History: Advanced History : Byzantium - the Great Age

Following on from the previous term, we will now address the ways in which Irene continued to maintain her own authority as Empress, and in particular her relations with the Frankish Empire of Charlemagne. As a result, we will investigate (at some length) the manner in which Charlemagne was able to invest himself as Emperor in the West, and the subsequent protestations of Constantinople and Irene’s government As well as looking at what this apparent “division” Of power actually meant in real terms. Thereafter, we will go on to consider the circumstances in which Irene’s own failures ultimately led to her downfall, and her replacement with a more “normalised” Government and state of affairs. However, we will also conclude with an examination of the immediate difficulties and shortcomings of the newly restored Imperial authority, and the ways in which this new administration also failed to deal with its own immediate crises. As part of that analysis, we will also look at the ways in which both the Islamic world and the Bulgar Khanate had, by the early 9th century, now evolved their own strategic ambitions with newly informed and ambitious leaders.