Judicate of Arborea
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Judicate of Arborea Iudicatus Arborensis () | |||||||||
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9th century–1420 | |||||||||
Roman Catholicism | |||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
Judge | |||||||||
• 1060–1070 | Marianus I of Arborea | ||||||||
• 1347–1376 | Marianus IV of Arborea | ||||||||
• 1383–1402 | Eleanor of Arborea | ||||||||
Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||
• Established | 9th century | ||||||||
• Disestablished | August 14 1420 | ||||||||
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Today part of | Italy |
The Judicate of Arborea (
Origins
Sardinia was an imperial province of the
The first important Giudice of Arborea was Marianus I (ruled 1060 – 1070) of the Thori family. In 1070, his successor, Orzocorre I, moved the capital from the ancient port of Tharros, which was exposed to Arab attacks, to Oristano.
Around the same time, Sardinia began to emerge from obscurity and come into the historian's view. Under the ambitious
Lacon-Gunale dynasty
Under Constantine I of the Lacon dynasty, Arborea paid tribute to the papacy and sponsored Camaldolese monks in opposition to the monks of Marseille favoured by rival Cagliari. Constantine paid homage to Pisa for his petty kingdom and his successor was his brother Comita II. When Pope Innocent II divided Sardinia between the sees of Pisa and Genoa in 1133, Arborea fell to the former, but Comita, in the hope of furthering Arborean independence, allied with Genoa during the subsequent civil wars of that decade. In 1145, Comita was excommunicated by Baldwin, Archbishop of Pisa, and the Judicate of Arborea was nominally transferred to Logudoro.
Comita's son and successor,
De Serra-Bas dynasty
While Peter II, son of Hugh, has been accused by historians of impoverishing his realm of glory, his son Marianus II expanded it substantially, even briefly ruling over a majority of the island. During the final decades of the 13th century, three other giudicati fell into the hands of either Pisa or Genoa or one of their great families, but Arborea remained independent.
Hugh II (ruled 1321 – 1336), great-grandson of Marianus II, headed up a faction which favoured James II of Aragon, who had been promised the island by the pope, as overlord. He supported the Infante Alfonso in his campaign (1323 – 1324) to conquer the island from Pisa. In 1336, Hugh II was succeeded by his son Peter III (died 1345). His brother Marianus IV (ruled 1353 – 1375) was the only Sardinian ruler to be known as "the Great". He was educated at the Crown of Aragon's royal court, but later turned against his cultural allies and led a victorious revolt against the aragonese invaders Sardinian–Aragonese war. With Marianus IV the great, a period of splendour commenced in the Kingdom of Arborea. Oral traditions were codified and new legislation enacted. Army and tactics were reformed. With the exception of Cagliari, Alghero, and Sassari (then under Brancaleone Doria), Marianus conquered the whole of the island, making Arborea the strongest any of the island's judicates had ever been.
Marianus was succeeded by his son
Curatoriae
Arborea was divided into 13 or, at times, 14 curatoriae or partes (sing. curatoria and partis). These were the main administrative regions, governed by curatores (curators) under the judge. The subdivisions of the curatoriae were the villae, the inhabited centres (villages) that, altogether, probably comprised 100,000 inhabitants. The curatoriae were an inheritance from Byzantine tradition and are still recognised today as "historic regions".
The fourteen curatoriae of Arborea were:
- Barbagia di Belvì
- Barbagia d’Ollolai
- Barigadu
- Bonorzuli
- Campidano di Cabras
- Campidano di Milis
- Campidano di Simaxis
- Guilcier
- Mandrolisai
- Marmilla
- Montis
- Usellus
- Valenza
- Brabaxiana
See also
- List of kings or judges of Arborea
Sources
- Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Rome, 1963 – present.
- Nowé, Laura Sannia. Dai "lumi" dalla patria Italiana: Cultura letteraria sarda. Mucchi Editore: Modena, 1996.
- Day, John. La Sardegna sotto la dominazione pisano-genovese dal secolo XI al secolo XIV. UTET: Turin, 1987.