The Struggle For Sardinia In The Twelfth Century 221
wealth of material, only to give up all of sudden. Yet how is it possible that
I fail to mention all the other events that have occurred in the past? In
the 1006th year since the Incarnation: 1060 Sicilians out for victory were
themselves mightily overthrown and surpassed. Indeed that covetous
people of ravaged Sicily tried to destroy your name and attack your terri-
tory. You could not bear this and, full of suffering, you pursued them into
their terrain. You watched not without lamenting how they vanquished
all and you conquered Messina. In the 1016th year since the Incarnation:
you, famous city, dedicated yourself to even greater enterprises. You de-
feated the Saracens with your magnificent soldiers, who were doomed to
die without any eulogy. That is why Sardinia shall always be duty-bound
to you. In the 1034th year since the Lord: the third part of the world bore
witness to your victorious deeds; Africa, a king came down from heaven
for you. [Pisa,] you avenged yourself in the attack with good reason since
the city of Bona was thus taken and defeated through your might.1616 “Ex merito laudare tuo te, Pisa, laborans/ Nititur e propria demere laude tua./ Ad laudes,
urbs clara, tuas laus sufficit illa,/ Quod te pro merito dicere nemo valet./ Non rerum dubius
successus namque secundus/ Se tibi pre cunctis fecit habere locis:/ Qua re tanta micas quod
te qui dicere temptat,/ Materia pressus, deficiet subito./ Ut taceam reliqua, quis dignum
diceret illa/ Tempore preterito que tibi contigerint?/ Anno Dominice Incarnationis MVI/
Figure 8.2 Inscription on the facade of Pisa Cathedral, listing the most important episodes in
the war against the Saracens at Messina/Reggio, Sardinia and Bona.