218 Haug
in Genoa—via his delegate Christian of Mainz, and had awarded Sardinia to
Pisa in April 1165 in Frankfurt.10 The Pisans had given money to Christian of
Mainz so that he would persuade the emperor to compel the Genoese to leave
Sardinia and to confirm the enfeoffment of his delegate.11 During the long
debate, which the second Genoese chronicler, Chancellor Obertus, again re-
corded at length, the Genoese ambassadors Oberto Spinola and Simone Doria
repeated the historical argument:
But we affirm that there is no basis or legal title by which Sardinia would
belong to the Pisans, their claims being indeed completely false, and
the fact that Sardinia must be ours we can prove before your council.
Our forefathers were the first to overrun by force of arms the judicate
of Cagliari, which was then the capital of all Sardinia, taking the king
of Sardinia, whose name was Musaitus, as prisoner to Genoa, whom we
then sent to the hall of the sacred palace in Germany under the auspices
of the Genoese bishop at the time, to swear an oath of allegiance to your
empire; and thus Sardinia became part of the Roman Empire.12Once again, the Genoese stressed the legal significance of these historical
events, asserting that their forefathers were the first to capture the capital of
10 Chancellor Obertus did not mention this event in his account in the Annales Ianuenses.
Otto Langer, Politische Geschichte Genuas und Pisas im 12. Jahrhundert nebst einem Exkurs
zur Kritik der Annales Pisani (Leipzig, 1882), p. 108, stresses the legality of this imperial
decision, given that Barisone’s loss of honor while languishing as a prisoner in Genoa
disqualified him as a feudal lord.
11 Obertus, Annali Genovesi, p. 194: “domine imperator, nos dedimus archiepiscopo Magontino
libras. XIII. milia, pro Sardinea habenda nomine vestro e tenenda; pro quibus etiam iurauit
quod uos debetis imponere Ianuensibus sub fidelitate, in plena curia, ut de cetero non intro-
mittant se de insula Sardinee, quam dedit nobis, et inuestiti sumus vestra libera uoluntate
(Lord emperor, we gave the archbishop of Mainz 1,300 pounds, for Sardinia to be had and
held in your name; on account of these things, [the archbishop] also judged that you
should command the Genoese in fidelity, and in the full court, that they should not again
admit themselves to the island of Sardinia, which he gave to us, and which we are invested
by your free will).”
12 Obertus, Annali Genovesi, pp. 197–198: “Non enim Sardineam ratione vel titulo aliquo illorum
esse dicimus, immo falsissimum esse constat quod asserunt, nostramque fore Sardineam in
curia vestra palam affirmando probamus. Nam antiquitas nostra primum Calarense iudica-
tum, quod tunc erat caput tocius Sardinie, armis subiugavit, et regem Sardinie, Musaitum
nomine, civitati Ianue captum adduxerunt, quem per episcopum, qui tunc Ianue erat, aule
sacri palatii in Alemanniam mandaverunt, intimantes regnum illius nuper esse additum di-
tioni Romani imperii.”