The Sardinian Church 199
As for the canons, it should be remembered that they also had to respect one of
their reforms by adopting a kind of communal life (“they live in the rectory, are
nourished by its provisions, sleep beneath the same roof, and go to church to-
gether for the divine office”).63 One of the first records of this is from the period
of Innocent III (1198–1216), when that form of life was falling into disuse (“nil
canonicum sapiunt,” wrote the pope).64 In the absence of testimonials from
proper, regular canons, it can be assumed that this customary antagonism was
the result of the influx of Pisan clerics.
5.6 The Proprietary Church (Ecclesia Propria), Conversos, and
Cumbissìas
The documents from the twelfth century also offer insights into the existence
of the phenomenon of the proprietary church, as the donnicellu Gunnari wrote
of the churches he wanted to donate to Montecassino, in order to distinguish
them from those “given me by my lord the judge Gostantine of Laccon with my
archbishop’s permission.” At issue here is the ease with which judges or aristo-
crats were able to exercise authority over some churches (“sa clesiam meam”),
sometimes without seeking authorization from the church. Their “owner-
ship” seemed to include the possibility that a judge or magnate could not only
endow churches financially, but also supply them with the clergy to practice
the cura animarum. In 1127, Judge Gostantine de Laccon united the church
of Saint Mary of Soliu, which was state property, with that of Saint Nicholas
of Soliu, thereby creating a “plebe.” The resulting organization seems to have
been a baptismal church to which the local population had to apply. And all
of this was done without any sign of intervention by the bishop.65 It was a
situation that recalls the oath, described above, made by Costantine Salusius
of Cagliari during the aforementioned synod of Torres.
One of the ways in which the monasteries exerted a powerful influence on
Sardinian religiosity was through the spread of conversos. Within the monastic
organization, the term conversus (lay brother) referred to the illiterate layman
taken in by the monastery to follow evangelical teachings and perform manual
tasks in the home or the fields, providing the monks time for their liturgical,
literary, and artistic life. In Sardinian documents, in contrast, the term conver-
su/cumbersu refers almost exclusively to men, women, and married couples;
63 Raimondo Turtas, “Il Registro di San Pietro di Sorres come fonte storica,” in Il Registro di
San Pietro di Sorres, eds Raimondo Turtas, Sara Silvia Piras, and Gisa Dessi ̀ (Sassari, 2003),
pp. xix–xx, 125.
64 Sanna, Innocenzo III e la Sardegna, pp. 65–67.
65 Saba, Montecassino e la Sardegna medioevale, pp. 160–161, 171.