Kingdom of Cagliari

Who rules

Name

William of Massa (Guglielmo di Massa), reigning under the dynastic name Salusio IV

Title

Judge (giudice, Latin iudex) of Cagliari, styled king in his own documents

Since

1187, when a Pisan intervention drove out Judge Peter (Torchitorio III) and the Genoese; attested as judge, with the name Salusio, in 1190

Born

About 1160, place unknown

Family

The Obertenghi marquises of Massa: son of the marquis Oberto, son of Alberto Corso; through his mother Giorgia, daughter of Judge Constantine (Salusio III), heir of the old Lacon-Gunale judges of Cagliari

Confidence

high

DBI life of Guglielmo di Massa (the fullest modern account); en.wikipedia and it.wikipedia agree on the outline but differ on several years (see notes_discrepancy).

Overlord

Claimed several ways: Innocent III treats the Sardinian judges as holding of the Holy See (by 1213 he calls William a vassal of the Roman Church for his Sardinian lands); the archbishop of Pisa is primate and legate (primacy confirmed March 1198); the commune of Pisa claims him as its sworn citizen; the old imperial grant of Sardinia to Pisa (1165) lies behind Pisa's claim.

What the realm holds

• The kingdom of Cagliari, sixteen districts (curatorie) by the later lists: Campidano of Cagliari, Dolia, Nuraminis, Decimo, Gippi, Cixerri, Sulcis, Nora, Sarrabus, Colostrai, Quirra, Gerrei, Siurgus, Trexenta, Barbagia of Seulo and Ogliastra
• Santa Igia, the capital on the Santa Gilla lagoon, with the judge's palace, the archbishop's cathedral and the harbour; walled after the Genoese raid of 1196
• The salt pans and fisheries of the Santa Gilla and Molentargius lagoons
• Castles of the kingdom (dates of first mention mostly later and not pinned for 1200): Acquafredda (Siliqua), Sassai (Silius), Medusa (Lotzorai), Tissili (Ulassai), Monte Oladiri (Monastir), La Rosa (Gairo), Osini
• Control of Arborea's main fortresses and of its captive judge Peter and his son (see Cagliari in Arborea)
• By the DBI's chronology, custody of the widow and the child heir of Gallura (see Gallura)

Allies and rivals

Allies: Pisa, Archbishop Ubaldo, his Malaspina in-laws; now Comita of Torres by treaty and Hugh of Bas by private pact. Rivals: Genoa; the pope, who protects Arborea and Gallura; Comita, who complains of him at Rome.

The realm that morning

On 1 January 1200 William rules Cagliari securely from Santa Igia, holds Arborea's main fortresses and its judge Peter and Peter's son as prisoners, has bought Hugh of Bas with a marriage pact, and is at peace with Torres. By the DBI he also holds the widow and daughter of the late judge of Gallura and has pledged the girl to William Malaspina. No Genoese force is on the island. He is the strongest power in Sardinia that morning.

Wealth

Grain of the Campidano, salt of the lagoons, cheese, hides and livestock, the fisheries; the Pisan trade through Santa Igia. The silver of the Iglesiente hills is worked on a large scale only later in the century under the Gherardesca (not pinned for 1200).

Military

The levy of the districts and the judge's household; Pisan help in men and ships. Record: victorious on land in Torres and Arborea in 1194-1195; beaten by Genoese reinforcements on his own coast in 1196.

Threats

• Innocent III's anger over Arborea, Gallura and the captives: a hard letter early in 1200 and a summons to Rome late in 1200
• Genoa and its friends (Hugh of Bas until the pact; Torres by tradition)
• Comita of Torres's complaints
• Pisa's own factions, which may want Sardinia for themselves (the Visconti in Gallura from 1207 and at Santa Igia in 1215)

Consort

Not pinned for 1 January 1200. His first wife was Adalasia, daughter of the marquis Moroello Malaspina, who died at a date not known; his second wife was Guisiana, daughter of Count Guido Guerra III of the Guidi, who is present by the agreement of 30 October 1206 (English Wikipedia puts the marriage about 1207). Whether Adalasia is still alive that morning is not known.

Heirs and children

No son. Daughters, birth years not pinned and the mother of each not settled: Benedetta, the eldest and heir (judge from 1214); Agnese, promised to Mariano, son of Comita of Torres, in the peace made with Comita (about 1199); Preziosa, promised to Hugh of Bas with half of Arborea as her dowry, in a private pact made before early 1200 (married 1206). All three are children on 1 January 1200 or very young.

Kin

His mother Giorgia is alive (she founds a hospital near Massa in 1210). His father Oberto probably governed Cagliari for him while he was on the Third Crusade (1189-1192) [it.wikipedia, 'probably']; whether Oberto is alive in 1200 is not pinned. In the Lunigiana the castle of Massa is held by other members of his family until he takes it in 1213 (that ground is on the Northern Italy map). His brother-in-law is the marquis William Malaspina (see William Malaspina).

Officers and household

The judge rules with the crown council of the realm (Corona de Logu) and the archbishop of Cagliari (a Church map record). Each district (curatoria) is run by a curator (curatore) who keeps the judge's court, levies and dues there; the judge's own estates are worked by the dependants of the royal domain. No officer's name is pinned for 1199-1200.

Great vassals

Sardinia has no fiefs in the French sense in 1200. The judge's great men are the curators of the districts and the leading landowning lineages (the Lacon, the Gunale, the de Kerki and others), whose holders in 1199-1200 are not pinned. No house of the Templars or the Hospitallers holding land in the kingdom is pinned for 1200.

Pisan and genoese families

No Pisan family holds land in Cagliari that morning. The Visconti of Pisa have a claim: Lamberto Visconti's mother was a daughter of the deposed Judge Peter (Torchitorio III) (it.wikipedia), a right they press when they seize Santa Igia's hill in 1215. The della Gherardesca come to the Sulcis and the Iglesiente only after 1257-1258. Peter (Torchitorio III), driven out in 1187 (English Wikipedia says captured in 1188), is not pinned as alive or dead in 1200.

Castles and towns

Santa Igia (capital); the old Roman ports of Nora (Pula) and Sulcis (Sant'Antioco); the villages of the Campidano; the castles listed above. The Pisan Castel di Castro on the hill above Santa Igia is not yet built: Pisa takes the hill in 1215 and builds the castle in 1216-1217.

Islands

Sant'Antioco, joined to the mainland by an ancient causeway, with the old town of Sulcis and its shrine (see Sulcis); San Pietro across the strait, uninhabited in 1200 (Carloforte is an eighteenth-century foundation) [inference for 1200].

Ports

Santa Igia's harbour on the lagoon and the gulf of Cagliari; the Sulcis anchorages at Sant'Antioco and Palmas; Tortolì in the Ogliastra; the Sarrabus coast.

Mints salt tolls

No mint of its own: Pisan and Genoese pennies circulate [fair]. Salt from the lagoons, port dues and the judge's share of grain, hides and cheese are the revenue.

Treaties in force

• Oath of fealty to Archbishop Ubaldo of Pisa as papal legate (about 1196); English Wikipedia calls it an oath to Pisa
• Peace with Comita of Torres (made soon after December 1198), sealed by the betrothal of William's daughter Agnese to Comita's son Mariano
• A private pact with Hugh of Bas, co-judge of Arborea, made before early 1200 and without the pope's knowledge: Hugh to marry William's daughter Preziosa and have half of Arborea as her dowry, William keeping the main fortresses

Wars and feuds

No open war that morning on the island. The quarrel with Genoa is unreconciled (the Genoese landing of 1196); Comita of Torres has made peace but accuses William before the pope; Arborea is held by force; the pope's inquiry of August 1198 into William's conduct is pending.

Side

Pisa's party in Sardinia; a Pisan citizen. Opposed to Genoa. Suspect at Rome.

Coinage

Pisan pennies [fair].

Host and fleet

The levy of the free men of the districts and the judge's household riders; in his wars of the 1190s he took the Goceano, Oristano and the Arborean castles. No fleet of his own is recorded: his sea power is Pisa's.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. Early 1200 (probably the first months; DBI)Innocent III writes William a hard letter: he condemns the move on Gallura, the capture and imprisonment of Constantine of Torres's wife and of Judge Peter of Arborea, and the private pact with Hugh of Bas; William's request that the pope approve his rule over Arborea is refused (English Wikipedia: Innocent has already agreed in secret with Hugh to leave Peter's half and the fortresses in Hugh's hands).Depends on: The pope's inquiry of August 1198 reporting against William; William still holding the captives. Stopped by: William releasing Peter and the Gallurese women first, or a settlement brokered by Archbishop Ubaldo.
2. Late 1200 (November or December; the year is not certain)Innocent summons William and Comita of Torres to Rome; the Pisans refuse to let William, a Pisan citizen, answer before a foreign court.Depends on: Comita pressing his complaint; Pisa insisting on judging its own citizens. Stopped by: A peace between the two judges, or William going to Rome.
3. Beyond 1200: summer 1203Under pressure from the new archbishop of Torres, Biagio, William takes the administration of Gallura away from William Malaspina (papal letter of 15 September 1203).Depends on: The DBI chronology of the Gallura succession. Stopped by: William defying the pope.
4. Beyond 1200: July 1204 and 30 October 1206William frees Barisone, son of Peter of Arborea, who will marry Benedetta; then he renews the pact with Hugh of Bas, fixes the bounds of Arborea and takes part of the north-eastern Marmilla, and Hugh marries Preziosa.

Where the sources disagree

• Date of the Genoese landing that wrecked Santa Igia: 1196 in the DBI and it.wikipedia; 'about 1198' in the Northern Italy map records Pisa and Genoa (following English Wikipedia). We follow the DBI.
• Date of Peter of Arborea's capture: after March 1195 in the DBI and it.wikipedia; 1198 in English Wikipedia's life of Peter. Either way he is William's prisoner on 1 January 1200.
• The oath of about 1196: to Archbishop Ubaldo as legate (DBI) or to Pisa (English Wikipedia).
• campaign notes (Part 6 E): Ubaldo's primacy over Cagliari, Torres and Arborea confirmed March 1198. The DBI agrees that Innocent confirmed Ubaldo's primacy and his legation soon after his accession.

Evidence: William's career is well documented through papal letters and Pisan and Genoese records, but several years in the 1190s are reconstructed differently by different authors.

On the map: The district boundaries come from later medieval lists; the line with Arborea is approximate in the Marmilla, the Parte Valenza and the Barbagias.

Primary sources for this realm

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
• Annals of Pisa, by Bernardo Maragone, with continuation, Bernardo Maragone (1160s to 1175, continued to 1192). Pisa's official annals stop in 1175 and their continuation in 1192, so there is no Pisan narrative for 1200 itself. Read online
• The register of San Pietro di Silki (11th to 13th centuries). A monastic register of lands, serfs, gifts and lawsuits in the giudicato of Torres (Logudoro), written in the vernacular.