The Sardinian Church 185
erected by Arsenius, the “archiepiscopo, heretico errore decepto.”24 The pic-
ture of Sardinia that emerges is one of both ecclesiastical submission of the
bishop to the Roman pope, as well as the political submission of the island to
the Byzantine basileus, who also imposed upon Sardinia an archbishop loyal
to Byzantine religious politics. This would explain the taint of heresy on the
abovementioned Arsenius after the death of basileus Theophilus (829–842),
the last of the iconoclastic Byzantine rulers. However, despite the growing
closeness of the Sardinian church to Rome, in the second half of the ninth
century a subsequent basileus appointed another Arsenius, who occupied the
see of Carales again, this time as an iconodule.25 This period, beginning in the
second half of the ninth century, was called “the golden age of the Byzantine
Empire (843–1025).”26
In effect, Sardinia’s break with Byzantium was to occur slowly. The island
had learned to survive by its own efforts. This was apparent in the island’s
commissioning of armed forces, which were requisitioned by both Pope Leo IV
and, later, by the basileus, who procured a corps of Sardinian soldiers to serve
him among his personal guards.27
However, Sardinia’s transition from the Byzantine period to the high Middle
Ages did not take place through a revolt, but peacefully. The new Sardinian
political class (with local names) was permitted to take grand Byzantine titles
(such as árchon or protospathários).28 Thus, Sardinians were granted autono-
mous power and authority within the Byzantine Empire. An unequivocal sign
of this was the delegation that, dispatched from the “Lord of the Island of
Sardinia,” appeared in the court of the caliph of Cordoba on 24 August 942, to
seek a treaty of peace and friendship.29
3.2 The Legacy of Byzantine Christianity in Sardinia
The question of the Byzantine influence on the religiosity of Sardinia is a rich
one. Even in the medieval period, from the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries,
24 Dümmler, Epistolae Karolini aevi.
25 This Arsenius’ seal is now in the Fogg Art Museum. It shows the Theotokos with the Christ
child, and a Greek invocation: “protect Arsenius archbishop of Sardinia.”
26 Ostrogorski, History of the Byzantine State, p. 198.
27 Besta, La Sardegna medioevale, pp. 45–46; Giampaolo Mele, “Il canto delle ‘laudes regiae’
e una ‘euphemía’ di Sardi a Bisanzio nel secolo X,” in Miscellanea di studi in onore del
Cardinale Francesco Maria Pompedda, ed. Tonino Cabizzosu (Cagliari, 2002), pp. 213–222.
28 This is attested to by numerous surviving Greek inscriptions in the southern part of the
island: Cavallo, “Le tipologie della cultura,” p. 476.
29 Catia Renzi Rizzo, “I rapporti diplomatici fra il re Ugo di Provenza e il califfo ‘Abd ar-
Raman III: fonti cristiane e fonti arabe a confronto,” Reti medievali. Rivista 3:2 (2002), p. 6.