Callinicus (exarch)

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Callinicus or Kallinikos (Καλλίνικος in Greek) was the exarch of Ravenna (597602 or 603). He is called Gallicinus by some historians because the great Lombard historian Paul the Deacon calls him Gallicini patricii (Latin text, English patrician Gallicinus).[1]

The first few years of his administration were marked by relatively good fortune. In 598 an armistice between the Byzantines and the Lombards was made, and in the following year a formal peace of two years' time was recognized, where the Lombards were acknowledged as sovereign rulers of their holdings. Around the year 602, Callinicus attempted to renew the peace, at the same time kidnapping the Lombard king Agilulf's daughter and her husband in order to gain greater negotiating leverage. Instead, Agilulf invaded Imperial Italy, destroying Padua and capturing Monselice. Shortly afterwards Callinicus died and was succeeded by Smaragdus.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Paul the Deacon (4.12) History of the Lombards, translated by William Dudley Foulke, 1907 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1974), p. 159
  2. ^ Paul the Deacon (4.25) History, p. 168
Preceded by
Romanus
Exarch of Ravenna
598603
Succeeded by
Smaragdus
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