Editing Constantine VI (section)

== Reign ==
Once in control of the state, Constantine proved incapable of sound governance. Constantine himself suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of [[Kardam of Bulgaria]] in the 792 [[Battle of Marcellae]].<ref name="ODB"/> A plot developed in favor of his uncle, the ''[[Caesar (title)|Caesar]]'' [[Nikephoros (Caesar)|Nikephoros]]. Constantine had his uncle's eyes put out and the tongues of his father's four other half-brothers cut off. His former Armeniac supporters revolted after he had blinded their ''[[stratēgos]]'' [[Alexios Mosele (general)|Alexios Mosele]] due to alleged involvement in the plot. They also disapproved of Irene as co-ruler. Constantine crushed this revolt with extreme cruelty in 793.<ref name="ODB"/><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>

He then divorced his wife [[Maria of Amnia]], who had failed to provide him with a male heir, and married his mistress [[Theodote (empress)|Theodote]], an unpopular and [[canon law|canonically]] illegal act which sparked off the so-called "Moechian controversy". Although Patriarch [[Tarasios of Constantinople]] did not publicly speak against it, he did refuse to officiate the marriage. Popular disapproval was expressed by Theodote's uncle, [[Plato of Sakkoudion]], who even broke communion with Tarasios for his passive stance. Plato's intransigence led to his own imprisonment, while his monastic supporters were persecuted and exiled to Thessalonica. The "Moechian controversy" cost Constantine what popularity he had left, especially in the church establishment, which Irene took care to vocally support against her own son.<ref name="ODB"/>{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|p=442}}{{sfn|Garland|1999|pp=84–85}}

On 19 August 797,{{efn|The ''[[Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium]]'' gives 19 April, but this is a mistake. [[Theophanes the Confessor]] writes: "[They] ''reached the City on Saturday morning, 15 August''." The 15th was Tuesday, so the correct date would be August 19.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/chronicle-of-theophanes-the-confessor/page/649|title=The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1997|isbn=9780198225683 |editor-last=Mango|editor-first=Cyril A.|editor-link=Cyril Mango|chapter=A.M. 6289}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Grierson|first1=Philip|last2=Mango|first2=Cyril|last3=Ševčenko|first3=Ihor |date=1962 |title=The Tombs and Obits of the Byzantine Emperors (337–1042); With an Additional Note |url=https://archive.org/details/SevcenkoStudies19611992/page/n75/mode/2up|journal=Dumbarton Oaks Papers |volume=16|pages=54–55 |doi=10.2307/1291157|jstor=1291157|issn=0070-7546}}</ref>}} Constantine was captured, [[political mutilation in Byzantine culture|blinded]], and imprisoned by the supporters of his mother, who had organized a conspiracy, leaving Irene to be crowned as first Empress regnant of Constantinople. It is unknown when exactly Constantine died; it was certainly before 805, though he may have died of his wounds shortly after being blinded (indeed, the act may have been "performed in a particularly brutal manner in order to ensure that he would not survive").<ref>{{cite book |last=Norwich |first=John Julius |date=1990 |title=Byzantium: The Early Centuries |location=London |publisher=Penguin Books |page=375 |isbn=0-14-011447-5}}</ref> He was buried in the Monastery of St. Euphrosyne, which Irene had founded.<ref name="ODB"/>{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|p=442}}{{sfn|Garland|1999|pp=85–87, 260 (Note 67)}}

===Economy===
Although the eighth century was a period of depopulation and ruralisation, there is evidence of a degree of prosperity, for example, the written record of the very large payment of 7,200 ''[[nomisma|nomismata]]'' (100 pounds of gold) by Constantine for the fair of St John at [[Ephesus]] in 795, which seems to suggest that the peasantry was industrious at the time.<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=264|isbn=978-0-521-83231-1}}</ref>