SARDINIA. 



97 



SARDINIA; an island in the Mediterranean sea, 

 having the title of kingdom, with a superficial area 

 of 9100 square miles, and a population of 490,050. 

 It contains nine towns, fifteen villages, and 377 

 hamlets, and is separated from Corsica on the north 

 by the straits of Bonifacio. The soil is fruitful, 

 yielding corn, wine, oil, figs, and other southern 

 fruits. There is an abundance of wood on the 

 mountains, but, on account of the want of good 

 roads, the seaport towns are supplied from Corsica ; 

 on the same account Sardinia has no posts. The 

 horses, which, in some parts, run wild, and the 

 horned cattle, are small, but well made. The 

 fisheries are important. Large quantities of salt 

 and cheese are manufactured, and the latter is ex- 

 ported. The causes of the small population of 

 this fertile island are to be referred to the accu- 

 mulation of the landed property in a few hands, 

 and the absence of the great proprietors (there are 

 in Sardinia, 376 fiefs, half of which belong to Span- 

 ish families), the privileges of the nobility and clergy, 

 and the practice of private revenge (1000 murders 

 have been committed in the space of one month). 

 The interior exhibits an astonishing degree of 

 barbarism ; the peasants are clothed in leather or 

 undressed skins, and the mountains are infested 

 with banditti. The principal towns are the capital, 

 Cagliari and Sassari (20,000 inhabitants). Sar- 

 dinia was probably settled by Pelasgian colonies, 

 in the time of the Heraclides, as the noraghs, or 

 ancient monuments, found in the island, indicate. 

 The number of these monuments is about 600: 

 those which are entire are fifty feet high, with a 

 diameter of ninety feet at base, and terminating at 

 the summit in a cone. They are built on little 

 hills, in a plain, of different sorts of stones, and in 

 some cases are surrounded by a wall. The island 

 then belonged successively to the Carthaginians, 

 Romans, Vandals, Saracens, the popes, the German 

 emperors, to Pisa, Genoa, and Spain. In 1720, it 

 was ceded to the duke of Savoy, as an indemnifica- 

 tion for the loss of Sicily. (See Sardinian Mon- 

 archy.) The island was mildly governed by a 

 viceroy, and the inhabitants allowed to retain their 

 old usages. Some dissatisfaction, however, arose 

 towards the close of the century, and, in 1793, a 

 rebellion broke out, which was terminated by the 

 concessions of the government in 1796. The 

 revenue from the island is inconsiderable. The 

 inhabitants are Catholics, and speak several dif- 

 ferent dialects, some of which are a mixture of 

 Spanish and Italian. The better classes speak pure 

 Italian. See Marmora's Voyage en Sardaiane, de 

 18191825 (Paris, 1826);~Mimaut's Histoire de 

 Sardairjne (1825); Smyth's Present State of Sar- 

 dinia (London, 1828); and Petit-Radel's Notices 

 sur les Nuruyhes de la Sardaiane (Paris, 1826) 



Sardinian Monarchy; a kingdom of the south 

 of Europe, composed of the island of Sardinia, and 

 of several countries of the continent. It com- 

 prises in the whole an extent of 28,000 square 

 miles, with a population (in 1829) of 4,165,277 

 (300,000 French in Savoy, 3,865,077 Italians, and 

 3200 Jews). The population, with the exception 

 of the Jews, and 21,900 Waldenses, is entirely 

 Catholic. The continental parts of which the 

 monarchy is composed are as follows: The duchy 

 of Savoy; the duchy of Piedmont; the county of 

 Nice or Nizza, with the principality of Monaco; 

 the duchies of Montferrat and (Sardinian) Milan; 

 nnd the duchy of Genoa (see the separate articles); 

 which are divided, for administrative purposes, into 



VI. 



eight provinces; Savoy, Turin, Coni, Alessandria, 

 Novara, Aosta, Nizza, and Genoa. The revenue 

 amounts to 202,500 ; the expenditure to 236.250 ; 

 debt to 562,500; army, 28,000 men, exclusive of 

 40,000 militia, on the island of Sardinia. The 

 power of the crown is unlimited: the administra- 

 tion is conducted by three secretaries of state : the 

 succession to the throne is confined to the male 

 line. In the island of Sardinia there are estates, 

 and in Genoa the assent of the estates is necessary 

 for the imposition of new taxes. The nobility is 

 numerous, but not exempt from taxation. The 

 clergy (39 archbishops and bishops, 3996 parish 

 priests, 293 male, and 144 female convents) is not 

 very wealthy. The papal power is limited by a 

 concordate. There are four universities, at Turin, 

 Genoa, Cagliari, and Sassari, but education is in a 

 low state. 



The reigning prince, the first of the house of 

 Savoy Carignon, is Charles Emanuel, born 1800, 

 married Theresa, sister of the grand-duke of Tus- 

 cany, in 1817, succeeded his uncle Charles Felix, 

 May, 1831. He has two sons, Victor Emanuel 

 (born in 1820), and Ferdinand (born in 1822). 

 The royal title is king of Sardinia, Cyprus and 

 Jerusalem, and duke of Savoy. The crown-prince 

 is styled prince of Piedmont. Former sovereigns, 

 Victor Amadeus II. 1713 30; Charles Emaiiuel 

 III., to 1773; Victor Amadeus III., 1796; Charles 

 Emanuel IV., abdicated 1802; Victor Emanuel I., 

 abdicated 1821; Charles Felix, died 1831. The 

 nucleus of this monarchy was Savoy, a fragment 

 of several states that had crumbled to pieces (the 

 old kingdom of Burgundy, the Prankish monarchy, 

 the Carlovingian kingdom of Italy, and the kingdom 

 of Aries), which became independent in the begin- 

 ning of the eleventh century. Rodolph III., last 

 king of Aries, created Berthold count of Savoy in 

 1016. He was probably the ancestor of the subse- 

 quent counts and dukes of Savoy. The counts of 

 Savoy gradually extended their territories, partly 

 by marriages, partly by their adherence to the 

 German emperors, in the disputes between the 

 Guelfs and Gibelines, partly by purchase, and partly 

 by an artful policy in their connexions with the 

 Spanish, French, and Austrian courts. By the 

 marriage of the duke Louis with Anne of Lusignan, 

 daughter of James, king of Cyprus, and the will of 

 the queen-dowager of Cyprus (1482), the house of 

 Savoy obtained claims to the kingdom of Cyprus, 

 which caused the kings of Sardinia, at a later 

 period, to assume the title of kings of Cyprus and 

 Jerusalem. 



In the history of the state we may distinguish 

 two periods. 



I. From the first settlement of the succession 

 (1383) by the will of count Amadeus VI., which 

 established the indivisibility of the dominions, and 

 the descent in order of primogeniture, until the 

 admission of the Sardinian monarchy into the Euro- 

 pean family of states, by the peace of Utrecht. 

 In this period, among other acquisitions, the house 

 of Savoy gained possession of the county of Nizza 

 (1399), and count Amadeus VIII. received the 

 ducal title from the emperor Sigismund in 1416; 

 but in the wars between the emperor Charles V. 

 and Francis I. of France, it lost, in the middle of 

 the sixteenth century, the Valais and Geneva, 

 which put themselves under the protection of Swit- 

 zerland, and the Pays de Vaud, which was taken 

 possession of by Berne. Pbilibert Emanuel, who 

 had been driven from his territories by the French, 



