Byzantine Province of North Africa (Exarchate of Africa) (585–698 AD)
The Exarchate of Africa was an administrative division of
the Eastern Roman Empire encompassing its lands on the western Mediterranean it
was created by Roman Emperor Maurice in 583 AD, ruled by an exarch (governor) and
Carthage was the capital of the Exarchate of Africa.
(Above Image) Byzantine Empire map
Under Emperor Justinian I, the process was partially
reversed for provinces which were judged to be especially vulnerable or in
internal disorder. Capitalizing upon this precedent and taking it one step
further, the emperor Maurice sometime between 585 and 590 AD created the office
of exarch in North Africa, which combined the supreme civil authority of a praetorian prefect (High Office) and the
military authority of a magister militum
(Military Command), and enjoyed considerable autonomy from Byzantine capital
Constantinople. Two exarchates were established, one in Italy, with seat at
Ravenna (Exarchate of Ravenna), and one in Africa, based at Carthage (Exarchate
of Africa) and including all imperial possessions in the Western Mediterranean.
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(Above Image) Byzantine Empire Flag
The Visigothic kingdom in Spain was also a continuous threat
to the Byzantine Empire. The African exarch was in possession of Mauretania II,
which was little more than a tiny outpost in southern Spain. The conflict
continued until the final conquest of the last Spanish strongholds in 624 AD by
the Visigoths. The Byzantines retained only the fort of Septum (Ceuta), across Gibraltar.
(Above Image) Byzantine Soldiers
During the successful revolt of the exarch of Carthage
Heraclius in 608, the Amazigh comprised a large portion of the fleet that
transported Heraclius to Constantinople. Due to religious and political
ambitions, the Exarch Gregory the Patrician (who was related by blood to the
imperial family, through the emperor's cousin Nicetas) declared himself
independent of Constantinople in 647 AD. At this time the influence and power of the
exarchate was exemplified in the forces gathered by Gregory in the battle of
Sufetula also in that year where more than 100,000 men of Amazigh (Berber) fought
for Gregory the Patrician.
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(Above Image) Gregory the Patrician
A division in the church that came to be known as the
Donatist controversy began in 313 AD among Christians in North Africa. The
Donatists stressed the holiness of the church and refused to accept the
authority to administer the sacraments of those who had surrendered the
scriptures when they were forbidden under the Emperor Diocletian. The Donatists
also opposed the involvement of Emperor Constantine in church affairs in
contrast to the majority of Christians who welcomed official imperial recognition;
some Amazigh (Berber) tribes had converted to Christianity.
(Above Image) Byzantine Cross
The first Islamic expeditions began with an initiative from
Egypt under the emir Amr Ibn Al-as and his nephew Uqba Ibn al Nafia al Fihri.
Sensing Roman weakness they conquered Barca, in Cyrenaica (East Libya), then
successively on to Tripolitania where they encountered resistance. Due to the
unrest caused by theological disputes concerning Monothelitism and Monoenergism
the Exarchate of Africa under Gregory distanced itself from the empire in open
revolt.
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(Above Image) Muslim Cavalry in Battle
The loss of the mainland African exarchate was an enormous
blow to the Byzantine Empire in the Western Mediterranean because both Carthage
and Egypt were Constantinople's main sources of manpower and grain in the
empire. It was also an enormous blow because it permanently ended Roman
presence in history of Africa.
