104 Galoppini
In an attempt to resolve the serious political problems and to protect the
interests of the island, the ancient maritime republic even planned to enter
into the confederation of states of the Catalan-Aragonese Crown. A vain at-
tempt was made to integrate Pisan politics, so that the sovereign of Aragon also
became the sovereign of Pisa (1309).54 The project failed, though, mainly due
to Pisa’s taxation of the island. The municipality of Pisa wanted to preserve the
great fiscal revenue it gained from the rights to export silver, wheat, and barley,
but especially for the extraction of salt. Moreover, they asked that the Bagnaria
di Castello di Castro remain the only port of the giudicato of Cagliari, while the
sovereign wanted to reserve the right to create other ports-of-call. After years
of unsuccessful negotiation, war became inevitable.
Infante Alfonso, son of James II, arrived in Sardinia with a fleet, supported
by Hugh, Giudice of Arborea (1323–1324). After an initial period of tranquil-
ity, the first revolts broke out against the Catalan-Aragonese in the north of
Sardinia, especially in Sassari. The second war between Pisa and Aragon fol-
lowed (1325–1326). Defeated once and for all on the island, the Pisans were
expelled from Castello di Castro and their houses were assigned to subjects
of the Crown (1327–1330).55 This forced ethnic change did not alter the socio-
economic characteristics of the Castle (renamed Castell de Cáller), which re-
mained active in mercantile, artisanal, and port activities, with the presence
of the significant Jewish community.56 The Sardinians were forced out of the
Castle into the suburbs of Villanova and Stampace.
Villa di Chiesa passed to the Crown of Aragon with an agreement on
7 February 1324, preserving its local population, which traditionally resided
“Sardinia and Corsica from the Mid-Twelfth to the Early Fourteenth Century,” in The New
Cambridge Medieval History (Cambridge, 1999), vol. 5, pp. 447–457.
54 Antonio Arribas, La conquista de Cerdeña por Jaime II de Aragón (Barcelona, 1952); Vicent
Salavert y Roca, Cerdeña y la expansión de la Corona de Aragón. 1297–1314, 2 vols (Madrid,
1956), vol. 2, pp. 416–420 doc. 335.
55 Rafael Conde y Delgado de Molina and Antonio Maria Aragó Cabañas, Castell de Cáller.
Cagliari catalano-aragonese (Palermo, 1984).
56 Ramon Muntaner and Pedro, La conquista della Sardegna nelle cronache catalane, ed.
Giuseppe Meloni (Nuoro, 1999); Alberto Boscolo, “Gli ebrei in Sardegna durante la domi-
nazione aragonese,” in Annali della Facoltà di lettere, Filosofia e Magistero dell’Università
di Cagliari 19 (1952), pp. 162–171 (also published in Alberto Boscolo, Medioevo aragonese
(Padua, 1958), pp. 1–13); Cecilia Tasca, Gli ebrei in Sardegna nel XIV secolo: società, cul-
tura, istituzioni (Cagliari, 1992). On the Muslim presence, see also Gabriella Olla Repetto,
“Cagliari crogiolo etnico: la componente ‘mora’,” Medioevo: Saggi e Rassegne 7 (1982),
pp. 159–172.