520 Cadinu
Between the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the construction of the
Giudicati cities saw the founding of new churches, as well as dialogue between
Sardinian institutions and many others. Such activity demonstrates the in-
volvement of giudicati in the European movement for cultural regeneration,
stimulated by the Gregorian Reform and the Roman papacy. The Sardinian
giudici, firmly in control of their provinces, were institutional guarantors who
participated in the construction of the European Romanesque era.44 The pres-
ence of new religious orders, especially the Benedictines, helped revitalize
local resources (infra Turtas). The giudici granted them assets and resources,
often only partially rather than as complete donations or purchases. Tuscany,
Liguria, Marseilles, Barcelona, and Campania were also represented in Sardinia
by religious orders.45
The giudici commissioned Romanesque architecture and were sensitive
to classical culture, expressing their tastes in the use of spolia, such as col-
umns, capitals, and ancient inscriptions, employed in new buildings according
to widespread tradition.46 The architecture’s extensive decorative repertoire
reveals diverse cultural appropriations, including its adoption of glazed
Paolo Maninchedda, ed., Il condaghe di Santa Chiara: il manoscritto 1B del Monastero di
Santa Chiara di Oristano (Oristano, 1987), p. 58, c.28v. and p. 73 c.51v. states “the ruin that
was of Palazzo Vecchio” (ssa ruyna qui fudi domo de ssu isteri bezzu); the comment in the
document does not recognize the meaning of the word steri.
44 The eleventh century saw the decided revival of the construction of religious architec-
ture. Roberto Coroneo, Architettura romanica dalla metà del mille al primo ‘300 (Nuoro,
1993); Raffaello Delogu, L’architettura del medioevo in Sardegna (Rome, 1953) (reprinted in
Sassari, 1988, ed. Amalia Mezzeti, with an introduction by Aldo Sari).
45 The central role of the local ruling classes in opening new spaces to the Benedictine
monks of San Vittore di Marsiglia for their own personal gain emerges in many circum-
stances; see Corrado Zedda, “ ‘Amani judicis o a manu judicis?’ Il ricordo di una regola
procedurale non rispettata in una lettera dell’arcivescovo Guglielmo di Cagliari (1118),”
RiMe Rivista dell’Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea 9 (2012), pp. 5–42; Gabriele
Colombini, Dai Cassinesi ai Cistercensi. Il monachesimo benedettino in Sardegna nell’età gi-
udicale (XI–XIII secolo) (Cagliari, 2012). On the role of Marseilles in Sardinia between the
eleventh and thirteenth centuries, see Enrica Salvatori, “Boni amici et vicini”. Le relazioni
tra Pisa e le città della Francia meridionale dall’XI secolo agli inizi del XIV (Pisa, 2002).
46 In Sardinia, builders used spolia from Late Roman and Byzantine sites in the construction
of Romanesque churches. There is no shortage of Islamizing details, such as the first capi-
tal left in the cathedral of Santa Giusta, built with extensive use of stripped material from
the end of the eleventh century. For a reworking of the classical model, see Elisabetta
Curreli, “I capitelli,” in La Cattedrale di Santa Giusta. Architettura e arredi dall’XI al XIX
secolo, ed. Roberto Coroneo (Cagliari, 2010), pp. 161–178.