Exarchate of Africa

The Exarchate of Africa, also called the Exarchate of Carthage, was a division of the Byzantine Empire from the late sixth century until the late seventh century. It ruled the area around Carthage, Tunisia, and often mediated conflicts between the Muslim Arab world and the emerging civilizations of Europe, where Christianity dominated. Most scholars credit the exarchate ruler, Heraclius I, with establishing the theme system, which was a military district system that strengthened society and its defenses by using the peasantry to successfully repel invaders.

Background

The Roman Empire transformed vast regions of the world. It was centered on Rome, which grew from a river town to a powerful city built on seven hills. The Romans claimed that the city had been founded by the sons of a god in 753 BCE and ruled by a series of elected kings. When the seventh monarch, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, was overthrown in 509 BCE, Rome adopted the republican form of government. However, the elected leaders, called consuls, were selected primarily from the Senate, which mostly consisted of descendants of the senators from the early monarchy. This class, the patricians, was often at odds with the plebians, or commoners. The early republic period was marked by expansion and influence because of military conquests.

Rome controlled the entire Italian peninsula by 264 BCE and expanded again because of the Punic Wars that began that year. These conflicts were waged against Carthage, a city-state in northern Africa. When they concluded in 146 BCE, Rome controlled Sicily, much of Spain, the western Mediterranean, and part of northern Africa. Rome also waged war with the kingdom of Macedonia and added this territory as a new Roman province. However, the massive size of the empire contributed to its decline as the wealthy consolidated power and the wealth gap increased, causing the poor to become increasingly irate. The late republic was dominated by powerful military leaders. Octavian, whose uncle Julius Caesar had been assassinated in 44 BCE, became the first emperor of Rome in 27 BCE. For two centuries, the empire prospered and expanded significantly until 192 CE, when Emperor Commodus was assassinated by his ministers, and the empire became mired in a civil war. The third century was a period of chaos marked by assassinations and military takeovers. Emperor Diocletian came to power in 284 and divided the empire into regions. He and General Galerius ruled the eastern Roman Empire, and General Constantius and Maximilian controlled the western Roman Empire. This system served the empire well for some time, but in 324 Constantius’s son Constantine reunified Rome and became its single emperor. He moved the capital to Byzantium in Greece, renaming it Constantinople.

After Constantine’s death in 337, the empire again struggled. Emperor Valentinian I divided it into west and east again in 364, giving his brother, Valens, control of the east. The western Roman Empire was under constant threat from the Germanic tribes. It began to crumble, losing its provinces throughout the fifth century and eventually collapsing completely in 476. The eastern Roman Empire, which later came to be called the Byzantine Empire or Byzantium, thrived for another thousand years until it fell to the Ottomans in 1453.

The Byzantine Empire became strong because of Constantine I’s relocation of the capital in 330 CE to Constantinople, which was more easily defended because of its location on a strait. The eastern empire also had little border with Europe, where the greatest threats were emerging and challenging Roman power. These conditions contributed to the longevity of the eastern Roman Empire.

Constantine, who had converted to Christianity, had made this the official religion of Rome in 325. From the fourth century, leadership of the Christian church was divided between five heads. The western patriarchate was in Rome, while those in the east were at Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Byzantium. The patriarchate of Rome spoke Latin, while the others spoke Greek. A significant event in Christianity occurred at the Council of Chalcedon in 451, when a ruling that the Church of Rome and the Church of Constantinople were equals was upheld. The Roman church was led by popes, while the Church of Constantinople was headed by senior bishops called patriarchs. The pope rejected the Chalcedonian ruling. After centuries of strained relations, in 1054 the Eastern Church (known as the Greek Catholic or Greek Orthodox Church) and Western Church (the Roman Catholic Church) divided in a breach called the Great Schism.

The Eastern Roman Empire faced increasing threats from the sixth century forward. The empire was overextended, and central leadership was unable to adequately monitor and administer all territories. Emperors began to establish exarchates under military leaders who were tasked with acting in the emperors’ stead. This was a reversal of previous policies of maintaining separation of civil and military power that had been in place to reduce the likelihood of military leaders seizing power. Byzantine emperor Maurice established two exarchates in the late sixth century, the Exarchate of Carthage in North Africa and another in Italy, the Exarchate of Ravenna.

Overview

The Exarchate of Carthage was seated in Carthage in modern Tunisia, a region that Rome had conquered during the Punic Wars. All territory of the empire in the western Mediterranean fell under its authority. The semiautonomous province was overseen by a military governor, or exarch, who was appointed by the emperor to uphold his policies. The exarch nevertheless held unlimited power and as such held the potential to threaten the emperor’s authority. In 610 Constantinople appealed to Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Carthage, for help against Phocas, the inept and corrupt emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. He sent his son, Heraclius, to Constantinople, where he overthrew Phocas. Heraclius I’s rule was marked by near-constant war over territory and doctrine. Christianity was increasingly divided over theological belief; moreover, authorities in Armenia, Egypt, Syria, and other regions persecuted those with differing beliefs. The Persians conquered Syria and Palestine in 614. In addition to holding Jerusalem, the invaders took a relic believed to be the Cross of Christ, on which he had been executed by crucifixion. The Persians also held Egypt and Libya by 619. Heraclius repeatedly attempted to invade Persia to recover the Cross and Jerusalem in a holy crusade, finally succeeding in 627–628. He made peace with the son of his enemy and demanded and received the Cross, captured Roman territory, and prisoners. Although he was able to return the Cross to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in 630, he was unable to hold the fracturing Church together. He was unwell, and when the Arabs sought to conquer Syria four years later, he did not lead his army into battle. The Moslems defeated the Byzantines in 636, and in short order claimed Egypt and Syria as well. Carthage fell to the Arabs in 647; a four-year siege of Constantinople began in 674. The Exarchate of Carthage survived until 698, when it was destroyed by the Arabs. The Byzantine Empire was greatly reduced by the loss of the source of much of its food and human capital.

Heraclius died in 641. During his reign, he instituted numerous changes to the government to ensure that the Byzantine Empire survived long after his death. The Byzantine theme organization, or provincial or district administration system, is believed to have originated in the Exarchate of Carthage under Heraclius and then was further developed by successive administrations. Previously, the military had employed a sizable percentage of mercenaries to fight its wars. The empire had granted land to its professional soldiers, but under Heraclius, peasants who promised hereditary military service likewise received land grants. The state retained ownership of this land, leasing it to citizens for their military service at a reduced rate; this discount constituted the soldiers’ pay. This system greatly improved the lives of the peasant class greatly and increased agricultural output in the empire. The empire’s resources were also freed up because it was not paying all the soldiers’ wages. Furthermore, the citizen-soldiers had a stake in military success because they were defending their homes and families.

The land plots that the peasants received were arranged in groupings also called themes. The military commander of soldiers in this theme also administered the territory. The lease agreement bound descendants of the peasants, who were farmers, to also serve in the military and farm in a theme. Additional land for this purpose was often acquired through military conquest.

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