Genserio, the Vandal, invaded Sardinia from Africa, and attached it to his kingdom. After the overthrow of the Vandal kingdom by Beliaariut, Sardinia was annexed to the prefecture of Africa, and was governed by an officer styled duke. The &nexus began, about A.D. 720, to ravage the coasts of Sardinia ; and as the Byzantine emperors were unable to protect them, the natives applied fur assist ance first to the Longobards, and afterwards to Louie le Debonnaire, Charleniague's eon, to whom they tended their allegiance. About the year 1000, Musalt, • Moorish chieftain. sailed from Africa to Cagliari with a large force, took it, and conquered the greater part of the island, and assumed the title of king of Sardinia. Musait sent from thence armed vessels to ravage the coasts of Italy. The Pisans sent an armament which took possession of Caglisri ; but Mullah (1015) obliged the Pisan garrison to capitulate, and then sailing for the coast of Luna in Italy, surprised and sacked that town. lie was however attacked in his retreat, and lost most of his meu, and even his wife, who was. taken prisoner and beheaded. Musait escaped to Sardinia. The combined forces of the Pisans and Genoese now attacked the Moors, and drove them away from both Sardinia and Corsica (1016.1017). After this "the Genoese kept for themselves Corsica and Capraja, and the Mans had Sardinia." The island being finally cleared of the Moors, the Piaans divided it into four provinces, called °judica ture, and appointed Haan noblemen over each, styled 'Modica, each independent of the others, but all feudatory to Pisa. Cagliari in the south, Torres In the north, ()allure in the east, and Arboree or Oristano its the west, were the names of the four judicatures. Some places along the northers coast wore however assigned to the Genoese, among others Castel Sardo, which was for a long time in the possession of the Doria family, who built a castle near it, still called Castel Doria.
The dominion of the island remained long after a constant subject of contention between Pisa and Genoa, whilst the lords of the various provinces made themselves independent in reality. The emperor Frederick IL took advantage of this to make his natural son Hontains king of Sardinia. Tientsin. distinguished himself for his bravery and determination both iu Sardinia and Sicily, where he fought for many years for his father against the Pope and the Guelphs, until he was taken prisoner by the Bolognese in 1249, who kept him in confine ment for the rest of his life, during which he bore the title of King of Sardinia. His title was however a mere name, and the various judges of the island ruled as indepandeut princes, whilst Pisa and Genoa continued to fight for their respective claims to the nominal sovereignty. After the defeat off Meloria (1284), by which the Pisan naval power was annihilated [Ltvonso; Pas.), proposals were made by the Genoese to release their numerous prisoners, provided Pisa would make a session of Sardinia, and give up the castle of Cagliari Into the hands of the Genoese ; but the prisoners themselves, it is reported, protested against recovering their liberty at such a price.
In 1323 Jaime, king of Aragon, who had been invested with the sovereignty of the island by Popes Iloniface VIII. and element V., sent the Infante Don Alonzo to make a descent upon the island. The Infante being joined by lingo, judge of Arborea (whose plot for maseacreing the Pisans throughout the island had been suocemfully executed) and some of the native leaders, besieged Iglesias, and after several months' resistance compelle,1 the Pisan garrison to capitulate. He ties proceeded to blockade Cagliari by sea and land. A Piano fleet
of 52 galleys arrived io the gulf In the spring of 1324, and landed a body of troops, which were joiued by some of the natives, but being defeated by the Aragonese, a treaty was concluded by which Sardinia was given up by the republic to the crown of Aragon, on condition that the Pisan inhabitants and their property should be respected, and that the castle and suburbs of Cagliari, with the port, and the adjoin ing lakes should remain in possession of Pisa, ou payment of an annual tribute as a sign of homage to the king of Aragon. This arrangement did not last long. In the following year, the Pisan squadron being entirely defeated by the Aragonese in the Bay of Cagliari, the town was evacuated, and Sardinia was entirely lost to Pisa. But the judges were no more inclined to submit to their new masters than to the Pisans, and for many years they carried on a destructive warfare against the Aragonese. At last Peter the Ceremonious, king of .Aragon, landed In 1354 with a strong force at Porto Conte, and having traversed and pacified the principal part of the island, made his public entry into Cagliari, where in April of tho following year, with a view of checking the influence of the factious chiefs, ho convoked a general parliament, after the model of the Cortes of Spain, consisting of pre 'idea, peers, and commons, which was called Stamenti,' or Estates. Ho thus laid the foundation of a representative government in Sardinia, which still subsiata Brancaloone Doria, head of the Genoeso faction, who had married Eleanor, daughter of Mariano, judge of Arborea, offered hie services to the king of Aragon to bring the whole of Sardinia into subjection ; but his wife put herself at the head of a strong party of natives, who named her son judge of Arborea. Brancaleone, who had gone to Spain, was detained there as a hostage, and after fruitless negotiations Eleanor took the field, being joined by the people of Galin; and drove the Aragonese from almost the whole northern division of the island. She ruled for several years by the name of Giudicessa,' but iu fact as queen of Sardinia, and she compiled for her anbjecta the ' Carta de Logu, or Code of Laws, which remains in force with few modifications to the present day. This remarkable woman died of the plague in 1903, and her only son dying in 1407, without issue, the Sarde invited over the viscount of Narbonne, husband of Beatrice, Eleanor's sister. But the viscount found an opponent in Brancalcono Doria, who after his wife's death had taken possession of Arborea, and was supported bythe Genoese in the north. In the spring of 1409 an Aragonese army, under Martin, son of Martin of Aragon, landed and entered Cagliari, and from thence, with 8000 foot and 3000 horse, he marched against the forces of both Doris and the viscount, who had united against him. A battle took place at San Luri, iu June 1409, in which the Aragonese obtained a complete victory ; Doria was taken prisoner, and the Viscount fled precipitately. Martin however died shortly after of the malaria fever, and the Viscount continued to carry on the war. At last Alfonso V. of Aragon obtained the formal cession of.tbe province of Arborea in 1428, by paying 100,000 gold florins to the heir of the late viscount of Narbonne, and the whole island became subject to the crown of Aragon. In 1492 Ferdinand the Catholic established the Inquisition in Sardinia, and ordered the expulsion of all Jews who refused to bo baptised, and their synagogues to be converted into churches. From that time the Jove have not been tolerated in Sardinia.