The great lineage of the Pumonte, the south-western half of Corsica beyond the mountain spine, named from the castle of Cinarca above the lower Liamone, near Sari-d'Orcino, where the church of San Giovanni was the mother church of the Cinarca district (pieve) in the twelfth century.
The chronicle tradition makes them overlords of almost the whole south and west, with kinsmen holding the castles of the valleys (later the Istria, della Rocca and Leca branches), and the Biancolacci of the far south round Carbini as their rivals. None of this can be pinned to 1200: no Cinarca lord's name or castle is securely dated before Sinucello's father in the early thirteenth century.
Who he is
- Name
- Not pinned for 1200. The chronicle line runs Cinarco, Oliviero, Rinaldo, Guglielmo, Forte, Antonio, without dates; Sinucello della Rocca (born 1221) was son of a Guglielmo of Cinarca
- Title
- Counts or lords of Cinarca
- Family
- The Cinarca lineage, which the fifteenth-century chronicler Giovanni della Grossa derives from a legendary Count Ugo Colonna; the lords beyond the mountains all took the name Cinarchesi
- Confidence
- low
fr.wikipedia (Cinarca; Giovanni della Grossa) and it.wikipedia (Sinucello della Rocca)
Overlord
Pisa claims the overlordship of Corsica; the Cinarca lords are Pisa's men in the thirteenth century (Sinucello was made count by Pisa); their oath in 1200 is not pinned.
What it holds
- The castle and district (pieve) of Cinarca: the lower Liamone and the Liscia valley
- Claimed leadership of the lords beyond the mountains (Pumonte), as the chronicle tradition has it [thin]
How it was acquired
Inheritance (legendary origins).
Allies and rivals
Rivals: the Biancolacci of the far south (chronicle tradition); Genoa at Bonifacio. Pisa's friends in the next century.
How things stand that morning
Not pinned. The Cinarca district is theirs; how far their lordship reaches in the south-west that winter is unknown.
Wealth
Flocks, chestnuts, the valleys' dues.
Military
Castle garrisons and kin following; no figures.
Threats
- Genoese pressure from Bonifacio
- Feuds within the lineage
Places of note
- Castle of Cinarca: Seat of the lineage; San Giovanni of Cinarca, the district's mother church (twelfth century)
- Carbini: Seat of the rival Biancolacci in the chronicle tradition
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Known from Giovanni della Grossa's fifteenth-century chronicle, which historians treat as legendary for the early period and thin for the twelfth century.
On the map: The Pumonte is approximated by the modern Corse-du-Sud less Bonifacio; the lineage's real reach in 1200 is unknown.
Primary sources for Corsica
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Annals of Genoa, by Caffaro and his continuators, with Ogerio Pane for 1197 to 1219, Ogerio Pane and the other official annalists of Genoa (year by year under the commune's authority; the 1197 to 1219 section by Ogerio Pane). The official record of the commune. Read online
Sources and studies
- Cinarca (fr.wikipedia), for the Cinarchesi in Giovanni della Grossa
- Giovanni della Grossa (fr.wikipedia)
- Sinucello della Rocca (it.wikipedia)
- Storia della Corsica (it.wikipedia)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.