John Fabriacus (Giovanni Fabriciaco in Italian) was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

magister militum (Latin for "master of soldiers"; : ) was a top-level military command used in the late Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, the e ...

per Venetiae'' in charge of the duchy of Venice in 742. Following the murder of the doge

Orso Ipato Orso Ipato (; died 737) was, by tradition, the third Doge of Venice (726–737) and the first historically known. During his eleven-year reign, he brought great change to the Venetian navy, aided in the recapture of Ravenna from Lombard invade ...

in 737, the

Exarch of Ravenna The Exarchate of Ravenna (; ), also known as the Exarchate of Italy, was an administrative district of the Byzantine Empire comprising, between the 6th and 8th centuries, the territories under the jurisdiction of the exarch of Italy (''exarchus ...

imposed administration by annual ''magistri militum'' on Venice who replaced the doge. John was the fifth and last of these officials. John's rule was particularly harsh. He sided with Heraclea in its conflict with its neighbour and rival Equilium during a violent clash between the two towns. He was deposed, and then, following a Byzantine custom, blinded and, finally, exiled. The Exarch of Ravenna allowed the resumption of the dogeship and the popular assembly elected

Teodato Ipato Teodato Ipato (also Diodato or Deusdedit; ) was Doge of Venice from 742 to 755. With his election came the restoration of the dogato, which had been defunct since the assassination of his father, Orso Ipato. Before his election he had served as ...

, who was the son of Orso Ipato (the first historical doge) and who had been a ''magister militum'' three years earlier. Because administration by the ''magistri militum'' was a relatively short interruption of the dogeship, this period is often referred to as an

interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...

References

*Samuele Romanin, Storia documentata di Venezia, Venezia, Pietro Naratovich tipografo editore, 1853. 8th-century Doges of Venice Magistri militum {{Veneto-politician-stub