The fight was over supremacy of the land and took place between the Judicate of Arborea -- allied with the Sardinian branch of the Doria family and Genoa -- and the Kingdom of Sardinia, the latter of which had been part of the Crown of Aragon since 1324.

At this time, the land was under the influence of the Republic of Pisa, Genoa and the Doria and Malaspina families, as well as the Judicate of Arborea, the only surviving judicial state entity.

In 1343 -- at the death without sons of Giovanni Malaspina di Villafranca -- all the Malaspinian Sardinian possessions passed by testament to Peter IV of Aragon, who incorporated them into the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Marianus possessed considerable military capabilities and, thanks to the sizable export of grains, his Judicate had the economic resources necessary to support an army able to oppose that of the crown of Aragon.

He had infantrymen and knights recruited from the villages, a body of crossbowmen and soldiers of fortune of various origins (Italy, Germany, France, England[8]) commanded by expert captains coming from the Italian peninsula.

The Aragonese siege, which lasted about five months, ended in a disaster from all points of view, due to the malaria that caused many victims among the ranks of the besiegers.

On November 13, 1354, the Peace of Alghero was signed, with which Marianus obtained several of his objectives for the revolt: the autonomy of his Judicate, freedom of trade in the Arborean ports, the fief of Gallura and the clause that the governor general of the kingdom of Sardinia must be a person pleasing to him.

However, being minors the throne was inherited de facto by their mother who in 1388 stipulated a peace treaty with Aragon, committing herself to restitution of the territories conquered by her predecessors.

[11] After a few years the hostilities between the two parties resumed when, freed from the Aragonese, Brancaleone Doria violated the peace treaty signed by his wife and by John I of Aragon, considering it not valid.

Taking advantage of the dynastic crisis, the heir to the crown of Aragon, Martin I of Sicily the Younger, on October 6, 1408, landed in Sardinia with a powerful army commanded by Pedro Torrelles.

The clash between the two camps took place in the countryside of Sanluri, in the locality currently called su bruncu de sa battalla (battle hill), on June 30, 1409.

The left side was overwhelmed in the locality called s'occidroxiu (the slaughterhouse); the right split into two remainders: the first retreated to Sanluri, but was reached and destroyed, the second took refuge in Monreale and resisted.

In January 1410 Pedro Torrelles occupied Bosa and besieged Oristano, where finally Leonardo Cubello signed, in the church of San Martino outside the walls, the surrender of the city and all of the areas of Arborea that were forfeited in the Regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae.

In spring of the same year William II of Narbonne returned from France, organizing the surviving territories and transferring the capital of the Judicate to Sassari.

With the help of Nicolò Doria he resumed the castle of Longosardo and threatened Oristano and Alghero, where Pedro Torrelles, the captain general and lieutenant of the king, died in that year of malaria.

The war continued and between May 5 and 6, 1412, managed to enter Alghero with Sassarese and French militiamen, but was then rejected and forced to desist by the fierce resistance of the Algherese.