One foe after another attacked and devastated the unhappy island. Greeks, Saracens, Tuscans, and others in turn attempted to possess themselves of it; fighting over it like dogs over a bone, or handing it unscrupulously from one to another.
The natives, meanwhile, were engaged in an incessant heroic struggle with their foes, to whom they never willingly submitted, at the same time that they were resisting the cruel tyrannies of their own feudal aristocracy.
Trade was unknown, and cultivation neglected; the coasts, harassed by marauders, were deserted; the inland villages, a prey to the lawless exactions of the barons, were impoverished; and many of the poorer people took refuge among the fastnesses of their mountains, carrying with them little but their weapons and their freedom.
In the tenth century, however, notwithstanding the confusion and warfare that reigned around, we hear of the first constitution framed by the Corsicans, under their legislator Sambuccio.
This democratic republic was the foundation of all the later constitutions in the island, even including that of Paoli, and bears a strong testimony to the intelligence and the self-respect of a people whose patriotism could not be denied even by their enemies, but who were considered on the continent as a semi-barbarous race.
The head of the constitution consisted of a Council of Twelve, chosen by the podestas, who comprised the lower legislative body. These podestas, or magistrates, were the presidents of their respective provincial assemblies, each formed of a certain number of scattered parishes, or pieves; and, associated with them, were certain "Fathers of the Community." These men were probably elected for a year, and were to have a special eye to the interests of the poorer or more defenceless portion of the community. They, again, had the right of choosing their own president, termed the Caporale, who was expressly intended as the people's representative in the highest council and elsewhere.
In 1098 Pope Urban (who, without any fair title, laid claim to the ownership of Corsica) installed the Archbishop of Pisa as feudal lord over the island.
For about a hundred years, the Pisans kept possession of it, or at least parts of it, never wholly subduing the warlike and determined inhabitants; and, during this time they governed wisely and well, building towns and making roads, and encouraging, as far as they were able in the disturbed condition of the island, industry and agriculture. But the moderate government of Pisa was not long to remain unmolested. The Genoese were beginning to cast covetous eyes upon Corsica; and, in the beginning of the twelfth century, persuaded the See of Rome to bestow upon them about one-half of the territory she had, rather more than a century before, given to Pisa.
The Pisans, naturally resenting this action, prepared to defend what they considered their property; and, for the next hundred and fifty years, an almost incessant contest was kept up between the two parties, some of the natives remaining neutral, but for the most part joining one side or the other.
The great hope and support of the Pisans was a noble Corsican of the name of Guidice della Rocca, who had lived for many years in exile at the court of Pisa, but had not ceased to love his country with a burning ardour, and who foresaw, in the rule of Genoa, a cruel taskmaster, and the extinction of the growing prosperity of his country. He was brave, determined, and wise; and, for a long time, his efforts against the Genoese, in command of the Pisan troops, were attended with success.