Overview Of Sardinian History 87
from the seat of power.3 Indeed, modern archeological excavations confirm the
existence of local workshops as well as traces of maritime commercial trade.
During the years in which Genseric supported Arianism in Africa, many
Catholic African bishops were exiled to Sardinia, where they evangelized.
The work of Fulgentius of Ruspe was very important in the city of Carales
(Cagliari), establishing monastic settlements and preaching Trinitarian dogma
(508–523).4
Subsequently, Sardinia became part of the vast Byzantine Empire of
Justinian I (534). Procopius of Caesarea, secretary and advisor to Belisarius,
the emperor’s general, characterized Sardinia as “large and fertile with a sur-
face of about two thirds of Sicily [...], that lies half the distance between Rome
and Carthage.”5 Procopius, an attentive historian, reported the relocation of
the Mauri, the people of Mauritania (an ancient Roman province in North
Africa) to the island. The Mauri settled inland and made a living by plunder-
ing, creating conflict with the Vandals. The inhabitants therefore labeled them
Barbaricini, a name traditionally given to the ancient populations who settled
in the mountainous region of Barbagia, which extends around the highest
mountain, Massiccio del Gennargentu. This population, dedicated to sheep
farming, remained distant and isolated from the evolutionary processes that
affected the coastal areas. After an attempt by the Ostrogoths to occupy the
coasts (551–552), the island was reoccupied by Byzantine troops and remained
administratively linked to Africa.6
Sardinia then became a borderland (provincia limitanea), which was fun-
damental for its strategic role in the Mediterranean. It was a province (tema)
of the Byzantine Empire, governed in civil affairs by a praeses (or iudex provin-
ciae), who was subordinate to the authority of the prefectus praetorio Africae,
residing in Carthage, and in military affairs by a dux (or magister militum), who
3 Victor of Vita, Victoris Vitensis historia persecutionis africanae provinciae sub Geiserico et
Hunrico regibus Wandalorum, ed. Karl Halm (Berlin, 1961 [1879]), pp. 4–5, 13 (Liber primus, IV,
XVII), p. 18 (Liber secundus, VII).
4 Paul Fridolin Kehr, Italia pontificia, sive, Repertorium privilegiorum et litterarum a Romanis
pontificibus ante annum MCLXXXXVIII Italiae ecclesiis monasteriis civitatibus singulisque
personis concessorum. Vol. 10 Calabria-Insulae, ed. Dieter Girgensohn (Berlin, 1975), pp. 368–
458; Raimondo Turtas, Storia della Chiesa in Sardegna dalle origini al Duemila (Rome, 1999),
pp. 88–98; Giampaolo Mele, “Il monastero e lo ‘scriptorium’ di Fulgenzio di Ruspe a Cagliari
nel VI secolo tra culto, cultura e il Mediterraneo,” in Il papato di San Simmaco (498–514), Atti
del convegno internazionale di studi, Oristano 19–21 novembre 1998, eds Giampaolo Mele and
Natalino Spaccapelo (Cagliari, 2000), pp. 199–230.
5 Procopius of Caesarea, Le guerre Persiana Vandalica Gotica, trans. Marcello Craveri (Turin,
1977), vol. 2 (Libro IV, 13), pp. 292–296.
6 Procopius of Caesarea, Le guerre Persiana Vandalica Gotica (Libro VIII, 24), pp. 729–733.