564 glossary
Pazionato commune one subject to a dominant power.
Picapedrers/ local craftsman responsible for architectural ornament.
piccapedras
Plebania a parish, a church with subordinate chapels.
Poblador a settler in a colony.
Poblador a settler in a new colony.
Podestà supreme head of the medieval town who administered jus-
tice and commanded the army.
Polyptychs painted arrangement of four or more panels usually hinged
and foldable.
Praeses civil governor of a Roman province.
Presbytery the area of a church building commonly referred to as the
“chancel” or “sanctuary.”
Ranunculus sardous Sardinian grass that afflicts whoever eats it with a rictus
(risus sardonicus) as he perishes.
Rennu realm, kingdom, or judgeship.
Ribat fortified Islamic establishment.
Rompheum long, double-edged sword.
Ruga Mercatorum main street of shops and merchants.
Sinodo gathering of bishops to help the pope in governing the uni-
versal church.
Solifugid or solifugus a highly poisonous Sardinian spider; called “varsa” in the ver-
nacular Sardinian.
Spolia residual architectural remains that are reused in new
buildings.
Stamenti the parliament of Sardinia.
Uomini nuovi new men.
Vassalic fidelitas a vassal’s duty of fidelity towards the man who granted him a
fief.
Velarium a huge system of sails used as an awning to provide shade for
spectators for open air auditoriums, such as the Colosseum.
Voussoirs an architectural term for a truncated wedge, which forms an
arch or vault.