Sardinia In Geographical Descriptions 71
of the descriptions and the role of Sardinia within them. The deacon Guido
of Pisa was the author of a historical and geographical compilation of five
books that was put together in Pisa at the beginning of the twelfth century,
the Liber de variis historiis.10 As an expression of the scope of awareness of
an Italian seafaring town, the text seeks to give meaning to the history of Pisa
through a geographical and historical account. The geographic content, de-
rived from well-known sources, particularly Isidore of Seville’s Etymologies, is
not especially original in itself, but its means of organization are indicative of
the author’s interests. The three islands of the Western Mediterranean, Sicily,
Sardinia, and Corsica, drew his attention in particular, in the light of the stra-
tegic importance they played in Pisan politics. In the years 1015–1016, Sardinia
was the scene of armed struggles waged by the Pisans and Genoese against the
Muslim presence.
Another text from the twelfth century, De viis maris, gives yet another per-
ception of Sardinia.11 This heterogeneous text presents all the Atlantic and
Mediterranean routes for travel from England to the Holy Land. De viis maris
is unusual in nature, because it was the product of an English scholar who was
attentive to the technical and concrete requirements of maritime travel in the
context of the Crusades. It is especially revealing for the spread and adaptation
of facts judged a priori to be foreign to geographical inquiry. It describes the
position of Sardinia along the Mediterranean maritime routes by indicating
the distances and durations of crossings12 and highlights the dangerous seas
between Corsica and Sardinia. It provides information about the geography of
the island, such as its perimeter and mountainous character. Further, it sheds
light on the island’s domination by Pisa, resulting in the importance of the
10 For the complex history of this text, see P. Gautier Dalché, Carte marine et portulan au XIIe
siècle. Le Liber de existencia riveriarum et forma maris nostri mediterranei (Rome, 1996),
which provides an analytic interpretation of the collection (pp. 93–98). The appendix
(pp. 251–261) contains a list of the contents and links to publications of specific parts.
The remaining passages have recently been published: Liber Guidonis compositus de variis
historiis, ed. Michele Campopiano (Florence, 2008).
11 Published with an analysis in P. Gautier Dalché, Du Yorkshire à l’Inde. Une géographie ur-
baine et maritime de la fin du XIIe siècle (Roger de Howden) (Geneva, 2005). On Sardinia,
see p. 207. Another text gives a similar description of Sardinia, the Liber de existencia rive-
riarum et forma maris nostri mediterranei (cited above, n. 9). For a thorough analysis of
the passage, see Isabella Zedda Macciò, “Il mito delle origini. La Sardegna, Aristeo e la fon-
dazione di Cagliari,” Rivista dell’Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea, 5 (December
2010), pp. 127–146.
12 The text specifies the distance from the Hyère islands to Sardinia (300 miles) as well as the
sailing time (siglatura) of a day and night under full sail with a steady wind.