The Sardinian Church 211
Arborea, who was counting on succeeding the Aragonese sovereign: the taxes
granted to Peter IV were to be put towards the reconquering of Sardinia.91
However, as the dismantling of monastic properties led to the extinction
of their monasteries, so the dismantling of the bishops’ patrimonies—espe-
cially in the south of the island (Cagliari, Oristano, and Ales)—led the latter to
manage by appropriating the “sacramental” tithes of the majority of parishes
(190 out of 250), dividing the sum equally amongst their own personal pre-
rogatives and those of their chapters. However, since these tithes were always
“sacramental,” it was still up to the bishops and the canons, who were the real
beneficiaries, to provide for the administration of sacraments for the parishes,
from which these funds had come. The church officials fulfilled that obligation
by having the cura animarum performed by the so-called vicarii ad nutum, who
would fill that need for better or worse, with no guarantee aside from being
warned two months prior to when they would eventually be removed from
the post.92 As pay, the vicarii received only one forth to one fifth of the full
tithe, a situation that not even the energetic Pius V (1559–1572) would be able
to correct.
6.7 The Sardinian Church During the Western Schism
From the first months of the schism, the king of Aragon remained favorable
to Urban VI (1378–1389). But, after the election of the Avignonese Clement VII
(1378–1394) five months later, the Aragonese king did not take sides, but rather
withheld the funds due the Holy See until the antagonistic popes came to an
agreement with each other. The next king of Aragon, John I (1387–1396), was
decidedly partisan; he had been won over to the Avignon camp by the cardinal
Pedro de Luna of Aragon, who would succeed Clement VII as Pope Benedict
XIII (1394–1429). In contrast, the majority of Sardinia maintained obedience to
Rome at the behest of its political leader, the judge of Arborea, whose policies
were continued even when, after his defeat, he became marquis of Oristano
in 1410.
The consequences of the schism, which were overcome in part by the
Council of Constance (1414–1417), were felt because of the shrewd politics
of the young Alphonsus V, the future Magnanimous (1416–1458), who pre-
sided over the Sardinian parliament of 1421. Alphonsus succeeded in turn-
ing the maximum profit from playing the conflicting “obediences” of Rome,
Avignon, and Basilea against one another and blocking every connection be-
tween the Sardinian church and Rome at the beginning of the reign of a rather
91 Ibid., pp. 309–310.
92 Ruzzu, La chiesa turritana, p. 161.