42 Hobart
organizational structures changed radically over a few centuries. He pays par-
ticular attention to local sources for the history of the island, which mostly
portray external forces, like Pisa and Genoa, the church, and Spanish interests,
as interfering with Sardinia’s organization. The division of the territory into
giudicati produced endless conflict within the local aristocracy, and may have
made the island vulnerable to foreign intervention. Ortu concentrates on how
Pisa, Genoa, and the church interacted vis-à-vis Sardinia, and how these rela-
tions ultimately shaped the modern political organization of the island, head-
ing into the Aragonese era. Utilizing archival materials, the author provides a
meticulously detailed history of the demographic changes and political tur-
moil during the age of the giudicati.115 Regarding the complex and conflictual
historiography of the giudicati, Ortu traces their origins and outlines the con-
stitution of the four administrative units, discusses their cooptation by Pisan
and Genoese merchant families and lay aristocrats, and finally looks at their in-
corporation into the feudal system imposed by the Crown of Aragon. Ortu fol-
lows developments in settlement patterns, and elucidates the corresponding
social and political factors that changed Sardinia throughout the Middle Ages.
The emancipation of servile peoples and the preponderance of donations to
various factions of the church, altered the social fabric of Sardinia by produc-
ing more autonomous units of governance and economy (villages), which were
eventually afforded representation when the first Sardinian parliament con-
vened in 1355. Although the Crown of Aragon was the most successful at unify-
ing Sardinia under a single flag, resistance remained fierce (especially from the
giudicato of Arborea), and Sardinia resisted complete unification throughout
the Middle Ages. Ortu relates various examples of attempts that were made by
individual giudici and foreign nobles to unify the island, or, at the very least, to
expand their own control. Contentious feuds and tenuous power seem to have
typified Sardinian governance throughout the various epochs. This history pro-
vides a helpful outline of the political situation in Sardinia from the twelfth to
the fifteenth centuries, with particular attention to Aragonese rule. The next
chapter picks up from here and covers the aftermath of Spanish rule.
Giovanni Murgia describes, in fascinating detail, the repercussions for
Sardinia of Spain’s imperial policies during the sixteenth and seventeenth cen-
turies. The account begins with the unification of the Castilian and Aragonese
115 Gian Giacomo Ortu, “Le aree storiche della Sardegna: costruzioni territoriali e civili,” in
Atlante delle culture costruttive della Sardegna, eds Gian Giacomo Ortu and Antonello
Sanna (Rome, 2009), vol. 1, pp. 1–70; Gian Giacomo Ortu, “I giudicati: storia, governo e
società,” in Brigaglia, Mastino, and Ortu, Storia della Sardegna, vol. 1, pp. 94–115; Gian
Giacomo Ortu, La Sardegna dei giudici (Nuoro, 2005).