Marco Muresu, University of Cagliari

The paper aims to propose a critical re-assessment of a corpus of 15 lead seals from Sardinia (Italy), known as ‘Carte Volgari’ seals. Each object features a cruciform, type V, invocative monogram on the obverse. On the reverse, ten read in Greek letters ‘Torkotorios, archon [of] part [of] Cálari’ (+TOPK / OTOPHW / APXUNTH / MEPEHCK / APAVEWC) and the other five read: ‘Salousios, archon [of] part [of] Kálari’ (+CAΛΟVCIW / AΡXONTI / ME PEHCKA / PAΛEWC). The seals are appended to the ‘Carte Volgari’ (‘Vernacular Charters’), consisting of 21 documents drafted in Vernacular Sardinian by a thirteen-century hand. The Carte Volgari purport to confirm transactions and settlements of the bishopric of Suelli, in mid-southern Sardinia, once made by the Calaritan iudikes. The fact that they were attached to seals bearing Greek legends form a vital plank in two arguments of noteworthy historiographical debate: first, that at least some of the iudikes had derived authority from the erstwhile Byzantine archons. Second, that instead of a single ruling archon of the island, there had been a subdivision of regional authority prior to the rise of the iudikes. In any case, the received wisdom was the latter would have referred to the ‘ancient’ Byzantine authority to affirm their power on a cultural level. These arguments are, indeed, based on assumptions and demand further clarification. So far, historiography produced poor discussion on the seals and their features in terms of production, metrology, usage of the letters, as well as their links to the documents to which are appended. For this, the paper aims to assess both old and new evidence to produce an updated critique and to gauge the extent of the seals’ admissibility as evidence of the shifting in power from Byzantium to the medieval iudikes.