266 Murgia
long discussions, none of which led to a joint solution. Faced with a deadlock,
the viceroy informed Madrid of his decision to suspend the parliamentary as-
sembly. The representatives of the nobility sent Castelví to the court to voice
their position. However, his mission was not successful. Indeed, active rancor
against him and a great disdain towards all Sardinians existed at court.
By the time parliament began working, two opposing “parties,” deployed
around the great feudal families, polarized the feudal sector. A sharp confron-
tation arose between the “revisionist” party and the “legalist” party. The major-
ity joined the former, led by the marquis of Laconi, who supported the right to
reserve government posts for naturales, emphasizing the traditional rapport
between the procurement of “favors” and the concession of donations. While
the latter identified with Blasco Alagon, the marquis of Villasor, who was de-
ployed in defense of the Iberian nobility with feudal titles on the island. In May
of 1668, before a vote on the donation favored by the Crown could be taken,
the viceroy dissolved the parliamentary assembly with a drastic and unilateral
decision. This was the first such lurid episode in the history of the Sardinian
parliament, hence it came to be interpreted, above all by representatives of
Sardinia, as an intolerable offense and sign of an undisguised sentiment of dis-
dain towards its inhabitants. The political situation threatened to boil over in
the following months, when first the marquis of Laconi and then the viceroy
were assassinated. The episode baffled Spanish diplomats, because Sardinia
had shown itself to be the most “loyal” of the heterogeneous complex of states
that composed Spain’s dwindling empire. Out of fear that Camarassa’s assas-
sination would lead to a general insurrection, the Spanish fleet in Naples was
ordered to prepare to set sail towards Sardinia. When it became clear that the
alarm was exaggerated, the order was rescinded.
In the meantime, despite its close family ties with the Castelví, the regen-
cy was assumed by the governor of Cagliari, Don Bernardino Cervellon, who
was an aficionado of aristocratic violence. He was backed by the prince of
Piombino, the general of the Sardinian galleys. With the threat of violence on
his side, Cervellon set up a trial, which he conducted in a heterodox manner,
concluding with the verdict that Camarassa had inspired the assassination
of Castelví. This confusing and provocative expedient to a general revolt in-
spired the minor nobility and the young, impulsive cadres of the aristocracy.
Giorgio Castelví, regent in the Council of Aragon and brother of the marquis
of Cea, negotiated a sort of indemnity, presenting the two murders as the re-
sult of a private feud. Nonetheless, procedures immediately began to appoint
a new viceroy, the duke of S. Germano, who soon reopened the trial. The new
inquiry attributed the assassination of the 58-year-old marquis of Laconi to
his 29-year-old wife, Francesca Zatrillas, marquise of Sietefuentes, and her