The Carta De Logu 0 Comments

by Daniela Toti

We have already become acquainted with Eleanor of Arborea and, in brief, the Carta de Logu promulgated by her in 1392. But this Charter deserves a deeper look, as it represents a true unique case in the legal landscape of medieval Europe.

In the 14th century, women in power did exist, but they were often temporary regents, behind-the-scenes figures, or political exceptions. Eleonora d’Arborea, however, was a legitimate and independent sovereign, a jurist, a woman of law and arms, fully aware of the responsibility of her role. In the European context, she shines for her coherence and depth of governance, almost unparalleled in her time.

No other 14th-century sovereign ever personally drafted or promulgated a legal code as innovative and humane as the Carta de Logu. Contemporary codes were predominantly written by men: clerics, court jurists, or ecclesiastical authorities. But Eleonora undertook the role of official legislator, revising laws with attention to proportionality of punishments, women’s rights, agrarian justice, and environmental concerns.

She did not write a brand-new text but modernized the laws of her father, Mariano IV and her brother Ugone III, working with trusted advisors to ensure justice, balance, and humanity. The Carta de Logu represents an enlightened model of advanced law in the heart of the Middle Ages and was an act of cultural and identity sovereignty for Sardinia, valid from the 15th to the 19th century.

At a time when women’s social class was often silenced, Eleonora decreed:

• Legal rights and protections for peasants, who were invisible and subject to the lord.

• Recognition in criminal and civil laws for artisans and the bourgeoisie.

• Full hereditary legitimacy for noblewomen, often destined for convents or husbands.

Women were protected against crimes against honor, with severe penalties for rape and domestic violence. They could inherit, manage property, and testify in court. Widows and orphans received economic protection. Eleonora imposed a revolutionary principle: women are legal subjects, not merely protected objects.

Main areas covered by the Carta de Logu:

1. Criminal justice: punishments proportionate to the severity of the crime, ranging from fines to imprisonment; sanctions for murder, theft, slander, with attention to aggravating and mitigating factors. An early example of secular and rational criminal law: not vengeance, but rule.

2. Family law and succession: marriage is a contractual agreement; women have legal voice; rules on dowry, separation, inheritance, recognition of legitimate and natural children.

3. Agrarian and environmental law: regulates the use of land, water, and pastures; sanctions for damage to crops and forests; protection of soil and encouragement of viticulture, among the first European legislative texts to contemplate environmental norms.

4. Urban life and commerce: rules on arts and crafts, taxes, duties, quality of goods; sanctions for fraud, counterfeiting, usury.

5. Public order and social relations: control of family feuds through mediation; civil and criminal responsibilities across social classes; application of uniform justice.

Eleonora was not only an exceptional queen or judge, but a legal voice in a less hierarchical social system, capable of integrating women into legal citizenship. Eleonora d’Arborea was a voice out of time. Her Carta de Logu not only anticipates legal modernity but also gives voice to real women in a world that wanted them to be silent.

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