The Stamenti was the parliament of Sardinia, consisting of representatives of the three estates of the realm. The term "stamenti" is the plural of "stamento", itself an Italianisation of the Spanish word "estamento", from "estar" ("to be"), and referring to an estate of the realm. The Sardinian parliament was divided into three traditional stamenti: the first estate (stamento ecclesiastico), the second estate (baronale) and the third estate (demaniale).[1] It had the power to authorise taxation, although its powers were exectued by a commission of deputies after 1721 and it was abolished in the "perfect fusion" of the Savoyard realm in 1847, replaced by the Subalpine Senate. It would be almost a hundred years before Sardinia received an autonomous parliament again (1946).
In 1355 Peter IV called a parliament of the Sard nobility in order to address the resistance to his rule of Judge Marianus IV of Arborea, but the greater nobles refused to attend.[2] This was nevertheless the first Sardinian parliament. Its role was formalised in a the constitution promulgated by Alfonso V in 1421, after which it was convenede (semi-)regularly every ten years.[3] In 1624–25 there was strong resistance in the Stamenti to the king's request for monies to pay for the ongoing Thirty Years' War, resistance which was also met around the same time in the Parliament of England and the Corts of Catalonia.[4]
The last time the Stamenti was convened under Spanish rule was in 1699, by Charles II. During the tumultuous period from 1700 to 1720, which include the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14) and of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–20), it was not convened at all. In August 1720, Saint-Rémy, the viceroy of the new king, Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, called a meeting of the Stamenti to swear fealty to Victor Amadeus and approve taxes. Early in 1721 it was called upon again to approve emergency taxes to deal with an epidemic of bubonic plague. This was the last time the Stamenti met. Thereafter only its commission of deputies was asked to authorise taxes, which it duly did every three years. This brought Sardinia in line with the other possessions of the House of Savoy, save the Duchy of Aosta, the last one where parliamentary approval was still required for raising monies.[5]