Francesco Carroz and his sons Berengario, Francesco, Giacomo and Nicolò supplied money and armed-horses to the king, receiving directorships and the feudal jurisdiction under the mero et mixto imperio rule, which granted a full administration of justice.

The first territories granted to the Carroz family were Ogliastra, Quirra and Sarrabus. Through real permits or by purchase, they later acquired some villages in Cagliari’s Campidano, in Colostrai and in the south-western part of Sardinia. In 1363, Berengario’s son Berengario II was granted the title of count of Quirra from the king Peter IV. Berengario II had a single legitimate daughter, Violante I, who could pass on her son Berengario III her rights over the fiefs thanks to a special privilege granted by the king. In 1409, Berengario III fought in the battle of Sanluri and married Eleonora Manrique, a relative of the Castillan sovereigns, who received the Parte Montis, Parte Bonorcili and Parte Usellus as a dowry.

Having become a widow, Eleonora carefully administered the fiefs before passing them on to her son Giacomo, who maybe had also acquired the city of Iglesias for some years. Giacomo also managed to acquire feudal rights on some towns in Marmilla and in the Monreale Barony. At his death, in 1469, he had a single legitimate daughter, Violante, who was under the supervision of Nicolò, Sardinia’s viceroy and member of the Carroz branch from Arborea. Nicolò hurried the celebration of the marriage between his son Dalmazio and Violante, who had in dowry the title of countess and all her fiefs. Between 1470 and 1478, Nicolò Carroz fought against Leonardo Alagon, who was finally defeated in the battle of Macomer.

Meanwhile, Violante Carroz became a widow and reached the age of majority, advancing her claims to regain possession of her impressive heritage. In 1504, later confirmed in 1506, the territory of Quirra from a county became a “state” and was granted a particular form of ownership called allodium, which allowed the passing of the rights over the fiefs on to the owner’s descendants, even in the female line, without a prior royal approval. At Violante’s death, her possessions passed on to her nephew Guglielmo Raimondo Centelles.

In 1604, the fiefs of Quirra became a marquisate. The sovereigns’ insatiable lust for domination and control led to a series of long-lasting jurisdictional disputes throughout the early modern age. After the Centelles, the marquisate was possessed by the Borgias, dukes of Gandìa, and then by the Català when the Kingdom of Sardinia was already under the Savoys’ reign. The last Marquises of Quirra were the Osorios, a family with Castilian origin, who received their redemption cost for the fief in 1839 by the royal tax authorities.

The community was linked to its own land by a principle called fundamentu, which consisted in the availability of an appropriate land supply.

The village was the key in the organization of the agricultural landscape, which in Modern-Age Sardinia was characterized by the alternation between the biddatzone, the land intended for agricultural crops, and the paberile, the areas used for grazing purposes.

The right to use specific areas of feudal lands for collecting wood and herbs was normally settled with the Baron through the Capitoli di Grazia, a regulation that addressed the relationships of the Baron himself with the different communities.

The villagers were burdened with feudal taxes that had to be paid to the feudal lord. The main tax was called feu, which had to be paid by every vassal solely because they resided in the fief. Various thematic taxes were requested: the wine tax, the straw and scolca taxes, the tax on the shaving of swines, the tax on the deghino (shaving) of sheeps, the docking tax, the stubble tax and the roadia, which was a service offered to the baron, which could be monetized.

In addition to these taxes, the villagers were also accountable for the maintenance costs of the baronies, offices and prisons.

Little is known about the ancient diocese of Terralba: its pastoral region has affected the territories of the Parte Montis, the Bonorcili and the Monreale.

Among the most important bishops of the Diocese of Ales-Terralba: Giovanni and Andrea Sanna, head of the Sardinian Inquisition; Giuseppe Maria Pilo from Sassari, advocate of the so-called Monti Frumentari (which provided the poorer farmers with the necessary wheat and barley for the sowing season, with the obligation to return the quantity provided; TN), who went on a pastoral visit to the Diocese twice; and Monsignor Michele Aymerich, representative of the Ecclesiastical Stamento parliament in the delegation that presented the «Five Requests» to the Savoy monarch.

The Church’s control over the territory was above all on a spiritual level, but other fundamental aspects were their land possession and jurisdictional role.

Some families living in this territory, through their appointment as members of the Holy Office as familiares, improved their social status and, in some cases, received a noble title.

Before the merging of the dioceses and the final choice of Ales as Episcopal See, Masullas may have been the Episcopal See for a short time.

The churches of St. Leonard (13^th century) and St. Lucia (14^th century) in Masullas date back to the Middle Ages.

At the beginning of the 16^th century, the church of Our Lady of Graces was built; later, in 1650, the convent of the Friars Minor Capuchin was built. The size of the building suggests a considerable financial investment and the choice by the order to give some significance to their convent, which became one of the most important in central-southern Sardinia.

The officer, called Insinuatore, recorded the deeds, kept a copy including it in the relevant records, and maintained the royal seal. It is thanks to this reform if the stories of communities and individuals can nowadays be reconstructed.

The management of these “tappe” was outsourced: Masullas’ Tappa di Insinuazione was outsourced to Don Nicola Cony since 1743. Later on, this role was covered by his son Don Pepi and afterwards by his nephew Don Nicola. With the extinction of the Conys’ direct bloodline, the tappa passed under the control of Don Giuseppe Sepulveda, who inherited it through his maternal lineage. Don Giuseppe married Donna Narcisa Senis, daughter of Don Giovanni Maria, who controlled of the Tappa di Mandas.

In 1839, a royal decree established that all tappe were to return under the control of the Kingdom’s central administration.

Masullas’ Tappa di Insinuazione maintained deeds recorded before 1738. The table below reports all the officers who operated in Masullas:

     

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