Free Municipality of Sassari Lìberu Comunu de Tàtari (Sardinian) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1259–1275 (de facto) 1275–1323 (de jure) | |||||||||||
.svg) Flag .svg) Coat of arms | |||||||||||
 In black the possessions of the Republic of Sassari within Sardinia. | |||||||||||
| Status | Dependency of theRepublic of Pisa 1275-1293 Independent city-state 1293-1323 | ||||||||||
| Capital | Sassari | ||||||||||
| Common languages | LogudoreseSardinian Tuscan-Sassarese varieties Ligurian | ||||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||||||||
| Government | Republic | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Death ofAdelasia of Torres | 1259 | ||||||||||
• Assassination ofMichele Zanche | 1275 | ||||||||||
| 6 August 1284 | |||||||||||
• Peace of Fucecchio | 1293 | ||||||||||
• Vassalised by theCrown of Aragon | 13 July 1323 | ||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||
• Estimate | 15-16,000[1] | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
TheFree Municipality of Sassari[2] orRepublic of Sassari was a state in the region ofSassari inSardinia during the 13th and 14th centuries, confederated first with theRepublic of Pisa as a semi-autonomous subject and later with theRepublic of Genoa as a nominally independent ally.[2] It was the first and only independent city-state of Sardinia during the early renaissance.
According toFrancesco Cesare Casula, the republic was founded in 1272 after the death ofEnzo of Sardinia.[2] Enzo had been married toAdelasia of Torres, the final ruler orjudge of theJudicate of Torres, of which Sassari was the capital and most populous city in its later years. With the death of Adelasia without an heir in 1259, the judicate was divided between theGenoeseDoria andMalaspina families and the ruling family of Arborea. Sassari however, persisted as a separate polity,[3] nominally under the rule of Enzo. With Enzo's death inBologna,Michele Zanche usurped power and ruled in the city, and is sometimes considered an unofficial judge of Torres.[4] Zanche himself was later assassinated on the orders of his son-in-lawBranca Doria in 1275 during a banquet in theNurra.[5]
In the first phase of Sassarese autonomy, Sassari was ruled by apodestà of Pisan allegiance, entreated by the municipality to govern them with "justice, objectivity and impartiality".[1] However, following the disastrousBattle of Meloria in 1284 and the subsequent Peace of Fucecchio agreed in 1293, Sassari officially seceded as a nominally independent city-state, though in practice under the political influence ofGenoa, which appointed a newpodestà held up by Ligurian officials.[1]
It was around this time that Sassari produced its code of law known as theStatutes of Sassari (Italian:Statuti Sassaresi), which was maintained and updated even during the later conquest of the city by theJudicate of Arborea, long after the dissolution of the republic.[6]
After the arrival of the then-infanteAlfonso IV of Aragon at the head of a fleet of 300 of his father's ships, Sassari offered to renounce its independence and become a vassal of the newly formedKingdom of Sardinia and Corsica, then a possession of theCrown of Aragon, through the ambassador Guantino Catoni;[1] this was accepted, and Sassari handed over authority officially on 4 July 1323.[1]
The so-calledStatutes of Sassari were the official acts governing the organisational and institutional principles of both the city of Sassari and the wider municipality.[6] The earliest surviving copy dates to 1316 during the Genoesepodestà of Cavallino degli Onesti or degli Honestis, and is written inLatin, though another variant also exists in theLogudorese dialect ofSardinian. It is divided into three books of 160, 38 and 50 chapters respectively. The first book describes domestic and economic matters such as trade, duties and the city watch, and the second with civil law and administration of private property. The third book describes criminal law and associated punishments for criminal acts, and is noted for its unusual leniency compared with similar codes of law of its era.[6]
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