The Sardinian Church 189
Constantinus did his best, especially with Orzocco of Cagliari, who ex-
pressed the desire to reach the pope. Unfortunately, nothing is known of this
or of the dispatch of an additional papal legate, nor of the response of the
other judges. However, we can deduce that the “Sardinian question” had lost
some of the urgency it had in previous months. One indication that the pope
was more relaxed on the Sardinian front is that three years later he was able to
face the matter of Corsica with great determination.38
Another explanation for this change might be the sudden invasion of
Sardinia by thousands of Anglo-Saxon nobles and knights around 1074. They
had left Britain a few years after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, “resolved to not
suffer under the Norman yoke.” Once they entered the Mediterranean, they
sacked Ceuta and the Balearic Islands, and reached Sardinia, unaware that it
was a Christian island. When they realized this, they gave back what they had
pillaged and, in recompense, the principes Sardinie (that is how the Anglo-
Saxon chronicle described the Sardinian judges) gave them 1,300 slaves with
whom they equipped the ships they had captured from the Arabs. Maybe the
presence of these fearsome warriors helped to convince the principes Sardinie
that the threats of Gregory VII were to be taken seriously.39
Despite the severity and harshness of Gregory’s letters in 1073–1074, in
1080 the same pope expressed his satisfaction and indicated his support for
the island. Indeed, he wrote that he would reject any eventual request by the
Normans or other peoples to invade the island: for as long as the judges ex-
pressed their “devotion to Saint Peter,” he would defend them, “seculariter et
spiritualiter.” This expression of more than spiritual sovereignty (i.e. political)
is often construed as a threat, but rather it was the announcement of an es-
caped danger for Sardinia: not even here did the pope seem to be grasping for
political domination over the island. This is quite clear given Gregory VII’s po-
sition regarding Corsica. It was common knowledge, Gregory said, that Corsica
belonged solely to the Roman Church. All those who had, up until this time,
held the island, had shown the pope “no [feudal] service, no swearing of fealty,
no act of submission or obedience.” For this reason, the pope entrusted the
vicarious management of Corsica to Landolfus, bishop of Pisa.40
38 Caspar, Das Register Gregors VII, pp. 46–47, 64, 528–530, with regard to Sardinia; and
351–352, 413–415 with regard to Corsica.
39 Krijna Nelly Ciggaar, “L’émigration anglaise à Byzance après 1066. Un nouveau texte en
latin sur les Varangues à Constantinople,” Revue d’ études Byzantines 32 (1974), pp. 301–342.
40 Cinzio Violante, “Le concessioni pontificie alla Chiesa di Pisa riguardanti la Corsica
alla fine del secolo XI,” Bullettino dell’Istituto storico italiano per il Medio Evo e Archivio
Muratoriano 75 (1963), pp. 43–56.