140 Zedda
from Gallura, who was excommunicated by Urban II),59 became suffragan to
the Holy See, while the diocese of Arborea was elevated to an archdiocese,
whose territory coincided with that of the entire giudicato. The world of the
giudicati found its equilibrium, which, however precarious, was able to hold up
at least until the middle of the twelfth century.
For the giudici of Sardinia, accepting the high authority of the Apostolic
See in the eleventh century meant placing themselves beneath a “protective
umbrella” that safeguarded the judicial institution and their own personal
power from outside intrusion.60 And thus it came to be: the giudicati of Sardinia
progressively endorsed the Gregorian project with greater or lesser conviction,
depending on the giudicato or giudice. They had chosen their protector, recon-
firming their endorsement even in the decades after Gregory’s papacy, when
the very space of the Tyrrhenian Sea seems to have been under discussion. Yet
for around 60 years the protective umbrella of the Apostolic See functioned
well, and, like the duchies of Campania, the Sardinian giudicati prospered in a
state of relative equilibrium, rendered more stable by the exceptional tripartite
division of the archdiocese, which was appreciated by local governors.
In conclusion, the history of the Sardinian giudicati is more dynamic and
complex than hitherto assumed. The road towards a sufficiently complex read-
ing still seems long and difficult, but with this little contribution I hope to
place a useful tool at the disposal of scholars, so that they may reexamine the
obscure areas in the present historiography of medieval Sardinia.
59 The letter of the Vittorino monk, John, which provides news of the synod of 1093 and
the excommunication of Torchitorio of Gallura, has been brought up again in Armando
Petrucci and Giulia Ammannati, eds, Lettere originali del Medioevo latino: VII–XI sec. (Pisa,
2007), doc. 12, pp. 111–121.
60 Placing Sardinia beneath the protective umbrella of the Apostolic See had been recom-
mended by Gregory VII himself, as is stated in the final admonition of his letter of October
1080 to the giudice of Cagliari, Orzocco Torchitorio; the pope assures the giudice that if he
remains faithful to the Church of Rome, he will not have to fear any invasion from the
outside, but rather, will be even more protected by pontifical benevolence: “Igitur quia
devotionem beato Petro te habere in legato suo monstrasti, si eam, sicut oportet, servare volu-
eris, non solum per nos nulli terram vestram vi ingrediendi licentia dabitur, sed etiam, si quis
atemptaverit, et seculariter et spiritualiter prohibebitur a nobis ac repulsabitur (therefore,
since you [Orzocco Torchitorio] have demonstrated your devotion to the blessed Peter
[the Church of Rome] and have shown it to our legate, if you continue to maintain this
devotion as is appropriate, you can stay calm and sure that we will never grant permission
to anyone to enter your land [the giudicato] by force; but you can even rest assured that
if anyone attacks your land, either with spiritual or temporal intent, he will be quickly
stopped by us).” Caspar, Das Register Gregors VII, cit., VIII, 10, p. 529.