98 Galoppini
centuries, which was followed by an important demographic development re-
lated to the scattered habitat that developed, starting in the towns (thirteenth
century). Furthermore, the constant migratory flux of secondary economic op-
erators had a great influence on Sardinian demographic growth.
It is important to examine the data relative to the size of the rural popu-
lation, which must have been large, as the work of a few farmers would not
have been sufficient to feed the large number of people living in the cities.
Recently, historians have reviewed the demographic question, despite partial
and limited fiscal data in some areas, and many have arrived at contradicto-
ry conclusions. According to some, before the early fourteenth century rural
Sardinia had between 300,000 and 320,000 inhabitants; according to others,
only 140,000.32
5 The Pisans: Lords of Sardinia
The island’s importance for natural resources and its position along the
Tyrrhenian routes was well known to Pisa. During the period of their econom-
ic-military expansion, Pisans frequented Sardinian ports with increasing regu-
larity. The Logudorese chronicle (Libellus Judicum Turritanorum) attests to the
presence of numerous mercantes pisanos (Pisan merchants) at Porto Torres,
men who were “de bene et ricos (respectable and wealthy),” active in business
and in local politics (beginning in the twelfth century).33
The municipality of Pisa constructed a fortified castle (Castello di Castro) on
the hill that dominates the wide gulf of Cagliari, having acquired the conces-
sion of the land in 1217 from the iudicissa calaritana Benedetta, descendant
of the marquis of Massa. Afterwards, giudice Benedetta requested in vain the
intervention of Pope Honorius III to annul the act. The new castle, under the
direct control of Pisa, constituted a constant threat. Indeed, this was a strategic
site for exercising military control over the surrounding area and for its central
32 John Day, “Malthus démenti? Sous-peuplement chronique et calamités démographiques
en Sardaigne au bas moyen age,” Annales E.S.C. 30 (1975), pp. 684–702; John Day, Uomini
e terre nella Sardegna coloniale XII–XVIII secolo (Turin, 1987), pp. 193–215; Carlo Livi, “La
popolazione della Sardegna nel periodo aragonese,” Archivio Storico Sardo 34 (1984)
pp. 7–115.
33 Antonio Sanna and Alberto Boscolo, eds, Libellus Judicum Turritanorum (Cagliari, 1957),
p. 47.