Irene had opened diplomatic relations in 798…
November 802 CE
Irene had opened diplomatic relations in 798 with the Frankish king Charles, whom the imperial Greeks view as a usurper after the latter’s coronation as emperor by Pope Leo III.
Constantinople’s patricians, aroused by military failures and rumors that Irene plans to marry Charles, overthrow her in 802; the empress had been betrayed, according to the contemporary historian Theophanes, by one of Irene's favorites.
On October 31, Nikephoros, the able minister of finance, succeeds her as emperor.
Irene is exiled, first to …