WEBVTT 00:00:00.620 --> 00:00:16.980 Moltkara companiona. Most dear companion. Journey 00:00:16.980 --> 00:00:51.670 with me. 639 years in the past. To the Crown 00:00:51.670 --> 00:00:55.409 of Aragon, the region of what is today Spain, 00:00:56.009 --> 00:00:59.439 centered in Barcelona, and stretching northward 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:03.939 into southern France and southward to Granada. 00:01:04.599 --> 00:01:08.819 There a king and queen ascend to the throne. 00:01:09.939 --> 00:01:14.260 Their predecessor had ruled for 50 years and 00:01:14.260 --> 00:01:20.200 now finally Joan and Violante have the chance 00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:46.359 to rule. I'm Jonathan Seyfried, a PhD candidate 00:01:46.359 --> 00:01:50.200 in history at the University of New Mexico, and 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:54.359 I'm the host of The Historian's Notebook, a podcast 00:01:54.359 --> 00:01:59.060 about how history is made. The first season of 00:01:59.060 --> 00:02:03.900 the podcast is titled Molt Cara Companyona, Most 00:02:03.900 --> 00:02:09.229 Dear Companion. The podcast will be short daily 00:02:09.229 --> 00:02:12.949 episodes taking you into my research process. 00:02:14.150 --> 00:02:17.870 The title comes from the way that King Joan 00:02:17.870 --> 00:02:22.909 I of Aragon and Queen Violante de Bar started 00:02:22.909 --> 00:02:26.909 their letters when writing to each other. Although 00:02:26.909 --> 00:02:29.550 other medieval couples wrote to each other using 00:02:29.550 --> 00:02:32.650 tender phrases like this, Joan and Violant, 00:02:32.650 --> 00:02:36.659 they took it to another level. For them, the 00:02:36.659 --> 00:02:40.379 phrase evolved over time to become a mantra. 00:02:41.340 --> 00:02:45.099 For example, in one letter, dated November 8th, 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:48.919 1391, Joan thanks Violant for sending him 00:02:48.919 --> 00:02:53.139 a bottle of lovely perfume and asks her advice 00:02:53.139 --> 00:02:57.960 on some matters of governance. He begins every 00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:03.060 sentence of the letter with Molt Cara Companyona. 00:03:04.330 --> 00:03:08.289 With Joanne and Violante, we have the chance 00:03:08.289 --> 00:03:12.110 to investigate an emotional history that might 00:03:12.110 --> 00:03:16.550 have been quite unusual. And that's because the 00:03:16.550 --> 00:03:21.530 two of them supported each other in bending the 00:03:21.530 --> 00:03:27.370 gender rules for a manly king and a womanly queen. 00:03:48.139 --> 00:03:51.719 But how could we support that argument? Well, 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:54.620 there's something that certainly helps, and that 00:03:54.620 --> 00:03:59.539 is the vastness of the Archive of the Crown of 00:03:59.539 --> 00:04:03.520 Aragon. One of my major goals for this season 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:06.659 of the Historian's Notebook is to demonstrate 00:04:06.659 --> 00:04:12.000 how historians navigate through an abundant archive. 00:04:12.979 --> 00:04:18.579 Something unusual for medievalists. The archive 00:04:18.579 --> 00:04:21.879 of the Crown of Aragon, today located in a very 00:04:21.879 --> 00:04:26.319 modern building in Barcelona, holds over 6 ,000 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:30.000 bound volumes of documents from between 1200 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.839 and 1800. For the reign of Joan and Violant, 00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:40.959 over 250 bound volumes survive, with the overwhelming 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:45.300 majority of them containing around 300 pages. 00:04:46.060 --> 00:04:51.019 So we're talking about at least 60 ,000 pages 00:04:51.019 --> 00:04:55.860 of letters, treasury records, and official proclamations. 00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:01.660 All handwritten in a script that takes a while 00:05:01.660 --> 00:05:05.139 to get used to reading. That's kind of an understatement 00:05:05.139 --> 00:05:10.560 there. Over the last 20 years, the Spanish government's 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:14.500 Ministry of Culture and Sport funded a massive 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:18.899 digitization effort. The result is that a gigantic 00:05:18.899 --> 00:05:21.899 number of the bound volumes in the archive of 00:05:21.899 --> 00:05:25.720 the Crown of Aragon are available online for 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:30.699 anyone to look at. No other archive in the world 00:05:30.699 --> 00:05:35.319 has as much available online for the 14th century. 00:05:56.349 --> 00:06:00.350 So, on Season 1 of the Historian's Notebook, 00:06:00.829 --> 00:06:03.870 I'm going to take you with me as I attempt to 00:06:03.870 --> 00:06:07.970 construct a narrative out of documents from the 00:06:07.970 --> 00:06:12.370 first year of Joanne and Violin's reign. We'll 00:06:12.370 --> 00:06:15.790 look at a document for each day of that year, 00:06:15.910 --> 00:06:21.449 1387. In the end, I expect that I will have changed 00:06:21.449 --> 00:06:25.350 the way that I see their marriage and their reign. 00:06:26.120 --> 00:06:30.000 My favorite scholar of historical thinking and 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:33.839 history education Sam Wineburg has argued that 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:38.699 quote true historical inquiry must end where 00:06:38.699 --> 00:06:46.939 it begins with a question mark unquote. Get ready 00:06:46.939 --> 00:06:52.199 to experience that feeling and that understanding 00:06:52.199 --> 00:06:56.379 and experience of history with me every day, 00:06:57.399 --> 00:07:02.740 for every document. In that sense, you can think 00:07:02.740 --> 00:07:09.019 of the motto of this podcast as dissatisfaction 00:07:09.019 --> 00:07:14.079 guaranteed. Certainty will always elude us, not 00:07:14.079 --> 00:07:16.540 just on this season, but on all the seasons of 00:07:16.540 --> 00:07:20.319 the Historian's Notebook. But even though certainty 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:24.649 will always elude us, The challenge of piecing 00:07:24.649 --> 00:07:28.769 together the puzzle of the past grips us with 00:07:28.769 --> 00:07:34.290 excitement and mystery. Starting on December 00:07:34.290 --> 00:07:43.069 25th, 2025, join me for Molt Cara Companyona.