Romanesque churches

Around the middle of the 1000, Sardinia was divided into four kingdoms or judges, governed by a king or judge. The judges were the local representatives of the Byzantine emperor who, around 1000, became autonomous. The result was a division of the territory into the four kingdoms of Cagliari, Arborea, Torres and Gallura, in turn divided into curatorships.

At the same time, we witnessed the reorganization of the Church. The vast dioceses of the Byzantine era were divided into new ecclesiastical districts: archdioceses and dioceses governed by archbishops and bishops, to which the parishes were headed.
It is in this context that the judges, through donations, encouraged the arrival on the island of the Benedictines (from Montecassino, Saint Victor of Marseille, Camaldoli, Vallombrosa, Cîteaux) who established their monasteries in the Sardinian territory. There was a rebirth of culture under the protective wing of the Holy See.

Also not to be overlooked is the increasingly stable and deep-rooted presence of the republics of Pisa and Genoa, whose commercial activity on the island led to conflicts with local authorities. Their presence often interfered at the political level and came to determine the end of three judges (Cagliari, Torres and Gallura), who after 1250 fell into the hands of Pisan or Genoese lords.
These historical circumstances contributed to the circulation of new artistic currents on the island, which were embedded in the local substratum and which have left the most significant traces in both military and, above all, ecclesiastical architectural activity

Update

20/9/2023 - 11:17