Facts and Trivias about Sardinia

[askra]

The Carta de Logu was a constitutional law and a legal code promulgated by the iudex Marianus IV (the iudex were the rulers of the Giudicati, independent medieval sardinian states) in the 14th century, and it was improved by his successor, the iudex Eleanor of Arborea, that made the code one of the best of the its epoch, perfectly suited for the citizens of Sardinia. It was in force in Sardinia until it was superseded by the code of Charles Felix in April 1827.


The Carta De Logu stands out for its organic, coherent and methodical coverage of the legal order; the code itself is made up of 198 articles and, covering civil and penal law, plus some areas identified by several jurists as “primitive” precepts of constitutional law.


Marianus IV of Arborea



Eleanor of arborea holding the Carta de Logu


This legal code was also intended as a collation of the most important laws(customs and edicts) used in the Giudicato before its advent.
Due to the economic nature of the Giudicato, a good portion of the norms deals with “rural problems”, especially the conflicts between farmers and cattlemen(e.g. protecting fenced-in cultivated areas from bovines and other large-sized animals).

The Carta De Logo regulates a great number of types of offence, mayor(lese-majesty, treason ,murder…) and minor ones(theft ,injuries, adultery…) alike, dictating punishments considered extremely harsh and cruel by the modern eye; detention was not considered a punishment in itself, but was applied as a precautionary measures or as an ancillary penalty(like in the case of a failure to pay the compensation).


Fines were usually applied for lesser wrongs(e.g. fifty lire in case of blasphemy), but leading to corpolar punishments(comprising blinding and mutilation) if the monetary sanction was ignored; this situation could even lead to a death sentence, carried out by hanging, decapitation or death by burning.
The introduction of fines had a positive impact in the rural and economically isolated communities of the Giudicato of Arborea, since it helped the development of new trading routes and strengthened the contacts with the central administration.

The Carta De Logu also introduced a series of extremely innovative legal precepts. Women were allowed to obtain a portion of their husband’s revenues, creating a sort of de facto protection of the wife in case of widowhood.

Other articles contains fire prevention rules and regulations to safeguard local wildlife.

Another innovative, almost revolutionary principle introduce the equality before the law.

Moreover, the code issued by Eleanor offered for the first time a legal system cognizable by the whole population(it was written in Sardinian instead of Latin).


For all these reason, the Carta De Logu is considered one of the best legal codes of the Medieval period, inferior only to the Liber Augustalis promulgated by the Emperor Frederick II.


First page of the Charta de Logu

[askra]

A condaghe (also condaxi or fundaghe), from the medieval Sardinian kondake (from Byzantine Greek κοντάκιον, kontákion, "the pole around which a scroll is wound"), was an administrative document in use in Sardinia between the 11th and 13th centuries.

They are one of the earliest witnesses for the development of the Sardinian language and are an important source for historians of medieval Sardinia.

The original condaghes were collections of acts of donations to churches or monasteries. Later condaghes were kept by noble families for recording inheritances, purchases, donations (datura), transactions (tramutu) and litigation (kertu), principally when relating to the church. The chief object of such records was to provide precise dates in case of legal dispute.

Physically, the first condaghes were scrolls: overlapping parchment manuscripts wound tightly around a kontákion. Over time they took on the familiar form of a codex (like modern books).

They were produced in the scriptoria of monasteries and cathedrals, but the great majority have been lost. Only the condaghes of the monasteries of Santa Maria di Bonarcado, San Michele di Salvennor, San Nicola di Trullas and San Pietro in Silki and of the Basilica of San Gavino are preserved from among the ecclesiastical kind. There is only one surviving lay condaghe, that of Judge Barisone II of Logudoro.


Condaghe of Silki written in Sardinian language in the 11th century

[askra]

The Sardex is a currency used as an alternative to the Euro in Sardinia.

Recent economic crisis have created rifts in western societies, which are now obliged to redefine old economic practices and, in the same time, to design new ones. Relationships between people and money are not exempt from this upheaval, good or bad. Many new forms of money are developing and emerging from economic crises. The Sardex is one of them.

The Sardex scheme was created in Sardinia in 2006 as a start-up by Giuseppe Littera, Gabriele Littera and Carlo Mancosu, three young and unemployed graduates (oddly not in economics). It is no coincidence that they were inspired by the Wir, an alternative currency created in Switzerland after the crisis of ’29.

Born as a little firm, in June 2012, there were more then one million Sardex in circulation, and this number is growing very fast. Each Sardex is worth one Euro. Almost 800 firms participate in the Sardex programme.

This money aims to improve local commerce which have been struggling because of both global, local and national economic problems.

The Sardex is a monetary network that connects various businesses – at the moment it is trying to open to private citizens - helping them to exchange services and products without using Euros or other state currencies, and outside the limits of barter. The network lends Sardex credits to firms as bank credit, but with no interest.

Creditors have to solve their debts within twelve months from the loan. Thus far, all firms that have used Sardex credits to manage cash flow problems have resolved their debts with the Sardex scheme. If a firm is in financial trouble, other firms may offer assistance buying their products or services. As an extrema ratio the firm could pay debts using the Euro.

Up to now, all the firms have solved their debts using only Sardex credits. So this market is “euroless” and no actors should gain more money then they received. The Sardex scheme is a complementary market because its aim is to extend firms’ business. It doesn’t work inside the ordinary market but, as a small network, it partially depends upon it. The firms, which want to join the network, have to pay a registration fee and an annual subscription in Euro.

The Sardex is a hybrid form of money: it is an e-money and it is a local money used only in Sardinia.


Unlike the Euro, Sardex credits have a very specific function: supporting local businesses in Sardinia. Sardex credits are money because people believe in them and because people have trust in the Sardex system. That's an easy answer but as a sociologists we should want more. The president of the project, Gabriele Littera, thinks that the strength and the reason of the success of Sardex lies in people’s confidence in the network : “We don’t have an algorithm, just relations, our brokers try to help who is in trouble suggesting them new businesses. Technology is an aid.” He underlines the communitarian aspects of the Sardex but we said that trust is not a sufficient explanation. We must also take into consideration the technologies that permit the circulation of this form of money. Sardex credits are not just a simple instrument. They are part of a socio-technical and economic system. Indeed, if we disconnected the servers that manage Sardex transactions, it would be the end for the project.

The first issue is preventing opportunistic behaviours that could undermine trust. The use of Internet mainly solves the problem because every transaction is public and nobody can operate anonymously. Transparency is useful also for the public finance because tax evasion is impossible inside Sardex scheme. Furthermore, the web can produce a sort of community memory: the Sardex, unlike currencies, doesn’t have juridical and legal bodies that prevent and punish bad behaviours. It needs a high level of transparency for the transactions and only a proper use of Internet can offer this service. The second problem concerns what goods the network can offer. It has to be balanced and adequately extended otherwise the deficits would render the network’s participation unprofitable. Again a proper use of the technological support solves the problem. The web allows a constant exchange of information among the users and, in the same time, the brokers who manage the network could work on the basket of goods. The supply of services and products is public and brokers can pinpoint every deficit. Trust is not inspired only by the group identity –being Sardinian- or by the relation with the brokers but it is produced also by the technology that transmits fundamental information. Networked technologies are not only an instrument. They are an important part of this kind of money. There is a relationship of agency between all the actors involved in the network and the technological infrastructure. Citing Keith Hart: “Then money could take a variety of forms compatible with both personal agency and human interdependence at every level from the local to the global.” We already know that technological impact is very important in modern financial markets, for example we can think about the hedge funds and their powerful servers. But what I would like to propose in this brief reflection is that the technological development must be taken into consideration even when the research field regards small monetary networks and even where the group identity seems to be the most important element. Not infrequently the opposition between community and global society, barter and financial trade are based on the same infrastructures.

[askra]

In Sardinia survives one of the last hippie communes in Europe. It was founded in 1971 in Cala Grande, a small coastal area on the promontory of Capo Testa in Santa Teresa Gallura, in the North of the island. It’s formed by seven valleys divided by huge granite hills, dotted by many caves, some of them inhabited.

The valley now is frequented by alternative people, hippies, rastas, punks, backpackers, etc.

[askra]

Replica of the ship Reàl at the Barcelona's Maritime Museum



The Tercio de Cerdeña was a military unit based in Sardinia, headquartered in Cagliari, Sassari and Tempio, founded in 1536 by the Emperor Charles I . It was constituted by 1,728 arquebusiers and pikemen.

The soldiers of the Tercio de Cerdeña were chosen by John of Austria as personal guards and 400 of them were embarked during the Battle of Lepanto on the galley "Reàl", where they boarded and sank the Ottoman flagship.

The banner of the ship Reàl is today preserved in the San Domenico Church in Cagliari, Sardinia.

[askra]

workers on strike in Buggerru in 1904


The 9/4/1904 in the village of Buggerru the working class, constituted mainly by miners, striked for the 1st time in Italy.
Some days later italians from the continent followed the protest started in Sardinia, organizing the 1st general strike in the history of Italy.

[askra]

Sardinia hosted a large number of refugees from the yugoslavian territories lost by Italy during the WWII.
These peoples moved mainly in the North West of Sardinia, in the town of Fertilia and the plain of Nurra.
In these areas is still spoken the istriot and the dalmatian by elderly and by some of their descendants.

[askra]

The navy official Domenico Millelire (pseudonym of Domenico Leoni) is historically recognised to be the 1st person to be decorated with a Gold Medal of Military Valour in Italy.

In February 23, 1793, Domenico Millelire, in command of the Sardinian fleet, defeated near the Maddalena archipelago the fleets of the French Republic, which was included with the rank of lieutenant, the young and future Emperor of France Napoleon Bonaparte.

He was subsequently decorated as recompense with the gold medal of the Reign of Sardinia and a life annuity of 300 Lire.


http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domenico_Millelire
http://www.napoleon-series.org/milit...maddalena.html

[askra]

Sardinia Bay is a coastal location in Port Elisabeth, South Africa.




https://www.google.it/maps/place/Sar...ae986724ced1a6

[askra]

Boom! is a 1968 drama film starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Noël Coward, directed by Joseph Losey, completely shot in Sardinia, mainly in Alghero, on the promontory of Capo Caccia.