The Sardinian Church 209
Although the archbishop of Pisa retained the title of primate of Sardinia
and Corsica, he no longer had any jurisdiction in Sardinia. This meant that the
Sardinian bishops had to face the important changes of the period alone. One
of the biggest consequences was the broad application of feudal concessions
throughout most of the island, which meant that most of the ecclesiastical
patrimonies was to be absorbed by the new fiefs.
6.4 Waiting for the King of Aragon
Boniface VIII (1294–1303) had conceded that from 1301 onwards, the tithe
would be collected in Sardinia to fund the reconquering of Sicily in favor of
the Angevins of Naples; as James II of Aragon (1295–1327) had negotiated,
without Sicily it would be “impossible to aid the Holy Land.” In 1303, Boniface
VIII exhorted the ecclesiastical authorities and the people of Sardinia and
Corsica to submit willingly to James II of Aragon. Pope Clement V (1305–1314)
too maintained this policy and insisted that the Aragonese king hurry to take
possession of his fief. However, Pope John XXII (1316–1334) took the opposite
approach, not only opposing the conquest of the island, but also insisting that
the Genoese aid the Pisans in their fight against the Aragonese.
This was not the case with the local ecclesiastical authorities, who relished
the day when the king of Aragon would come to the island. The bishop from
Santa Giusta wrote to James II in 1321: “While I was in Sardinia a year ago, the
people asked me: ‘Bishop, will we ever see the day when the king of Aragon
will come? Do you really think we will see him?’ ”88 The abovementioned Roger
Tagliaferro similarly pleaded with the sovereign: “Come quick without delay
because these Pisans are destroying us.”89 The bishop of Bosa, Nicholas of Vare,
and the archbishop of Torres, the Pisan Tedisius, echoed these sentiments. The
importance of this almost messianic sense of waiting can be easily appreci-
ated, considering how Pisa was isolated in its dealings versus the Sardinian-
Aragonese coalition, while most of Sardinia was united with Arborea in its
prolonged fight against Aragon.
6.5 Papal Centralism and the Oppressive Tax System in Sardinia
One of the first consequences of the Aragonese victory was the diffusion of
papal centralism and an oppressive taxation on the island. The chapters hav-
ing turned to infighting over the nomination of a new bishop, Pope John XXII
88 Heinrich Finke, ed., Acta Aragonensia: Quellen zur deutschen, italienischen, französischen,
spanischen, zur Kirchen- und Kulturgeschichte: aus der diplomatischen Korrespondenz
Jaymes II (1291–1327) (Berlin, 1908), pp. 571–572.
89 Salavert y Roca, Cerdeña y la expansión mediterránea, vol. 2, pp. 246–247.