by he/him pronouns.
Constantine: Why would we do that?
Irene: You're right we don't do that. Okay taking over I'm Empress now.
@@OsirisLord To be fair, Hatshepsut at least doesn't seem to have had any violent disputes with her successor. Whether he was OK with her ruling Egypt or just didn't complain too much (as in, never plotted against her) we'll never know. It seems to have been a similar situation to Catherine the Great and her son Paul, where by the time the rightful heir came of age, the female usurper's position was so stable even he would have to contend with serious opposition if he wanted to take the throne, and so waiting for her to kick the bucket was just safer. Hell, it's even possible (though we can't prove it) that Tuthmose and Hatshepsut got along well as people, which wasn't the case with Paul and Catherine.
Agripinna: mostly known as Nero's mother
Irene: known as Empress Irene the mother of who?
The fact that Irene is still a modern name compared to Agrippina shows how Irene truly won
@@falconeshield I assumed Irene was a just simpler name.
@@falconeshield Agrippina is Latin for "Agrippa's Daughter". Irene is Greek for "Peace".
Jack, Hatshepsut of Egypt is the iteration of this story where the Queen in question wins - never loses power but reins for 20 years as the only (one of two - forgot Cleopatra) female Pharoah of Egypt. There were other powerful Queens Regent of Egypt, but all of them ruled for their sons. Hatshepsut was the only one to get the court and country to acknowledge her as full Pharoah in her own right. Her claim by bloodline was as strong, if not stronger than her stepson's and Egyptian law did not actually prohibit female rule at that time - probably because no one imagined the possibility socially. It meant there was no legal impediment, but she must have been a master of statescraft and a force of will, because she would have needed to get the priesthood/aristocracy behind her to support her claim. She not only did, but kept that support, even after her stepson came of age. Egypt's natural system of rulership may have aided this, since co-regency was a common thing that many pharoahs did. It served to provide a smooth transition of power and clear heir, to have the old pharoah and new pharoah share power for a while. So instead of having to choose one over the other, Egypt could simply recognize them both. The widespread idea that she dressed up in male clothes to enforce her authority is inaccurate however. Statues of her depict her female shape and in hieroglyphs her name and the word for Pharoah are made feminine. The false beard was a part of the royal insignia and worn by every Pharoah as a sign of kingship. Even the male ones with their own beards.
Ever since I first learned about the Charlemagne/Irene proposal, I have been so fascinated by the prospect. I really need to look and see if anyone has written any alternate history fiction about it.
Hey, give it a try! You have imagination, enthusiasm, and an original outlook!
They were both too old to have kids, so it wouldn’t have led to much.
@@garrettfuhrman2549 True, but still. It's still wild to me that the idea was even pitched.
@@deborahberger5816 I meant to read it, not write my own, but thanks! 😅
Another interesting one is Otto III marrying future empress Zoe (basil ii niece). Zoe actually landed in Italy to marry him but the guy died of malaria.
At least one of those women had her her own son blinded and led to his agonizing death.
The traitor?
@@blenderbananaYes
Cassius Dio was a artist indeed. My favorite contemporary historian.
*_ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ ゴ_*
I liked him before he became Muhammed Ali
@@hakageryu-hz7jz kore wa DIO DA
That ending. You can't tease me with the HRE and the Byzantine Empire merging only for it to be derailed by a rando pulling a political Leeroy Jenkins that actually works. That's just not fair. Stupid RNG ruining perfect political machinations!
Also we need the option to pull that stunt in Crusader Kings 3. XD
There used to be a charlemagne start in ck2.
It never had any chance of succeeding or meaning anything so it’s just bait lol.
Knowing Bizantine politics even if she married him it wouldn't last.
God did literally everything so then a woman didn't stay in power. Makes you wonder if Elizabeth 1 was spared since she was a protestant!
The fact that the rando Nikephoros later died fighting the Bulgarians and having his skull be the cup of the Bulgarian khan
The best part is that young Nero didn't even want to be the emperor
Half of the Julio-Claudians didn't even want to breathe, let alone rule. Tiberius was an emo, Claudius just wanted to play dice games in bars and read Etruscan poems, Nero just wanted to play the lyre and read Greek stories. Had Drusus or Germanicus or Marcellus not gotten unalived by Livia then maybe they'd have kept the power for far longer.
@@di3727Livia did nothing wrong
@@gabrielethier2046 go back to Tartarus, Livia.
@@gabrielethier2046
That viper did everything wrong
@@di3727 "Didn't even want to breathe." 😂😂💀
2 Constantines on the wheel is a nice touch.
Funny how in like 1000 years they only had 11
@@goldenfiberwheat238And 11 had an epic anime death
@@falconeshieldand one died of shitting.
@@falconeshield could you imagine what the converstion between Constantine Xl an Mehmed ll would be? I would pay to see those two interact.
@@occam7382 The first doesn't compare to the second.
When I was in junior high school taking Latin for a language, my teacher gave us all Julio-Claudian names that we had to research and use in class. I orginally hated that he gave me Agrippina [the Younger] because of the way it sounded... until I researched her. She is by far one of my favorite bad girls of history. I'm so excited to learn about her more successful successor
Latin? Good for you! I started Latin in the 9th grade, but they only offered it for two years. The Latin did help me with the French, though. Crustulis tuis fruere!
@deborahberger5816 Sola lingua bona est lingua mortua!
I agree that learning Latin was like having a secret weapon when branching out into the other Romance languages.
I still find it crazy that after Agrippina and Nero kicked the bucket, we got 3 back-to-back civil wars in the space of a year over which rebel general got to be Emperor. It's almost like a foreshadowing to the Crisis of the 3rd Century.
Ah another lovely video that is sure to have a happy ending.
when has anything gone wrong in history?
I bet these lovely ladies were passed into positions of power in a completely friendly way and spent their time spreading cheer across the land
@@JackRackamYessir❤❤❤❤
…Oh dear
@@JackRackamThey probably met Napoleon froloking in the daisy meadows and had a chicken tea party
Babe, wake up! Jack just dropped a new Roman history video! And this time it's a two for one!
What is this, a crossover episode? (but seriously, I LOVE how you connected these two figures across time; so many people forget that the byzantine empire WAS the roman empire!)
i absolutely lost my shit when the "I lied" banners rolled out
"History doesnt repeat itself, but it rhymes!"
I really enjoy being a student of history. The truth tends to be stranger than fiction. Something personal i am working on, is refraining from leaving comments that are a wall of text. Something i have noticed though, if you google a history question, and google directly shows you a paragraph answer. That answer is usually very incorrect, borderline false
How could she kill her own son before he sired a grand child for her?
Because people in power aren't as smart as they would like you to believe.
Irene was....ambitious
In an ironic sense, he had a daughter Euphrosyne (from his first wife) who would bring Icons back (again) indirectly with a bride show that resulted in Theodora being paired with Theophilos, the father of Michael III. Theodora, like Irene, ended the Iconoclasm after her husband's short reign but she lacked the opposition like Irene had and actually had more fanfare even among the army.
By that point though, Iconoclasm wasn’t as heavily enforced (even the army had Icon worshippers infiltrating their ranks, one of the being Bardas-Theodora’s brother) and loss of Crete and sack of Amoria under Michael III and Theophilos--both Iconoclasts--respectively kinda lost its appeal among military with Theophilos supposedly renouncing it upon his death bed (even by then, he might have disillusioned with Iconoclasm since Amoria happened to be his hometown):
loving the longer format. Rackam up Jack!
With that title, I though for sure this was gonna be about Marie Antoinette and Alexandra Feodorovna...
Just commenting for engagement purposes. Keep doing what you're doing Jack.
Feels like Catherine the Great of Russia was the third part of this trilogy of overbearring mothers.
You could count Pharaoh Hatshepsut as a prequel.
I need someone to make a compilation of all these honestly honestly, it would be a trip
I guess? Though she never had to move against Paul, just seize the power in her own right instead of as regent; which if the previous times the tzar was a kid with a mother regent (Ivan VI. and Ivan the Terrible) are anything to go by was only fortunate for both of them. Also, despite their squabbles, Catherine's support base was strong enough that after her death, Paul was able to just peacefully succeed her - sure, his son Alexander COULD'VE used the rumors that Catherine wanted to name him the heir instead of his father to rally up support and seize the throne, but like. That would be kinda pointless, since he was his dad's successor anyway. Paul was later assassinated by a brother of Catherine's last boytoy and Alexander might or might not have known about the whole thing in advance, but that had less to with anything Catherine might've done and more with the fact that Paul was an incompetent weirdo.
Irene of Athens & Wu Zetian would be a much more apt comparison.
The "Emperor is right wheel" haha
History doesn't repeat. But it often rythmes
The amount of times I rewatch this video is ridiculous. Your delivery is perfect. I love it.
Charlemagne and Irene...I'm just gonna sit here in the corner and think about what level of insane history we missed out due to Random Finance Minister, starting with the Gordon's "The Fools' Guild" series.
It's odd how we don't have a show asking and answering these questions through what could've happened vs what actually happened
To paraphrase a famous crooner, she did it her way.
Suggestion: When all the heirs are dead and you have to make do: Henry VII and his victory in the wars of the roses.
Lovef the video jack! You're awesome
Alongside Uncle Tricky Dickie III.
charlemagne-Irene power couple is a very potent idea to think about.
Irene and Agrippina: How to beat the shit out of everyone while also being the most "interesting" mothers of their times...
reminds me of your old videos i like it Good job jack rackam always my favourite
What a loving mother
Great swimmer too!
Great choice of music
"They have it! Canned bread!"
This is a good companion video to your Nero video from all those years ago lol
Haha imagine keeping secret religious iconography and your husband actually being somewhat mad. :,D
the priorities back then! :,D
Constantine the dung named is a widely underrated emperor because of iconophiles, which denigrate his rule because of iconoclasm, most of the stories from the iconophiles were outright propaganda. And most Scholars agree that iconoclasm was not issue for the common folk but more an internal church and elitist debate. It only became ratified that the icons were central to orthodoxy under Irene.
Iconography of Christianity literally created the first merch line for humanity.
@@falconeshield
I'd argue otherwise. Whoever came up with the idea of mini god statues holds that distinction.
Nikephoros I then did a decent job fixing the finances and moved greeks back to the peninsula leading to the later revival. But also did pretty bad militarily ultimately resulting in him dying in battle, and Krum the khan of the bulgars turning his skull into a drinking cup.
Also his son/heir suffering from spinal paralysis and couped/succeeded by his son-in-law didn’t help.
Still he made important military and economic reforms that last 100s of years and saw Greece Permanently restored to the Empire
The finance minister knowing how to handle numbers but not war? Say it ain't so!
@@tylerellis9097Until Mehmed came. And then the Greeks earned their independence from them (not Britain for a change) in the 1800s
@@falconeshield You mean until the 4th Crusade Came since that Killed Byzantium and forever split parts of Greece away from it.
My 2 year old sings your intro song every time I watch you.
You’re funny man. Your videos are a bright spot in my day and one of the only things that make me laugh . Thanks my man
to paraphrase Twain History does not repeat but it does often rhyme
Messalina tried overthrowing Claudius by marrying her lover, and was executed. Then Byzantine Empress Zoe pulled the same trick centuries later and succeeded.
Happy new year jack! Love your content ! Look forward to another amazing year! Hearth please 😊😊😊❤❤❤
I see what you did there, with the viking guy! Well played!
Some recent histories of this period are of the opinion that the role of iconoclasm was deliberately exaggerated because it was seen by later historians as a more appropriate legacy to be a pious woman than where her real successes lay--even if the army under her suffered reverses against the caliphate, the empire simultaneously was extremely successful at beginning to recover the fragmented Balkans, acquiring huge amounts of new subjects that strengthened the empire in the long run, especially after Nikephoros "random finance minister" I completely reworked the economy from the ground up to make it actually work efficiently after centuries of neglect. Despite the usurpations, they were a powerful one-two combo for the empire's recovery!
Love the Shakespeare reference at 15:00.
The flannel shirt and Subaru were a nice touch.
Happy New Year, Jack!
Another great video. Surely this will have a happy ending ! Its roman after all
Just finished watching I, Claudius again so cheers for this
Remember the OG Title: "When History Repeats: A Tale of Two Empresses"
It’s crazy how long Twitter has been around. Since Roman times.
Long before that as it used to be called grapevine, rumor mill, and other things.
Also known as Ten
I love the Byzantine emperor name wheel!
I love Psyduck.
But... such was life for Uncle Claudius.
That finance minister is a Giga Chad. The problem with people today is that they don’t have the confidence to walk into the White House and declare themselves president.
That finance minister, Nikephorus, unfortunately proved to be a pretty terrible emperor. He immediately ended the annual tribute to the Abbasids, prompting Caliph Harun Al-Rashid to denounce Nikephorus as the "Dog of the Romans" and sent a vicious letter ending with the statement "Thou shalt not hear, but thou shall behold my reply", signaling that he was about to invade and take Nikephorus' lunch money. Which he did. With an army 150,000 strong. Nikephorus didn't stand a chance. Harun didn't even bother to take any land, he just humiliated Nikephorus and took the tribute he was owed plus interest and guaranteed future tribute. Nikephorus tried to soothe his ego by invading and conquering the Bulgars in 811 (less than ten years after seizing power). However this too was a disaster as his army was lured into an ambush and massacred. Nikephorus ended up as the Bulgar khan Krum's personal favourite goblet. Or rather, his skull did. It seems Karma REALLY had it out for Nikephoros for his coup against Irene and delivered a far more prolonged and lingering revenge plus delightfully gruesome end than Irene could have.
3:10 Rome may have lost half its empire when the west fell but it somehow lost 90% of its names too
Never!! Never wondered about a book!! Mostly due to the predictive writing styles. What one should do is basically read a few lines on each page till something interesting comes up.
Hatshepsut enters the chat
Imagine if the talks of marriage between Charlemagne and Irene actually succeeded and they had a son....
That she also blinded. For shits and giggles, lol.
Irene was at least in her late forties, possibly early fifties, when the marriage was proposed. There was no way she was going to bear a child for Charlemagne, it was just a way for old Karl to boost his credibility as Roman Emperor.
How old was Karl even?
@@oliverbaksvensson1919 Also in his fifties.
Huh, thanks. I am split though, on one hand, more land for the Roman Empire. But on the other hand, possibly submitting to some germanic/francish pretender.
Constantine VI, also known as Constantine "the Blinded”, was emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 780 to 797 CE, although for most of his reign his mother, Irene the Athenian, ruled as regent. When Constantine did finally get a go at ruling in his own right, he was anything but successful. Deposed by his own mother, Constantine was infamously blinded by her in the royal palace and, as was the intention, he died from his injuries.
Constantine was the son of Leo IV (r. 775-780 CE) and when, in 780 CE, his father died of fever, aged just 30, Constantine became emperor Constantine VI. However, as the new emperor was still a minor at nine or ten years of age, his mother Empress Irene ruled as his regent, a role she performed until 790 CE. Irene had immediate problems and had to quash a rebellion led by the other sons of Constantine V (r. 741-775 CE) and half-brothers of Leo IV. Once that was dealt with, she ensured the loyalty of the palace entourage by dismissing any ministers and military commanders of questionable affiliation. To this end, she trusted two court eunuchs, in particular, Staurakios and Aetios.
Irene attempted to further entrench her position by arranging a marriage alliance with the Franks and promising Constantine to Rotrude, the daughter of the Franks' king Charlemagne. For unknown reasons, Irene changed her mind, though, and in 787 CE she found an alternative wife for her son, one Mary of Amnia, a pious but slightly boring girl selected via the traditional “bride show” which Byzantine rulers organised for their offspring. The Frankish-Byzantine alliance would have been an intriguing one and joined the two halves of the old Roman Empire but the opportunity would come around again, as we shall see.
As ever, the borders of the Byzantine Empire needed constant vigilance and defence. Irene enjoyed certain successes against both the Slavs in Greece and Arabs in Asia Minor. Closer to home, Irene convened a Church council in Constantinople in 786 CE which, despite initial opposition from members of the army who thought defeats on the battlefield were God's punishment for the widespread veneration of icons, decreed an official end to iconoclasm, that is, the destruction of icons, a key feature of her predecessor's reigns. The regent then went one step further and invited 350 bishops to the Seventh Ecumenical Council in September 787 CE which ruled to restore the orthodoxy of the veneration of icons in the Christian Church.
Unfortunately, the young emperor was not actually up to the task of ruling. Serious and immediate defeats against the Bulgars and a shameful truce against the Arabs did nothing to aid his popularity. Even on the battlefield, where an emperor might gain some admirers for heading his own troops, Constantine's cowardice had been revealed as he panicked and fled before the enemy.
In a bizarre postscript, Constantine VI did, in a sense, later return from the dead in the guise of the usurper Thomas the Slav, who led a rebellion against emperor Michael II (r. 820-829 CE) between 821 and 823 CE. Thomas, to add legitimacy to his otherwise spurious claim to the Byzantine throne, spread about the story that Constantine VI had not, in fact, died when his mother Irene had blinded him but had managed to escape Constantinople and he was the very same person, dead set on getting back what was rightfully his. Thomas even had himself crowned emperor in Antioch, but it was all to no avail and his rebellion was quashed by Michael in 823 CE.
How do we even know about this? Are we sure Irene did it or was it propaganda by the new emperor? Woman bad after all.
@@falconeshield Uh Because the Pro Orthodox Writer Monk Theophanes who lived under her reign and was present at the Council of Nicaea 787 wrote an entire chronology of the Roman Empire from 284 to 813 a short while before his death. He praises Irene for her Orthodox agenda and ruling but even he can’t defend her blinding her son the Legitimate Emperor and talks neutrally about the Arab defeating her armies.
@@falconeshieldBeing a woman doesn't make you good either
Hell, being a noble probably makes you a terrible person
2:13 hey! Bootsie!
Ok, the ending made me laugh out loud.
I love this channel
Two for one! Love it 😁
Ngl im high and the time jump around 4:12 - 4:16 made me rewind a few times
7:28 - There's a soldier wearing something that reminds me of...😏
Such karma for Agrippina, she created a monster and he kills her.
Oh, that would have been interesting, damn. Probably wouldn't have lasted very long, but like, imagine if it had, even just as something like the HRE
Lore of When History Repeats: A Tale of Two Mothers momentum 100
Thank you.
I thought you would talk about an ancient Emma and her two mothers.
should honestly make a video about King Karl bernadotte
From nothing to became only successful France General from Napoleon and his family stile lives today
The only successful French general? What? Out of all the Marshall's he was one of the weaker ones. He mostly got lucky with the Swedish crown
If you live by the stabby stabby eye game you cannot be surprised when it comes back on you.
She was so close to checkmate then a rando threw an intercontinental ballistic missle at her
Holy shit that was metal asf.
Wow, love it!!!!
boy I sure do love commenting on these
So everyone just ignored the fact that Jack knows Ao3
I knew this story sounded extremely familiar then I saw Nero lol
Wow
2 videos for the price of one
Damn she was playing ck2 goooodd.
Also do a short on sporus!
I’m sorry but Agripana did my dude Claudius dirty and really hand it coming.
Agrippina was karma. Irene got photobombed by a hobo accountant
I thought that would be Agrippina/Nero and Julia Soeamias/Elagabalus, that went less than well too
cant believe she killed her own SON
Plutarch Rackam
Honestly, given what Agripina and Caligula’s father Tiberius was accused of by Suetonius and likely did to them, it’s not exactly shocking how messed up they both were.
So, ahem...
a) Caligula and Agrippina weren't Tiberius' children. In fact, their dad seemed to be pretty chill... And then he died. And Tiberius proceeded to slaughter their whole family for the crime of their mom saying he killed said dad. Jack Rackham has a video about Sejanus that summarizes the whole messed up situation.
b) If you mean the pedophilia, it's now considered more or less certain that Suetonius either made that up, or repeated some wild bullshit someone else made up before him. Most likely because the Romans didn't like that their emperor just fucked off to his vacation home and never came home, like ever, so they started speculating about what could he possibly do there that he doesn't want to return to their amazing, beautiful city? The truth is that Tiberius was a paranoid, curmodgeonly old man who was probably just chilling there.
I don't get these court intrigues and killing your children (especially if you only have one child😭)
Hilarious to me that two of the names on the Wheel of Imperial Names are Constantine :p
It was that common
i wonder, if Rome was once rulled by functional family, what would have happened
Medici?
Charlamameign dodged a bullet!
*Charlemagne
Charles got luck, a woman that kills her own son is definitely a red flag.
Cause when the king does it that's okay!
@@falconeshieldDo you know why Ivan was called The Terrible?
@@falconeshieldWhataboutism
"She was accused of killing her husband, and was turned on by all of her closest allies."
Same! 😳😚😘
...Oh, you mean betrayed? Yeah, umm, same.
what are your sources for this video? 🥺
Why do these parents seem to set their children up to fail?
One of the first 20!!
You're fast!
@@JackRackamyou're awesome 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤
Why Brazil Should have become a Superpower The Life - Times of Pedro II