A big “bullshit” – If in a speech we say that a certain action: «… is a bullshit», we use a somewhat vulgar but effective expression, now part of the Italian language. Tullio De Mauro's Dictionary defines a “bullshit”: a “big nonsense”, “a very stupid thing” which for us, however, becomes “… a big mistake in our History”.

The “bullshit” of Ugone II – And that is what Ugone II, king of Arborea, did in 1323 when he urged James II, sovereign of the Crown of Aragon in the Iberian Peninsula, to come to Sardinia to drive the hated Pisans out of the Cagliari area and Gallura. His was one of our greatest misfortunes because we lost the possibility of making Sardinia Sardinian when the Catalan-Aragonese defeated us at Sanluri in 1409. At the same time, it was the fortune of the Italian Peninsulars because, from the political evaluation error made by Ugone II, the Kingdom of Sardinia was born in 1324, which today is called the Italian Republic with all sixty million inhabitants, including us Sardinians (and then they say that we have no History, and that the History to be studied is that of the descendants of Romulus and Remus!).

The consequences of history – But let's proceed in order, and tell the facts as they unfolded and the unimaginable consequences that reach up to the present day.

Who was King Ugone II – Ugone II was an illegitimate son of the Oristano king Mariano III de Bas-Serra, and the Pisans of the neighbouring Sardinian overseas territories of the Tuscan Republic continually reproached him for this: «He cannot succeed by right because he is a bastard» ( «... non potest de jure succedere quia est bastardus» ). And he was consumed with rage, forced to pay 15,000 gold florins to Pisa to give up the idea of opposing him with a more suitable contender for the throne. He was just 25-26 years old.

Hugh II allies himself with the Catalan-Aragonese – Once enthroned, however, in the spring of 1323 he allied himself with James II of the Crown of Aragon, who since 1297 had also been the nominal king of “Sardinia and Corsica” by anointing of Pope Boniface VIII, and became his vassal through the commendatio personalis , that is, through the personal oath of loyalty and the annual census of 3,000 gold florins in exchange for the maintenance of his dynastic rights and possible military protection (vassalage between Heads of State has always been common, but today we call it political dependence).

The war between the Pisans and the Catalan-Aragonese – Strengthened by this protection, on 11 April Ugone II attacked the hated Pisans with his private hordes on the southern border between Villanovaforru and Sanluri, and immediately asked for help from Giacomo II who sent his firstborn son Alfonso the Magnanimous with a powerful army which, on 13 August 1323, landed at Palma di Sulcis (now San Giovanni Suergiu) and laid siege to Villa di Chiesa (Iglesias) which surrendered after seven months and eight days of strenuous resistance. Then, he headed against Castel di Castro (now Cagliari), defeated the Pisans at Lutocisterna (near Elmas) and attacked the city with the help of the Arborean soldiers.

The birth of the Kingdom of Sardinia – Castel di Castro capitulated on Tuesday 19 June 1324, putting an end to the war. A peace treaty was signed between the Crown of Aragon and the Municipal Republic of Pisa, also signed by the King of Arborea Ugone II, with which the Pisans ceded to the Catalan-Aragonese all their overseas Sardinian colonial possessions, which by the infant Alfonso – acting on behalf of his father Giacomo II – were structured into a State immediately aggregated on equal terms to all the other States of the Crown of Aragon, with the identifying name of Kingdom of Sardinia.

The continuation of the story – What happened next I tell in two large volumes entitled precisely: “The Kingdom of Sardinia. The birth”.

If you want to know – as it is the only Italian story seen from Sardinia – read them.

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