- Romanus (exarch)
Romanus (died 596 or 597) was
Exarch of Ravenna (589-596/7).In 589 he became Exarch in place of the discredited
Smaragdus . [Paul the Deacon (3.26). "History of the Lombards", translated by William Dudley Foulke, 1907 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1974), p. 133] In his first year Romanus recovered the cities ofModena ,Reggio ,Parma ,Piacenza ,Altinum , andMantua from theLombards . [As described in the "Liber Pontificalis ". Raymond Davis (translator), "The Book of Pontiffs (Liber Pontificalis)", first edition (Liverpool: University of Liverpool Press, 1989), p. 61.]In 592
Pope Gregory I appealed to the Exarch for help in assistingNaples , then under Lombard attack, but Romanus thought it more prudent to remain in central Italy. The Pope was forced to make peace with theDuchy of Spoleto to save Naples. [R.A. Markus, "Gregory the Great and His World" (Cambridge: University Press, 1997), p. 102f] Shortly afterwards, the Lombards occupiedPerugia , causing Romanus to send an army to retakeUmbria . [Paul the Deacon (4.8). Foulke however dates this to 594, while noting that the historian Thomas Hodgkin dates this to 593 ("History of the Lombards", p. 155n .2)] The Lombard KingAgilulf , noticing this, crossed into central Italy and even threatenedRome . Frustrated with the lack of support he received from the Exarch (R.A. Markus describes him as a "large thorn in Gregory's side"), [Markus, "Gregory the Great", p. 105] the Pope tried to circumvent Romanus' authority by appealing to theByzantine Emperor Maurice in 595, but this proved fruitless, given the fact that Maurice saw more emphasis in maintaining a link between Ravenna and the Balkans, where he kept the Avars and Slavs at bay.Romanus died soon after this, and was succeeded by Callinicus, who proved to be more conciliatory to Pope Gregory.
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