102 Galoppini
from this island to several countries of the Rûm [Byzantines].”43 After the divi-
sion of the giudicato of Cagliari (1258), the Pisan Count Ugolino di Donoratico
della Gherardesca, infamous for his portrayal by Dante, founded Villa di
Chiesa (Iglesias) to exploit the lead and silver mines of southwestern Sardinia.
He granted privileges and rendered the mining activities free, encouraging a
great migratory flux. In a short time, Villa di Chiesa became one of the largest
Sardinian centers.44 Ugolino instituted the Breve di Villa di Chiesa, which regu-
lated the social life of the new center and the extraction activities of the mines.
The municipality of Pisa amended the Breve when the town passed under its
direct rule (1304).45
Fazio degli Uberti, a Florentine poet of the fourteenth century, when nar-
rating the events taking place on the island, described its primary source of
wealth: “lá son le vene con molto ariento / lá si vede gran quantitá di sale (there
are veins with much silver / there are large quantities of salt).”46 The products
exported from Sardinia, except for the silver from Iglesias, were “poor goods,”
but indispensable for the economy of the time.47 In fact, in Mediterranean
maritime commerce an increase in the number of boats brought a decrease in
the amount of profit, while the demand for commodities grew with respect to
luxury goods, whose demand had once characterized the early trade defined
as the “commercial revolution of the Middle Ages.”48 In the fourteenth century,
this phenomenon worsened because the merchants forced the ship owners to
establish freight fees relative to the value of the merchandise embarked. This
contributed to the rise of Sardinian merchandise as the basis of Mediterranean
commerce.
43 Maria Giovanna Stasolla, ed., Italia euro-mediterranea nel Medioevo: testimonianze di scrit-
tori arabi (Bologna, 1983), p. 296.
44 Francesco Cesare Casula, ed., Studi su Iglesias medioevale (Pisa, 1985).
45 Carlo Baudi di Vesme, ed., Codice Diplomatico di Villa di Chiesa in Sardigna (Cagliari, 1997
[1877]). The Breve is divided into four books: the first contains chapters on the admin-
istrative organization of the city, the second the rules and criminal penalties for non-
compliance by public servants, the third contains the law of civil procedure, while the
fourth instead contains rules concerning silver mines and mining activities.
46 Fazio degli Uberti, Il Dittamondo e le rime, ed. Giuseppe Corsi (Bari, 1952), p. 218.
47 Armado Sapori, “I beni del commercio internazionale,” in Studi di storia economica. Secoli
XII–XIV–XV, 2 vols (Florence, 1982 [1940]), vol. 1, pp. 540–568.
48 Roberto Sabatino Lopez, La rivoluzione commerciale del Medioevo (Turin, 1975 [1971]).