238 Ortu
of the domus, but of villages in which the seigniorial habitatio was replaced by
communal bidatzone: open fields planted with grain, whose cultivation alter-
nated with rest periods in order to meet the basic demand for bread. The other
major facets of the village’s agricultural system were vine-growing districts,
fields reserved for feeding work animals, the open saltus (used for pasture, har-
vest, and small-scale hunting), and forests for firewood. On the other hand, the
true silva remained essentially external to the village economy, under the man-
agement of the jurisdiction’s tutelary, who contracted it out for acorns with
which to fatten pigs, and especially reserved it for large-scale hunting for his
own benefit.
2 Arborea against Aragon
2.1 Feudalization
The pontifical enfeoffment of Sardinia and Corsica to the Crown of Aragon had
no consequences for the latter, which remained under Genoese control until
the eighteenth century, but it did change the course of Sardinian history.
In June 1323, after laborious diplomatic and military preparations, Alfonso
the Infante left for Sardinia with a large fleet and proceeded to conquer it.
His takeover was complete a year later, in June of 1324, when Pisa capitulat-
ed. Initially, the Italian commune retained the formidable Castle of Cagliari,
which was observed closely by the new Aragonese hamlet that arose on the
hill of Bonaria. Two years later, Pisa had to renounce even this, its last mili-
tary and commercial bulwark in Sardinia, receiving rural fiefs in the regions of
the Gippi and Trexenta as paltry recompense.23 Evacuated by the Pisans, the
Castle of Cagliari immediately became a testing ground for the ethnic segre-
gation of the Aragonese, who, in May 1328, forbade native Sardinians and all
other foreigners from residing there.
Aragon’s military venture was facilitated by its alliance with the giudice
Hugo II of Arborea, who, by undermining Pisan and Genoese resistance from
within the island, played the part of Trojan horse. However, relations between
the two allies were not commensurate. On 5 July 1323, during the siege of
Iglesias, Hugo II and James II (through Alfonso the Infante) agreed on a feudal
pact, according to which the former was to obtain “totum judicatum Arboree
(total jurisdiction of Arborea)” in a fiefdom, which, up to that time, he had
23 On these events, see Bruno Anatra, “Dall’unificazione aragonese ai Savoia,” in La Sardegna
medioevale e moderna, eds John Day, Bruno Anatra, and Lucetta Scaraffia (Turin, 1984),
pp. 191–213.