The Judicates (judicadus, logus or rennus in Sardinian, judicati in Latin, regni or giudicati sardi in Italian), in English also referred to as Sardinian Kingdoms, Sardinian Judgedoms or Judicatures, were independent states that took power in Sardinia in the Middle Ages, between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. They were sovereign states with summa potestas, each with a ruler called judge (judike in Sardinian), with the powers of a king.
In 807, 810–812, and 821–822 the Arabs 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 851 Pope Leo IV asked the Iudex Provinciae ('judge of the province') of Sardinia, based in Caralis, for aid in the defense of Rome. With the fall of the Exarchate of Africa, based in Carthage, at the end of the seventh century, and especially with the emergence of the Arab presence in Sicily (827), Sardinia remained disconnected from the core lands of the Byzantine Empire and had, out of necessity, become economically and militarily independent.
Arms of the Kingdom of TorresArms of the Kingdom of Arborea
The birth of the four kingdoms
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 the Iudex Provinciae or Archon of Sardinia, residing in Caralis, had complete control of the island. He appointed, in the most strategic area for the defense of the coast, the lociservator (lieutenant), belonging to his family, the Lacon-Gunale, who became substantially autonomous from Caralis over time; this was probably the action that precipitated the birth of the kingdoms, or judgedoms.[4]
Each of the four States had fortified borders to protect their political and commercial interests, as well their own laws, administration and emblems.[6]
Governments
The administrative organization of the judgedoms differed significantly from the feudal forms existing in the rest of medieval Europe as their institutions were closer to those of the territories of the Byzantine Empire, although with local peculiarities that some scholars consider of Nuragic derivation.
In the international context of the Middle Ages, the judgedoms were characterized by semi-democratic institutions such as the Coronas de curatorias which in turn elected their own representatives to the parliamentary assizes called Corona de Logu.[6]
The Corona de Logu and the central council
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 the Corona 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.
During su Collectu (coronation ceremony) in the capital, a representative of each curadoria, members of the high clergy, the castle lords, two representatives of the capital elected by delegates from jurados Coronas de curatoria, came together. Then the judex 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 (the bannus-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.
The judge was not an absolute ruler in the sense of later absolutism—at least in form: he could not declare war or sign a peace treaty without the consent of the Corona 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 the Corona De Logu.
The judicial chancellery
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 called bullata paper, written by the statal chancellor, usually a bishop or at least a senior member of the clergy, assisted by other officials called majores.
Local administration
Curadorias
Curadorias
The territory of various kingdoms was divided into curadorias, administrative districts of varying sizes formed by urban and rural villages, dependent on a capital which housed the curadore. These administrators, aided especially by jurados (judges) and a council the Corona de curatoria, represented the judicial authority locally and tended to the public property of the Crown.
The curadore appointed for each village was part of the curadorias a majore de Bidda (the modern equivalent of a mayor) with administrative and judicial powers, and direct responsibility for the successful actions of land management.[7]
The Cartas 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 the Carta 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 the Logudorese 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 of Carlo 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, including horse breeding and leather 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.
The Sardinian judicial armies were composed of troops made up of soldiers and free citizens, subject to periodic rotation. In an emergency forced conscription was used. The elite corps was made up of so-called bujakesos, chosen riders who served under the command of the Majore 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 the birrudu, a weapon similar to the ancient verutum, 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 the leppa, a sword with a bone handle and curved blade, between 50 and 70cm long which was still in use, in a more contained dimension, until the end of nineteenth century. In Sardinia a type of longbow was made, and over time the use of the crossbow spread.
In case of conflict judges often used mercenary troops, such as the dreaded Genoese crossbowmen.
Christianity spread throughout most of the island in the early centuries, excluding much of the Barbagia region. At the end of the sixth century Pope Gregory I reached an agreement with Hospito, chief of the barbaricini, that guaranteed the conversion of his people from paganism to Christianity. Since Sardinia was in the political sphere of the Byzantine Empire, it developed an array of Greek and Eastern Christianity traits as a result of evangelisation by Basilian monks.
The Sardinian Church was an autocephalous institution for five centuries, independent from both the Byzantine and the Roman Curia.[8] In the eleventh century, after the schism of 1054, the judikes, according to Pope Alexander II, began a policy for the development of Western 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 the judicial aristocracy. However, there were still strong ties with the Eastern liturgy. In 1092 a papal bull expressly abolished the autonomy and autocephaly of the Church of Sardinia, which was placed under the primacy of the Archbishop of Pisa.
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 the Sardinian language and became the official language. It was also used in legal and administrative documents such as the condaghe, municipal statutes, and the laws of the kingdoms such as the Carta de Logu.
Pisan-Genoese and Aragonese interference and end of the four kingdoms
In red the Sardinian territories controlled directly by Pisa in the early 14th century, before the Aragonese invasion, green the Della Gherardesca, in blue the Giudicato of Arborea, in purple the Malaspina, yellow the Doria, in black the comune of Sassari
Pisa and Genoa began to infiltrate the Judicial politics and economy in the eleventh century intervening to support the giudicati, against the Taifa 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 the judicial chancelleries. The Kingdom of Logudoro ended effectively in 1259 with the direct management of his territories by the Doria and the Malaspina Genoese families. Cagliari was conquered by a Pisan-Sardinian alliance in 1258 and his territory was divided between the winners. Gallura went to the Visconti family and then to Pisa in 1288.
Arborea lasted longer and, between 1323 and 1326, participated in an alliance with the Crown of Aragon at the conquest of the Pisan possessions in Sardinia (the former kingdoms of Gallura and Calari). However, threatened by the Aragonese claims of suzerainty and consolidation of the rest of the island, in 1353 the Kingdom of Arborea, under Marianus 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 of Cagliari and Alghero 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 by Brancaleone 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 the Battle 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 gold florins.
↑ Solmi, p.58. sfn error: no target: CITEREFSolmi (help)
↑ Solmi, p.60. sfn error: no target: CITEREFSolmi (help)
↑ Solmi, p.59. sfn error: no target: CITEREFSolmi (help)
↑ Meloni, Giuseppe. L'origine dei Giudicati[The origin of the Judicatures] (in Italian).
↑ Ortu, Gian Giacomo (2005). La Sardegna dei Giudici[Sardinia of the Judges] (in Italian). p.45.
1 2 Casula, Francesco Cesare (1990). La politica religiosa del giudicato di Torres, ne I Cistercensi in Sardegna[The religious policy of the Judicature of Torres, in The Cistercians in Sardinia] (in Italian). Nuoro.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
↑ Cherchi Paba, Felice (1962). La Chiesa Greca[The Greek Church] (in Italian). Cagliari.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Bibliography
English
Dyson, Stephen L., and Rowland, Robert J. Archaeology and History in Sardinia from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages: Shepherds, Sailors, and Conquerors. Philadelphia: University of Pennsyolvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2007.
Galoppini, Laura. "Overview of Sardinia History (500–1500)", pp.85–114. In Michalle Hobart (ed.), A Companion to Sardinian History, 500–1500. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
Puglia, Andrea. "Interactions Between Lay and Ecclesiastical Offices in Sardinia", pp.319–30. In Frances Andrews and maria Agata Pincelli (eds.), Churchmen and Urban Government in Late Medieval Italy, c.1200–c.1450: Cases and Contexts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Rowland, Robert J. The Periphery in the Center: Sardinia in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2001.
Tangheroni, Marco. "Sardinia and Corsica from the Mid-Twelfth to the Early Fourteenth Century", pp.447–57. In David Abulafia (ed.), The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume 5: c.1198–c.1300. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Tangheroni, Marco. "Sardinia and Italy", pp.237–50. In David Abulafia (ed.), Italy in the Central Middle Ages, 1000–1300. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Zedda, Corrado. "A Revision of Sardinian History between the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries", pp.115–140. In Michalle Hobart (ed.), A Companion to Sardinian History, 500–1500. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
Birocchi I. e Mattone A. (a cura di), La Carta de logu d'Arborea nella storia del diritto medievale e moderno, Roma-Bari, 2004. ISBN88-420-7328-8
AA.VV., Storia dei sardi e della Sardegna, II-III Voll., Milano, 1987-89.
A. Solmi - Studi storici sulle istituzioni della Sardegna nel Medioevo - Cagliari - 1965
F. C. Casula - La storia di Sardegna - Sassari 1994
P. Tola - Codice diplomatico della Sardegna - Cagliari - 1986
E. Besta - La Sardegna medioevale - Palermo - 1954
Raffaello Delogu, L'architettura del Medioevo in Sardegna, Roma, 1953, ristampa anastatica, Sassari, 1992.
F. Loddo Canepa - Ricerche e osservazioni sul feudalesimo sardo - Roma 1932
G. Stefani - Dizionario generale geografico-statistico degli stati sardi - Sassari - Carlo Delfino Editore
Alberto Boscolo, La Sardegna bizantina e alto giudicale, Cagliari, 1978.
Alberto Boscolo, La Sardegna dei Giudicati, Cagliari, Edizioni della Torre, 1979.
A. Solmi - Studi storici sulle istituzioni della Sardegna nel Medioevo - Cagliari - 1917.
R. Carta Raspi - La costituzione politico sociale della Sardegna - Cagliari - 1937.
R. Carta Raspi, Storia della Sardegna, Mursia, 1971.
R. Carta Raspi, Mariano IV D'Arborea, S'Alvure, 2001.
R. Carta Raspi, Ugone III d'Arborea e le due ambasciate di Luigi D'Anjou, S'Alvure, 1936.
M. Caravale - Lo Stato giudicale, questioni ancora aperte, atti del convegno internazionale «Società e Cultura nel Giudicato d'Arborea e nella Carta de Logu» - Oristano - 1995.
F. C. Casula - Dizionario storico sardo - Sassari - 2003.
R. Di Tucci - Il diritto pubblico nella Sardegna del Medioevo, in Archivio storico sardo XV - Cagliari - 1924.
G. Paulis - Studi sul sardo medioevale - Nuoro - Ilisso - 1997.
Giuseppe Meloni e Andrea Dessì Fulgheri, Mondo rurale e Sardegna del XII secolo, Napoli, Liguori Editore, 1994
C. Zedda - R. Pinna La nascita dei giudicati. Proposta per lo scioglimento di un enigma storiografico in Archivio storico giuridico sardo di Sassari, seconda serie, volume 12 (2007), pp.27–118.
C. Zedda - R. Pinna - La Carta del giudice cagliaritano Orzocco Torchitorio, prova dell'attuazione del progetto gregoriano di riorganizzazione della giurisdizione ecclesiastica della Sardegna, Collana dell'Archivio Storico e Giuridico Sardo di Sassari, nº 10, Sassari 2009.
C. Zedda– R. Pinna, Fra Santa Igia e il Castro Novo Montis de Castro. La questione giuridica urbanistica a Cagliari all'inizio del XIII secolo, in Archivio Storico e Giuridico Sardo di Sassari, vol. 15 (2010-2011), pp.125–187.
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia and 16.45 km south of the French island of Corsica.
Archaeological evidence of prehistoric human settlement on the island of Sardinia is present in the form of nuraghes and other prehistoric monuments, which dot the land. The recorded history of Sardinia begins with its contacts with the various people who sought to dominate western Mediterranean trade in classical antiquity: Phoenicians, Punics and Romans. Initially under the political and economic alliance with the Phoenician cities, it was partly conquered by Carthage in the late 6th century BC and then entirely by Rome after the First Punic War. The island was included for centuries in the Roman province of Sardinia and Corsica, which would be incorporated into the diocese of Italia suburbicaria in 3rd and 7th centuries.
Eleanor of Arborea or Eleanor De Serra Bas was one of the most powerful and important, and one of the last, judges of the Judicate of Arborea in Sardinia, and Sardinia's most famous heroine. She is also known for updating of the Carta de Logu, promulgated by her father Marianus IV and revisited by her brother Hugh III.
The Judicate of Arborea or the Kingdom of Arborea was one of the four independent judicates into which the island of Sardinia was divided in the Middle Ages. It occupied the central-west portion of the island, wedged between Logudoro to the north and east, Cagliari to the south and east, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. To the northeast of Logudoro was Gallura, with which Arborea had far less interaction. Arborea outlasted her neighbours, surviving well into the 15th century. At its greatest territorial extent it occupied the entire island except the cities of Alghero and Cagliari. The earliest known judicial seat was Tharros, though Oristano served as capital for most of its existence.
The Judicate of Logudoro or Torres was one of the four kingdoms or iudicati into which Sardinia was divided during the Middle Ages. It occupied the northwest part of the island from the 11th through the 13th century, bordering the Gallura to the east, Arborea to the south, and Cagliari to the southeast. Its original capital was Porto Torres. The region is still called Logudoro today.
The flag of Sardinia, called the flag of the Four Moors or simply the Four Moors, represents and symbolizes the island of Sardinia (Italy) and its people. It was also the historical flag and coat of arms of the Aragonese, then Spanish, and later Savoyard Kingdom of Sardinia. It was first officially adopted by the autonomous region in 1950 with a revision in 1999, describing it as a "white field with a red cross and a bandaged Moor's head facing away from the hoist in each quarter".
The Judicate of Cagliari was one of the four kingdoms or judicates into which Sardinia was divided during the Middle Ages.
Marianus IV, called the Great, was the Judge (king) of Arborea, kingdom in the island of Sardinia, from 1347 to his death. He was, as his nickname indicates, the greatest sovereign of Arborea. He was a legislator and a warrior whose reign saw the commencement of massive codification of the laws of his realm and incessant warfare with the Crown of Aragon. He was also a religious man, who had connections to Catherine of Siena. He was, in short, an "wise legislator, able politician, and valiant warrior."
The Carta de Logu was a legal code of the Judicate of Arborea, written in the Sardinian language and promulgated by the juighissa Eleanor of Arborea in 1392. It was in force in Sardinia until it was superseded by the code of King Charles Felix in April 1827.
The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom ofSardinia-Piedmont, Sardegna and Corsica or Piedmont-Sardinia as a composite state during the Savoyard period, was a country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century ; officialy 1297 to 1768 for the corsican part of this kingdom.
The literature of Sardinia is the literary production of Sardinian authors, as well as the literary production generally referring to Sardinia as an argument, written in various languages.
This article presents a history of Cagliari, an Italian municipality and the capital city of the island of Sardinia. The city has been continuously inhabited since at least the neo-lithic period. Due to its strategic location in the Mediterranean and natural harbor, the city was prized and highly sought after by a number of Mediterranean empires and cultures.
Leonardo Alagon, even Alagón or de Alagón,, was the last marquis of Oristano (1470–1478).
The Marquisate of Oristano was a marquisate of Sardinia that lasted from 1410 until 1478
Sardinia's Day, also known as Sardinian people's Day, is a holiday in Sardinia commemorating the Sardinian Vespers occurring in 1794–96.
The Byzantine age in Sardinian history conventionally begins with the island's reconquest by Justinian I in 534. This ended the Vandal dominion of the island after about 80 years. There was still a substantial continuity with the Roman phase at this time.
The Sardinian–Aragonese war was a late medieval conflict lasting from 1353 to 1420. The fight was over supremacy of the land and took place between the Judicate of Arborea -- allied with the Sardinian branch of the Doria family and Genoa -- and the Kingdom of Sardinia, the latter of which had been part of the Crown of Aragon since 1324.
Francesco Cesare Casula is a Sardinian historian from Italy.
The Kingdom of Sardinia was a feudal state in Southern Europe created in the early 14th century and a possession of the Crown of Aragon first and then of the Spanish Empire until 1708, then of the Habsburgs until 1717, and then of the Spanish Empire again until 1720.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
