WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.679 Hello. In the Crown of Aragon 639 years ago, 00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:10.939 it was January 7th, 1387. My name is Jonathan 00:00:10.939 --> 00:00:14.380 Seyfried. I'm a PhD candidate in history at the 00:00:14.380 --> 00:00:17.879 University of New Mexico. And this is the Historian's 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:21.699 Notebook, a podcast about how history gets made. 00:00:22.359 --> 00:00:26.140 Season one is titled Molt Cara Companyona. We're 00:00:26.140 --> 00:00:29.100 looking at a document from each day of the first 00:00:29.100 --> 00:00:33.299 year of the reign of King Joan I of Aragon and 00:00:33.299 --> 00:00:36.920 Queen Violant de Bar. Let's begin today's 00:00:36.920 --> 00:01:03.920 document. We are going to be sticking with Violant 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:08.599 for a few days here. That's because, at this 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:13.640 moment, she's in charge. She's there in Barcelona, 00:01:14.060 --> 00:01:17.420 in the capital, in the nerve center, where all 00:01:17.420 --> 00:01:20.299 of the important, powerful people are located. 00:01:20.739 --> 00:01:24.719 And she is doing the work to establish the reign. 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:30.379 And so she's really busy. She's got a ton of 00:01:30.379 --> 00:01:35.400 letters. January 7th has a whole bunch of letters 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:38.760 that Violant has sent out rapid fire a whole 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:42.500 bunch of like these four liners one after the 00:01:42.500 --> 00:01:45.280 other to all of these super important people 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:48.140 giving instructions she's also keeping Joan 00:01:48.140 --> 00:01:50.719 informed she sent him more than one letter today 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:57.060 and so this is a really interesting moment for 00:01:57.060 --> 00:02:03.239 looking at how Violante is negotiating the establishment 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:08.639 of a reign at the same time that she has to contend 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:13.400 with not being the king so violating the gender 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:17.539 rule that the king is in charge and so she's 00:02:17.539 --> 00:02:21.240 definitely talking to a bunch of different people 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:27.259 shoring up authority and it all goes okay because 00:02:27.259 --> 00:02:32.439 no one is rising up to contest Joan's rule and 00:02:32.439 --> 00:02:36.780 he eventually does come in on January 19th he 00:02:36.780 --> 00:02:41.500 arrives to Barcelona and the reign is going and 00:02:41.500 --> 00:02:44.860 so whatever she's doing it it ends up working 00:02:44.860 --> 00:02:49.080 and whatever kinds of networking and messaging 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:53.500 she's putting out there it ends up working. Part 00:02:53.500 --> 00:02:58.120 of that I think is visible in today's document. 00:02:58.500 --> 00:03:03.000 And I once again am in debt to Claire Ponsich 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:07.000 and her 2008 article that is basically a whole 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:10.520 series of close readings of letters from Violant 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:14.439 and looking at the way that Violant is really 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:18.500 exceeding the boundaries of what's expected in 00:03:18.500 --> 00:03:23.319 the gendered performance of a queen or a duchess 00:03:23.319 --> 00:03:27.180 or a widow and Claire Ponsich has done amazing 00:03:27.180 --> 00:03:31.780 work really establishing that Violant breaks 00:03:31.780 --> 00:03:35.740 out of the commonly accepted boundaries in the 00:03:35.740 --> 00:03:40.360 way that she employs language in addition to 00:03:40.360 --> 00:03:44.180 the choices that she makes about actions that 00:03:44.180 --> 00:03:48.580 she takes and so it's not it's an exercise of 00:03:48.580 --> 00:03:53.849 power is not just about whether you're leading 00:03:53.849 --> 00:03:58.849 an army or taking something. It's also, and I'm 00:03:58.849 --> 00:04:02.150 really drawing on an article by Theresa Earenfight 00:04:02.150 --> 00:04:06.449 here when I say this, power is also latent power. 00:04:07.110 --> 00:04:13.270 It's what happens when you invoke a threat or 00:04:13.270 --> 00:04:17.370 whether you may maybe imply a threat and also 00:04:17.370 --> 00:04:20.750 just what is assumed the assumptions that go 00:04:20.750 --> 00:04:24.610 into the way that you are interacting with somebody 00:04:24.610 --> 00:04:29.329 else that basically you're in charge and there's 00:04:29.329 --> 00:04:33.990 no push back against it in that moment that is 00:04:33.990 --> 00:04:38.370 an exercise of power and we see that in today's 00:04:38.370 --> 00:04:43.410 document. Today's document is one in which Violant 00:04:43.410 --> 00:04:47.730 is writing to Martí. Martí has not returned to 00:04:47.730 --> 00:04:53.110 Barcelona. He's taken care of the flight of Sibilla. 00:04:53.529 --> 00:04:59.000 He, at this time, has basically gotten Sibilla 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:02.500 to surrender to his authority. She's come out 00:05:02.500 --> 00:05:05.980 of the castle. Her whole crew has basically said, 00:05:06.180 --> 00:05:10.339 okay, we give up. We are just going to turn our 00:05:10.339 --> 00:05:15.000 fate over to your mercy. And Marti has basically 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:18.740 taken a bunch of them prisoner. Violent finds 00:05:18.740 --> 00:05:22.290 out about this development, and she sends this 00:05:22.290 --> 00:05:24.750 letter that's dated the 7th of January, one of 00:05:24.750 --> 00:05:28.810 the whole slew of January 7th letters, and she's 00:05:28.810 --> 00:05:34.610 writing to Marti, and she basically says that 00:05:34.610 --> 00:05:39.449 the prisoners, specifically one of them, the 00:05:39.449 --> 00:05:45.139 Count of Pallars, they are to be taken to a particular 00:05:45.139 --> 00:05:50.279 castle named the Castle of... Well, in English, 00:05:50.379 --> 00:05:54.199 it would be like... English. Well, in the common 00:05:54.199 --> 00:05:57.459 way of thinking of it, it would be Santa Cruz, 00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:03.040 which is not English, it's Spanish, but Sant Creu. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:07.660 is the way in Catalan it would be said. And so 00:06:07.660 --> 00:06:11.779 this castle, I put a link to the tourist website 00:06:11.779 --> 00:06:14.680 for this castle onto the webpage for today's 00:06:14.680 --> 00:06:17.970 document. it's a really imposing castle it looks 00:06:17.970 --> 00:06:22.329 it looks a little a little grim and it dates 00:06:22.329 --> 00:06:26.269 from centuries earlier and so Violant tells 00:06:26.269 --> 00:06:29.870 Marti to take the Count of Pallars and I think 00:06:29.870 --> 00:06:31.629 there's an implication here that there's other 00:06:31.629 --> 00:06:37.350 prisoners too and to imprison them in this imposing 00:06:37.350 --> 00:06:41.589 castle that is still quite a distance from Barcelona 00:06:41.589 --> 00:06:49.009 but she says do not put them in chains. So this 00:06:49.009 --> 00:06:54.410 is another letter that Claire Ponsich has flagged 00:06:54.410 --> 00:06:59.970 as an indication of Violant's commanding tone, 00:07:00.250 --> 00:07:04.970 and that in this instruction to Marti, she is 00:07:04.970 --> 00:07:10.480 taking on a supervisory identity. She's directing 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:15.279 him in how these prisoners are going to be handled. 00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:19.079 So when Violant does things like this, and I 00:07:19.079 --> 00:07:21.160 have a feeling like she's doing these things 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:25.980 all the time, she is laying a record down. She's 00:07:25.980 --> 00:07:31.079 establishing a tradition. She is taking the inherited 00:07:31.079 --> 00:07:35.500 tradition of Queen Lieutenancy in the Crown of 00:07:35.500 --> 00:07:40.089 Aragon, which fitting in with this larger pattern 00:07:40.089 --> 00:07:45.709 of these Iberian queenships is just a very expansive 00:07:45.709 --> 00:07:49.589 role for the Queen, historically. She's taking 00:07:49.589 --> 00:07:53.529 that and she's basically saying, that's not going 00:07:53.529 --> 00:07:56.730 to be my ceiling. That's going to be my floor. 00:07:57.329 --> 00:08:02.870 And I am in no way going to hesitate about issuing 00:08:02.870 --> 00:08:07.850 directives making decisions, and the more that 00:08:07.850 --> 00:08:12.449 she does this, the more that she'll have a foundation 00:08:12.449 --> 00:08:18.269 later on if this gets challenged. So she is building 00:08:18.269 --> 00:08:21.370 her power as she's doing this. It's not just, 00:08:21.750 --> 00:08:23.970 oh, I'm making this decision and that decision. 00:08:24.269 --> 00:08:27.370 It's that you're laying this tradition of your 00:08:27.370 --> 00:08:31.649 own queenship. And I think that that's super 00:08:31.649 --> 00:08:36.110 exciting to see. I've got a whole bunch of questions, 00:08:36.389 --> 00:08:39.570 though. I'm really wondering about Marti's response 00:08:39.570 --> 00:08:45.750 to this. Is he seeing it as, like, cool? Is he 00:08:45.750 --> 00:08:50.269 receiving directives from Violant and thinking 00:08:50.269 --> 00:08:57.590 to himself, who is this woman to be acting toward 00:08:57.590 --> 00:09:03.600 me like I'm her subordinate? Or is he, like, 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:06.659 cool with this? I mean, he certainly had enough 00:09:06.659 --> 00:09:11.940 time, you know, like, about, like, seven years 00:09:11.940 --> 00:09:15.620 to get to know Violant and what she's like and 00:09:15.620 --> 00:09:19.320 the dynamic between Joan and Violant. And 00:09:19.320 --> 00:09:23.179 Marti, I mean, by all accounts, is just, like, 00:09:23.379 --> 00:09:29.620 100 % loyal to Joan. And so... Maybe he's like, 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:32.019 yeah, this is going to be the dynamic. I knew 00:09:32.019 --> 00:09:36.519 this going in and we are a team. We are like, 00:09:36.519 --> 00:09:40.750 you know, team. Next Gen here, and we're gonna 00:09:40.750 --> 00:09:45.389 rock it when we get to be in charge after having 00:09:45.389 --> 00:09:51.070 this, you know, like long, long reign of Pere 00:09:51.070 --> 00:09:54.509 the Ceremonious finally come to an end. And at 00:09:54.509 --> 00:09:58.830 last we're in charge and Team Next Gen is going 00:09:58.830 --> 00:10:04.490 to basically now have a chance to govern and 00:10:04.490 --> 00:10:07.370 we've already set out since we had so long to 00:10:07.370 --> 00:10:09.769 figure it out because, goodness, Pere just kept 00:10:09.769 --> 00:10:12.370 lingering on for a very long time. He was so 00:10:12.370 --> 00:10:16.049 old that it was kind of like an Elizabeth II 00:10:16.049 --> 00:10:20.450 situation where Prince Charles had no shortage 00:10:20.450 --> 00:10:22.750 of years to figure out what he would like to 00:10:22.750 --> 00:10:27.500 do when he became king. So it's a similar situation 00:10:27.500 --> 00:10:31.360 where they've had plenty of time to get to know 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:35.460 each other, to establish expectations, and maybe 00:10:35.460 --> 00:10:38.340 that's what's happening here, and Marti is totally 00:10:38.340 --> 00:10:44.759 cool with this. So that's my guess, but of course 00:10:44.759 --> 00:10:49.399 I don't know. And it's also possible that Marti 00:10:49.399 --> 00:10:54.600 is like gritting his teeth, being... not supportive 00:10:54.600 --> 00:11:00.019 of Violant and her pushing on these gendered 00:11:00.019 --> 00:11:04.659 boundaries. And maybe also Marti is wondering, 00:11:05.299 --> 00:11:10.139 where is my brother in all this? And why is he 00:11:10.139 --> 00:11:14.399 not in Barcelona? I think that Marti is aware 00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:21.259 of Joan's delay because Joan had written to him 00:11:21.259 --> 00:11:27.100 as we looked at before. But how much info does 00:11:27.100 --> 00:11:30.100 Marti have? I have a feeling he's in the loop, 00:11:30.519 --> 00:11:37.019 but don't know for sure. So basically, this document 00:11:37.019 --> 00:11:40.840 is one that reveals so much about the operation 00:11:40.840 --> 00:11:47.100 of power when it comes to elite women in this 00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:49.659 time and place. So it's super interesting for 00:11:49.659 --> 00:11:52.460 that reason. And again, I just want to say that 00:11:52.460 --> 00:11:55.500 I'm grateful to Claire Ponsich for doing a really 00:11:55.500 --> 00:11:59.460 awesome analysis of the letter that we looked 00:11:59.460 --> 00:12:06.220 at yesterday as well as today's. All right. At 00:12:06.220 --> 00:12:11.779 this point, let's talk about something in the 00:12:11.779 --> 00:12:16.649 bigger background. A couple minutes ago, I brought 00:12:16.649 --> 00:12:22.730 up this tradition of Iberian queenship, granting, 00:12:23.190 --> 00:12:26.730 establishing, legitimizing these very expansive 00:12:26.730 --> 00:12:31.149 roles for queens throughout Iberia. So Crown 00:12:31.149 --> 00:12:37.370 of Aragon, Castile, Portugal. The queens in these 00:12:37.370 --> 00:12:44.700 polities, they have just... this portfolio that 00:12:44.700 --> 00:12:52.379 is really not typical of the roles that queens 00:12:52.379 --> 00:12:56.500 had in other regions of Western Europe in the 00:12:56.500 --> 00:13:02.220 late Middle Ages. The reasons for this are that 00:13:02.220 --> 00:13:07.659 essentially a lot of the and I'm drawing on Teresa 00:13:07.659 --> 00:13:12.210 Earenfight here. in her article, which is, I think, 00:13:12.370 --> 00:13:16.789 she titles it Absent Kings. So basically there's 00:13:16.789 --> 00:13:20.909 a tradition of the kings having to visit a lot 00:13:20.909 --> 00:13:25.289 of different places within their realms in order 00:13:25.289 --> 00:13:29.750 to maintain their authority because basically 00:13:29.750 --> 00:13:32.730 there's a lot of confederation type political 00:13:32.730 --> 00:13:36.830 entities where the kings, they just don't have 00:13:36.830 --> 00:13:40.929 the kind of centralized power that are in other 00:13:40.929 --> 00:13:45.129 places and the the authority that they have is 00:13:45.129 --> 00:13:48.769 based on a lot of deal making and agreements 00:13:48.769 --> 00:13:51.049 and they have to go visit these different realms 00:13:51.049 --> 00:13:54.549 very frequently they have to travel it's like 00:13:54.549 --> 00:13:57.750 a road job they have to travel a lot in order 00:13:57.750 --> 00:14:02.669 to handle things and be a presence so that they 00:14:02.669 --> 00:14:08.210 keep their realms from from the centrifugal force 00:14:08.210 --> 00:14:13.470 that, you know, is pushing to have all these 00:14:13.470 --> 00:14:19.789 different polities go off on their own. So with 00:14:19.789 --> 00:14:24.370 the King out and about, the Queen steps in as 00:14:24.370 --> 00:14:28.370 just one of the team to help bolster the authority 00:14:28.370 --> 00:14:32.480 of the regime. and so this is something that 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:35.500 just kind of builds on itself over time and what 00:14:35.500 --> 00:14:38.740 you end up with in Iberia is something a bit 00:14:38.740 --> 00:14:41.580 different than what's happening in other parts 00:14:41.580 --> 00:14:45.039 of Europe in that the queen starts to have a 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:48.039 portfolio so I've you know used that term a whole 00:14:48.039 --> 00:14:53.299 bunch on the podcast now at the same time in 00:14:53.299 --> 00:14:58.700 the last several years scholars have scholars 00:14:58.700 --> 00:15:03.059 of queenship have highlighted how there's this 00:15:03.059 --> 00:15:07.240 tendency there had been this tendency to characterize 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:14.559 powerful women as exceptional and now they're 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:18.379 kind of looking at this and saying wait a second 00:15:18.809 --> 00:15:23.129 If we're having one exceptional case after the 00:15:23.129 --> 00:15:26.009 other, and we're just keep discovering all of 00:15:26.009 --> 00:15:29.529 these exceptions, are we really seeing exceptions 00:15:29.529 --> 00:15:34.909 at all? Or are we actually noticing how once 00:15:34.909 --> 00:15:39.370 you look at the historical record as it is, powerful 00:15:39.370 --> 00:15:44.029 women are not exceptional? And so there was an 00:15:44.029 --> 00:15:48.649 edited volume by Heather Tanner. that had the 00:15:48.649 --> 00:15:52.789 subtitle moving beyond the exceptionalism debate. 00:15:53.070 --> 00:15:58.250 So there was this whole kind of moment where 00:15:58.250 --> 00:16:01.830 queenship studies moves beyond exceptionalism. 00:16:01.950 --> 00:16:05.789 And now what does that mean? It means that to 00:16:05.789 --> 00:16:10.889 look at queens and other powerful elite women 00:16:10.889 --> 00:16:16.470 in the Middle Ages is to look at routine and 00:16:16.470 --> 00:16:22.090 frequent uses and exercises of power that basically 00:16:22.090 --> 00:16:30.450 what we can see in a lot of regions around the 00:16:30.450 --> 00:16:33.450 the Western European countries and probably beyond 00:16:33.450 --> 00:16:39.710 that is that it was normal for women to exercise 00:16:39.710 --> 00:16:43.980 power Tomorrow's document is going to really 00:16:43.980 --> 00:16:48.740 hit on this more directly. So we'll leave it 00:16:48.740 --> 00:16:55.039 there for today and bring this episode to a close. 00:16:56.860 --> 00:16:59.600 Thanks for listening to the Historian's Notebook, 00:16:59.980 --> 00:17:04.160 Season 1, Molt Cara Companyona. If you are leaving 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:06.819 with more questions than you arrived with, I 00:17:06.819 --> 00:17:10.859 have done my job. Remember, the motto of the 00:17:10.859 --> 00:17:14.599 Historian's Notebook is dissatisfaction guaranteed. 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:18.759 Visit the website to see an image of today's 00:17:18.759 --> 00:17:21.819 document, as well as bibliographic citations 00:17:21.819 --> 00:17:25.019 for a bunch of the works that I just mentioned. 00:17:26.119 --> 00:17:29.599 And listen again tomorrow to hear about the next 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:33.640 day in the first year of the reign of King Joan 00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:38.400 I of Aragon and Queen Violant de Bar. In the 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:39.900 meantime, take care!