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.