El uso de la historia en las contiendas municipalistas de Cerdeña de la primera mitad del siglo XVII

Abstract

The rivalry between Cagliari and Sassari, the two largest cities of Sardinia, deeply rooted in their late medieval municipal organization, became sharper by the beginning of the seventeenth century because of the economic crisis which affected all the social groups. One of the most efficient and lacerating weapons in this vehement controversy were history books. A variety of texts (great teatrises like those of Zurita or Mariana, pamphlets, flying sheets, and even manuscripts circulating in a number of copies) presented historical facts of both cities, usually resorting to fiction. Thus a militant historiography was born, seeking to build a collective memory for each city, which went back to the most remote past. They claimed civil and eclesiastical primacy, many times to the detriment of historical truth.