The history of Corsica

Corsica

Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....

 in the medieval period begins with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire

Western Roman Empire

The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....

 and the invasions of various Germanic peoples

Germanic peoples

The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...

 in the fifth century and ends with the complete subjection of the island to the authority of the Bank of San Giorgio in 1511.

Eastern Imperial suzerainty

Barbarians and Byzantines

In the early decades of the fifth century, effective Roman authority all but vanished from Corsica. The island became disputed between the Ostrogoths, Roman foederati

Foederati

Foederatus is a Latin term whose definition and usage drifted in the time between the early Roman Republic and the end of the Western Roman Empire...

who were settled in the lands along the Riviera

Italian Riviera

The Italian Riviera, or Ligurian Riviera is the narrow coastal strip which lies between the Ligurian Sea and the mountain chain formed by the Maritime Alps and the Apennines...

, and the Vandals

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....

, who had established a kingdom in 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...

. Both groups were sometimes allies, sometimes enemies of the Romans and both followed a pattern of taking over Roman legal forms and structures and maintaining nominal deference to the empire while de facto creating autonomous kingdoms within its former borders. In 469 CE, Gaiseric, the Vandal king, finally completed the subjugation of the isle. For the next 65 years the Vandals maintained their domination, the valuable Corsican forests supplying the wood for their pirate fleets.

After the Vandal state in Africa crumbled in the early sixth century under the onslaught of the Roman general Belisaurius, his lieutenant Cyril

Cyril

Cyril is a masculine given name. It is derived from the Greek name Κύριλλος meaning "Lordly, Masterful" which in turn derives from Greek κυριος "Lord"...

 restored imperial rule of Corsica in 534 CE, and the island was placed under the government of the newly organized Exarchate 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...

. However, the exarchate was not able to protect the island from the raiding by the Ostrogoths and the Lombards

Lombards

The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

, who moved down into Italy from the north beginning in 568 CE. After the loss

Umayyad conquest of North Africa

The Umayyad conquest of North Africa continued the century of rapid Arab Muslim expansion following the death of Muhammad in 632 CE. By 640 the Arabs controlled Mesopotamia, had invaded Armenia, and were concluding their conquest of Byzantine Syria. Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad caliphate....

 of the African mainland territories of the exarchate to the Umayyad dynasty in 709 CE, the empire's power in the West deteriorated further. Saracen

Saracen

Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...

 raiders began to prey on Corsica, leading Liutprand the Lombard to invade circa 725 CE to preempt Saracen designs.

Saracens and Franks

The first Muslim raid on Corsica took place in 713. These Muslims were probably Arabs from North Africa. After this, Byzantine authority, nominal under Lombard rule, waned further and in 774, after conquering the Lombard Kingdom of Italy, the Frankish king Charlemagne

Charlemagne

Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...

 proceeded to conquer Corsica for the Frankish hegemony, the Carolingian Empire

Carolingian Empire

Carolingian Empire is a historiographical term which has been used to refer to the realm of the Franks under the Carolingian dynasty in the Early Middle Ages. This dynasty is seen as the founders of France and Germany, and its beginning date is based on the crowning of Charlemagne, or Charles the...

, which he was establishing in western Europe.

In 806, however, occurred the first of a series of Moorish incursions from Spain. Several times defeated by Charlemagne's lieutenants, like Burchard, his constable, in 807, the Moors continually returned, and in 810 were decisively defeated (even exterminated) by an alliance of local powers and the Franks. They were crushed and exterminated by an expedition under Charles the Younger, but nonetheless continued their assaults. In 828, the defence of Corsica was entrusted to Boniface II of Tuscany, who conducted a successful expedition against the African Muslims and built the fortress later to bear his name (Bonifacio) in the south. For the next century, Corsica was a part of the March of Tuscany

March of Tuscany

The March of Tuscany or Tuscia was a frontier march in central Italy, bordering the Papal States to the south and east, the Ligurian Sea to the west, and the rest of the Kingdom of Italy to the north. It was a Carolingian creation, a successor of the Lombard Duchy of Tuscia...

.

Boniface' son Adalbert I

Adalbert I of Tuscany

Adalbert I was the margrave of Tuscany from about 847.He was the son of Margrave Boniface II, who had been despoiled of his fiefs by the Emperor Lothair I, and successor of his elder brother Aganus...

 continued to war against the Muslims after 846; but, in spite of all efforts, they seem to have remained in possession of part of the island until about 930. During his conflicts with Otto I of Germany, Berengar II of Italy

Berengar II of Italy

Berengar of Ivrea , sometimes also referred to as Berengar II of Italy, was Margrave of Ivrea and usurper King of Italy from 950 until his deposition in 961, the last before Italy's incorporation into the Holy Roman Empire...

 managed to make himself master of Corsica. In 962, Berengar was defeated and his son, Adalbert

Adalbert of Italy

Adalbert was the king of Italy from 950 to 963. He was the son of the Margrave Berengar of Ivrea and Willa.On 15 December 950, both he and his father were crowned kings of Italy after the death of Lothair II. His father tried to force Adelaide, widow of Lothair, to marry Adalbert and cement their...

, fled to Corsica. He succeeded in holding the island against Otto and passing it on to his son, another Adalbert, who was defeated, however, by Otto II. Corsica was reattached to Tuscany, but Adalbert was allowed to hold as a fief.

Feudal anarchy

Following Otto II's reestablishment of imperial authority over Corsica, a period of feudal anarchy began. The island at this time appears to be generally divided, as it is down to the present time, into a north and a south. Throughout the island petty lords and more powerful regional potentates fought for supremacy and land. Among the lords of the south, the Counts of Cinarca soon gained preeminence. Soon after the year 1000, at a central location in the valley of Morosaglia

Morosaglia

Morosaglia is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.It is the seat of the canton of Castifao-Morosaglia, which it shares with 9 other communes: Asco, Bisinchi, Castello-di-Rostino, Castifao, Castineta, Gavignano, Moltifao, Saliceto,...

, a sort of national diet or assembly was held with the intent of establish peace and rule of law over the whole island. The movement for peace, reminiscent of the contemporary Peace and Truce of God

Peace and Truce of God

The Peace and Truce of God was a medieval European movement of the Catholic Church that applied spiritual sanctions in order to limit the violence of private war in feudal society. The movement constituted the first organized attempt to control civil society in medieval Europe through non-violent...

 movements in Languedoc

Languedoc

Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...

, was headed by Sambucuccio, lord of Alando

Alando, Haute-Corse

Alando is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica.-Population:-References:*...

. The movement succeeded in establishing order in the north, establishing the Terra di Comune, but the south — and the Cape Corso — remained as anarchic as ever.

The Terra was modelled along republican lines and was composed of autonomous communes. Each commune, or parish, elected a council of "fathers of the commune" who were in charge of the administration of justice under the direction of the podestà

Podestà

Podestà is the name given to certain high officials in many Italian cities, since the later Middle Ages, mainly as Chief magistrate of a city state , but also as a local administrator, the representative of the Emperor.The term derives from the Latin word potestas, meaning power...

. Each podestà of an enfranchised district (or state) in turn elected a member to the supreme council, or magistracy, which was as it were the legislature of the Terra. The supreme council was called the Twelve because that was the number of enfranchised communes. Finally, as a check on their power and that of the podestà, the fathers of each commune elected a caporale charged with looking out for the interests of the poor and defenceless.

In 1012, in a final effort to subdue the wild barons of the south and the northern cape, the Terra called in William, Margrave of Massa. By 1020 he had succeeded in driving the count of Cinarca out of the island and enforcing peace, or at least reduced violence, on the southern barons. He allied with the communes and was able to hand Corsica on to his son, but his legacy was not one of unity and central government.

Papal fief

Towards the end of the eleventh century, the Papacy laid claim to Corsica, saying it had been donated to the Church by Charlemagne. All Charlemagne had really done was promise that stolen ecclesiastical lands would be returned. Nevertheless, the clergy of Corsica supported the Papacy and, in 1077, the Corsicans declared themselves subject to the Holy See in the presence of Landulf, Bishop of Pisa and Apostolic Legate to the island. Pope Gregory VII

Pope Gregory VII

Pope St. Gregory VII , born Hildebrand of Sovana , was Pope from April 22, 1073, until his death. One of the great reforming popes, he is perhaps best known for the part he played in the Investiture Controversy, his dispute with Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor affirming the primacy of the papal...

 responded by making Landulf and his successors saecular lords and perennial apostolic legates of the isle. This was confirmed by Urban II in 1190 and extended into a concession of full sovereignty.

Pisa replaced the papal legates who were governing the island with judges (judices) of their own appointment. Valuable chiefly as a source of timber for the Pisan fleet, but also as an important transit point for the slave trade, Corsica flourished under Pisan sovereignty, but crises soon arose. The Corsican episcopate resented Pisan overlordship and the rival 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....

 schemed to have Rome reverse the grant of 1077. In 1138, Pope Innocent II

Pope Innocent II

Pope Innocent II , born Gregorio Papareschi, was pope from 1130 to 1143, and was probably one of the clergy in personal attendance on the antipope Clement III .-Early years:...

 divided the ecclesiastical rule of the island between Pisa and Genoa. However, the war between the two trading rival escalated and, in 1195, Genoa captured Bonifacio. The next twenty years were occupied by unrelenting Pisan efforts to recapture it. In 1217, the pope put an end to this by annexing the city to the Holy See.

Regnum Corsicae

Genoese supremacy

During the 13th century, the feud between Pisa and Genoa introduced the struggle between Guelph and Ghibelline

Guelphs and Ghibellines

The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in central and northern Italy. During the 12th and 13th centuries, the split between these two parties was a particularly important aspect of the internal policy of the Italian city-states...

 to Corsica also. In the course of the feud, the Terra di Comune invited Isnard Malaspina, a distant relative of William of Massa, to put a stop to the anarchy. A Count of Cinarca was reinstated and the war between Malaspina, Cinarca, Pisa, and Genoa dragged on with no side gaining the mastery until 1298, when Pope Boniface VIII

Pope Boniface VIII

Pope Boniface VIII , born Benedetto Gaetani, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1294 to 1303. Today, Boniface VIII is probably best remembered for his feuds with Dante, who placed him in the Eighth circle of Hell in his Divina Commedia, among the Simonists.- Biography :Gaetani was born in 1235 in...

 formally bestowed the regnum Corsicae, Kingdom of Corsica, on James II of Aragon

James II of Aragon

James II , called the Just was the King of Sicily from 1285 to 1296 and King of Aragon and Valencia and Count of Barcelona from 1291 to 1327. In 1297 he was granted the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica...

 along with the regnum Sardiniae, Kingdom of Sardinia

Kingdom of Sardinia

The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...

.

In 1325, James finally set out to conquer his dual island kingdom. Sardinia was attacked and the Pisans were destroyed. Unable to sustain themselves at sea, their fortunes in Corsica fell off abruptly. No comparable campaign, however, was launched at Corsica by the king. In 1347, after years of more feudal anarchy, a diet of caporali and barons offered the Genoese republic the sovereignty of the isle. By the agreement with Genoa, regular tribute was to be paid, but the Corsicans were allowed to retain their own laws and customs, to be governed by their own bodies, the Twelve in the north and a new council of Six in the south, and be represented at Genoa by an orator. It was, however, an inauspicious year. The Black Death

Black Death

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...

 arrived in Genoa in October and when it hit Corsica in the next months it decimated it, killing off perhaps two thirds of the population.

Aragonese interference

The feudal baronage of the south and the hereditary caporali of the north alike resisted the authority of the Genoese governors and Peter IV of Aragon

Peter IV of Aragon

Peter IV, , called el Cerimoniós or el del punyalet , was the King of Aragon, King of Sardinia and Corsica , King of Valencia , and Count of Barcelona Peter IV, (Balaguer, September 5, 1319 – Barcelona, January 6, 1387), called el Cerimoniós ("the Ceremonious") or el del punyalet ("the one...

 took the opportunity to reassert his claims. In 1372, Arrigo della Rocca with Aragonese troops conquered the island, but the barons of Cape Corso appealed for aid to Genoa. Distracted Genoa charted a company of five members, known as the Maona

Maona

thumb|upright|Vincenzo Giustiniani was the last owner of the genoese "Maona of Chios"A maona or Societas comperarum was a medieval Italian association of investors formed to manage the purchased shares of the revenue due to the relevant city-state through tax farming; the shares were individually...

, to govern the island (1378). The Maona partnered with Arrigo, but in 1380 four of the governors of the Maona resigned and this left the lone remaining governor, Leonello Lomellino, as sole governor. He built Bastia

Bastia

Bastia is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It is also the second-largest city in Corsica after Ajaccio and the capital of the department....

 on the northern coast to safeguard Genoese interests and when Arrigo died in 1401, he became the sole ruler of Corsica.

Meanwhile Genoa itself had fallen into the hands of the French, and in 1407 Leonello Lomellino returned as governor with the title of Count of Corsica bestowed on him by Charles VI of France

Charles VI of France

Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...

. But Vincentello d'Istria, who had gained distinction in the service of the Crown of Aragon

Crown of Aragon

The Crown of Aragon Corona d'Aragón Corona d'Aragó Corona Aragonum controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain and southeastern France, as well as some of the major islands and mainland possessions stretching across the Mediterranean as far as Greece...

, had captured Cinarca, rallied around him all the communes of the Terra and proclaimed himself Count of Corsica at Biguglia

Biguglia

Biguglia is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica. It is near the town of Bastia.-Population:-External links:*...

, even seizing Bastia. Lomellino was unable to make headway against him and, by 1410, all Corsica, with the exception of Bonifacio and Calvi, was lost to Genoa, now once more independent of France. A feud between Vincentello and the Bishop of Mariana, however, led to the loss of his authority in the Terra di Comune and he was compelled to go to Spain in search of assistance. In his absence the Genoese reconquered the island.

At this stage, the Western Schism

Western Schism

The Western Schism or Papal Schism was a split within the Catholic Church from 1378 to 1417. Two men simultaneously claimed to be the true pope. Driven by politics rather than any theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the Council of Constance . The simultaneous claims to the papal chair...

 was underway in Roman Catholic Europe. Corsica itself became divided as the suffragan sees of Genoa fought for Benedict XIII

Pope Benedict XIII

-Footnotes:...

 and those of Pisa for Pope John XXIII

Pope John XXIII

-Papal election:Following the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958, Roncalli was elected Pope, to his great surprise. He had even arrived in the Vatican with a return train ticket to Venice. Many had considered Giovanni Battista Montini, Archbishop of Milan, a possible candidate, but, although archbishop...

. When Vincentello returned with an Aragonese force he was able to profit from the chaos. He easily captured Cinarca and Ajaccio

Ajaccio

Ajaccio , is a commune on the island of Corsica in France. It is the capital and largest city of the region of Corsica and the prefecture of the department of Corse-du-Sud....

, came to terms with the Pisan bishops, conquered the Terra di Comune, and built a strong castle at Corte

Corte

Corte is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica. It is the fourth-largest commune in Corsica .-Administration:Corte is a subprefecture of the Haute-Corse department.-History:...

. By 1419 the Genoese possessions in Corsica were again reduced to Bonifacio and Calvi.
In 1421, Alfonso V of Aragon

Alfonso V of Aragon

Alfonso the Magnanimous KG was the King of Aragon , Valencia , Majorca, Sardinia and Corsica , and Sicily and Count of Barcelona from 1416 and King of Naples from 1442 until his death...

 landed with a large fleet to take possession of his "kingdom." He took Calvi, but Bonifacio held out, and his stern imposition of taxes incited general revolt. Forced to lift the siege of Bonifacio and confirm its privileges, Alfonso left Corsica little better of than before he came. Bonifacio remained a de facto independent republic under Genoese protection and Vincentello was ultimately unable to put down the general insurrection before the Genoese captured him at Bastia in 1435. He was subsequently executed as a "rebel" himself.

In 1441, the Genoese scored a pivotal victory over the Aragonese. Using advanced artillery, the Doge of Genoa

Doge of Genoa

The Republic of Genoa, in what is now northern Italy, was technically a communal republic in the early Middle Ages, although it was actually an oligarchy ruled by a small group of merchant families, from whom were selected the Doges of Genoa.- History :...

, Janus da Fregoso, defeated the Aragonese general Paolo della Rocca. To secure Genoese authority he built and fortified the new city of San Fiorenzo, near the ruins of Nebbio. However, the civil war between Aragon and Genoa continued until a new height of disorder had been reached. In 1444, Pope Eugene IV

Pope Eugene IV

Pope Eugene IV , born Gabriele Condulmer, was pope from March 3, 1431, to his death.-Biography:He was born in Venice to a rich merchant family, a Correr on his mother's side. Condulmer entered the Order of Saint Augustine at the monastery of St. George in his native city...

 dispatched an army of 14,000 to pacify the island, but it was routed by a league formed of some caporali and the barons under the leadership of Rinuccio da Leca. A second papal expedition was more successful: Rinuccio was killed at Biguglia

Biguglia

Biguglia is a commune in the Haute-Corse department of France on the island of Corsica. It is near the town of Bastia.-Population:-External links:*...

. It was Eugene's successor, however, who was to determine the fate of Corsica. Nicholas V

Pope Nicholas V

Pope Nicholas V , born Tommaso Parentucelli, was Pope from March 6, 1447 to his death in 1455.-Biography:He was born at Sarzana, Liguria, where his father was a physician...

 was a Genoese himself. In the year of his succession (1447), he promptly granted all his rights in Corsica and all the fortresses held by his troops to the Genoese. However, the south remained under the sway of the counts of Cinarca, nominally vassals of Aragon, and the Terra di Comune was under the control of Galeazzo da Campo Fregoso.

Rule of the Bank

In the years that followed, the leaders of the Terra offered the government of the island to the Company (or Bank) of San Giorgio, a commercial corporation established at Genoa in the previous century. The bank accepted, the Aragonese were driven from the country, and a central government was organised. But the bank soon fell foul of the barons, and began a war of extermination against them. Their resistance was finally broken in 1460, when the survivors took refuge in Tuscany. But order had scarcely been established when the Genoese Tommasino da Campo Fregoso, whose mother was a Corsican, revived the claims of his family and succeeded in mastering the interior of the island (1462). Two years later (1464) the Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, overthrew the power of the Fregoso family at Genoa and promptly proceeded to lay claim to Corsica. His lieutenant had no difficulty in making the island accept the overlordship of Milan; but when, in 1466, Francesco Sforza died, a quarrel broke out, and Milanese suzerainty became purely nominal save in the coastal towns. Finally, in 1484, Tommasino da Campo Fregoso persuaded the duke to grant him the government of the island. The strong places were handed over to him and he entered into a marital relation with Gian Paolo da Leca, the most powerful of the barons. He was soon supreme in the island.

Within three years, the Corsicans were in revolt again. They sought the support of Jacopo IV d'Appiano, now Prince of Piombino

Principality of Piombino

The Principality of Piombino was a state of Italy, which existed from 1399 to 1805, when Napoleon absorbed it into the Principality of Lucca and Piombino...

, a descendant of the Malaspinas who had once ruled in Corsica. His brother Gherardo, Count of Montagnano, accepted the call, proclaimed himself Count of Corsica, and, landing in the island, captured Biguglia and San Fiorenzo; whereupon Tommasino da Campo Fregoso discreetly sold his rights to the Bank of San Giorgio. The Bank, allied with the Gian Paolo da Leca, successfully defeated Gherardo only to find the Fregoso attempting to repudiate their bargain. Gian Paolo supported the Fregoso, but the Bank, after hard fighting, exiled him to Sardinia. Twice he returned, and he was not finally expelled from the country till 1500. It was not until 1511 that the other barons were crushed and the Bank had established island-wide rule.

Sources

• Jordan, William Chester. Europe in the High Middle Ages. London: Viking, 2003
• Tabacco, Giovanni. The Struggle for Power in Medieval Italy: Structures and Political Rule. (Cambridge Medieval Textbooks.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.