Owing to the absence of written sources, little is known of the history of the Nuraghic civilization which constructed impressive megalithic structures between the 18th and the 12th centuries BCE. The first accounts of Sardinia are from Greek sources, but relate more to myth than to historical reality; an African or Iberian hero, Norax, named the city of Nora; Sardo, a son of Hercules, gave the island its name; one of his nephews, Iolaus, founded the city of Olbia. Greek colonization of the city of Olbia has been confirmed by recent archaeological excavations. Towards the end of the 6th century BC, Sardinia was conquered by the Carthaginians and in 238 BC it was occupied by the Romans for c.1000 years, with a period under the dominion of the Vandals in the 5th and 6th centuries CE.
According to Procopius, Godas was a Vandal governor of Sardinia who rebelled against his king, Gelimer, who ruled northern Africa and Sardinia. Procopius wrote that Godas behaved like a king, but it was a short-lived kingdom. Godas was defeated and killed after two years by an expedition from Carthage led by King Gelimer's brother, Tzazo. Shortly afterwards, Roman troops sent by Emperor Justinianus and led by General Belisarius, totally annihilated the Vandal kingdom and Sardinia returned to Roman administration.
Judges
Before the Kingdom of Sardinia was founded, the rulers of the island were known as archons or judges. The island was organized into one "judicatus" from the 9th century. After the Muslim conquest of Sicily in the 9th century, the Byzantines could no longer defend their isolated far western province. In all likelihood a local noble family came to power, still identifying themselves as vassals of the Byzantines but in reality independent since communication with Constantinople was very difficult. Of those rulers, only two names are known: Salusios and the protospatharios Turcoturios, who probably reigned some time in the 10th and 11th centuries. They were still closely linked to the Byzantines, both by a pact of ancient vassalage and culturally, with the use of the Greek language and Byzantine art. In the early 11th century, Muslims based in Spain attempted to conquer the island. The only records of that war are from Pisan and Genoese chronicles. The Christians won but afterwards the previous Sardinian kingdom had been undermined and was divided into four small judicati: Cagliari, Arborea, Gallura, Torres or Logudoro.
List of judges of Arborea, c. 1070-1410
List of judges of Cagliari, c. 1060-1258
List of judges of Gallura, c. 1070-1288
List of judges of Logudoro, c. 1060-1259
Occasionally, these rulers took the style of king :
Some rulers obtained the title King of Sardinia by grant of the Holy Roman Emperor:
Barisone II of Arborea, 1164-1165 ;
Enzo of Logudoro Hohenstaufen, 1238-1245, was the illegitimate son of Emperor Frederick II and was appointed by his father. In 1249, he was captured by his enemies and imprisoned in Bologna, where he died 23 years later.
None of these rulers had effective authority over the whole island. In 1269, an anti-imperial faction in Logudoro elected Philip of Sicily as king of all Sardinia, but this was never confirmed by the emperor or the pope and Philip never visited the island.
received royal investiture from Pope Boniface VIII in 1297 as Rex Sardiniae et Corsicae. The Aragonese did not take possession of the island until 1323, after a victorious military campaign against the Pisans. However, the Sardinian royal title did not have a specific line of succession and all kings used their own primary title.
The monarchs of the House of Savoy ruled from their mainland capital of Turin, but styled themselves primarily with the royal title of Sardinia as superior to their original lesser dignity as Dukes of Savoy. However, their numeral order continued the Savoyard list.
