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.

Peter was a younger son of Gonario II of Logudoro. In 1147, he received the curatoria of Ottana

Ottana

Ottana is a comune in the Province of Nuoro in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 110 km north of Cagliari and about 25 km southwest of Nuoro.It is home to the Romanesque church of San Nicola....

. He married the eldest daughter of Constantine II of Cagliari

Constantine II of Cagliari

Constantine II was the giudice of Cagliari . He was called de Pluminus after his capital city....

, whose name is unknown, sometime before 1163. Following Constantine's death without surviving sons in October 1163, Peter "inherited" the giudicato jure uxoris

Jure uxoris

Jure uxoris is a Latin term that means "by right of his wife" or "in right of a wife". It is commonly used to refer to a title held by a man whose wife holds it in her own right. In other words, he acquired the title simply by being her husband....

. In fact, he was proclaimed with strong Pisa

Pisa

Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...

n support. However, Barisone II of Arborea

Barisone II of Arborea

Barison II or Barisone II was the giudice of Arborea, a kingdom of Sardinia, from 1146 to 1186. He was the son of Comita II and Elena de Orrubu. His reign was groundbreaking in Sardinian history...

, as a direct descendent of Constantine II laid claim to Cagliari. He invaded the giudicato and forced Peter to flee to the court of his elder brother Barisone II of Logudoro at Porto Torres

Porto Torres

Porto Torres is a comune and city in northern Sardinia, in the Province of Sassari.It is situated on the north coast about 25 km east of the Gorditanian promontory , and on the spacious bay of the Gulf of Asinara.-History:...

. In March 1164, the Barisone and Peter, united with the Pisans of the island, retook the city of Cagliari

Cagliari

Cagliari is the capital of the island of Sardinia, a region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has about 156,000 inhabitants, or about 480,000 including the outlying townships : Elmas, Assemini, Capoterra, Selargius, Sestu, Monserrato, Quartucciu, Quartu...

 and then invaded Arborea

Arborea

Arborea is a town and comune in the province of Oristano, Sardinia, Italy, whose economy is largely based on agriculture, with production of vegetables and fruit.- History :...

 in April. The judge of Arborea took refuge in the castle of Cabras

Cabras

There are geographical features that begin with Cabras:*Cabras, Italy*Ilha das Cabras - an island chain in the municipality of Ilhabela, São Paulo, Brazil...

.

In 1166, Peter and his brother travelled to Pisa to try to explain the bloody reprisals of their citizens against the Pisans in Ottana. Returning to Sardinia, the two made a pact with the Republic of Genoa

Republic of Genoa

The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....

, ally of the Arboreans. In 1168, a treaty was negotiated by the Genoese diplomat Nuvolone Alberici

Nuvolone Alberici

Nuvolone Alberici was a diplomat and statesman of the early Republic of Genoa during some of its formative years. He was a brother of Ottobuono Alberici....

 between Genoa and Arborea on one side and Pisa, Logudoro, and Cagliari on the other. It patched up the differences which had led to the last war and restored some lost land to Arborea.

In 1180, Barisone of Arborea made war on Cagliari. He had initial successes, but was captured and forced to come to terms. In 1183, Pisa reoccupied Cagliari. By 1186, Barisone of Logudoro had gone back over to the Pisan side, while Peter remained with Genoa. He tried to expel the Pisans from Cagliari and he made war on Peter I of Arborea

Peter I of Arborea

Peter I , of the Serra family, was the eldest son and successor of Barisone II of Arborea, reigning from 1186 to his death. His mother was Barisone's first wife, Pellegrina de Lacon...

. In 1187, open conflict raged over the whole island of Sardinia between the Genoese and their factions and the Pisans and theirs. The Pisans mercilessly assaulted Genoese merchants in Cagliari and despoiled their landed possessions, evicting them from the giudicato. They encouraged Obert, Margrave of Massa, and his son, William

William I of Cagliari

William I was the giudice of Cagliari from 1188 to his death.William was one of the greatest of medieval Sardinian giudici...

, to invade Cagliari and establish Pisan authority. Obert was the husband and William the son of Giorgia, the younger sister of Peter's wife. On this basis, William laid claim to the giudicato. In 1188, he captured Peter and imprisoned him. He probably took control of the giudicato, though the next few years are extremely obscure. Peter never resurfaced and probably died in prison or was killed.

Peter had two daughters. One died in infancy. The other married Eldizio Visconti and became the mother of Lamberto and Ubaldo I Visconti

Ubaldo I Visconti

Ubaldo I Visconti was the de jure overlord of the Giudicato of Cagliari from 1217. He was a member of the Visconti family of Pisa, controlling Cagliari on behalf of his brother, who was judge jure uxoris from 1218....

.

Sources

• Caravale, Mario (ed). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: XXVII Guglielmo Gonzaga – Jacobini. Rome, 2000.
• Ghisalbert, Alberto M. (ed). Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: VI Baratteri – Bartolozzi. Rome, 1964.