The Struggle For Sardinia In The Twelfth Century 223
A royal dynasty brought me into the world, Pisa stole me. / I was its war
booty together with my son / The kingdom of Mallorca I ruled over. / Now
I lie buried under the stone before your eyes, / having come to the end of
my days. / Whoever you are, do not forget your condition / and pray to
God for me with a devout spirit.18Scholarly research has focused on identifying this anonymous woman, sym-
bolically placed in a tomb in the religious and political center of the city of
Pisa, and has speculated as to the possible purpose of the memorial. The queen
might be the wife of Muğāhid al-Āmirī (1011–1044), the king of Denia and the
Balearic Islands—that is, the Musaitus or Mugieto to whom the Pisan and
Genoese city chronicles refer.19 Muğāhid had tried to expand into Sardinia but
18 Scalia, “Epigraphica,” p. 281: “+ REGIA mE PROL[ES G]EnVIT PISE RAPVER[VNT] /
HIS EGO CVM nATO BELLICA PR[EDA] FVI / mAIORICE REGnVm TENVI
NUnC COn[DI]TA SAXO / QVOD CERnIS IACEO FInE POTITA mEO / QVISQVIS
ES ERGO TVE mEmOR ESTO COnDITIOnIS / ATQ(UE) PIA PRO mE mEnTE
PRECARE DEVm.” Since the inscription of the queen of Mallorca is dated to the middle
or the second half of the twelfth century based on the type of script, it is contemporary
with the construction of the second facade.
19 Little is known about Muğāhid, who was actually a freed Christian slave who had risen
through the ranks at the court of Abi Amîr al-Mansûr in Cordoba. Following the lat-
ter’s death in 1002, he established a taifa kingdom in Denia, from where he invaded the
Balearic Islands and then planned the conquest of Sardinia in autumn 1015. However,
Figure 8.3 Inscription on the facade of Pisa Cathedral, below the one in Fig. 8.2.