Overview Of Sardinian History 103
6 Regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae: The Catalan-Aragonese
At the end of the thirteenth century, the Catalan-Aragonese established them-
selves in the commercial expansion towards the eastern markets, through the
islands of the Mediterranean. Sardinia was in a strategic geographical position
along these routes.49 Consequently, the Pisans and Genoese entered into con-
flict with this growing power.50 Moreover, after the victory of the Genoese at
Meloria (1284), the power of the Pisans in Sardinia started to decline.
Pisa suffered a series of disasters after its defeat at Meloria (6 August
1284): Genoese attempts to conquer the city; the constant threat of the
other Tuscan cities (Lucca and Florence); and the expansionist plans of the
Catalan-Aragonese in Sardinia. The municipality of Sassari had fallen per-
manently under the influence of Genoa. The Genoese Doria family con-
trolled the wide northern territories of the island including the fortresses of
Alghero, Castelgenovese (Castelsardo), Nurra, Anglona, and the Castello di
Monteleone.51 Pisa, meanwhile, had assumed direct governance over Gallura,
almost all the Cagliaritano, and Villa di Chiesa with its precious silver mines.
The author Giovanni Sercambi from Lucca recalls how Pope Boniface VIII
“was the one who, in order to marry off one of his nieces, enfeoffed Sardinia
and gave his niece’s hand in marriage to the king of the Aragonese.”52 Actually,
the pope, mindful of Pisan politics on the island that went against papal poli-
tics, had given the fiefdoms of the islands of Sardinia and Sicily to James II the
Just, king of Aragon (1297). The creation of a new kingdom of Sardinia and
Corsica (regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae) laid the groundwork for the subsequent
Catalan invasion and conquest of Sardinia.53
49 Marco Tangheroni, “Sardinia and Italy,” in Italy 1100–1350, ed. David Abulafia (Oxford,
2004), pp. 120–132.
50 Francesco Artizzu, La Sardegna pisana e genovese (Sassari, 1985).
51 Antonello Mattone and Marco Tangheroni, eds, Gli Statuti Sassaresi. Economia, Società,
Istituzioni a Sassari nel Medioevo e nell’Età moderna (Cagliari, 1986).
52 Salvatore Bongi, ed., Le “Croniche” di Giovanni Sercambi lucchese, 3 vols (Lucca, 1892),
vol. 1, p. 97.
53 Salvatore Fodale, “Il regno di Sardegna e Corsica feudo della Chiesa di Roma (dalle orig-
ini al XIV secolo),” in Genova, Pisa e il Mediterraneo, pp. 517–567; Marco Tangheroni, “Il
‘Regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae’ nell’espansione mediterranea della Corona d’Aragona.
Aspetti economici,” in XIV Congresso di storia della Corona d’Aragona : Sassari-Alghero,
19–24 maggio 1990: sul tema, la Corona d’Aragona in Italia (secc. XIII–XVIII) (Sassari, 1993),
vol. 1, pp. 49–88 (also published as “Il Regnum Sardinie nell’economia della Corona
d’Aragona,” in Medioevo Tirrenico. Sardegna, Toscana, Pisa (Pisa, 1992)); Marco Tangheroni,