A wrong judgment – The well-known proverb “to mistake fireflies for lanterns” means: «To confuse one thing for another». This is what the people of Oristano did when they believed that their marquis and count of Gocèano, Leonardo de Alagòn, was a new Mariano IV king of Arborea intent on fighting the Catalan-Aragonese of the Kingdom of Sardinia to refound an all-Sardinian judicial state. Instead, he was a simple rebellious feudal lord who was scheming against the viceroy of the island to defend his own territorial and economic interests. And, naively, they supported him until the end.

Personality of Leonardo de Alagòn – Leonardo was the son of the Aragonese Artale de Alagòn and his second wife Benedetta Cubello of the Marquises of Oristano, in the Kingdom of Sardinia. He was born, no one knows exactly where, in 1436. At twenty-six years old he paid homage and swore allegiance to the sovereign of the Crown of Aragon John II the Faithless.

In 1470, when his uncle Salvatore Cubello died without heirs, in derogation of the mos Italiae he requested the investiture of the Marquisate of Oristano and the County of Gocèano. Having opposed this anomalous concession, the viceroy of the Kingdom of Sardinia, Nicolò Carròs d'Arborèa, Leonardo rebelled by arming himself and defeating the viceregal troops on 14 April 1470 near Uras.

What followed was, rather than a peace, a truce that did not last long.

Condemnation of Leonardo de Alagòn – For the sake of brevity, let's skip straight to the end of the story. At the beginning of 1475, they returned to arms. Thus, despite Leonardo declaring that he was fighting "... not against the king but against the viceroy", in October 1477 he was condemned to death in absentia by a royal court together with his sons and brothers, and all his feudal assets were confiscated.

The Battle of Macomer – On May 19, 1478, the decisive battle took place at Macomer, and the rebels were defeated. Leonardo, during his retreat and escape by sea (he wanted to reach Genoa) was captured by the treachery of Giovanni Saragozza and handed over to the Aragonese admiral Giovanni de Vilamarì anchored in the waters of Palermo.

Death of Leonardo de Alagòn – Through the intercession of Vilamarí himself, he had the death penalty commuted to exile and, by order of John II, was locked up with his followers in the castle of Xàtiva (Játiva) about fifty kilometres from Valencia, where he died on 3 November 1494.

Fate of the assets of Leonardo de Alagòn – The Marquisate of Oristano and the County of Gocèano were incorporated as real estate by the Royal Patrimony. According to parliamentary law n° 4671 of 18 March 1861, the Carignano-Savoia, heirs of Vittorio Emanuele II, still maintain the Sardinian royal titles in their pedigree, so the last scion of the House, Emanuele Filiberto, who came to Cagliari last May to see the cavalcade of Sant'Efisio, is still King of Sardinia, Marquis of Oristano and Count of Gocèano.

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