232 Ortu
the dynasties of the giudici through matrimonial bonds. The first to success-
fully graft onto the genealogical trunk of the giudici were the marquises of
Massa, who, in around 1188, assumed the succession of the Alcon of Cagliari
through the marriage of a certain Roberto to Giorgia, daughter of the giudice
Costantino. The second were the Visconti, who, in 1106, rose to the throne of
Gallura through the marriage of a certain Lamberto to the heiress, Elena.
The potestas of the Sardinian giudici enjoyed full military and civil breadth,
which thus included the power, common to medieval rulers, not to make laws,
but to recognize and rule on laws.13 In reality, the legitimacy of the giudici’s
power sprung not from dynastic succession, but by law from divine will. Giudici
were in fact a deo electi et coronati (chosen and crowned by God), and bore out
this belief through a mock election that was carried out by the prelates of the
realm. Legitimate succession to the throne was in turn reinforced by the expe-
dient of the ruling giudice’s pairing of the heir to the government. Women were
excluded from the throne, but in the absence of direct male heirs, they could
transfer power to a son and assume guardianship if he had not yet reached
maturity.
In substance, the power of a giudice was autocratic, based on the Byzantine
model. All the same, it could not fully disregard the consensus of the majo-
rales, as well as chief secular and ecclesiastical ministers, who, through their
presence, intervened to uphold actions that were of utmost importance to the
realm. According to some scholars, the participation of these figures in gov-
ernment was likewise an institutional expression within the Corona de logu,
which functioned as both the supreme court of justice and the government
council based on the model of the Curia that, in fragile medieval monarchies,
inspired and supported the king with its consilium et auxilium (advice and sup-
port). Though plausible, this thesis has not yet found verification in adequate
documentation.14
The territory of the giudicati was partitioned into partes or curatorias, dis-
tricts handled by officials directly dependent on a giudice and drawn for the
most part from his closest relatives. This articulation of districts was based on
a matrix that was undoubtedly political and bureaucratic, and of Byzantine
origin, but kept alive and functioning by interests that were by now seignio-
rial and dynastic. Analogous to the duties and skills of the curatore were those
of the maiore de scolca, who exercised them within a smaller regional sphere
comprised of three or four villages. As the villages gradually grew and emanci-
pated themselves from the dominion of the domus, the functions of the maiore
13 Charles Howard McIlwain, Constitutionalism: Ancient and Modern (Ithaca, 1947).
14 Ortu, La Sardegna dei giudici, pp. 79–80.