Everything about Eleanor Of Arborea totally explained
Eleanor (
Italian:
Eleonora;
1347 Molins de Rei,
Catalonia, –
1404) was the
giudicessa ("judge") of
Arborea from
1383 to her death. She was one of the last — and most powerful and significant — Sardinian judge; as well as the island's most renowned heroine.
Born in
Oristano, Eleanor was the daughter of
Marianus IV of Arborea, who had become in
1346 giudice of Arborea, on the west coast of
Sardinia, and his wife Timbora de Roccabertí. It has been said that their family, the
Cappai de Bas family, belonged to the
House of Visconti. The house of Arborea, whose power extended over about one third of
Sardinia, was the only independent part of the island at that point in history. During her childhood, she was raised with a natural tendency towards war and weapons.
Her father married Eleanor to
Brancaleone Doria, a
Genoese nobleman, in order to strengthen local alliances. Marianus died in
1376 and was succeeded by his son
Hugh III. In March
1383, there was a republican uprising in Arborea and Hugh was murdered. Eleanor defeated the rebels and became regent to her infant son
Frederick, who as next male heir became the official monarch of Arborea.
For the next four years Arborea was at war with the
Crown of Aragon, which claimed the island. It lost much of its Sardinian possessions to Eleanor. Arborea obtained almost all of the island during this war. After rallying Sardinian forces, Eleanor was able to negotiate a favourable treaty. Her eldest son Frederick died during this war and was succeeded by her younger son,
Marianus V. An alliance was formed with Genoa which sustained Arborea's independence for another generation.
Eleanor composed the
Carta de Logu, a body of laws which came into force in April
1395. They were considered to be far in advance of the laws of other countries, the penalty for most crimes being a fine, and the property rights of women being preserved. These laws remained in force in Sardinia until the
Italian unification of
1861.
Eleanor was particularly interested in ornithology. As a friend of birds, she was the first to legislate protection to a certain species of bird (
falcon). Based on this, the
Eleonora's Falcon (
Falco eleonorae) was named after her.
Sources
- Caravale, Mario (ed). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani LXII Dugoni – Enza. Rome, 1993.
- Mearns, Barbara and Richard. Biographies for Birdwatchers. ISBN 0-12-487422-3
- Manno, Giuseppe. Storia di Sardegna.
2005.
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