Editing Exarchate of Ravenna (section)

==End of the Exarchate==
During the 6th and 7th centuries, the growing menace of the Lombards and the [[Franks]], as well as the split between Eastern and Western Christendom inspired both by [[iconoclasm|iconoclastic]] emperors and medieval developments in Latin theology and culminating in the acrimonious rivalry between the Pope of Rome and the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Patriarch of Constantinople]], made the position of the exarch more and more untenable. Ravenna remained the seat of the exarch until the revolt of 727 over iconoclasm. [[Eutychius (exarch)|Eutychius]], the last exarch of Ravenna, was killed by the Lombards in 751.

In 752, the northeastern portion of the Exarchate known as the [[Duchy of the Pentapolis|''Ducatus Pentapolis'']] was conquered by King Aistulf of the Lombards.{{sfn|Noble|1984|p=71}} Four years later, after the Franks drove the Lombards out, [[Pope Stephen II]] claimed the territory. The Pope's ally in the military action against the Lombards, [[Pepin the Short]], King of the Franks, then donated the conquered lands back to the Papacy; this donation, which was confirmed by Pepin's son [[Charlemagne]] in 774, marked the beginning of the temporal power of the popes as the [[Patrimony of Saint Peter]]. The archbishoprics within the former exarchate, however, had developed traditions of local secular power and independence, which contributed to the fragmenting localization of powers. Three centuries later, that independence would fuel the rise of the independent communes.

The southern portions of the exarchate including the imperial possessions at Naples, Calabria, and Apulia were reorganized as the [[Catepanate of Italy]] headquartered in [[Bari]]. These territories were lost to the [[History of Islam in southern Italy|Saracen]] [[Emirate of Bari|Berbers]] in 847 but recovered in 871. Later after Sicily was [[Muslim conquest of Sicily|conquered by Arabs]] the remnants were placed into newly established military/administrative ''themes'' of Calabria and Langobardia. Istria at the head of the Adriatic was attached to [[Dalmatia]].