Giudicato of Cagliari
Encyclopedia
The Giudicato of Cagliari was one of the four Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

n giudicati
Giudicati
The giudicati were the indigenous kingdoms of Sardinia from about 900 until 1410, when the last fell to the Aragonese. The rulers of the giudicati were giudici , from the Latin iudice , often translates as "judge". The Latin for giudicato was iudicatus The giudicati (singular giudicato) were the...

 of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

. It covered the entire south and central east portion of the island and was composed of thirteen subdivisions called curatoriae. To its north and west lay Arborea and north and on the east lay Gallura
Giudicato of Gallura
The Giudicato of Gallura was one of four Sardinian giudicati of the Middle Ages. These were de facto independent states ruled by judges bearing the title iudex . Gallura, a name which comes from gallus, meaning rooster , was subdivided into ten curatoriae governed by curatores under the judge...

 and Logudoro. During the period of Pisan-Genoese dominance, Cagliari remained steadfastly in the Pisan camp.

Origins and extent

The giudicato of Cagliari comprised a large area of the Campidano
Campidano
Campidano is a plain located in the south-western area of Sardinia, Italy, covering approximately 100 kilometres between Cagliari and Oristano....

 plain, the mineral-rich Sulcis
Sulcis
Sulcis is the southwestern region of Sardinia, part of the larger Sulcis-Iglesiente region. It is named for the Phoenician city of Sulcis , present-day Sant'Antioco....

 region, and the mountainous Ogliastra.

Cagliari was historically one of the most important cities on Sardinia and remains the largest to this day. The capital in turn of both the Vandal
Vandals
The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....

 and 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...

 provinces of Sardinia, Cagliari became the eponymous capital of the Giudicato of Cagliari that evolved when imperial power receded in the West. Left to fend for themselves, the Byzantine officials of Sardinia maintained the forms and titles of the imperial administration. The iudicati ("judgeships"), bureaucratic subdivisions in the empire, developed into independent states with hereditary sovereigns still entitled Giudice (Latin iudice), by the tenth century. By then, the number of Giudicati
Giudicati
The giudicati were the indigenous kingdoms of Sardinia from about 900 until 1410, when the last fell to the Aragonese. The rulers of the giudicati were giudici , from the Latin iudice , often translates as "judge". The Latin for giudicato was iudicatus The giudicati (singular giudicato) were the...

 had stabilized at four following the absorption of the Giudicato of Agugliastra
Giudicato of Agugliastra
The Giudicato of Agugliastra or Ogliastra was a small and short-lived giudicato in Sardinia probably in the tenth and eleventh centuries. It lay south of Gallura, east of Arborea, and north of Cagliari along the Tyrrhenian Sea on the east of the island. Its capital was Ogliastra.Agugliastra is the...

 which lay along the eastern coast of the island north of Cagliari, into the Giudicato of Cagliari sometime in the previous century.

Pisan domination

The region of Cagliari, due to its proximity to Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

, had long been the first landing are for conquering armies and the last outpost of retreating foreigners. It had been the Vandal's chief town and the last stronghold to be abandoned by the Saracens when they were finally expelled from Sardinia in the early eleventh century by the Republic of Pisa
Republic of Pisa
The Republic of Pisa was a de facto independent state centered on the Tuscan city of Pisa during the late tenth and eleventh centuries. It rose to become an economic powerhouse, a commercial center whose merchants dominated Mediterranean and Italian trade for a century before being surpassed and...

. First seizing the Sulcis region in the southeast, the Pisans then conquered Cagliari itself and rebuilt the town. Pisa had a keen interest in Sardinia because it was a perfect base for controlling the commercial routes between Italy and North Africa.

The first giudice well-known to history is Torchitorio I
Torchitorio I of Cagliari
Orzocorre Torchitorio I was the Judge of Cagliari from about 1058 to his death. At his time, the throne was customarily alternated between the Torchitorio de Ugunale and Salusio de Lacon families...

. His birth name was Orzoccorre, Torchitorio being a dynastic name. At that time, Cagliari regularly passed back and forth between two clans, the Torchitorio de Ugunale and Salusio de Lacon. Torchitorio was judge at a time when Western monasticism was being introduced into Sardinia as part of the Gregorian reform
Gregorian Reform
The Gregorian Reforms were a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII and the circle he formed in the papal curia, circa 1050–80, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy...

 of the Papacy. Cagliari, like the other giudicati, was placed under papal and Pisan authority. Torchitorio was a sponsor of the monks of Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, Italy, c. to the west of the town of Cassino and altitude. St. Benedict of Nursia established his first monastery, the source of the Benedictine Order, here around 529. It was the site of Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944...

 who were arriving on the island to bring economic, technological, and religious renewal. Torchitorio succeeded in having his son succeed him around 1089, when Constantine I
Constantine I of Cagliari
Constantine I was the giudice of Cagliari. He was the son of the giudice Orzocco Torchitorio and giudicessa Vera. In the eleventh century, the throne of Cagliari traditionally passed between the houses of Torchitorio de Ugunale and Salusio de Lacon. Constantine took the name Salusio II upon his...

 appeared with the title of rex et iudex Caralitanus: "King and Judge of Cagliari."

Among the traditions of these early giudici was that of confirming one of one's predecessor's acts, usually donations of land or grants of privileges. Constantine II
Constantine II of Cagliari
Constantine II was the giudice of Cagliari . He was called de Pluminus after his capital city....

 patronised the monasteries founded by monks from Saint-Victor in Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

. However, surging Pisan religious houses came into conflict the Provençal monasteries, while the archbishop of Cagliari came into conflict with not only the archbishop of Pisa, but also Constantine. Nevertheless, the 1150s saw restoration and renovation of sacred art and edifices. Along with Gonario II of Torres
Gonario II of Torres
Gonario II was the giudice of Logudoro from the death of his father to his own abdication in 1154. He was a son of Constantine I and Marcusa de Gunale. He was born between 1113 and 1114 according to later sources and the Camaldolese church of S...

 and Comita I of Gallura, Constantine pledged fidelity to the archbishop of Pisa. All this suggests strong allegiance to the reformed papacy despite the still near-autonomous status of Cagliari at the time.

House of Massa

Constantine II's daughter succeeded him with her husband Peter. The Pisans tried to remove him after her death and they sent Obert, Margrave of Massa, to conquer the giudicato. Obert set himself up as giudice and on his death, Pisa installed his son William I
William I of Cagliari
William I was the giudice of Cagliari from 1188 to his death.William was one of the greatest of medieval Sardinian giudici...

 in his place.

William spent his reign (1188 – 1214) in constant wars with Arborea, Gallura, and Logudoro. He arrested and imprisoned the judge of Arborea, Peter I
Peter I of Arborea
Peter I , of the Serra family, was the eldest son and successor of Barisone II of Arborea, reigning from 1186 to his death. His mother was Barisone's first wife, Pellegrina de Lacon...

 and ruled Arborea in his name. He tried to conquer Gallura, but was rebuffed by Lamberto Visconti. He was on fairly good terms with the Pisans throughout his career, but on his death, he left only daughters. Benedetta
Benedetta of Cagliari
Benedetta was the daughter and heiress of William I of Cagliari and Adelasia, daughter of Moroello Malaspina. She succeeded her father in January or February 1214....

, his heiress, was married to Barisone III of Arborea and thus those two giudicati were united, to be torn apart on his death (1217). Cagliari slowly declined thereafter, as various factions fought for the control of Benedetta. Pisan domination became stronger than ever. In 1256, John tried to throw off the Pisan yolk and allied with the Republic of Genoa
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....

, but was assassinated by Pisan agents. John was succeeded by his son, but Pisa partitioned Cagliari in 1258 and the history of the giudicato came to a sudden close.
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