246 Ortu
expected to offset their own food shortage with Sardinian grain, which proved
to be a mistake. The quantity of grain exported annually from Sardinia was, in
fact, never very high.42
In the most difficult moments during the military confrontation with
Arborea, the territories under Aragon’s control were just as dependent on im-
ports, despite the fact that, from the beginning of its rule, the Crown had is-
sued various measures granting priority to and privileging stockpiles in major
cities. In 1355, the parliament’s fourth “constitution” ordered all villages under
Aragon’s control to remit grain that exceeded their productive and subsistence
needs to the custody of the castellans of Cagliari, Alghero, and Casteldoria,
who were not to use it, except in case of siege or extreme danger.43 As Aragon
was at war with Arborea, this prohibition remained largely theoretical; the
bulk of peasant outfits were, in fact, dispossessed of the power to deal in po-
tential surplus production.
The ultimate sanction of this expropriation came from parliament in 1421
and confirmed Cagliari’s special right to store and hold in reserve all grains
produced by the inhabitants of “regne e cap de Caller,” except where necessary
“per llur provisió de menjar e sembrar (for food provision and reseeding).”44 This
rough draft of a rationing system demarcated the first and largest privileged
border around royal cities. In the case of the Castle of Cagliari, the border em-
braced the entire ancient giudicato of Cagliari; in other cities, it extended well
beyond their urban or suburban territory. In any case, apart from Cagliari, the
rationing system was perfected and stabilized only after the island was on the
brink of attaining peace and Sassari and Iglesias were no longer at risk of suc-
cumbing to Aragon’s control.45
Above all, what connoted a royal city was its jurisdictional profile, which
assigned the highest authority in civil and criminal cases involving the inhabit-
ants to the tribunal of Veguer, with the exception of the nobles and ecclesias-
tics, who had their own courts. In Cagliari, Sassari, and Alghero, the jurisdiction
of Veguer inevitably extended to the villages closest to the city walls and those
closely bound to the cities by defensive or economic needs.
Civic self-government—sanctioned by extension to Cagliari with the so-
called Coeterum of the ordinances of Barcelona in 1327—hinged on a civic
council composed of five members, announced annually, who were checked
42 Marco Tangheroni, Aspetti del commercio dei cereali nei Paesi della Corona d’Aragona. La
Sardegna (Pisa, 1981), pp. 85, 90, 97–98.
43 Meloni, Il Parlamento, pp. 292–293.
44 Boscolo, I Parlamenti, p. 107.
45 Anatra, “Dall’unificazione aragonese ai Savoia,” p. 256.