Sardinian–Catalan war
war between Aragon and Arborea (1353–1420)
The Sardinian–Catalan war or Sardinian–Aragonese war was a late medieval conflict lasting from 1353 to 1420. The fight was over supremacy of the land and took place between the Judicate of Arborea, allied with the Sardinian branch of the Doria family and Genoa, and the Kingdom of Sardinia, the latter of which had been part of the Crown of Aragon since 1324. The conflict also included a systematic policy of persecution, mass murder and forced denationalization and assimilation, examples of which being the destruction of the villages of Aryagono and Rebeccu and the Alghero Massacre, perpetrated against the Sardinian population at the hands of King James I of Aragon.
Background
In 1297, in an attempt to settle the dispute between the Angevins and Aragonese over the Kingdom of Sicily (which had triggered the popular movement known as the Sicilian Vespers), Pope Boniface VIII formed the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica (Latin: Regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae) for James II the Just, King of Aragon.
In June 1323 the Aragonese Crown's territorial conquest of Sardinia began. A powerful army sailed from the port of Tortosa, Principality of Catalonia, to the island. At this time, the land was under the influence of the Republic of Pisa, Genoa and the Doria and Malaspina families, as well as the Judicate of Arborea, the only surviving judicial state entity.
The Arborean judge Hugh II of Arborea became a vassal of James II of Aragon in exchange for the maintenance of the dynastic rights over his Judicate, with the hope to expand his control over the whole of Sardinia, as lieutenant of the king, residing in Barcelona. Hugh opened hostilities against Pisa and actively participated in the subsequent Aragonese military actions against the Pisans who, repeatedly defeated by land and sea (despite the help of the Doria and Genoa), were forced to yield their Sardinian possessions (former Judicate of Cagliari and Judicate of Gallura) to the Iberians. These lands, along with the commune of Sassari, became the first territorial nucleus of the Kingdom of Sardinia.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Sardinian–Catalan war” is war between Aragon and Arborea (1353–1420). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Sardinian, Catalan and between, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “war between Aragon and Arborea (1353–1420)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21190134. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1353, 1420, 1324 and 1297.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
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Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sardinian–Catalan war”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sardinian–Catalan war primary sources, Sardinian–Catalan war archive and Sardinian research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Sardinian–Catalan war” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.