Sardinia From the Cession to Savoy to the Arrival of the Court in Cagliari: A Glimpse at Sardinian History From 1720 to 1799
Written by Luca Cancelliere
Historical links between Italy and Sardinia.
The contributions from the Italian peninsula are certainly, from the demographic and cultural point of view, the decisive element in the ethnogenesis of the Sardinian people, from the early Neolithic migration, to the prehistoric ties between Sardinians and Etruscans, to the long and integral romanization achieved over seven centuries, to which the island owes its present neo-Latin language and culture. After the Byzantine and Judicial interlude, the ties with Italy were reestablished by the victory of the Sardinian-Pisan-Genoese alliance against the Muslim invaders; ties were renewed by monastic orders coming from Italy, by the republics of Pisa and Genoa, by the Ligurian House of Doria, and by Tuscan families such as the Visconti, Obertenghi, Capraia, Gherardesca and Malaspina. This contribution shone forth in the great Pisan Romanesque architecture, in the urban cities founded or reorganized at that time, such as Cagliari, Sassari, Iglesias and Bosa, in the statutes of the Sardinian cities written in the Italian language on the basis of Italic municipal law, and in the wide diffusion of the Italian language and culture in the Island alongside the native Sardinian language.
Decline of the Italian presence in Sardinia.
The Aragonese conquest of the island took place between 1324 and 1409. In addition to depriving Sardinia of the beneficial commercial sphere of influence of the economically advanced Pisa and Genoa, they imposed a backward feudal economy that Sardinia had never known, thereby jeopardizing the cultural link between Sardinia and the Italian peninsula: “From the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries the generous island, which profoundly felt the influence of Italian art, culture and law, was conquered — albeit slowly and through stubborn resistance — by the domineering Spain. Ferdinand II of Aragon tried to erase all memory of Pisa and Genoa (...) The tenacious resistance of Sardinia was shattered and the flower of Italic civilization ended; the language, the culture, the customs, the law, and the way of life had become Spanish. There was a true fear that largest island of the Tyrrhenian Sea had been lost by Italy.” [1]
The cession of Sardinia to Savoy (1720).
During the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1713), the Spanish throne was contended by the pretenders Charles III of Habsburg (supported by Britain, the Netherlands, the Habsburgs, Savoy and Portugal) and Philip V of Bourbon (supported by France and Bavaria). The Sardinian nobility was divided between the two camps. The Bourbons prevailed, but the ancient Kingdom of Sardinia born in Bonaria in 1324 passed to the Habsburgs in the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). After the short-lived Spanish reconquest by Cardinal Alberoni, with the Treaty of London of August 2, 1818 Sardinia passed to the Dukes of Savoy, who were previously awarded in Sicily. In this way the House of Savoy, gaining royal dignity, became part of the great European Houses and Sardinia returned to its natural place as part of Italian civilization. The first Savoyard viceroy, the Baron of Saint-Remy, took office on September 2, 1720 in the name of His Majesty Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy, but had to swear before the Sardinian Stamenti to respect the international treaties, privileges and laws of the previous government, as established by the Treaty of London.
The first years of the Savoyard government.
This juridical limitation in the early decades hindered the reforming action of the new Savoyard government in Sardinia, although from the beginning the Baron of Saint-Remy sought to remedy the previous poor financial mismanagement by introducing the single budget year. Furthermore, “Vittorio Amedeo II aimed at restoring undisputed sovereign authority over the feudal lords and each class of citizens, to bring order to the judicial, administrative and financial chaos; he suppressed the unruly nobility.” [2] The ancient dispute regarding papal power over the island was settled by the agreement of October 25, 1726, in which Pope Benedict XIII relinquished the right of investiture in favour Vittorio Amedeo II. In this way the Supreme Pontiff renounced his claims to sovereignty over Sardinia, which had been at the reason for the of transfer to the Crown of Aragon on April 5, 1297. The new King Carlo Emanuele III of Savoy promoted the establishment in 1744 of the glorious Regiment of Sardinia, which ushered in the great military tradition of the Sardinians in service of the Savoy dynasty and later the Italian Republic.
Bogino: Minister of Affairs in Sardinia (1759-1773).
A true and genuine season of legal, economic and social reforms in Sardinia (the so-called Rifiorimento or Sardinian Revival) — a local expression of the wider phenomenon of enlightened reformism that spread throughout the pre-unification Italian states and the rest of Europe — began with the appointment of Giambattista Lorenzo Boginoquale as Minister of Affairs in Sardinia in 1759 by His Majesty Carlo Emanuele III. Deserted territories like San Pietro Island were repopulated by Italian refugees from the Tunisian city of Tabarka. who founded the town of Carloforte. The towns of Calasetta and Montresta were also founded at that same time. The main period of political reform came in 1771 with the establishment of the "Commutative Councils" in all the territories of Sardinia, chaired by a Mayor elected in turns by the three orders of citizens: upper class, middle class and lower class. For the first time, the serfs were involved in political life. This was a new era, because until then the only the royal cities of Cagliari, Iglesias, Oristano, Bosa, Alghero, Castelsardo and Sassari enjoyed their own municipal law and were not subject to the feudal system established by the Aragonese. Bogino introduced a regular postal service for the first time in Sardinia. The tax system was reorganized and made more equitable. Agriculture was promoted with itinerant teaching and publications also in the Sardinian language; the “monti granatici” (corn lending depots) were established throughout the land in 1767, where for a small fee each farmer could stock up on seed. In the same 1767, Bogino occupied the so-called “intermediate islands” (the Maddalena Archipelago), whose sovereignty was hitherto uncertain. In 1770 the Viceroy Des Hayes embarked on a cognitive investigation tour on the Island, during which he was followed by an itinerant tribunal. As a consequence of this tour, the first directives on public health were founded in 1771, followed by the “Sardinian Pharmacopoeia” in 1773. After 1770 the greatest contribution to the improvement of Sardinian agriculture was made under Censor General Giuseppe Cossu. During that period they imparted modern rules on breeding and slaughter; expensive spinning machines and new threshing machines were introduced, thanks to which in 1790 Sardinia reached a record production of two million starelli (one million tons) of wheat.
Sardinian culture in the Bogino era.
In terms of culture, Bogino established Italian as the official language of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which the House of Savoy had already adopted as the official language of Piedmont since 1561 instead of Latin. Elementary and gymnasium education was reorganized in 1760 with the introduction of compulsory teaching of the Italian language. Even the Sardinian language, which had been completely marginalized during the Aragonese and Spanish period, experienced a literary renaissance. To Bogino we owe the reopening, after more than a century, of the University of Cagliari (1764) and Sassari (1765), together with the Faculty of Theology, Law, Medicine and Philosophy. The arrival of many university professors from Piedmont, together with the establishment of the Royal Printing House of Cagliari in 1767 and the publication of numerous works of Sardinian interest (such as the “Natural History of Sardinia” by Francesco Cetti), contributed greatly to the revival of culture in Sardinia.
From 1773 to the end of the century.
The reforms that were implemented undoubtedly had their beneficial effects: the improved economic and social conditions of the island caused the Sardinian population from to increase from 310,096 inhabitants in 1728 to 416,331 in 1771. In 1773, on the death of his father, the new King Vittorio Amedeo III dismissed Minister Bogino. During his reign new works of military fortification were undertaken in Sardinia and the “monti nummari” (wheat brokers) were instituted to lend money at low rates to needy farmers. The “Giunta di ponti e strade” (Junta of Roads and Bridges) responsible for the construction of road infrastructure was also established, while the Jesuits were expelled from the island and their property expropriated. The Cagliarian jurist Pietro Sanna Lecca proceeded to reorganize and published the “Editti e Pregoni del Regno” (“Edicts and Decrees the Kingdom”). The last decade of the century was marked by the successful Sardinian resistance against the French invasion of 1793, by the civil riots of Cagliari in April 1794 following the failure to take into consideration the “five demands” of the Stamenti, and by the emergence of the anti-feudal Giovanni Maria Angioy, initially sent to northern Sardinia as “Alter Nos” (representative of the Mayor of Cagliari) but then arose as leader of the revolt and was defeated (December 1795 to June 1796). However, as previously noted by the Sardinian historian Girolamo Sotgiu, the rebels of Cagliari and the supporters of Angioy can not be interpreted as a localist movement, but as part of the broader political ferment that pervaded Europe at the time. Furthermore, the rebellion was directed against the Piedmontese clerks and the Sardinian feudal lords, not against the Savoy monarchy: “the Sardinian people refused to take part in a revolt against their legitimate sovereigns, and remained loyal to them” (Francis IV of Austria-Este, Duke of Modena).
Forced to leave Turin as a result of the French invasion of 1798, the new King Carlo Emanuele IV (ascended to the throne in 1796), the royal family and the entire court of Savoy arrived in Cagliari on March 3, 1799. The century ended with the death of the small Carlo Emanuele, the heir to the throne and the last scion of the main branch of the House of Savoy. he was buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of Cagliari in August 1799.
References
1. “Sardegna” Enciclopedia Treccani, 1936.
2. “Sardegna” Enciclopedia Treccani, 1936.
Bibliography
• Manlio Brigaglia, “Storia della Sardegna” (Cagliari 1998)
• Luciano Carta, “Il Settecento e gli anni di Angioy” (Sassari 2011)
• Francesco Cesare Casula, “Dizionario Storico Sardo” (Cagliari 2006)
• Francesco Cesare Casula, “La storia di Sardegna” (Sassari 1994)
• Carlino Sole, “La Sardegna sabauda nel Settecento” (Sassari 1984)
• Girolamo Sotgiu, “Storia della Sardegna sabauda” (Roma – Bari 1984)
• Assunta Trova – Giuseppe Zichi, “Dalla “fusione” all’Unità ” (Sassari 2011)
Historical links between Italy and Sardinia.
The contributions from the Italian peninsula are certainly, from the demographic and cultural point of view, the decisive element in the ethnogenesis of the Sardinian people, from the early Neolithic migration, to the prehistoric ties between Sardinians and Etruscans, to the long and integral romanization achieved over seven centuries, to which the island owes its present neo-Latin language and culture. After the Byzantine and Judicial interlude, the ties with Italy were reestablished by the victory of the Sardinian-Pisan-Genoese alliance against the Muslim invaders; ties were renewed by monastic orders coming from Italy, by the republics of Pisa and Genoa, by the Ligurian House of Doria, and by Tuscan families such as the Visconti, Obertenghi, Capraia, Gherardesca and Malaspina. This contribution shone forth in the great Pisan Romanesque architecture, in the urban cities founded or reorganized at that time, such as Cagliari, Sassari, Iglesias and Bosa, in the statutes of the Sardinian cities written in the Italian language on the basis of Italic municipal law, and in the wide diffusion of the Italian language and culture in the Island alongside the native Sardinian language.
Decline of the Italian presence in Sardinia.
The Aragonese conquest of the island took place between 1324 and 1409. In addition to depriving Sardinia of the beneficial commercial sphere of influence of the economically advanced Pisa and Genoa, they imposed a backward feudal economy that Sardinia had never known, thereby jeopardizing the cultural link between Sardinia and the Italian peninsula: “From the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries the generous island, which profoundly felt the influence of Italian art, culture and law, was conquered — albeit slowly and through stubborn resistance — by the domineering Spain. Ferdinand II of Aragon tried to erase all memory of Pisa and Genoa (...) The tenacious resistance of Sardinia was shattered and the flower of Italic civilization ended; the language, the culture, the customs, the law, and the way of life had become Spanish. There was a true fear that largest island of the Tyrrhenian Sea had been lost by Italy.” [1]
The cession of Sardinia to Savoy (1720).
During the War of the Spanish Succession (1700-1713), the Spanish throne was contended by the pretenders Charles III of Habsburg (supported by Britain, the Netherlands, the Habsburgs, Savoy and Portugal) and Philip V of Bourbon (supported by France and Bavaria). The Sardinian nobility was divided between the two camps. The Bourbons prevailed, but the ancient Kingdom of Sardinia born in Bonaria in 1324 passed to the Habsburgs in the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). After the short-lived Spanish reconquest by Cardinal Alberoni, with the Treaty of London of August 2, 1818 Sardinia passed to the Dukes of Savoy, who were previously awarded in Sicily. In this way the House of Savoy, gaining royal dignity, became part of the great European Houses and Sardinia returned to its natural place as part of Italian civilization. The first Savoyard viceroy, the Baron of Saint-Remy, took office on September 2, 1720 in the name of His Majesty Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy, but had to swear before the Sardinian Stamenti to respect the international treaties, privileges and laws of the previous government, as established by the Treaty of London.
The first years of the Savoyard government.
This juridical limitation in the early decades hindered the reforming action of the new Savoyard government in Sardinia, although from the beginning the Baron of Saint-Remy sought to remedy the previous poor financial mismanagement by introducing the single budget year. Furthermore, “Vittorio Amedeo II aimed at restoring undisputed sovereign authority over the feudal lords and each class of citizens, to bring order to the judicial, administrative and financial chaos; he suppressed the unruly nobility.” [2] The ancient dispute regarding papal power over the island was settled by the agreement of October 25, 1726, in which Pope Benedict XIII relinquished the right of investiture in favour Vittorio Amedeo II. In this way the Supreme Pontiff renounced his claims to sovereignty over Sardinia, which had been at the reason for the of transfer to the Crown of Aragon on April 5, 1297. The new King Carlo Emanuele III of Savoy promoted the establishment in 1744 of the glorious Regiment of Sardinia, which ushered in the great military tradition of the Sardinians in service of the Savoy dynasty and later the Italian Republic.
Bogino: Minister of Affairs in Sardinia (1759-1773).
A true and genuine season of legal, economic and social reforms in Sardinia (the so-called Rifiorimento or Sardinian Revival) — a local expression of the wider phenomenon of enlightened reformism that spread throughout the pre-unification Italian states and the rest of Europe — began with the appointment of Giambattista Lorenzo Boginoquale as Minister of Affairs in Sardinia in 1759 by His Majesty Carlo Emanuele III. Deserted territories like San Pietro Island were repopulated by Italian refugees from the Tunisian city of Tabarka. who founded the town of Carloforte. The towns of Calasetta and Montresta were also founded at that same time. The main period of political reform came in 1771 with the establishment of the "Commutative Councils" in all the territories of Sardinia, chaired by a Mayor elected in turns by the three orders of citizens: upper class, middle class and lower class. For the first time, the serfs were involved in political life. This was a new era, because until then the only the royal cities of Cagliari, Iglesias, Oristano, Bosa, Alghero, Castelsardo and Sassari enjoyed their own municipal law and were not subject to the feudal system established by the Aragonese. Bogino introduced a regular postal service for the first time in Sardinia. The tax system was reorganized and made more equitable. Agriculture was promoted with itinerant teaching and publications also in the Sardinian language; the “monti granatici” (corn lending depots) were established throughout the land in 1767, where for a small fee each farmer could stock up on seed. In the same 1767, Bogino occupied the so-called “intermediate islands” (the Maddalena Archipelago), whose sovereignty was hitherto uncertain. In 1770 the Viceroy Des Hayes embarked on a cognitive investigation tour on the Island, during which he was followed by an itinerant tribunal. As a consequence of this tour, the first directives on public health were founded in 1771, followed by the “Sardinian Pharmacopoeia” in 1773. After 1770 the greatest contribution to the improvement of Sardinian agriculture was made under Censor General Giuseppe Cossu. During that period they imparted modern rules on breeding and slaughter; expensive spinning machines and new threshing machines were introduced, thanks to which in 1790 Sardinia reached a record production of two million starelli (one million tons) of wheat.
Sardinian culture in the Bogino era.
In terms of culture, Bogino established Italian as the official language of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which the House of Savoy had already adopted as the official language of Piedmont since 1561 instead of Latin. Elementary and gymnasium education was reorganized in 1760 with the introduction of compulsory teaching of the Italian language. Even the Sardinian language, which had been completely marginalized during the Aragonese and Spanish period, experienced a literary renaissance. To Bogino we owe the reopening, after more than a century, of the University of Cagliari (1764) and Sassari (1765), together with the Faculty of Theology, Law, Medicine and Philosophy. The arrival of many university professors from Piedmont, together with the establishment of the Royal Printing House of Cagliari in 1767 and the publication of numerous works of Sardinian interest (such as the “Natural History of Sardinia” by Francesco Cetti), contributed greatly to the revival of culture in Sardinia.
From 1773 to the end of the century.
The reforms that were implemented undoubtedly had their beneficial effects: the improved economic and social conditions of the island caused the Sardinian population from to increase from 310,096 inhabitants in 1728 to 416,331 in 1771. In 1773, on the death of his father, the new King Vittorio Amedeo III dismissed Minister Bogino. During his reign new works of military fortification were undertaken in Sardinia and the “monti nummari” (wheat brokers) were instituted to lend money at low rates to needy farmers. The “Giunta di ponti e strade” (Junta of Roads and Bridges) responsible for the construction of road infrastructure was also established, while the Jesuits were expelled from the island and their property expropriated. The Cagliarian jurist Pietro Sanna Lecca proceeded to reorganize and published the “Editti e Pregoni del Regno” (“Edicts and Decrees the Kingdom”). The last decade of the century was marked by the successful Sardinian resistance against the French invasion of 1793, by the civil riots of Cagliari in April 1794 following the failure to take into consideration the “five demands” of the Stamenti, and by the emergence of the anti-feudal Giovanni Maria Angioy, initially sent to northern Sardinia as “Alter Nos” (representative of the Mayor of Cagliari) but then arose as leader of the revolt and was defeated (December 1795 to June 1796). However, as previously noted by the Sardinian historian Girolamo Sotgiu, the rebels of Cagliari and the supporters of Angioy can not be interpreted as a localist movement, but as part of the broader political ferment that pervaded Europe at the time. Furthermore, the rebellion was directed against the Piedmontese clerks and the Sardinian feudal lords, not against the Savoy monarchy: “the Sardinian people refused to take part in a revolt against their legitimate sovereigns, and remained loyal to them” (Francis IV of Austria-Este, Duke of Modena).
Forced to leave Turin as a result of the French invasion of 1798, the new King Carlo Emanuele IV (ascended to the throne in 1796), the royal family and the entire court of Savoy arrived in Cagliari on March 3, 1799. The century ended with the death of the small Carlo Emanuele, the heir to the throne and the last scion of the main branch of the House of Savoy. he was buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of Cagliari in August 1799.
References
1. “Sardegna” Enciclopedia Treccani, 1936.
2. “Sardegna” Enciclopedia Treccani, 1936.
Bibliography
• Manlio Brigaglia, “Storia della Sardegna” (Cagliari 1998)
• Luciano Carta, “Il Settecento e gli anni di Angioy” (Sassari 2011)
• Francesco Cesare Casula, “Dizionario Storico Sardo” (Cagliari 2006)
• Francesco Cesare Casula, “La storia di Sardegna” (Sassari 1994)
• Carlino Sole, “La Sardegna sabauda nel Settecento” (Sassari 1984)
• Girolamo Sotgiu, “Storia della Sardegna sabauda” (Roma – Bari 1984)
• Assunta Trova – Giuseppe Zichi, “Dalla “fusione” all’Unità ” (Sassari 2011)