She was the eldest child of
Marianus II of Logudoro by Agnes of Massa, daughter of
William I of Cagliari, and successor of her brother,
Barisone III. By a pact signed between her father, who had interests in
Gallura, and Gallurese judge, the
Pisan
Lamberto Visconti in November 1218, Adelasia first married the heir of Gallura, Lamberto's son
Ubaldo II in 1219.
Pope Honorius III, enemy of the Pisans, immediately sent his chaplain Bartolomeo to annul the marriage, but he failed and the pact between Pisa and Logudoro stood. Ubaldo inherited the
Giudicato of Gallura in 1225. Marianus died in 1232 and, by his will, was succeeded by his son Barisone III. Upon Barisone's death (1236) without heirs, also as stipulated by Marianus' will, the Logudorese magnates could elect one of his daughters, Adelasia or Benedetta, to inherit. They unanimously acclaimed Adelasia, whose husband could well uphold her right. So they in turn elected him judge as well. In 1237,
Pope Gregory IX sent his chaplain Alexander to Torres to receive recognition from Adelasia of papal suzerainty over Logudoro, as well as the lands she inherited from her grandfather William of Cagliari, in Pisa,
Massa, and
Corsica. At the palace of
Ardara, in the presence of the
Camaldolese abbot and monks of
S. Trinità di Saccargia, she made the oath of vassalage and Ubaldo affirmed it, giving over the castle of
Monte Acuto to the
bishop of Ampurias as a guarantee of his good faith. Ubaldo did not, however, recognise any authority over Gallura other than the ancient authority of the
Pisan archdiocese. By Ubaldo's will, drawn up in January 1237 at Silki, Gallura was to be inherited by his cousin
John Visconti.
Peter II of Arborea became Adelasia's protector. She remarried quickly to
Guelfo dei Porcari, a person devoted to the Holy See. He did not live long after, though. At that time, the
Doria family of
Genoa, Pisa's main rival, convinced the
Emperor Frederick II to marry his bastard son
Enzo to Adelasia and create a
Kingdom of Sardinia. Enzo arrived from
Cremona in October the same year as Ubaldo's death and the two were married and titled King and Queen of Sardinia. Enzo left for the peninsula in July 1239 and never returned, being taken prisoner by the
Guelphs, an imprisonment which was to prove lifelong. In 1245 or 1246, the marriage was annulled. After this date, Adelasia, saddened and tired of active government, retired to her castle of
Goceano. She died in 1259, without heirs, and her territory was divided amongst the Doria,
Malaspina, and
Spinola families, who all held it from Genoa. The neighbouring
Giudicato of Arborea succeeded in taking some land.
Sassari expelled its Pisan governor with the support of the Doria, refortified its defences, and adopted a republican model of government in alliance with Genoa, which sent an annual
podestà. ==Sources==