30 Hobart
according to their religion, if not by their gender or age; we even know that if
the person was a pagan, they could be bought less expensively.79
The American classicist, Robert Rowland, accumulated an extensive bibli-
ography and wrote on many topics on both Sardinian archaeology and his-
tory, from the Nuragic era to the late Middle Ages. The Periphery in the Center:
Sardinia in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds80 is not only a succinct survey, but
touches on a wide range of topics, from land donations to more unconven-
tional themes, such as the rights of women. Together with the Steve Dyson,
Rowlands has published a book that can serve as a perfect general introduction
to the island.81
More targeted historical introductions to medieval Sardinia in the
Mediterranean can be found in Marco Tangheroni’s contributions: the first
in The New Cambridge Medieval History and the second in the Short Oxford
History of Italy.82 Starting from the twelfth century, Tangheroni visits the four
giudicati, through the lens of the “continental dynasties,” especially Pisa, and
describes the conflict over investiture that saw Italy’s powerful maritime re-
publics in competition with the church. Tangheroni treats Sardinia and Corsica
in comparison, drawing out their differences, and how the availability of raw
materials—much more prevalent in Sardinia—affected the political histories
of the islands.
3 Primary Sources
Most of the surviving documents, especially from the late antique and early
medieval periods, come from ecclesiastical records. The best known are those
collected in the Registrum Gregoriano during the reformation of the Roman
79 Olivia Constable, “Muslim Spain and Mediterranean Slavery: The Medieval Slave Trade as
an Aspect of Muslim-Christian Relations ,” in Christendom and its Discontents. Exclusion,
Persecution, and Rebellion, 1000–1500, eds Scott L. Waugh and Peter D. Diehl (Cambridge,
1996), pp. 264–284.
80 Robert J. Rowland, The Periphery in the Center. Sardinia in the Ancient and Medieval worlds,
BAR Int. Series 970 (Oxford, 2001).
81 Stephen L. Dyson and Robert J. Rowland, Archaeology and History in Sardinia from the
Stone Age to the Middle Ages: Shepherds, Sailors, and Conquerors (Philadelphia, 2007).
82 Marco Tangheroni, “Sardinia and Corsica from the Mid-Twelfth to the Early Fourteenth
Century,” in The New Cambridge Medieval History, 5, ed. David Abulafia (New York, 1999),
pp. 447–457; Marco Tangheroni, “Sardinia and Italy,” in Italy 1100–1350, ed. David Abulafia
(Oxford, 2004), pp. 120–132.