Brancaleone Doria was the husband of Eleanor of Arborea, regent of the Giudicato of Arborea on the island of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

in the late 14th century. He was a scion of the influential Doria family of the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern Maritime republics, maritime republic from the years 1099 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italy, Italian coast. During the Late Middle Ages, it was a major commercial power in ...

, the son of the elder Brancaleone and a woman named Giacomina. On 16 March 1357, he became a vassal of

Peter IV of Aragon Peter IV (Catalan: ''Pere IV d'Aragó;'' Aragonese; ''Pero IV d'Aragón;'' 5 September 1319 – 6 January 1387), called the Ceremonious (Catalan: ''El Cerimoniós''; Aragonese: ''el Ceremonioso''), was from 1336 until his death the king of ...

, the nominal

King of Sardinia Sardinia is traditionally known to have been initially ruled by the Nuragic civilization, which was followed by Greek colonization, conquest by the Carthagians, Carthaginians, and occupied by the Ancient Rome, Romans for around a thousand years, ...

, to legitimate the possessions of his father on the island. When Hugh III of Arborea, Eleanor's brother, sought out a matrimonial alliance with Genoa, his choice for a brother-in-law fell on Brancaleone. The marriage took place in 1376, a political alliance only, for the Bas-Serra family of Eleanor was opposed to the royal pretensions of the

House of Barcelona The House of Barcelona was a medieval dynasty that ruled the County of Barcelona continuously from 878 and the Crown of Aragon from 1137 (as kings from 1162) until 1410. They descend from the Bellonids, the descendants of Wilfred the Hairy. Th ...

, to which Brancaleone was affiliated. Already at the time of his marriage, he had illegitimate children, Giannettino and Nicholas, by an anonymous woman. When Hugh was assassinated in 1383, Eleanor and Brancaleone's young son Frederick succeeded as the ruler of the Giudicato of Arborea. At that time, Brancaleone was in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

to receive the honorific title of "Count of Monteleone and Baron of Lower Marmilla". As soon as Peter IV heard of the election of Frederick, he arrested Brancaleone and sent him to

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

to be imprisoned first in the tower of Pancrazio and then in that of Elefante. Arborea was governed in the meantime by Eleanor. Frederick, later seized and imprisoned by Peter himself, died young and in captivity. He was succeeded by Brancaleone's second son, Marianus V. Brancaleone was finally liberated on 1 January 1390, by which time his loyalty to the Aragonese crown was broken. On 1 April 1391, Brancaleone marched on Castel di Cagliari and, on 16 August, occupied

Sassari Sassari ( ; ; ; ) is an Italian city and the second-largest of Sardinia in terms of population with 120,497 inhabitants as of 2025, and a functional urban area of about 260,000 inhabitants. One of the oldest cities on the island, it contains ...

and Osilo with his son Marianus. In September, he conquered the castles of

Fava ''Vicia faba'', commonly known as the broad bean, fava bean, or faba bean, is a species of vetch, a flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated as a crop for human consumption, and also as a cover crop. Vari ...

, Galtellì, Bonvehì, and Pedreso. Only

Alghero Alghero (; ; ; ) is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian province of Sassari in the north west of the island of Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The city's name comes from ''Aleguerium'', which is a mediaeval Latin word m ...

and Longosardo remained in Aragonese hands. On 3 October, he entered Villa di Chiesa. In a letter written at Sanluri on 3 February 1392, he announced having repossessed all the territories lost to the Aragonese in 1388. On 16 March, a fleet under

Martin of Aragon Martin the Humane (29 July 1356 – 31 May 1410), also called the Elder and the Ecclesiastic, was King of Aragon, Valencia, Sardinia and Corsica and Count of Barcelona from 1396 and King of Sicily from 1409 (as Martin II). He failed to secure th ...

appeared off Capo San Marco, conducted from Sicily for the purpose of putting down Brancaleone's "rebellion". The attempt failed. Following Marianus' death, Arborea passed to William III of Narbonne. Brancaleone retired to his estates at Monteleone. He disappears from the record mysteriously before the Battle of Sanluri in 1409.

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Doria, Brancaleone People from Sardinia 14th-century Genoese people Judges (judikes) of Arborea Brancaleone