THE vVESTERN MEDITERR/\NEA:\ KINCDOMS 1~00-l'"iOOof the house of Barcelona; but even there, as the pope well
knew, the king of Aragon was waiting to activate his claim.
Sardinia was important, in fact, not simply as a base for armies
heading eastwards. The island was rich in medium quality
wheat, harvested by a thinly spread and hard-driven popula-
tion of peasants who suffered what was perhaps the lowest
standard of living of any sizeable area of western Europe.
Unhealthy conditions made it impossible for population
to grow as rapidly as it was increasing elsewhere in Europe;
but large open spaces made the island another important
Mediterranean granary, like Sicily and the heel of Italy,
exporting its wheat to Florence, Pisa, Genoa and Barcelona.
It was also a significant source of salt, while the substantial
pastoral sector produced meats, cheese, hides and other basic
animal products. The silver mines of Iglesias, in the south-
west, had come to be dominated by the Pisans, and were an
obvious attraction. Virtually no luxuries were produced, and
few sold, on the island, though coral was fished in the waters
off Alghero, a business that was heavily dominated by Pro-
ven~al merchants.^311
Sardinia may thus have presented the illusion that it was
a half empty island waiting for effective government. Pisan
and Genoese lordship, established in coastal areas and over
the main towns since the eleventh and twelfth centuries, gen-
erated discord rather than reduced it, since Genoa and Pisa
were constantly at one another's throats in the hope ofwin-
ning the valuable resources of the island all to themselves.
In the middle of the twelfth century, at the court of the Holy
Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, both sides had en-
gaged in unprepossessing arguments about who had the right
to control Sardinia, though as well as the emperor the pope
was certain that he had ultimate jurisdiction over the island.
External claims to the right to dispose of Sardinia were largely
irrelevant; discord among the native Sards, divided into four
petty states or 'judgeships', and the Pisans and Genoese
who sought to control the island's exports, meant that even
- On the economy, sec J. Day, La SardPt,rna sutto Ia dmninazione pisano-
genovese (Turin, 1986), originally published as part of the UTET Storia
d 'Jtalia, ed. G. Galasso; M. Tanghcroni, La rillri dell'argmto (Naples.
1985), on Iglesias; C. .\1anca, Aspelli deli'PsjJansionP Pmrwmim mtalano-
aragonPse nel lVlediterranro orridPnlale. If wmmrrrio intemazimwlf rfp/ salt'
(Milan, 1966), on Sardinian salt.