I páperos (“poveri”) nella Sardegna giudicale (XI-XII secolo). Eredità bizantine, echi carolingi, peculiarità locali

The theme of páperos (“poors”) in medieval Sardinia (XI-XII century) has been
object of many studies since the end of nineteenth century. The historiography mainly
put its attention on binomial donnos paperos (“poor lords”) and identifi ed these fi gures
now with the giudice and the members of his family, now with the notables of the
giudicato, now with the monks, now with the “poor knights”, but somebody thinks
paperos are the inhabitants of the village communities. Basing itself on fundamental
studies of Bosl, Mollat, Patlagean, this essay analyzes the phenomenon in comparative
terms, trying to explain the origin and the meaning of so-called paperos, which are to
identify with the lower classes, but not indigent, of medieval Sardinian society, verifying
possible Byzantine heritages and analogies with the Carolingian world.