Exarchate

   There were two of these new administrative units created by Maurice (q.v.). The first was the Exarchate of Carthage (q.v.), which defended Byzantine possessions in North Africa against the Moors (qq.v.). The second was the Exarchate of Ravenna (q.v.), which protected Byzantine possessions in Italy against the Lombards (qq.v.). Their creation was an indirect admission that the remnants of Justinian I's (q.v.) reconquests in the West were too far away to be governed from Constantinople (q.v.). The exarchates functioned almost autonomously, exercising both civil and military authority within their territories. The one in North Africa fell to the Arabs (q.v.) in the late seventh century. The Exarchate of Ravenna fell to the Lombards in 751.