 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Sardinian medieval kingdoms" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 |
| History of Sardinia |
TheJudicates (judicadus,logus orrennus inSardinian,judicati inLatin,regni orgiudicati sardi inItalian), in English also referred to asSardinian Kingdoms,Sardinian Judgedoms orJudicatures, were independent states that took power inSardinia in theMiddle Ages, between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. They were sovereign states withsumma potestas, each with a ruler called judge (judike in Sardinian), with the powers of a king.
After a relatively briefVandal occupation (456–534), Sardinia was a province of theByzantine Empire from 535 until the eighth century.
After 705, with the rapidArab expansion,Saracen pirates fromNorth Africa began to raid the island and encountered no effective opposition by theByzantine army.[1] In 815, Sardinian ambassadors requested military assistance from theCarolingian EmperorLouis the Pious.[2]
In 807, 810–812, and 821–822 theArabs of Spain and North Africa tried to invade the island but the Sardinians resisted several attacks.[3] This defence was so effective that in a letter in 851Pope Leo IV asked theIudex Provinciae ('judge of the province') of Sardinia, based inCaralis, for aid in the defense ofRome. With thefall of theExarchate of Africa, based inCarthage, at the end of the seventh century, and especially with the emergence of theArab presence in Sicily (827), Sardinia remained disconnected from the core lands of theByzantine Empire and had, out of necessity, become economically and militarily independent.
The almost total absence of historical sources does not allow certainty surrounding the date of the passage from Byzantine central authority to self-government in Sardinia. It is believed that at some point theIudex Provinciae orArchon of Sardinia, residing inCaralis, had complete control of the island. He appointed, in the most strategic area for the defense of the coast, thelociservator (lieutenant), belonging to his family, theLacon-Gunale, who became substantially autonomous from Caralis over time; this was probably the action that precipitated the birth of the kingdoms, orjudgedoms.[4]
The first incontrovertible source that cites the existence of four kingdoms is theepistle sent byPope Gregory VII fromCapua on October 14, 1073 to the Sardinian judgesOrzocco of Cagliari,Orzocco d'Arborea,Marianus of Torres andConstantine of Gallura;[5] however their autonomy was already clear in a later letter ofPope John VIII (872) in which he referred to them asprincipes Sardiniae ('princes of Sardinia').
The known medieval giudicati were:
Each of the four States had fortified borders to protect their political and commercial interests, as well their own laws, administration and emblems.[6]
The administrative organization of thejudgedoms differed significantly from the feudal forms existing in the rest ofmedieval Europe as their institutions were closer to those of the territories of the Byzantine Empire, although with local peculiarities that some scholars consider ofNuragic derivation.
In the international context of theMiddle Ages, thejudgedoms were characterized by semi-democratic institutions such as theCoronas de curatorias which in turn elected their own representatives to the parliamentary assizes calledCorona de Logu.[6]
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The central government and the entire Judiciary were ruled substantially by the judge. The king did not have possession of the land nor was he the repository of sovereignty since this was formally held by theCorona de Logu, a council of elders (representatives of the administrative districts –Curadorias) and high priests. They appointed the ruler and attributed the supreme power to him, while maintaining the power to ratify acts and agreements related to the entire kingdom.
Duringsu Collectu (coronation ceremony) in the capital, a representative of eachcuradoria, members of the high clergy, the castle lords, two representatives of the capital elected by delegates fromjurados Coronas de curatoria, came together. Then thejudex was crowned with a mixed-elected hereditary system following the direct male line and, only in the alternative, the female line.
The judge ruled on the basis of a covenant with the people (thebannus-consensus). The sovereign could be dethroned and even, in cases of serious acts of tyranny and oppression, executed legitimately by the same people, without this prejudging the inheritance of the title within the same ruling dynasty.
.jpg)
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The judge was not an absolute ruler in the sense of laterabsolutism—at least in form: he could not declare war or sign a peace treaty without the consent of theCorona de Logu. However, that was composed primarily of the nobility's relatives and, therefore, linked by common interests.
The succession to the throne was dynastic but in some case there was the possibility of election by theCorona De Logu.
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
In the government of the territory, the Judge was assisted by the Chancellery. The sovereign authority was in fact formalized with the drafting of official acts calledbullata paper, written by the statal chancellor, usually a bishop or at least a senior member of the clergy, assisted by other officials calledmajores.
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The territory of various kingdoms was divided intocuradorias, administrative districts of varying sizes formed by urban and rural villages, dependent on a capital which housed thecuradore. These administrators, aided especially byjurados (judges) and a council theCorona de curatoria, represented the judicial authority locally and tended to the public property of the Crown.
Thecuradore appointed for each village was part of thecuradorias amajore de Bidda (the modern equivalent of amayor) with administrative and judicial powers, and direct responsibility for the successful actions of land management.[7]
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
TheCartas de Logu are collections of penal, public, civil and land regulations of great importance, in force in the various Giudicati. Unfortunately, only a few parts of theCarta Caralitana have been preserved. The Carta de Logu of the Giudicato of Arborea marks, towards the end of the fourteenth century, the birth of a rule of law by Mariano IV first and then by his daughter Eleonora, who extended the scope of the rules to adapt them to a changed reality in social conditions. The Chart is written in Sardinian (of theLogudorese variety) and from this we can deduce the judicial intent to actually make it known to citizens in order to make them aware of lawful and unlawful behaviors, with the consequent criminal implications. A situation of legal certainty is therefore defined.
The chart survived, albeit with some difficulty, the judicial period and remained in force in the Spanish and Savoyard era until the enactment of the Code ofCarlo Felice in April 1827. From the study of the Chart we can deduce a great attention of the Giudicati towards the protection of the safety of the countryside and agricultural production, includinghorse breeding andleather production, even to the detriment of sheep farming. This denotes a great attention towards the productive base which supports the efforts of the enemies in the struggle for the independence of Sardinia.
The Condaghes are also of great importance for the study of the judicial period between the 11th and 13th centuries. Term of Byzantine origin (kontakion – stick on which cards sewn together were rolled up) which defines the register on which the parchments of the deeds of donation to monasteries or other ecclesiastical bodies were transcribed. In them the sums of money, the servants, the maids, the cultivated lands, the vineyards, the wooded areas (the salts), the pastures and the livestock donated by the local nobility were reported in great detail. From the Condaghes it was possible to reconstruct a large part of the judicial dynamics known to us as well as being the most ancient evidence of the ancient Sardinian vernacular.
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
The Sardinianjudicial armies were composed of troops made up of soldiers and free citizens, subject to periodic rotation. In an emergency forced conscription was used. Theelite corps was made up of so-calledbujakesos, chosen riders who served under the command of theMajore de Janna, the commander in charge of the security of the sovereign. The main armaments were the sword,chain mail, the shield, the helmet, and thebirrudu, a weapon similar to the ancientverutum, the Roman javelin.
The militias of the ground and the infantry (birrudos) used a shorter version of this same weapon. Besides the use of spears and shields, another common weapon was theleppa, a sword with a bone handle and curved blade, between 50 and 70 cm long which was still in use, in a more contained dimension, until the end of nineteenth century. In Sardinia a type oflongbow was made, and over time the use of thecrossbow spread.
In case of conflict judges often used mercenary troops, such as the dreadedGenoese crossbowmen.
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Christianity spread throughout most of the island in the early centuries, excluding much of theBarbagia region. At the end of the sixth centuryPope Gregory I reached an agreement withHospito, chief of thebarbaricini, that guaranteed the conversion of his people frompaganism to Christianity. Since Sardinia was in the political sphere of the Byzantine Empire, it developed an array of Greek andEastern Christianity traits as a result of evangelisation byBasilian monks.
The Sardinian Church was anautocephalous institution for five centuries, independent from both the Byzantine and theRoman Curia.[8] In the eleventh century, after the schism of 1054, thejudikes, according toPope Alexander II, began a policy for the development ofWestern monasticism on the island, with the aim of a wider dissemination of culture but also of new techniques for cultivating the land. The immigration of monastics to the island was fueled by donated funds, and local churches were built by thejudicial aristocracy. However, there were still strong ties with the Eastern liturgy. In 1092 apapal bull expressly abolished the autonomy and autocephaly of the Church of Sardinia, which was placed under the primacy of theArchbishop of Pisa.
The first act of donation was made in 1064 byBarisone I of Torres who gave theBenedictine monks ofMonte Cassino a large area of its territory with churches (including the Byzantine church ofNostra Segnora de Mesumundu), not far from the then capital ofArdara. For several centuries afterwards representatives of many religious orders including the monks of theAbbey of Montecassino, theCamaldolese, theVallombrosians, theVittorini ofMarseille, theCistercians ofBernard of Clairvaux arrived and settled in Sardinia. As a result of this,Romanesque architecture flourished in the island.
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Byzantine Greek was used as an administrative language during the Byzantine period, but fell into disuse.Latin, which had long been the language of the native population, developed into theSardinian language and became the official language. It was also used in legal and administrative documents such as thecondaghe, municipal statutes, and the laws of the kingdoms such as theCarta de Logu.
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Pisa andGenoa began to infiltrate the Judicial politics and economy in the eleventh century intervening to support thegiudicati, against theTaifa of Dénia, an Iberian Muslim kingdom, which was trying to conquer the island.
From the second half of the thirteenth century the autonomous existence of the kingdoms of Logudoro, Gallura and Calari ended due to the diplomatic maneuvers of Genoa and Pisa on the territory, on trade, on the episcopal curiae, and thejudicial chancelleries. The Kingdom of Logudoro ended effectively in 1259 with the direct management of his territories by theDoria and theMalaspina Genoese families. Cagliari was conquered by a Pisan-Sardinian alliance in 1258 and his territory was divided between the winners. Gallura went to theVisconti family and then toPisa in 1288.
Arborea lasted longer and, between 1323 and 1326, participated in an alliance with theCrown of Aragon at the conquest of the Pisan possessions in Sardinia (the former kingdoms of Gallura and Calari). However, threatened by the Aragonese claims ofsuzerainty and consolidation of the rest of the island, in 1353 the Kingdom of Arborea, underMarianus IV of Arborea, broke the alliance with the Aragonese and together with the Doria declared war against the Iberians. In 1368 an Arborean offensive succeeded in nearly driving the Aragonese from the island, reducing the Kingdom of Sardinia to just the port cities ofCagliari andAlghero and incorporating everything else into their own kingdom. A peace treaty returned the Aragonese their previous possessions in 1388, but tensions continued. In 1391 the Arborean army, led byBrancaleone Doria, again conquered most of the island, subjecting it to Arborean rule. This state of affairs lasted until 1409, when the army of the Kingdom of Arborea suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of the Aragonese army in theBattle of Sanluri.
The Kingdom of Arborea ceased to exist in 1420, after the sale of its territories to the Aragonese by the last judge,William II of Narbonne, for 100,000 goldflorins.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
