260 Murgia
of the vicereine, in the second, the court proceedings lasted much longer and
ended in the defendant’s condemnation to the stake.
During a brief sojourn in Basel on his long journey to various European cit-
ies, L’Arquer, who had earned his degree in utroque iure at the age of 17 in Pisa,
and afterwards in sacra theologia in Siena, wrote a Compendio de las historias
de la tenebrosa Serdenya at the demand of Sebastian Munster, who inserted it
into the second book of his Cosmographia universalis (Basil, 1550), in which
he directed a lashing critique at the judgments passed by the Inquisition and
the corrupt practices of the clergy. Appointed financial counselor of Sardinia
in May of 1554 (rejected in vain by the feudal party), Arquer found himself in
a legal emergency that directly involved the Aymerich, an aristocratic faction
that controlled contraband and grain shipment, and who starved the city in
order to protect its shady affairs. The Aymerich tried to influence the activity
of the municipal council of Cagliari, resorting to the physical elimination of its
opponents in order to carry out its plans. Furthermore, its unscrupulous activ-
ity led to the assassination of the brother of a highly esteemed civic counselor.
Arquer’s determination to prosecute those responsible for the crime provoked
the reaction of the aristocracy, who had him arrested on false pretenses. Thus,
in 1557, Arquer had to go to Spain to vindicate himself. After clearing himself
of the charges, he was reappointed to his office. However, Arquer’s adversar-
ies and the Inquisition did not release their prey. In March of 1563, Arquer’s
fate was sealed when the Inquisition got hold of a letter he exchanged with
Gaspare Centellas, of the counts of Oliva and the circle of viceroy Cardona,
who had been tried for “Lutheranism” and sent to the stake in September 1564
by the Inquisition of Valencia. After a long trial, during which he spent over
eight years in prison, he was condemned to the stake in an autodafé held in
Toledo in 1571.15
Meanwhile, in the following years, conflicts over reciprocal jurisdictions be-
tween the holy tribunal and the royal administration did not ease. Accused of
operating in an arbitrary manner and succumbing to family interests even after
the intervention of the supreme authority of Aragon, the Sardinian Inquisition
now seemed more interested in confiscating the goods of those it interrogated,
than in pursuing and controlling the potential infiltration and circulation of
Protestant ideas. Indeed, the Inquisition devoted its energy to chasing after
minor local problems, involving itself in an annual average of around ten
15 Marcello Cocco, Sigismondo Arquer. Dagli studi giovanili all’autodafé (Cagliari, 1987);
Salvatore Loi, Sigismondo Arquer. Un innocente sul rogo dell’Inquisizione. Cattolicesimo e
protestantesimo in Sardegna e Spagna nel ‘500 (Cagliari, 2003).