Ugolino della Gherardesca, Count of Donoratico, was an Italian nobleman, politician and naval commander. He was frequently accused of treason and features prominently in Dante's Divine Comedy.
The Judicate of Arborea was one of the four independent judicates into which the island of Sardinia was divided in the Middle Ages. It occupied the central-west portion of the island, wedged between Logudoro to the north and east, Cagliari to the south and east, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. To the north east and beyond Logudoro was located Gallura, with which Arborea had far less interaction. Arborea outlasted her neighbours, surviving well into the 15th century. The earliest known judicial seat was Tharros. Kingdom of Arborea at the times of its maximum expansion occupied the whole island's territory, except the cities of Alghero and Cagliari.
Comita III was the giudice of Logudoro, with its capital at Torres, from 1198 until 1218. He was the youngest of four sons of Barisone II of Torres and Preziosa de Orrubu. He ruled at a time when the great families, usually foreign, were superseding the giudici in power and influence on Sardinia.
William I, regnal name Salusio IV, was the Giudice of Cagliari, or high Judge, from 1188 to his death. His descendants and those of his immediate competitors intermarried to form the backbone of the Italian Aristocracy, and ultimately their descendants in the Medici clan are precursors to, and definers of later royalty and claims thereto.
The Judicate of Cagliari was one of the four Sardinian judicates of the Middle Ages, kingdoms of Byzantine origins.
Ugolino Visconti, better known as Nino, was the Giudice of Gallura from 1275 or 1276 to his death. He was a son of Giovanni Visconti and nephew of Ugolino della Gherardesca. He was the first husband of Beatrice, daughter of Obizzo II d'Este. His symbol was a cock.
Torchitorio V, born John and known as Chiano or Chianni, was the Giudice (Judge) of Cagliari from 1250 to his death. His reign was brief but transformative in the history of Sardinia.
Ubaldo II Visconti, son of Lamberto di Eldizio and Elena de Lacon, was the Judge of Gallura from 1225 to his death in 1238. He ruled every giudicato on the island of Sardinia at one point or another save Arborea.
Adelasia (1207–1259), 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.
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.
JohnVisconti was the Judge of Gallura from 1238 to his death. He was a member of the Visconti dynasty of Pisa.
William II Salusio V was the Judge of Cagliari from 1232 to his death. His Christian name was William, but his regnal name was Salusio, based on ancient Cagliaritan traditions which alternated their rulers between the forenames Torchitorio and Salusio. He would have been called Salusio in official documents, though he is known historically as William, after his grandfather, William I.
Marianus II was the Judge of Logudoro from 1218 until his death. He was an ally of the Republic of Genoa and enemy of Pisa.
William III, of the House of Massa, was the last Judge of Cagliari, ruling under the name Salusio VI from 1256 to his deposition in 1258. He is known also known as Guglielmo Cepolla or Cipolla.
Torchitorio III, born Peter, was the Judge of Cagliari from October 1163 to his deposition and arrest in 1188, after which he was never heard of again.
The Gherardeschi or della Gherardesca were a family of Longobard origin, dating back as early as the 11th century. They were an important one of the most prominent initially in Pistoia and Mugello, then of Volterra and eventually of Pisa and Firenze. They were of Ghibelline sympathies and held the county of Donoratico.
William of Capraia was the regent for Marianus II of Arborea from 1241 until his death, being entitled "Judge" from 1250 on.
Marianus II was the Giudice of Arborea from 1241 to his death. With skilled military action, he came to control more than half of the island of Sardinia. By his control of the vast central plains and the rich deposits of precious metals, he increased the riches of his giudicato and staved off the general economic decline affecting the rest of Europe at the time.
John, nicknamed Chiano, was the Giudice of Arborea from 1297 to his death.
The Aragonese conquest of Sardinia took place between 1323 and 1326. The island of Sardinia was at the time subject to the influence of the Republic of Pisa, the pisan della Gherardesca family, Genoa and of the genoese families of Doria and the Malaspina; the only native political entity survived was the Judicate of Arborea, allied with the Crown of Aragon. The financial difficulties due to the wars in Sicily, the conflict with the Crown of Castile in the land of Murcia and Alicante (1296-1304) and the failed attempt to conquer Almeria (1309) explain the delay of James II of Aragon in bringing the conquest of Sardinia, enfeoffed to him by Pope Boniface VIII in 1297.