Medieval Corsica

The history of Corsica in the medieval period begins with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and the invasions of various Germanic peoples in the fifth century AD, and ends with the complete subjection of the island to the authority of the Bank of San Giorgio in 1511.

In 828, the defense of Corsica was entrusted to Boniface II of Tuscany, who conducted a successful expedition against the Muslims and built the fortress that later was to bear his name (Bonifacio) in the south.

[6] Boniface' son Adalbert I continued to push back against the Muslim invaders after 846; but, in spite of all efforts, they seem to have remained in possession of part of the island until about 930.

In 962, Berengar was defeated and his son, Adalbert, fled to Corsica, whence he launched two separate attacks on Ottonian Italy, before going into exile in Burgundy.

Soon after 1000, at a central location in the valley of Morosaglia, a sort of national diet or assembly was held with the intent of establishing peace and the rule of law over the whole island.

In 1012, in a final effort to subdue the wild barons of the south and the northern cape, the Terra called in William, Margrave of Massa.

In the course of the feud, the Terra di Comune invited Isnard Malaspina, a distant relative of William of Massa, to put a stop to the turmoil.

A Count of Cinarca was reinstated and the war between Malaspina, Cinarca, Pisa, and Genoa dragged on with no side gaining the mastery until 1298, when Pope Boniface VIII formally bestowed the regnum Corsicae, Kingdom of Corsica, on James II of Aragon along with the regnum Sardiniae, Kingdom of Sardinia.

The feudal baronage of the south and the hereditary caporali of the north alike resisted the authority of the Genoese governors and Peter IV of Aragon took the opportunity to reassert his claims.

In 1372, Arrigo della Rocca with Aragonese troops conquered the island, but the barons of Cape Corso appealed for aid to Genoa.

Meanwhile, Genoa itself had fallen into the hands of the French, and in 1407 Leonello Lomellino returned as governor with the title of Count of Corsica bestowed on him by Charles VI of France.

But Vincentello d'Istria, who had gained distinction in the service of the Crown of Aragon, had captured Cinarca, rallied around him all the communes of the Terra and proclaimed himself Count of Corsica at Biguglia, even seizing Bastia.

A feud between Vincentello and the Bishop of Mariana, however, led to the loss of his authority in the Terra di Comune and he was compelled to go to Spain in search of assistance.

He easily captured Cinarca and Ajaccio, came to terms with the Pisan bishops, conquered the Terra di Comune, and built a strong castle at Corte.

Using advanced artillery, the Doge of Genoa, Tomaso di Campofregoso, defeated the Aragonese general Paolo della Rocca.

In 1444, Pope Eugene IV dispatched an army of 14,000 to pacify the island, but it was routed by a league formed of some caporali and the barons under the leadership of Rinuccio da Leca.

However, the south remained under the sway of the counts of Cinarca, nominally vassals of Aragon, and the Terra di Comune was under the control of Galeazzo da Campofregoso.

In the years that followed, the leaders of the Terra offered the government of the island to the Company (or Bank) of San Giorgio, a commercial corporation established at Genoa in the previous century.

But order had scarcely been established when the Genoese Tommasino da Campofregoso, whose mother was a Corsican, revived the claims of his family and succeeded in mastering the interior of the island (1462).

Two years later (1464) the Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, overthrew the power of the Campofregoso family at Genoa and promptly proceeded to lay claim to Corsica.

His lieutenant had no difficulty in making the island accept the overlordship of Milan; but when, in 1466, Francesco Sforza died, a quarrel broke out, and Milanese suzerainty became purely nominal save in the coastal towns.

The Bank, allied with the Gian Paolo da Leca, defeated Gherardo only to find the Fregoso attempting to repudiate their bargain.

Modified medieval citadel at Calvi
Germanic invasions of the Roman Empire. Note the Vandal invasion of Corsica. The arrows only approximate debatably large-scale people movements. There were many small movements of individuals and small groups within Europe and the Roman Empire in the so-called "Migration Period". The Vandal movement into Corsica represents a conquest and not an influx of Germanic emigrants.
Bastion of native Corsican defence
The Genoese tower in Porto, Ota .
The "Stairway of the King of Aragon." Legendarily carved out of the steep cliff face before Bonifacio in a single night during Alfonso V's siege of the town, in fact it was a much older Franciscan construction devised to allow easy access to a water source at the base for their monastery.