WEBVTT 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:05.400 Hello! In The Crown of Aragon, 639 years ago, 00:00:05.860 --> 00:00:13.619 it was January 14th, 1387. My name is Jonathan 00:00:13.619 --> 00:00:16.780 Seyfried. I'm a PhD candidate in history at the 00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:20.620 University of New Mexico. And this is The Historian's 00:00:20.620 --> 00:00:24.800 Notebook, a podcast about how history gets made. 00:00:25.460 --> 00:00:29.300 Season 1 is titled Molt Cara Companyona. We're 00:00:29.300 --> 00:00:32.079 looking at a document from each day of the first 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:35.979 year of the reign of King Joan I of Aragon and 00:00:35.979 --> 00:00:39.259 Queen Violant de Bar. The Archive of the Crown 00:00:39.259 --> 00:00:43.219 of Aragon is available online because of a massive 00:00:43.219 --> 00:00:46.460 digitization project from the Spanish government, 00:00:46.780 --> 00:00:50.479 and we are able to see hundreds upon hundreds 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:54.219 of pages of what was written down during their 00:00:54.219 --> 00:00:59.700 reign. It really is an amazing resource. Let's 00:00:59.700 --> 00:01:28.379 begin today's document. My journey with today's 00:01:28.379 --> 00:01:34.200 document can be summed up in one question. Pigs 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:40.579 or patios? Now before we get into how we got 00:01:40.579 --> 00:01:44.579 to that kind of question, I'm going to just go 00:01:44.579 --> 00:01:48.060 over some of the sourcing information for the 00:01:48.060 --> 00:01:52.780 document. This is from Joan's register. It is 00:01:52.780 --> 00:01:57.510 dated, of course, January 14th. It's written 00:01:57.510 --> 00:02:01.049 and in Granoller's where we know Joan has 00:02:01.049 --> 00:02:05.109 been for several days and will be until after 00:02:05.109 --> 00:02:12.669 that January 16th big meeting the person group 00:02:12.669 --> 00:02:16.810 that it's addressed to is the pro homens the 00:02:16.810 --> 00:02:18.969 officials in charge you could think of it as 00:02:18.969 --> 00:02:22.430 like the City Council the you know people who 00:02:22.430 --> 00:02:28.719 really are deciding matters for the city. And 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:32.819 in this case, it's the Prohomens of the city 00:02:32.819 --> 00:02:37.740 of Girona, where Joan has been living for a 00:02:37.740 --> 00:02:44.520 very long time. So we've got the writer, the 00:02:44.520 --> 00:02:50.479 addressee, we know the location and the date. 00:02:50.969 --> 00:02:55.289 we know that it's a busy, sensitive time for 00:02:55.289 --> 00:02:59.949 Joan. And this document, which is in Catalan, 00:03:00.110 --> 00:03:03.930 so it's more accessible to me, this document 00:03:03.930 --> 00:03:11.830 just feels so low in importance that I just am 00:03:11.830 --> 00:03:14.949 really trying to wrap my head around what is 00:03:14.949 --> 00:03:22.699 going on with the workflow. that Joan is taking 00:03:22.699 --> 00:03:29.960 on this time. So this particular document is, 00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:35.460 it seems authorizing some kind of sale, possibly 00:03:35.460 --> 00:03:39.240 about real estate, likely about real estate, 00:03:39.780 --> 00:03:43.879 which is a journey that I got to. There's a person 00:03:43.879 --> 00:03:53.550 in the first line, a Berenguer And then in the 00:03:53.550 --> 00:03:57.909 third line is somebody else, Joan's treasurer, 00:03:58.270 --> 00:04:03.550 Ramon de Soler. So Ramon de Soler is arranging 00:04:03.550 --> 00:04:10.289 some kind of sale. Maybe this Berenguer Compani 00:04:10.289 --> 00:04:15.909 is purchasing some property. It's actually really 00:04:15.909 --> 00:04:20.089 hard for me to figure out. who's doing what. 00:04:21.149 --> 00:04:26.230 And that's because later on in the letter, the 00:04:26.230 --> 00:04:29.170 person who appears in the first line, Berenguer, 00:04:29.610 --> 00:04:34.470 appears again. And it seems like in that instance, 00:04:34.529 --> 00:04:41.829 Berenguer is the seller, not the purchaser. So 00:04:41.829 --> 00:04:47.730 it's not like this is a source of income for 00:04:47.769 --> 00:04:50.910 Joan, I think the person getting the income 00:04:50.910 --> 00:04:55.389 from the sale is this Berenguer, and so I can't 00:04:55.389 --> 00:05:00.930 quite figure out what is happening here in terms 00:05:00.930 --> 00:05:06.389 of the bigger picture. It just looks to me like 00:05:06.389 --> 00:05:10.870 Joan is authorizing this sale. Why does he 00:05:10.870 --> 00:05:15.009 need to authorize this sale? It would make sense 00:05:15.009 --> 00:05:19.170 if it was some gigantic purchase, but it doesn't 00:05:19.170 --> 00:05:23.069 seem to be that way, because in the second line, 00:05:23.730 --> 00:05:27.829 there's the verb vendre, which means to sell, 00:05:28.269 --> 00:05:32.009 and then following that is the word certs, which 00:05:32.009 --> 00:05:36.209 means certain, and then there's three words, 00:05:36.829 --> 00:05:43.699 patis, porches, e... And then the third word I'm 00:05:43.699 --> 00:05:46.279 trying to figure out because it seems like it 00:05:46.279 --> 00:05:49.620 should be kind of easy, but it's not because 00:05:49.620 --> 00:05:54.500 of minims. Minims is the paleographic term, a 00:05:54.500 --> 00:05:59.509 minim for when there's like the top of the 00:05:59.509 --> 00:06:04.149 letter M like some kind of curvy top or or even 00:06:04.149 --> 00:06:07.189 like an eye like some kind of it's sticking up 00:06:07.189 --> 00:06:11.649 and and so the letter M has two minims at the 00:06:11.649 --> 00:06:14.970 top like two points that stick up and so here 00:06:14.970 --> 00:06:22.569 there's a possibility that I'm looking at E N 00:06:22.569 --> 00:06:30.740 U it's also possible I'm looking at E M I and 00:06:30.740 --> 00:06:33.579 then there's an outside chance that the first 00:06:33.579 --> 00:06:37.040 letter is c i don't think it is but it could 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:41.540 be and then it could be something like c u n 00:06:41.540 --> 00:06:46.720 so the number of minims can clue you into what 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:50.600 letters are being written there's also a macron 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:53.720 above that word and so there's a letter that's 00:06:53.720 --> 00:06:58.730 been excluded in services of abbreviation. You 00:06:58.730 --> 00:07:02.550 might be wondering why on earth is there so much 00:07:02.550 --> 00:07:06.910 abbreviation when it seems like there's no real 00:07:06.910 --> 00:07:10.149 purpose to just leaving out one letter here and 00:07:10.149 --> 00:07:15.209 there. Why is that something that scribes would 00:07:15.209 --> 00:07:19.449 do when it doesn't even seem to make that much 00:07:19.449 --> 00:07:22.329 difference in the amount of writing or space? 00:07:23.410 --> 00:07:29.720 Two answers. First, it was customary. To abbreviate 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:32.779 was just the way things were done. Everybody 00:07:32.779 --> 00:07:36.300 abbreviated, you just keep on abbreviating. Second, 00:07:37.019 --> 00:07:39.360 every little bit helps, because even though there 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:42.300 was an abundance of paper, there wasn't like 00:07:42.300 --> 00:07:45.740 an unlimited supply of paper. And also, more 00:07:45.740 --> 00:07:48.660 importantly, there wasn't an unlimited supply 00:07:48.660 --> 00:07:51.699 of time. The more you abbreviate, the faster 00:07:51.699 --> 00:07:54.959 you can get a letter done. So the more abbreviations 00:07:54.959 --> 00:07:58.500 that you internalize, the less time it takes 00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:02.360 to write the thing down. And that all will accrue 00:08:02.360 --> 00:08:04.319 when we're talking about hundreds of letters 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:09.600 into some serious time savings. So all of this 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:13.959 custom of abbreviation adds up to a big problem 00:08:13.959 --> 00:08:17.129 for me when I'm trying to figure out what is 00:08:17.129 --> 00:08:21.769 that word, the third word in this set of three, 00:08:22.430 --> 00:08:27.949 unless patis is somehow modifying porches. And 00:08:27.949 --> 00:08:32.389 this is where I got thrown off, because the word 00:08:32.389 --> 00:08:35.889 porches could actually be pronounced por -case, 00:08:36.889 --> 00:08:41.690 as in pork. And I've seen that word in its exact 00:08:41.690 --> 00:08:44.950 spelling as it appears here, P -O -R -C -H -E 00:08:44.950 --> 00:08:51.149 -S, used to describe wild boars. The kinds of 00:08:51.149 --> 00:08:55.070 wild boars that Joan would go out and have fun 00:08:55.070 --> 00:09:00.070 hunting out in the forest. So when I first encountered 00:09:00.070 --> 00:09:03.309 that word, I was thinking, we're talking about 00:09:03.309 --> 00:09:08.830 pigs. And then I put the... transcription that 00:09:08.830 --> 00:09:14.070 I did of this letter into chat gpt and chat gpt 00:09:14.070 --> 00:09:16.470 was like no that's just there's no way that this 00:09:16.470 --> 00:09:19.269 is pigs we're definitely talking about a real 00:09:19.269 --> 00:09:24.070 estate sale here and I looked back at the overall 00:09:24.070 --> 00:09:28.090 context of the letter and yeah it does seem to 00:09:28.090 --> 00:09:32.009 be about a real estate sale but at the same time 00:09:32.009 --> 00:09:35.090 I'm still I've got these lingering doubts because 00:09:35.090 --> 00:09:39.399 it just seems so Well, I guess it's weird to 00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:43.340 kind of purchase certain wild boars, and that 00:09:43.340 --> 00:09:46.259 would also be weird, but I just can't quite settle 00:09:46.259 --> 00:09:53.059 on what is the meaning of the phrase patis, porches, 00:09:53.419 --> 00:10:00.919 e, envenas? I don't know, and I can't quite figure 00:10:00.919 --> 00:10:07.740 out what unit is being sold here. have a very 00:10:07.740 --> 00:10:12.419 helpful Catalan medieval Catalan glossary that 00:10:12.419 --> 00:10:17.039 I looked these words up in or tried to find them 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:19.740 couldn't couldn't really get anywhere I have 00:10:19.740 --> 00:10:23.100 a feeling like a month from now or maybe like 00:10:23.100 --> 00:10:25.820 four months from now I'm gonna look back at this 00:10:25.820 --> 00:10:29.659 and say oh it's so obvious but I'm just in it 00:10:29.659 --> 00:10:36.039 right now and so I'm kind of you know As the 00:10:36.039 --> 00:10:39.340 cliche goes, I can't really see the forest for 00:10:39.340 --> 00:10:44.120 the trees, so I'm not quite sure what is being 00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:49.899 sold, but Joan is authorizing its sale, and 00:10:49.899 --> 00:10:55.299 he's informing the city officials of Girona that 00:10:55.299 --> 00:10:59.440 he has authorized this sale, which brings me 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:03.139 back to the question that I was talking about 00:11:03.139 --> 00:11:08.960 earlier about Joan's workflow. Why is he spending 00:11:08.960 --> 00:11:14.360 time on this? It just doesn't seem all that urgent. 00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:19.700 Yesterday, we had a document in which Violant 00:11:19.700 --> 00:11:25.429 is saying that there is urgent business. There's 00:11:25.429 --> 00:11:29.610 difficulties being encountered. And then we encounter 00:11:29.610 --> 00:11:33.649 this kind of humdrum matter of business being 00:11:33.649 --> 00:11:37.750 undertaken by Joan. Again! Like this has already 00:11:37.750 --> 00:11:40.149 been an issue that I've been struggling with 00:11:40.149 --> 00:11:42.929 in earlier documents from a couple days ago. 00:11:44.009 --> 00:11:48.870 Now what I will say is that I have seen documents 00:11:48.870 --> 00:11:54.429 where the king is making a ruling on something 00:11:54.429 --> 00:11:59.110 that seems very, very small. And that's something 00:11:59.110 --> 00:12:04.690 I have noticed in documents from Joan, as well 00:12:04.690 --> 00:12:07.970 as other royal family members at different times 00:12:07.970 --> 00:12:11.789 and different years. For example, I did a whole 00:12:11.789 --> 00:12:16.370 study on Joan's ruling about a certain hot springs. 00:12:16.909 --> 00:12:21.750 called Caldes d'Estrac and he made this ruling 00:12:21.750 --> 00:12:27.070 in 1394 and he's basically also ordering that 00:12:27.070 --> 00:12:30.669 the hot springs infrastructure gets cleaned up 00:12:30.669 --> 00:12:33.750 and because it's kind of run down and so it just 00:12:33.750 --> 00:12:38.789 seems like Gosh, it seems like the the monarchs 00:12:38.789 --> 00:12:43.429 were just involved in these very granular issues 00:12:43.429 --> 00:12:48.610 and that it's just like a constant flow of these 00:12:48.610 --> 00:12:52.909 small things in all these different localities 00:12:52.909 --> 00:12:57.429 within the realm. And maybe Joan is just like, 00:12:57.570 --> 00:12:59.509 I gotta take care of at least a few of these 00:12:59.509 --> 00:13:03.370 each day or else it's gonna hopelessly pile up. 00:13:03.970 --> 00:13:07.789 Maybe that's what's going on here. Also, it could 00:13:07.789 --> 00:13:11.929 be that if I knew more about the people in this 00:13:11.929 --> 00:13:16.590 document and the property being discussed, it 00:13:16.590 --> 00:13:19.789 would be clear to me that it is important that 00:13:19.789 --> 00:13:22.889 it's a big deal. One last thing that I noticed 00:13:22.889 --> 00:13:26.529 about this document. At the very end of the text 00:13:26.529 --> 00:13:33.240 block, after the year, there's what looks like 00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:40.139 the Latin abbreviation for Videt, and then S 00:13:40.139 --> 00:13:48.299 -P -E -R -E -N -D, followed by some large cursive 00:13:48.299 --> 00:13:51.659 letters that are kind of hard to figure out exactly 00:13:51.659 --> 00:13:56.700 what they're signifying. Sperand, and that kind 00:13:56.700 --> 00:14:00.559 of reminds me of how Joan had asked Esperandu 00:14:00.809 --> 00:14:06.230 cardona to get to granolaires as fast as possible 00:14:06.230 --> 00:14:12.409 so maybe Esperandeu Cardona is making some kind 00:14:12.409 --> 00:14:20.490 of additional approval of some of this esperandu 00:14:20.490 --> 00:14:26.889 cardona is not necessarily indicated by this 00:14:26.889 --> 00:14:29.740 but it would be just an interesting coincidence 00:14:29.740 --> 00:14:33.980 if if that was not Esperandeu Cardona getting 00:14:33.980 --> 00:14:38.679 involved in this business somehow. The same the 00:14:38.679 --> 00:14:42.379 same thing appears at the end of the next document 00:14:42.379 --> 00:14:47.820 on this this folio so at the bottom of the page 00:14:47.820 --> 00:14:53.120 you'll see the same thing again and that one 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:59.919 is from the 10th of January so maybe it's not 00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:06.700 going to work out because the letter asking for 00:15:06.700 --> 00:15:14.179 Esperandeu Cardona was on the 12th so unless there's 00:15:14.179 --> 00:15:18.639 something weird with the date going on here then 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:24.590 maybe it's just a coincidence or maybe Esperandu 00:15:24.590 --> 00:15:28.509 Cardona is involved in these documents after 00:15:28.509 --> 00:15:37.230 the fact, and the date of the 10th of January 00:15:37.230 --> 00:15:42.370 for the second letter on this folio is not exactly 00:15:42.370 --> 00:15:47.570 reflecting the time of composition because we've 00:15:47.570 --> 00:15:51.779 got Sperand at the end of that one too. I am 00:15:51.779 --> 00:15:54.259 stumped on that. I'm gonna have to figure out 00:15:54.259 --> 00:15:58.799 this Videt Sperend, and why it's starting to 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:02.259 appear at the end of these letters. And I'll 00:16:02.259 --> 00:16:04.340 probably figure out it's something completely 00:16:04.340 --> 00:16:07.399 different, not related to Esperandeu Cardona. 00:16:07.899 --> 00:16:10.320 And you've just kind of heard me thinking aloud 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:13.419 through that problem, because actually, as I 00:16:13.419 --> 00:16:16.830 was recording the episode today, I just happened 00:16:16.830 --> 00:16:19.830 to notice it. So I do a little bit of prep work 00:16:19.830 --> 00:16:22.470 for each episode to kind of think about, all 00:16:22.470 --> 00:16:24.090 right, what am I going to try to bring out in 00:16:24.090 --> 00:16:27.950 this document? But this one, as I was just looking 00:16:27.950 --> 00:16:31.250 at it during the recording, is when I saw that. 00:16:32.029 --> 00:16:38.230 And so, OK, that's been a nice sort of live experience 00:16:38.230 --> 00:16:43.309 there of sort of seeing me go through the thought 00:16:43.309 --> 00:16:48.789 process of how to interpret that at the end and 00:16:48.789 --> 00:16:52.769 just wondering, wondering about connections to 00:16:52.769 --> 00:16:55.570 other documents and the people that I know are 00:16:55.570 --> 00:17:02.289 around. Okay, thanks for listening to this episode 00:17:02.289 --> 00:17:06.150 of the Historian's Notebook, season one, Molt Cara 00:17:06.150 --> 00:17:09.930 Companyona. If you are leaving with more questions 00:17:09.930 --> 00:17:13.779 than you arrived with, I've done my job. Remember, 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:18.680 the motto of the Historian's Notebook is dissatisfaction 00:17:18.680 --> 00:17:22.660 guaranteed. Visit the website jonathanseyfried.net 00:17:22.660 --> 00:17:26.640 to see an image of today's document and 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:30.039 additional show notes. And listen again tomorrow 00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:33.160 to hear about the next day in the first year 00:17:33.160 --> 00:17:38.019 of the reign of King Joan I of Aragon and Queen 00:17:38.019 --> 00:17:42.890 Violant de Bar. In the meantime... Take care.