Giudicati
Encyclopedia
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[],...
from about 900 until 1410, when the last fell to the Aragonese
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...
. The rulers of the giudicati were giudici (singular giudice), from the Latin iudice (pl. iudices), often translates as "judge". The Latin for giudicato (judgeship) was iudicatus (pl. iudicati), sometimes spelled with a "j", as in judicatus. The Latin terms were corrupted over time into judike/judikes (iudike/iudikes).
The title of iudex was that of a Byzantine governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
(praeses
Praeses
Praeses , is a Latin word meaning "Seated in front of, i.e. at the head ", has both ancient and modern uses.-Roman imperial use:...
or judex provinciae) dating from the creation of the 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...
in 582
582
Year 582 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 582 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Byzantine Empire :* The Avars take over the city of...
. The Byzantines were totally cut off from the Tyrrhenian Sea
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy.-Geography:The sea is bounded by Corsica and Sardinia , Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Basilicata and Calabria and Sicily ....
by the Muslim conquest of Sicily in 827
827
Year 827 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Beginning of the invasion of Sicily by the Aghlabid dynasty of Ifriqiya . The campaign in the island against Byzantium will take 51 years...
. A letter of Pope Nicholas I
Pope Nicholas I
Pope Nicholas I, , or Saint Nicholas the Great, reigned from April 24, 858 until his death. He is remembered as a consolidator of papal authority and power, exerting decisive influence upon the historical development of the papacy and its position among the Christian nations of Western Europe.He...
in 864
864
Year 864 was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* July 25 – Edict of Pistres: Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings....
mentions for the first time the "Sardinian judges," and their autonomy was clear in a later letter of Pope John VIII
Pope John VIII
Pope John VIII was pope from December 13, 872 to December 16, 882. He is often considered one of the ablest pontiffs of the ninth century and the last bright spot on the papacy until Leo IX two centuries later....
in which he referred to them as principes ("princes"). The local authority was exercised initially by curatores — who each ruled over a curatoria — who were subject to the judges, whose responsibilities included the administration of justice and command of the army.
Originally the giudicati were 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...
districts that became independent due to the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
expansion in the Mediterranean, that obstructed connenctions between Sardinia and Byzantium. The governors were initially elected by the Corona de Logu (parliament) but, as elsewhere in medieval Europe, hereditary dynasties were soon established. The known medieval giudicati were:
- Giudicato of AgugliastraGiudicato of AgugliastraThe 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...
(also known as Ogliastra; short-lived, annexed by Cagliari) - Giudicato of Arborea (with capital in OristanoOristanoOristano is a town and comune, capital of the Province of Oristano, on the island of Sardinia, Italy. It has approximately 32,500 inhabitants.Its economy is mainly based on fishing, agriculture and, to a certain extent, tourism.-History:...
), 13 or 14 curatoriae - Giudicato of CagliariGiudicato of CagliariThe Giudicato of Cagliari was one of the four Sardinian giudicati of the Middle Ages. 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 and Logudoro...
(also known as Cagliaritano or Pluminos), 14 curatoriae - Giudicato of GalluraGiudicato of GalluraThe 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...
, 10 curatoriae - Giudicato of Logudoro (also known as TorresPorto TorresPorto Torres is a comune and city in northern Sardinia, in the Province of Sassari.It is situated on the north coast about 25 km east of the Gorditanian promontory , and on the spacious bay of the Gulf of Asinara.-History:...
), 20 curatoriae
In the early thirteenth century, three of the giudicati successively passed to women by inheritance: Gallura to Elena
Elena of Gallura
Elena was the daughter and successor of Barisone II of Gallura and was named after her mother of the Lacon family. She ruled Gallura from the death of her father until her own death, though she was eclipsed by her husband after 1207....
in 1203, Cagliari to 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....
in 1214, and Logudoro to Adelasia
Adelasia of Torres
Adelasia , eldest child of Marianus II of Logudoro by Agnes of Massa, daughter of William I of Cagliari, and successor of her brother, Barisone III, in 1236, was the Judge of Logudoro from 1236 and Judge of Gallura from 1238....
in 1232. By the end of the century, three giudicati had fallen to either 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...
or 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....
: Cagliari in 1258 to Pisa, Logudoro in 1259 to powerful Genoese families of merchants (most notably the Dorias), and Gallura in 1288 to Pisa, although the latter was disputed until the early fourteenth century. In the fourteenth century the territories conquered by Pisa were seized by 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...
. The Genoese who had taken possession of parts of Sardinia also clashed with the Aragonese expansion.
The giudicato of Arborea survived much longer compared to the other giudicati and greatly expanded its territory in the fourteenth century, reaching its peak under Marianus IV the Great
Marianus IV of Arborea
Marianus IV , called the Great, was the Giudice of Arborea from 1347 to his death. He was, as his nickname indicates, the greatest sovereign of Arborea. He was a legislator and a warrior whose reign saw the commencement of massive codification of the laws of his realm and incessant warfare with the...
and Eleanor
Eleanor of Arborea
Eleanor ; 1347 – 1404) was the giudicessa of Arborea from 1383 to her death. She was one of the last — and most powerful and significant — Sardinian judges; as well as the island's most renowned heroine....
, its heroine. The expansion of Arborea led to clashes with Aragon, which desired the mineral resources of the island and command of the sea routes of the western Mediterranean. The war between Arborea and Aragon was fought on and off for more than 100 years. During this time the rulers of Arborea developed the ambition to unite all of Sardinia under their rule and create an independent Sardinian state. This ambition is given voice in the frequent references to the Republica Sardisca ("Sardinian Republic") in official Arborean documents (notably the Carta de Logu
Carta de Logu
The Carta de Logu was legal code of the Giudicato of Arborea promulgated by the giudicessa Eleanor in 1392. It was in force in Sardinia until it was superseded by the code of Charles Felix in April 1827....
).
Arborea lost the war against Aragon through defeat in the Battle of Sanluri
Battle of Sanluri
The Battle of Sanluri was fought on June 30, 1409 between the armies of the Giudicato of Arborea and the Catalan-Sicilian army of King Martin I of Sicily....
in 1409 and the loss of the capital Oristano
Oristano
Oristano is a town and comune, capital of the Province of Oristano, on the island of Sardinia, Italy. It has approximately 32,500 inhabitants.Its economy is mainly based on fishing, agriculture and, to a certain extent, tourism.-History:...
in 1410. After some years during which Arborean rulers failed to organise a successful resurgence, they sold the giudicato to the Crown of Aragon in 1420.
Sources
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- Ghisalberti, Alberto M. (ed). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: I Aaron – Albertucci. RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, 1960. - Ghisalberti, Alberto M. (ed). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: VI Baratteri – Bartolozzi. RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
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