Gregory the Patrician
Encyclopedia
Gregory the Patrician was a Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 governor, and self-proclaimed Emperor
Emperor
An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...

 of the province of Africa.

Career

Gregory the Patrician was related by blood to the Imperial House of Heraclius
Heraclius
Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...

, through the Eastern Roman Emperor Constans II's cousin Nicetas. Gregory was appointed Exarch of Africa
Exarchate of Africa
The Exarchate of Africa or of Carthage, after its capital, was the name of an administrative division of the Eastern Roman Empire encompassing its possessions on the Western Mediterranean, ruled by an exarch, or viceroy...

 by the Emperor Constans in the first half of the 7th century. The office of Exarch combined civil authority and military command in a single governor. In 647 A.D. Gregory rebelled against the Eastern Roman Empire over the religious controversy between Monothelitism
Monothelitism
Monothelitism is a particular teaching about how the divine and human relate in the person of Jesus, known as a Christological doctrine, that formally emerged in Armenia and Syria in 629. Specifically, monothelitism teaches that Jesus Christ had two natures but only one will...

 and Monoenergism
Monoenergism
Monoenergism is a Christian heresy related to Monophysitism.In the 7th century, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius attempted to solve the schism between Chalcedonians and Monophysites, and suggested the compromise of Monoenergism...

. He declared the independence of his province from the Eastern Roman Empire and proclaimed himself Emperor of Africa (i.e. the territory of the Exarchate of Africa, not the continent). The new empire was able to keep her Amazigh allies, of which 100,000 would later fought for the Emperor Gregory.

He established his seat of government at Sufetula in central Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

 to avoid effective Byzantine retaliation; however, at that time, the Arabs were sweeping out
Muslim conquests
Muslim conquests also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, began with the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Muslim power.They...

 of Arabia throughout the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

. The result was that the city of Carthage was overcome with refugees fleeing Egypt (notably Melkites), Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 and Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

. This seemed to have raised religious tensions. But more importantly it made apparent to the Emperor the threat level posed by the invading Arabs. Between 647 to 648, the Arabs under Abdulla-bin-Sarh and Abdallah-bin-Zubeir attacked Gregory's city of Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...

. The invading Arab Army was supported by Berber
Berber mythology
The traditional Berber mythology is the ancient and native set of beliefs and deities developed by the Berber people in their historical land of North Africa...

 tribesmen. The Emperor Gregory engaged the Arabs at the Battle of Sufetula in 648 supported by 100,000 Amazigh tribesmen. This great battle lasted for days until Gregory was tricked and killed by the Arabs beneath the walls of his own capital city. His army was then routed and harried by the victorious Arabs deep into Tunisia and Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

. With Gregory's death the African Empire came to an end. The province of Africa reverted briefly to Byzantine rule under the Exarch Gennadius
Gennadius (7th century)
Gennadius was an Byzantine general who exercised the role of Exarch of Africa from 648 to 665, when he was finally expelled.Gennadius was a Byzantine general who served under the Byzantine Emperor Constans II. He assumed the position of exarch of Africa after the death of Gregory the Patrician at...

, but was back in Arab hands after the Umayyad caliph Muawiyah I
Muawiyah I
Muawiyah I was the first Caliph of the Umayyad Dynasty. After the conquest of Mecca by the Muslims, Muawiyah's family converted to Islam. Muawiyah is brother-in-law to Muhammad who married his sister Ramlah bint Abi-Sufyan in 1AH...

 sent forces in 665 to retake the region. Gregory the Patrician was the only man in history ever to call himself "Emperor of Africa".

Legacy

Gregory the Patrician’s Greek-led, multiethnic African enclave was vaguely reminiscent of Egypt under the Macedonian
Ancient Macedonians
The Macedonians originated from inhabitants of the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, in the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axios...

 Ptolemies. But it did not survive long enough to have a cultural impact separate from its Byzantine identity. In the end, both Gregory and his empire were forgotten – consigned to the footnotes of history. But in 647 A.D. both seemed a possible bulwark against Muslim Arab expansion in Northern Africa.
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