The Collezione Pergamene is a miscellaneous collection of documents from different creators—ecclesiastical institutions, civil offices and private individuals—brought together because they share the same material support: parchment. It is heterogeneous in documentary nature and comes from different fonds and institutional contexts, including Antico Archivio Regio, Archivio Aymerich and Corte d’Appello.
The collection consists mainly of legal instruments drawn up in solemn form: grants, privileges, investitures, deeds of sale and judgments. The choice of parchment was deliberate: being more durable than paper, it was used for instruments intended to endure and produce certain legal effects.
The collection is divided into two main series: Pergamene ecclesiastiche and Pergamene laiche. The first contains records produced or received by religious bodies such as monasteries, chapters and dioceses; the second comprises civil and private instruments. Both series are available online in digital format.
The Treasure of the Parchments
Video storytelling dedicated to the “Pergamene” collection
The collection spans the fourteenth to the nineteenth century and forms an autonomous fonds within the holdings of Archivio di Stato di Cagliari, distinct from the major bodies of records of institutional origin. It is an important source for the institutional, ecclesiastical and social history of medieval and early modern Sardinia, as well as for the study of diplomatics, scripts, seals and documentary forms.
Among the most significant materials are examples belonging to different scribal traditions—including Sicilian, Tuscan and Aragonese palaeography—and royal instruments bearing the signatures of rulers of the Crown of Aragon and Spain.