Sardinian was the first Romance language of all to gain official status, being used by the four Judicates, former Byzantine districts that became independent political entities after the Arab expansion in the Mediterranean cut off any ties left between the island and Byzantium. One of the oldest documents left in Sardinian (the so-called "Carta Volgare") comes from the Judicate of Cagliari and was issued by Torchitorio I de Lacon-Gunale in around 1070, employing the Greek alphabet. Old Sardinian had a greater number of archaisms and Latinisms than the present language does. While the earlier documents show the existence of an early Sardinian Koine, the language used by the various Judicates already displayed a certain range of dialectal variation. A special position was occupied by the Judicate of Arborea, the last Sardinian kingdom to fall to foreign powers, in which a transitional dialect was spoken, that of Middle Sardinian. The Carta de Logu of the Kingdom of Arborea, one of the first constitutions in history drawn up in 1355–1376 by Marianus IV and the Queen, the "Lady Judge" ( in Sardinian, in Catalan, in Italian) Eleanor, was written in this transitional variety of Sardinian, and remained in force until 1827. It is presumed the Arborean judges attempted to unify the Sardinian dialects to be legitimate rulers of the entire island under a single state ( "Sardinian Republic");