The role played by towns in parliamentary commissions in the kingdom of Sardinia in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries

The role played by towns in the political and institutional life of the kingdom of Sardinia during the 1400s is a subject that has been long neglected by historiography. The growing and privileged status of the feudal class has tended to monopolize the attention of existing studies and research, thereby practically ignoring the reality of urban life. First published in the collection Acta Curiarum Regni Sardinie, (the Acts of Parliaments in the Kingdom of Sardinia) in particular, proved to be of fundamental importance in providing knowledge of the institutions that governed the administrative, political, economic and social life of towns, communities and ville under the direct control of the crown. Among others, the towns in question included the capital city of Cagliari and the fortified villa of Alghero. The introduction of parliaments as an institution in the kingdom of Sardinia provided a new occasion for dialogue between urban communities and royal authority. With the establishment of the first assembly, summoned by Pietro IV in 1355 in the Castello quarter of Cagliari, the state-controlled towns and the ville not living under feudal regimes were called upon to participate in the proceedings of a parliament forming their own so called braccio (arm).