Editing Constantine VI (section)

== Early life and the regency of Irene ==
Constantine VI was the only child of Emperor [[Leo IV the Khazar|Leo IV]] and [[Irene (empress)|Irene]].  Constantine was [[coronation of the Byzantine emperor|crowned co-emperor by his father]] in 776, and succeeded as sole emperor in 780, at the age of nine. Due to his minority, Irene and her chief minister [[Staurakios (eunuch)|Staurakios]] exercised the [[regency]] for him.<ref name="ODB"/>

In 787, Constantine, then sixteen-years-old had signed the decrees of the [[Second Council of Nicaea]], but he appears to have had [[Byzantine iconoclasm|iconoclast]] sympathies.<ref name="ODB"/> In 788, Irene herself broke off the engagement of Constantine with [[Rotrude]], a daughter of [[Charlemagne]]. Turning against Charlemagne, the Byzantines now supported Lombard pretender [[Adalgis]], who had been forced into exile after the Frankish [[Siege of Pavia (773–74)|invasion of Italy]]. Adalgis was given command of a Roman expeditionary corps, landing in Calabria towards the end of 788 but [[Byzantine expedition to Calabria (788/789)|was defeated]] by the united armies of the Lombard dukes [[Hildeprand of Spoleto]] and [[Grimoald III of Benevento]] as well as Frankish troops under [[Winiges of Spoleto|Winiges]].<ref>Ottorino Bertolini, "Adelchi, re dei Longobardi", ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'' 1 (1960).</ref>

After a conspiracy against Irene was suppressed in the spring of 790 she attempted to get official recognition as empress. This backfired and with military support Constantine finally came to actual power in 790, after the [[Armeniacs]] rebelled against Irene.  Nevertheless, after campaigning unsuccessfully in the Balkans, Constantine restored his mother in 792 after just two years out of power and made her co-ruler.<ref>[https://www.doaks.org/resources/online-exhibits/gods-regents-on-earth-a-thousand-years-of-byzantine-imperial-seals/rulers-of-byzantium/constantine-vi-790201392 "Constantine VI (780–797)", Dumbarton Oaks]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Auzépy |first=Marie-France |date=2008 |editor-last=Shepard |editor-first=Jonathan |title=The Cambridge history of the Byzantine Empire (c. 500–1492) |publisher=Cambridge University Press |chapter=State of emergency (700–850) |page=259|isbn=978-0-521-83231-1}}</ref>