Eleanor of Arborea or Eleanor De Serra Bas (
Sardinian: Elianora de Arbarée / Elianora De Serra Bas,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
: Eleonora d'Arborea / Eleonora De Serra Bas; 1347— June 1404) was one of the most powerful and important, and one of the last,
judges
A judge is an official who presides over a court.
Judge or Judges may also refer to:
Roles
*Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc.
*Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a membe ...
of the
Judgedom of Arborea in
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
, and Sardinia's most famous heroine. She is also known for updating of the
Carta de Logu, promulgated by her father
Marianus IV and revisited by her brother
Hugh III.
First Years
Eleanor was born in
Molins de Rei
Molins de Rei () or Molins de Rey in Spanish is a municipality located 18 km from Barcelona's city centre, in the ''comarca'' of Baix Llobregat in Catalonia, Spain.
It is situated on the left bank of the Llobregat river, on the A-7 ''au ...
(
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
,
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of B ...
), around 1347, from
Marianus IV De Serra Bas,
judge of Arborea
The Kings or ''Judges'' (from the Latin language, Latin ''iudices'' and the Sardinian language, Sardinian ', "judges," the title of the Byzantine officials left behind when Imperial power receded in the West) of the Kingdom of Arborea, Arborea ...
, and Timbora of Roccaberti, a catalan noble. Sibling to Hugh and Beatrix of Arborea, she lived her first years in
Oristano
Oristano (; sc, Aristanis ) is an Italian city and ''comune'', and capital of the Province of Oristano in the central-western part of the island of Sardinia. It is located on the northern part of the Campidano plain. It was established as the pr ...
, at the
castle of Goceano. At the heirless death of
Peter III of Arborea
Peter III, of the Cappai de Bas family, was the Judge of Arborea, reigning from 1335 CE until his death in 1347 CE. He was the son and successor of Hugh II assumed the throne on his father's death.
Peter married Constance (died 18 February 1348 ...
, the
Corona de Logu
The Crown of the Realm ( Sardinian: ''Corona de Logu'') was a political institution in Sardinia that acted as legislature during Sardinia's Judicates era.
It was made up of the ''majorales'' (or "wise men") of each region, including the '' curado ...
of the
Judgedom (an assembly of notables, prelates, city and village officials), elected Eleanor's father
Marianus IV, Peter's brother, who ruled the Judgedom between 1347 and 1376.
Dynastic relations
Before 1376, Eleanor married the forty-year-old
Brancaleone Doria
Brancaleone Doria was the husband of Eleanor of Arborea. He was a scion of an influential family (the Doria) of the Republic of Genoa, the son of the elder Brancaleone and a woman named Giacomina. On 16 March 1357, he became a vassal of Peter IV ...
, from an influent Genoan house. The marriage was designated to be part of the designed alliance between the houses of
Arborea
Arborea is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Oristano, Sardinia, Italy, whose economy is largely based on agriculture and cattle breeding with production of vegetables, rice, fruit and milk (notably the local milk product Arborea).
Histo ...
and
Doria
Doria or Dória may refer to:
People Surname
* Doria (family), a prominent Genoese family
** Andrea Doria (1466–1560), Genoese admiral
** Ansaldo Doria, 12th century Genoese statesman and commander
** Brancaleone Doria (died c. 1409?), husband ...
, the last of which already held lots of possessions on Sardinia in an anti-Aragonese function. After the marriage, she resided in Castelgenovese (modern-day
Castelsardo
Castelsardo ( sdc, Castheddu; sc, Casteddu Sardu) is a town and ''comune'' in Sardinia, Italy, located in the northwest of the island within the Province of Sassari, at the east end of the Gulf of Asinara.
History
Archaeological excavations have ...
), where she gave birth to her sons
Fredrick and
Marianus Marianus is a male name, formerly an Ancient Roman family name, derived from Marius. Marianus may refer to:
*Marianus of Auxerre (died 462 or 473), French monk and saint
* Marianus Scotus of Mainz (1028–1082 or -83), otherwise Máel Brigte (Devo ...
.
It now seems certain that in 1382 Eleanor gave a loan of 4,000 gold florins to
Nicolò Guarco
Nicolò Guarco (c.1325 in Parodi – c.1385 in Lerici) was a Genoese statesman who became the 7th doge of the Republic of Genoa and led the Republic through the War of Chioggia against Venice.
Early life
Son of a merchant, Nicolò appears first ...
, doge of the
Republic of Genoa
The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the Lat ...
, and that the latter for his part undertook to repay the sum within ten years; otherwise, he would have paid double. Accessory the condition was signed that, if in the meantime
Fredrick (Eleonora's eldest son) had reached puberty, the daughter of Doge Bianchina would have had to marry him and, in the event that this marriage could not be celebrated (due to death or other fortuitous event), the act would have become null.
A similar loan to a powerful family of Genoa, and this clause of the contract, indicate a dynastic design by Eleonora who, by granting this credit, together kept the prestige of her lineage high and recognized the importance of the interests of the Ligurians. In addition, she laid the foundations for an alliance that would allow her to have recourse to logistical and connection resources (through the powerful Dorian fleet) in most of the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
ports. In essence, she entered the game of European politics on an equal footing.
The murder in 1383 of
Marianus IV's brother
Hugh III and his daughter Benedetta immediately posed problems of succession. This sudden and violent death could have various reasons and could benefit various interests. The claimants to the
Arborean throne were the children of the late judge's sisters, Beatrix and Eleanor. But Beatrix had died in
1377 and her heir was way too far away. Eleanor, closer and more present than her, worked hard to ensure the election by the
Corona de Logu
The Crown of the Realm ( Sardinian: ''Corona de Logu'') was a political institution in Sardinia that acted as legislature during Sardinia's Judicates era.
It was made up of the ''majorales'' (or "wise men") of each region, including the '' curado ...
of her very young son. Recent studies, based on a letter from
Aimery VI of Narbonne
Aimery VI (died 1388), Viscount of Narbonne and Lord of Puisserguier, was a 14th-century French noble. He was an Admiral of France
Admiral of France (french: Amiral de France) is a French title of honour. It is the naval equivalent of Marshal ...
, husband of Beatrix, to King
Peter IV of Aragon
Peter IV, ; an, Pero, ; es, Pedro, . In Catalan, he may also be nicknamed ''el del punyalet'': "he of the little dagger". (Catalan: ''Pere IV''; 5 September 1319 – 6 January 1387), called the Ceremonious (Catalan: ''el Cerimoniós''), w ...
, in which he claimed the Arborean throne for his son
William II, immediately after the death of
Hugh III), ascertain that Eleanor was the third child of Marianus and Timbora.
The external reasons for the murder were those of the
Aragonese and the enemies of Arborea, the internal ones could be identified in the discontent of the classes of owners and merchants, in reaction to the authoritarian attitude of
Hugh III and for the vexatious contributions (necessary to keep the German mercenaries, Provencal and Burgundian).
Succession to the judgedom of Arborea
In this climate of crisis and discontent, with
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...
already openly willing to conquer the entire island, in
1383 Eleanor wrote a report to the king on the conditions of Sardinia and asked him to recognize her son
Fredrick as the legitimate successor of
Hugh
Hugh may refer to:
*Hugh (given name)
Noblemen and clergy French
* Hugh the Great (died 956), Duke of the Franks
* Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France under his father, Robert II
* Hugh, Duke of Alsace (died 895), modern-day ...
. She then sent her husband
Brancaleone to deal directly with the sovereign. At the same time she sent a letter to the queen, asking her to intercede with her spouse in favor of her son so that she could end the disorder that reigned on the island.
Eleanor intended to reunite in the hands of her son those two thirds of Sardinia that
Hugh
Hugh may refer to:
*Hugh (given name)
Noblemen and clergy French
* Hugh the Great (died 956), Duke of the Franks
* Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France under his father, Robert II
* Hugh, Duke of Alsace (died 895), modern-day ...
, before his death, had occupied. This design made the aragonese sovereign suspicious, who did not consider it convenient to have such a powerful family in his kingdom, especially since there was no direct male heir to
Hugh
Hugh may refer to:
*Hugh (given name)
Noblemen and clergy French
* Hugh the Great (died 956), Duke of the Franks
* Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France under his father, Robert II
* Hugh, Duke of Alsace (died 895), modern-day ...
, those possessions, ''"iuxta morem italicum"'', should have been forfeited by the tax authorities.
Brancaleone was detained under the pretext of having him return to
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
as soon as a fleet was set up, but he had actually become a real hostage (and instrument of pressure against the rebellious judgess).
Eleanor did not lose heart and confirmed her war policy: she took action and as soon as she returned to
Oristano
Oristano (; sc, Aristanis ) is an Italian city and ''comune'', and capital of the Province of Oristano in the central-western part of the island of Sardinia. It is located on the northern part of the Campidano plain. It was established as the pr ...
, she punished the conspirators and proclaimed herself
Judgess of Arborea according to the provisions dictated by her grandfather
Hugh II, for which women could succeed to the throne in the absence of male heirs. In practice, the elective praxis was the opposite of the
royal fiefdom and was at variance with the Aragonese political line. The Arboreas instead recalled their ancient autonomy of early medieval origin and the right to exercise full sovereignty in their territories, a situation often contested or not recognized by the
crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of B ...
.
Eleonora was in fact very worried because even her brother-in-law
Aimeriy VI de Narbonne (1341-1388), widower of her sister Beatrix, had worked with
King Peter IV of Aragon to convince him to recognize his son William I as
judge of Arborea
The Kings or ''Judges'' (from the Latin language, Latin ''iudices'' and the Sardinian language, Sardinian ', "judges," the title of the Byzantine officials left behind when Imperial power receded in the West) of the Kingdom of Arborea, Arborea ...
(1388 -97).
The reason that the viscount Aymeric brought forward consisted in the decisive fact that his wife, Beatrix, was the second child of
Marianus IV and Timbora di Roccaberti, after
Hugh III and therefore before Eleanor. Her succession therefore belonged to the Narbonne-de Serra Bas branch, as mentioned and documented above: the fact that she gave her the name of Timbora's mother, Beatrix, is also further proof.
Finally, the
Aragonese monarch decided that his nephew
Fredrick, eldest son of Eleanor (who would hold the regency) and
Brancaleone Doria
Brancaleone Doria was the husband of Eleanor of Arborea. He was a scion of an influential family (the Doria) of the Republic of Genoa, the son of the elder Brancaleone and a woman named Giacomina. On 16 March 1357, he became a vassal of Peter IV ...
(whom he imprisoned), would take over from the murdered sovereign of
Arborea
Arborea is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Oristano, Sardinia, Italy, whose economy is largely based on agriculture and cattle breeding with production of vegetables, rice, fruit and milk (notably the local milk product Arborea).
Histo ...
.
Political life and death
With regard to politics, practices and guidelines of government, the court, therefore, linked directly to the experience of her father, definitively abandoning the authoritarian policy of her brother
Hugh III, guaranteed the defense of the sovereignty and territorial boundaries of the judgedom and he carried out a work of reorganization and definitive arrangement of the local legal systems and institutions, revising the
Carta de Logu promulgated by her father at the time.
Eleanor never showed the
absolutist vision of the lord at the top of an
oligarchy
Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...
and far from the reasons of the people, but rather that of those who believe they have their own
legitimacy to reign among the people. For political reasons, the same rights to succession were contested, given the pretext that the Arborea were "bastard" sons, but the dynastic reasons seemed to have less value for her than popular legitimacy and, if anything, would have been valid for that part of the territories received by the king in a personal capacity and not for those who were part of the proper judgedom.
The interests of the Judgess were tied to those of the State with a
Gordian knot
The Gordian Knot is an Ancient Greek legend of Phrygian Gordium associated with Alexander the Great who is said to have cut the knot in 333 BC. It is often used as a metaphor for an intractable problem (untying an impossibly tangled knot) sol ...
and it was always her who brought back the law and order to put a stop to the spread of Sardinian violence during the war. The rules, the laws guaranteed peace, that is, in the order in time, for the future.
The control of power was a vital point for Eleanor, the choice between life and death. After having managed to complete her father's project of reuniting almost the whole island under her scepter of ruling judgess, keeping the Aragonese troops in check and driving back to the edge of the island (in some fortresses on the coast), she saw her project collapse following an unpredictable unknown fate: the
plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
, which practically handed over
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
to the
Aragonese without fighting. In recent years Eleanor took a little apart from her active politics, leaving it to her husband and her young son
Marianus V, who had succeeded his brother
Fredrick. According to tradition, the Judgess died around 1404, perhaps of plague, in an unspecified place: even on her grave one can only make assumptions.
The Carta de Logu
One of the most notable actions carried out by Eleanor during her judgedom was the updating of the
Carta de Logu, promulgated at the time by her father and revised by her brother, with which she gave a stable and lasting arrangement to the legal systems and institutions of the judgedom. In the Charter there is the openness to modernity of certain norms and the juridical wisdom that contains elements of the Roman-canonical tradition, of the Byzantine one, of
Bolognese jurisprudence and of the thought of the glossators of the Catalan curial culture itself, above all of the
local juridical elaboration of the Sardinian customs carried out by Sardinian municipal law.
The
judges of Arborea, in reacting to the attempts of Aragonese
fiefdom
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form o ...
, issued a new juridical discipline in their territories, which were nevertheless in a state of perennial political turmoil. This legislation stood out as the component of a broader policy aimed at the development of the arborean judgedom and was clearly more advanced than the other european legal and administrative legislations of the time.
Eleanor demonstrated with her regency that she wanted to get out of the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
by also focusing on the liberation of the
serfs
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...
, the lieros, and that she wanted to use those made up of her fellow citizens in her own national-type struggle, in addition to the mercenary troops.
This is the period in which the concept of territorial
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
is about to change into a statal one, with the island divided into various sovereign political entities. The four judgedoms of
Calari/Saint Illa,
Torres/Logudoro,
Gallura
Gallura ( sdn, Gaddura or ; sc, Caddura ) is a region in North-Eastern Sardinia, Italy.
The name ''Gallùra'' is allegedly supposed to mean "stony area".
Geography
Gallùra has a surface of and it is situated between 40°55'20"64 latitude ...
and
Arborea
Arborea is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Oristano, Sardinia, Italy, whose economy is largely based on agriculture and cattle breeding with production of vegetables, rice, fruit and milk (notably the local milk product Arborea).
Histo ...
are complex singular institutional constructions. Rather than from pre-existing elements, they seem to originate from the "ability of the Sardinians, free from foreign domination to self-manage" through complex forms such as those of the curatorial system, the assembly administration of the
coronas de logu.
The royal judicial prerogatives, which are not found in any continental territory of Byzantine or barbarian formation, have such a connotation as to remove the importance of the matrix of origin and make it an original government organization. Like all central states, the Arborea always had to fight not to succumb to the pressures of neighboring states.
Tributes
The scholar
Francesco Cesare Casula
Francesco Cesare Casula (born 12 September 1933) is a Sardinian historian from Italy.
Biography
Born in Livorno, Casula lived there until 1949 when, because of his father's death caused by an Allied bombardment of the city, his entire family ...
identified, in the church of
San Gavino Monreale
San Gavino Monreale ( Sardinian: Santu ‘Engiu) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of South Sardinia in the Italian region Sardinia, located about northwest of Cagliari, and roughly halfway between the latter and the town of Oristano ...
, a few miles from the castle of Monreale in
Sardara
Sardara, Sàrdara in the Sardinian language, is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of South Sardinia in the Italian region Sardinia, located about northwest of Cagliari and about northwest of Sanluri.
Located in the Campidano plain, ...
, the high
reliefs
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...
representing the only contemporary portraits of Eleanor, Marianus IV, Ugone III and Brancaleone Doria.
[Giuseppe Spiga, ''Guide to the "Pantheon" of the Arborea in San Gavino Monreale'', pg. 34, Carlo Delfino, Sassari 1992.]
There is a statue of Eleanor in the Piazza Eleonora in
Oristano
Oristano (; sc, Aristanis ) is an Italian city and ''comune'', and capital of the Province of Oristano in the central-western part of the island of Sardinia. It is located on the northern part of the Campidano plain. It was established as the pr ...
.
See also
*
Brancaleone Doria
Brancaleone Doria was the husband of Eleanor of Arborea. He was a scion of an influential family (the Doria) of the Republic of Genoa, the son of the elder Brancaleone and a woman named Giacomina. On 16 March 1357, he became a vassal of Peter IV ...
*
Giudicato of Arborea
The Judicate of Arborea ( sc, Judicadu de Arbaree, it, Giudicato di 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 ...
*
Marianus IV of Arborea
References
Further reading
*Caravale, Mario (ed). ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani LXII Dugoni – Enza''. Rome, 1993.
*Carta de Logu 15th century
Incunable
In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pr ...
. http://www.sardegnacultura.it/documenti/7_88_20070215114729.pdf
*Lupinu, Giovanni. Carta de Logu dell'Arborea, Nuova edizione critica secondo il manoscritto di Cagliari. Centro di Studi Filologici Sardi. 2010.
*Manno, Giuseppe (1835).
Storia di Sardegna'. P.M. Visaj.
*Mearns, Barbara and Richard. ''Biographies for Birdwatchers''.
*
*Pitzorno, Bianca, ''Vita di Eleonora d'Arborea'', Mondadori,
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
2010.
External links
Queens of Italy-Women in Power in Medieval Italy: ELEANOR of ARBOREA
{{Authority control
1347 births
1404 deaths
People from Molins de Rei
14th-century women rulers
Italian untitled nobility
Judges (judikes) of Arborea
Queens regnant in Sardinia
Women in medieval European warfare
15th-century women rulers
Women in 14th-century warfare
14th-century Italian women
14th-century Italian nobility
15th-century Italian women
15th-century Italian nobility
Women in war in Italy