190 Turtas
4.3 The Last Objective of Gregory VII’s Sardinian Policy
Gregory’s two interventions regarding the reform of the Sardinian church are
not included in his Registrum: the first was the dispatch of the Victorines of
Marseilles to the realm of Cagliari’s judge; the second was the opening of the
churches of Logudoro’s judge to the clergy of the cathedral of Pisa, which was
already decidedly pro-reform. The former came about as a result of the fact
that the aforesaid Orzocco Torchitorius was not able to perform the penitence
imposed on him by Alexander II in 1065 for his “numerous murders,” by call-
ing on the Cassineses.41 Thus, Orzocco would fulfill it by inviting monks from
Marseilles, with whose abbots Gregory had close ties, to Sardinia. This hap-
pened before 1080, the date of Gregory’s aforementioned letter, in which he
expressed his pleasure with the difficult judge, who died shortly thereafter in
August of 1081.
The opening of the churches of Logudoro to the Pisan clergy is documented
in the donation of the church of San Michael of Plaiano and other churches
near Sassari from Mariane, the judge of Torres, to the cathedral of Pisa in 1082.42
Mariane was highly concerned with the decadence of the churches of his king-
dom, which “wallow in nefarious sins because of the neglegentia of the eccle-
siastical and their lords [the bishops] and their way of life which is virtually
identical to that of the lay people.” Accordingly, he placed the churches he had
donated under the exclusive rule of Santa Maria di Pisa, the bishop, and his
canons. Thus, working through his representative and promoting the dialogue
between the Sardinian and Pisan clergy, Gregory encouraged reform on the
island.
In addition to the Sardinian archbishop William of Cagliari, the judges
Constantine Salusius and Mariane, some entries from the condaghe of San
Pietro in Silki also expressed the need for reform in the church. These entries
indicate that various presbyters, despite ordination, were still servos, that is,
slaves, and married, as if it were possible for presbyters to be all three. As with
the other married servi, their children were also property of the monastery. The
existence of these married slave presbyters was clearly problematic, e.g. why
had they been ordained? Another sign of lax discipline in the Sardinian church
is the fact that it was sometimes the bishop, the administrator of the nunnery,
who sought the wife for a prebiteru, servu of the same institution.43
41 This is also evidenced in the aforementioned letter from Cagliari’s archbishop, William.
42 Bianca Fadda, “Le pergamene relative alla Sardegna nel Diploimatico Coletti dell’Archivio
di Stato di Firenze,” Archivio Storico Sardo 42 (2002), pp. 114–116.
43 Giuliano Bonazzi, ed., Il Condaghe di San Pietro di Silki. Testo logudorese inedito dei
secoli XI–XII (Sassari-Cagliari, 1900); there is a recent and better new edition by Alessandro