Torchitorio de Zori (also spelled Torcotor(e)(io) or (T)(D)orgodorio, and also de Thori; died before 1113) is the earliest Judge of Gallura known with certainty and attested by contemporary sources. He lived in the late 11th century at a time when Sardinia was entering the wider Western European scene for the first time in centuries. Like his contemporary judges, he patronised Western monasticism.
His most enduring work was the building of a new church in Civita (modern Olbia), where he made his capital, in honour of Saint Simplicius, a sixth-century bishop and martyr of the city. Torchitorio also invited monks from Saint-Victor at Marseilles to come to Gallura in 1089, in imitation of his contemporary Torchitorio I of Cagliari. He granted the new monks four churches and they in turn opened up new lines of intellectual and economic interchange with Provence.
Sometime after 1092, [1] however, Torchitorio fell out with the church. Dagobert, Archbishop of Pisa and papal legate to the island, convoked a provincial synod at Porto Torres and declared Torthictorio excommunicate. The purpose of the anathema may have been less the result of the judge's vices, but more of his political support for the Emperor Henry IV and the Antipope Guibert. Evidence for this is suggested by the anathema pronounced on the entire province. Torchitorio's retainers reportedly denied him the kiss of peace and the brotherly salute. [2]
He was dead by 1113, when his widow, Paulesa (Padulesa) de Gunale, made a donation to S. Maria di Pisa. The evidence after his death is that Ittocorre de Gunale usurped the throne from his son Saltaro. The Gunale and Thori families were ancient enemies only kept at peace during the marriage of Torchitorio and Padulesa. He probably also left a daughter who married Constantine Spanu.
The Judicates, in English also referred to as Sardinian Kingdoms, Sardinian Judgedoms or Judicatures, were independent states that took power in Sardinia in the Middle Ages, between the ninth and fifteenth centuries. They were sovereign states with summa potestas, each with a ruler called judge, with the powers of a king.
The Judicate of Arborea or the Kingdom 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 northeast and beyond Logudoro was Gallura, with which Arborea had far less interaction. Arborea outlasted her neighbours, surviving well into the 15th century. At its greatest territorial extent it occupied the entire island except the cities of Alghero and Cagliari. The earliest known judicial seat was Tharros, though Oristano served as capital for most of its existence.
William I, royal name Salusio IV, was the judike of Cagliari, meaning "King", 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.
Gonario II was the giudice of the Sardinian kingdom of Logudoro from the death of his father in 1128 until his own abdication in 1154. He was a son of Constantine I and Marcusa de Gunale. He was born between 1113 and 1114 according to later sources and the Camaldolese church of S. Trinità di Saccargia was founded in his name by his parents on 16 December 1112, though it was not consecrated until 5 October 1116.
Constantine I was the giudice of Cagliari. He was the son of the giudice Orzocco Torchitorio and giudicessa Vera. In the eleventh century, the throne of Cagliari traditionally passed between the houses of Torchitorio de Ugunale and Salusio de Lacon. Constantine took the name Salusio II (de Lacon) upon his succession, in an attempt to unite the families. He appears in contemporary charters as rex et iudex Caralitanus: "King and Judge of Cagliari."
Constantine II was the giudice of Cagliari. He was called de Pluminus after his capital city.
Constantine I was the giudice of Logudoro. He was co-ruling by 1082 and sole ruler by 1113. His reign is usually said to have begun about 1112.
The Judicate of Cagliari was one of the four kingdoms or judicates into which Sardinia was divided during the Middle Ages.
The kings or judges of Cagliari were the local rulers of the south of Sardinia during the Middle Ages. Theirs was the largest kingdom and for the eleventh through twelfth centuries contested the supremacy on the island with that of Logudoro. It was often an ally of the Republic of Pisa and an early supporter of Western monasticism.
The Judicate of Gallura was one of four Sardinian judicates in the Middle Ages. These were independent states whose rulers bore the title iudex, judge. Gallura, a name which comes from gallus, meaning rooster (cock), was subdivided into ten curatoriae governed by curatores under the judge. In the 13th century, the arms of Gallura contained a rooster.
Orzocorre Torchitorio I was the Judge of Cagliari from about 1058 to his death. At his time, the throne was customarily alternated between the Torchitorio de Ugunale and Salusio de Lacon families. Obviously, Torchitorio was of the former.
Lamberto Visconti di Eldizio was the Judge of Gallura from 1206, when he married the heiress Elena, to his own death. He was a member of the Visconti family of Pisa and the first of that dynasty to rule in Sardinia, where they lasted in Gallura for almost another century.
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.
Ittocorre or Ottocorre was the Judge of Gallura early in the 12th century. He is first mentioned in a donation charter of Padules de Gunale, the widow of Torchitorio de Zori in 1112, from which it is inferred that he succeeded Torchitorio as judge around the start of the 12th century.
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.
The House of Gherardesca was an ancient Italian noble family of the Republic of Pisa, of Longobard origin. The family likely dates back as early as the 11th century.
Saltaro was the Judge of Gallura, located on the northeastern section of Sardinia, but the dates of his reign are unknown, as are his familial ties.
Torchitorio II, also known by his birth name as Marianus II and surnamed de Unali, was the Judge of Cagliari from circa 1102 to his death, but initially with opposition.
Orzocorre I was the Judge of Arborea from circa 1070 to circa 1100 and is the first ruler of Arborea about whom anything substantial is known. He was the founder of an Arborean dynasty which reigned until 1185. He succeeded Marianus I, about whose government nothing is known, though some presume that Orzocorre was his son. If true, this would make Orzocorre a member of the Thori family.
Torbeno or Turbino was briefly Judge of Cagliari after Constantine I for an unknown period between 1090, when Constantine last appears in the sources, and 1108, when Constantine's son Torchitorio II first appears as judge.