Smaragdus

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Smaragdus was Exarch of Ravenna twice (585-589 and 603-611).

Smaragdus was known for his violence toward the adherents of the Three-Chapter Controversy. He ordered the schismatic Archbishop of Aquileia and his followers, then at Grado, to come to Ravenna to attend a council. When the council failed to solve any major issues, he forced the archbishop to declare his loyalty to the Orthodox creed. His violence, combined with alleged charges of insanity, prompted his removal from office in 589. Other notable events during his first reign included the recovery of Classis from the Lombards in 588.

In 603 the Byzantine Emperor Phocas restored Smaragdus to his former position. Unfortunately he inherited a war with the Lombards from his predecessor Callinicus, and refused to give up the daughter of the Lombard king Agilulf, as well as her husband, both of whom had been taken prisoner by the Byzantines in 601. By July 603, Cremona, Mantua, and Vulturina, along with much of northern Italy, were back in Lombard hands, and Smaragdus was forced to give up his hostages in order to avoid further losses. He managed to maintain peace with the Lombards for the rest of his administration. He was replaced again after Phocas was assassinated, this time by John I Lemigius.