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Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna
AD 552 - 754
The imperial court of the
Western Roman Empire had been moved from Milan to the more easily
defendable location of Ravenna, located in the middle of an area of swamp
and marsh, in 402 by the Emperor Honorius. When the West fell to Odoacer's
Gothic Kingdom and then to
the Ostrogothic
kingdom, the Eastern Roman
Empire at Byzantium was in no fit state to immediately recover it.
However, the strong reign of Emperor Justinian I in 518-527 saw a successful
campaign under General Belisaurius to recapture much of Italy for the
empire.
The Exarchate at Ravenna became the centre of Byzantine rule in Italy
under Belisaurius, including the marsh region which later became
Venice. But its function was somewhat compromised by incursions by the
Lombards from the north into central Italy. |
535 - 540 |
Belisaurius |
Byzantine Military Governor.
Formerly governed North Africa. |
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544 - 548 |
Belisaurius |
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552/3 - 567/8 |
Narses / Narsete |
Byzantine eunuch General who liberated
Rome. First Exarch. |
568 |
The
Lombards incur into Northern Italy. |
568 - 573 |
Longinus |
|
575 - 576 |
Badaurius |
|
576 - 585 |
Decius |
|
585 - 589 |
Smaragdus |
|
589 - 598 |
Romanus |
|
598 - 603 |
Callinicus |
|
603 - 611 |
Smaragdus |
Restored. |
611 - 616 |
John I Lemigius |
|
616 - 619 |
Eleutherius |
Died 620. |
620 - 637 |
Isaac |
|
638 - 648 |
Plato |
|
648 - 649 |
Theodore I Calliopas |
|
649 - 652 |
Olympus |
|
652 - 666 |
Theodore I Calliopas |
Restored. |
666 - 678 |
Gregory |
|
678 - 687 |
Theodore II |
|
687 - 702 |
John II Platinus |
|
697 |
The
Byzantine
tribunes are substituted in Venice with an elective, life-long office. |
702 - 710 |
Theophylactus |
|
710 - 711 |
John III Rizocopo |
|
711 - 713 |
Entichius |
|
713 - 727 |
Scholasticus |
|
726 |
The
Lombards
take control of the Exarchate.
Byzantine Imperial authority is no longer recognised. |
727 - 728 |
Paul |
Under Lombard control. |
728 |
The
Byzantines recover the Exarchate,
although control over Venice is weaker now. |
728 - 752 |
Eutychius |
Under Byzantine control. |
752 |
The Exarchate is
recaptured by the Lombards,
permanently ending Byzantine influence in Italy. |
754 |
The Carolingian
Frank Pepin III transfers the Exarchate to
Papal control, where it becomes the Papal States. |
755 |
The Exarchate is
briefly re-captured by the Lombards. |
756 |
The Carolingians retake
the
Papal States. The region is part of the
Carolingian empire
but is autonomously controlled by the archbishops of Ravenna until 1218. |
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