Condaghe

A condaghe (also condaghes, condaxi or fundaghe), from the medieval Sardinian kondake (from Byzantine Greek κοντάκιον, kontákion, "the pole around which a scroll is wound"), was an administrative document in use in Sardinia between the 11th and 13th centuries. They are one of the earliest witnesses for the development of the Sardinian language and are an important source for historians of medieval Sardinia.

The original condaghi were collections of acts of donations to churches or monasteries. Later condaghes were kept by noble families for recording inheritances, purchases, donations (datura), transactions (tramutu) and litigation (kertu), principally when relating to the church. The chief object of such records was to provide precise dates in case of legal dispute.

Physically, the first condaghi were scrolls: overlapping parchment manuscripts wound tightly around a kontákion. Over time they took on the familiar form of a codex (like modern books). They were produced in the scriptoria of monasteries and cathedrals, but the great majority have been lost. Only the condaghi of the monasteries of Santa Maria di Bonarcado, San Michele di Salvennor, San Nicola di Trullas and San Pietro in Silki and of the Basilica of San Gavino are preserved from among the ecclesiastical kind. There is only one surviving lay condaghe, that of Judge Barisone II of Logudoro.

Further reading

• Graziano FOIS and Mauro MAXIA. Il condaghe di Luogosanto. Olbia: Editrice Taphros, 2009. ISBN 978-88-7432-073-8
• Giuseppe MELONI and Andrea DESSÌ FULGHERI. Mondo rurale e Sardegna del XII secolo: Il Condaghe di Barisone II. Naples: Liguori, 1994.
• Giuseppe MELONI. Il Condaghe di San Gavino. Cagliari: Centro di Studi Filologici Sardi CUEC, 2005.
• Paolo MERCI. Il Condaghe di San Nicola di Trullas. Nuoro: Ilisso edizioni, 2001. ISBN 88-87825-26-2
• Maurizio VIRDIS. Il Condaghe di Santa Maria di Bonarcado. Nuoro: Ilisso edizioni, 2003. ISBN 88-87825-74-2