Seigneurie contre commune : recherches sur les fondements idéologiques du parti aragonais en Corse (xive-xve siècles)

Abstract

The papal bull of 4 April 1297 whereby Boniface VIII gave the Kingdom of Sardinia in fief to Jaime II of Aragon triggered a long-lasting conflict between the Crown and the commune of Genoa. Until the mid-15th century, Sardinia and Corsica became the theatre for an indirect struggle between the two powers for dominion of the Western Mediterranean. In Corsica, this struggle took the form of opposition between a communal government, supported by Genoa, and a seigneurial government supported by Aragon. While the Genoese communal ideology, founded on hatred of the seigneurial regime, is well documented, the ideological underpinnings of the alliance of the Corsican lords with the Aragonese sovereigns are harder to define, and indeed have not been examined hitherto. However, a comparison of Genoese, Aragonese and Corsican documents suggests that the alliance was underpinned by a seigneurial ideology, one founded on the legendary memory of the Carolingian conquest of the island.

Keywords

• Aragon
• Christian expansion
• Corsica
• Genoa
• ideology
• war