Archivi e gestione del patrimonio regio attraverso i registri della Procurazione reale del Regno di Sardegna nel XV secolo

giuseppe seche

2026-01-01

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Abstract

This article investigates the role of archival practices in the management of royal property in the Kingdom of Sardinia during the fifteenth century, focusing on the registers produced by the royal Procuration. Established in 1413, the Procuration was a key institution within the Aragonese administrative system, responsible for fiscal policy, supervision of local officials, and the protection of the Crown’s patrimonial rights. The study examines the organization of the Procuration’s archive and the nature of its documentary production, now preserved in the Antico Archivio Regio at the State Archives of Cagliari. Based on a systematic survey of fifteenth-century registers, the article highlights the complexity of the archival system, characterized by different types of record books and by the coexistence of central and peripheral record-producing offices. A clear distinction emerges between the registers compiled by the central curia in Cagliari and those produced by territorial lieutenancies, especially in Alghero. Chronological overlaps and formal differences among the volumes are interpreted as the result of specific administrative functions rather than archival disorder. Particular attention is devoted to royal archival policies aimed at concentrating documentation in a central archive. This strategy reveals a conscious effort to create an effective tool for administrative control, financial verification, and legal protection of royal rights. The archive thus functioned not merely as a place of preservation but as an active instrument of governance, frequently consulted in daily administrative practice. The article concludes by offering a preliminary mapping of the documentary heritage of the royal Procuration and by emphasizing the need for further research, restoration projects, and a virtual reordering of the archival fonds, in order to overcome later reorganizations and to improve our understanding of late medieval Sardinian fiscal and administrative structures.