WEBVTT 00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:05.049 Hello. In The Crown of Aragon, 639 years ago, 00:00:05.570 --> 00:00:11.869 it was January 20th, 1387. My name is Jonathan 00:00:11.869 --> 00:00:15.269 Seyfried. I'm a PhD candidate in history at the 00:00:15.269 --> 00:00:18.789 University of New Mexico. And this is the Historian's 00:00:18.789 --> 00:00:23.089 Notebook, a podcast about how history gets made. 00:00:23.769 --> 00:00:27.719 Season one is titled Molt Cara Companyona. We're 00:00:27.719 --> 00:00:30.440 looking at a document from each day of the first 00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:34.399 year of the reign of King Joan I of Aragon and 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:38.740 Queen Violant de Bar. Let's begin today's 00:00:38.740 --> 00:01:08.040 document. Today's document is the first instance, 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:13.700 according to the historian Jaumet Riera i Sans, 00:01:14.340 --> 00:01:21.120 that we see Jaume, the son of Joan and Violant, 00:01:21.239 --> 00:01:27.099 referred to as the Dauphin. and this is something 00:01:27.099 --> 00:01:29.700 that I've spoken about a couple different times 00:01:29.700 --> 00:01:34.879 on the podcast already the introduction of the 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:39.640 term dauphin into the crown of aragon that is 00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:41.900 carried out that introduction is carried out 00:01:41.900 --> 00:01:46.680 by Joan and Violant when they are at the 00:01:46.680 --> 00:01:49.379 outset of their reign one of the first things 00:01:49.379 --> 00:01:53.219 they do as they're getting the government together 00:01:53.219 --> 00:01:58.920 on January 16th in Granollers, they formally 00:01:58.920 --> 00:02:03.840 name the heir to the throne after Joan, which 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:09.080 is the three -year -old boy, Jaume. They formally 00:02:09.080 --> 00:02:14.219 name him a Dauphin, and they adjust that into 00:02:14.219 --> 00:02:22.800 Catalan as a Dalfi, D -A -L -F -I. This move 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:27.580 is one that I think is an illustrative example 00:02:27.580 --> 00:02:33.740 of the enthusiasm with which Joan imported 00:02:33.740 --> 00:02:38.979 French culture into the Crown of Aragon. This 00:02:38.979 --> 00:02:42.599 is something that I myself have written about 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:46.780 in an article that is available on the website 00:02:46.780 --> 00:02:50.539 for the journal Quidditas. And in that article, 00:02:50.680 --> 00:02:54.620 which I titled Medieval Hypebeast, The Conspicuous 00:02:54.620 --> 00:02:58.400 Consumption of Joan the First of Aragon, I go 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:00.379 through and look at all these different ways 00:03:00.379 --> 00:03:05.659 that throughout his time as Duke of Girona and 00:03:05.659 --> 00:03:08.719 during his reign as King of the Crown of Aragon, 00:03:09.379 --> 00:03:12.759 Joan, as a cooperative project with Violant, 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:18.110 they brought in whatever kind of hot cultural 00:03:18.110 --> 00:03:22.990 trends they could from France into the Crown 00:03:22.990 --> 00:03:26.409 of Aragon. And in a previous episode, I mentioned 00:03:26.409 --> 00:03:31.729 how French culture was kind of like the at the 00:03:31.729 --> 00:03:34.610 level of what we would think of as Hollywood 00:03:34.610 --> 00:03:39.289 cultural production in our world in the 21st 00:03:39.289 --> 00:03:44.289 century, where it's just seen as the cutting 00:03:44.289 --> 00:03:52.430 edge in terms of what is really popular and also 00:03:52.430 --> 00:03:58.039 artistically supported. with a lot of resources 00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:01.060 so that you're you're kind of in this sort of 00:04:01.060 --> 00:04:04.360 self perpetuating cycle where it's seen as the 00:04:04.360 --> 00:04:09.300 place to go to make great cultural products. 00:04:09.300 --> 00:04:12.039 I'm talking about movies and TV series not the 00:04:12.039 --> 00:04:16.480 only place to go, but it just has that power 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:22.509 of having built up. a reputation as the source 00:04:22.509 --> 00:04:26.810 for cultural production. And so it's not like 00:04:26.810 --> 00:04:29.670 it's the only place where great culture is made. 00:04:29.670 --> 00:04:34.269 It's just that it has that kind of attraction, 00:04:34.750 --> 00:04:40.649 that kind of cachet. And so same deal with Southern 00:04:40.649 --> 00:04:47.089 France at this time. There was a culture of troubadour 00:04:47.310 --> 00:04:53.209 performance in Toulouse that was extremely innovative, 00:04:53.750 --> 00:04:57.870 and then spread throughout all of Provence and 00:04:57.870 --> 00:05:01.269 southern France, and a lot of those troubadours 00:05:01.269 --> 00:05:04.569 interacted with troubadours who would travel 00:05:04.569 --> 00:05:07.870 around the Crown of Aragon. And so Joan, at 00:05:07.870 --> 00:05:11.680 a very young age, he heard about what they were 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:15.279 doing. And basically, this started a lifelong 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:20.360 project of wanting to be in on the latest fashions, 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:22.480 which is where kind of the hype beast connection 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:25.800 comes from, like really going after what's trendy 00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:29.019 is what I see the behavior as here. And having 00:05:29.019 --> 00:05:33.560 a real craving for getting the stuff that has 00:05:33.560 --> 00:05:38.819 the best reputation for being cutting edge fashion. 00:05:39.180 --> 00:05:42.870 And so we see this a lot with the literature 00:05:42.870 --> 00:05:45.889 and the music. We see a bunch of letters that 00:05:45.889 --> 00:05:48.350 a lot of scholars have already written about 00:05:48.350 --> 00:05:51.569 where Joan and Violant are trying to get the 00:05:51.569 --> 00:05:56.170 latest copy of the Guillaume Machaut manuscripts, 00:05:56.709 --> 00:06:03.649 for example. So that is all to explain the presence 00:06:03.649 --> 00:06:11.819 of the phrase Mon car fil lo dalfi de Girona in 00:06:11.819 --> 00:06:15.000 the fourth line of this letter from Violant. 00:06:16.279 --> 00:06:20.360 But who is this letter to? Well, the letter starts 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:25.100 Molt car Cosi. Got all the Molt cars happening 00:06:25.100 --> 00:06:31.480 again. Who's the cousin? The cousin is the brand 00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:36.379 new King of Navarre. Navarre is the kingdom to 00:06:36.379 --> 00:06:41.379 the north of the Crown of Aragon. And in a remarkable 00:06:41.379 --> 00:06:46.660 coincidence, Charles III ascended to the throne, 00:06:47.160 --> 00:06:51.920 inherited the throne. On January 1st of 1387, 00:06:52.779 --> 00:06:57.579 Charles II had died. And so in this really remarkable 00:06:57.579 --> 00:07:03.519 coincidence, both Violante and Joan and Charles 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:09.199 III of Navarre, they all become the rulers of 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:11.720 their kingdoms like right around the same time. 00:07:12.120 --> 00:07:14.720 And this really plays into this concept that 00:07:14.720 --> 00:07:17.199 I've toyed around with a little bit since starting 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:21.759 this project, that there's a team next -gen. 00:07:21.930 --> 00:07:25.490 happening here, a real sense of the next generation 00:07:25.490 --> 00:07:29.269 is now coming into its own, and some of the stuff, 00:07:29.529 --> 00:07:32.569 especially like the warmongering that was going 00:07:32.569 --> 00:07:36.629 on, both from Charles II of Navarre and also 00:07:36.629 --> 00:07:38.550 Pere the Ceremonious and the Crown of Aragon 00:07:38.550 --> 00:07:44.639 and Pedro the Cruel and Castile, that That generation 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:48.660 has concluded and now team next -gen is coming 00:07:48.660 --> 00:07:54.439 in and they want to do a bit of a reset it's 00:07:54.439 --> 00:08:01.680 one that is a cooperative project between the 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:05.800 ruler of Navarre Prince or used to be Prince 00:08:05.800 --> 00:08:10.500 King Charles III and Violant and Joan because 00:08:10.910 --> 00:08:13.529 These folks are buddies, and I have a theory. 00:08:13.850 --> 00:08:17.629 It's not something I can substantiate in any 00:08:17.629 --> 00:08:20.589 of the literature yet, but I have a theory that 00:08:20.589 --> 00:08:25.709 Violant and Charles, they knew each other and 00:08:25.709 --> 00:08:34.970 hung out in the years 1378 and 1379 in Paris, 00:08:35.509 --> 00:08:40.379 because as Prince, the future Charles III had 00:08:40.379 --> 00:08:44.580 been sent by his father to go do some diplomacy 00:08:44.580 --> 00:08:47.899 with France, but then his father did some kind 00:08:47.899 --> 00:08:50.659 of like shady move and like did an attack somewhere 00:08:50.659 --> 00:08:53.159 and the King of France was like mad. Charles 00:08:53.159 --> 00:08:56.700 V was like, what are you doing? Like you're basically 00:08:56.700 --> 00:09:01.259 like trying to trick me. And so he made Charles 00:09:01.259 --> 00:09:06.100 the Prince a hostage. So the future King of Navarre 00:09:06.100 --> 00:09:10.720 was a hostage in Paris at the time that Violant 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:14.759 was there, and in the months that Violant was 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:17.779 finding out that she was going to be marrying 00:09:17.779 --> 00:09:21.279 into the royal family of the Crown of Aragon 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:26.080 and heading to Iberia. And so she might have 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:31.120 sought out Charles to kind of get the lowdown 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:33.659 on what it's like to be on the other side of 00:09:33.659 --> 00:09:36.340 the Pyrenees. And I have a feeling they knew 00:09:36.340 --> 00:09:41.759 each other in France. Eventually, Prince Charles 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:45.899 gets released from captivity in Paris and goes 00:09:45.899 --> 00:09:51.039 back to Navarre. And then in the time that Charles 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:54.220 is waiting for his father to die so he can become 00:09:54.220 --> 00:09:57.679 Charles III, and in the time that Joan is waiting 00:09:57.679 --> 00:09:59.720 for Père to die so that he can become King of 00:09:59.720 --> 00:10:03.860 the Crown of Aragon, there were regular visits 00:10:03.860 --> 00:10:10.830 between the Prince of Navarre and Joan and 00:10:10.830 --> 00:10:13.830 Violant. And we know that they were buddies 00:10:13.830 --> 00:10:18.570 because of an extraordinary letter from May of 00:10:18.570 --> 00:10:24.929 1386. This letter has surfaced earlier in the 00:10:24.929 --> 00:10:29.409 scholarship, but Dawn Branch Prince has written 00:10:29.409 --> 00:10:33.070 about it in a way that I think really brings 00:10:33.070 --> 00:10:37.279 it out a lot more in its meanings. This letter 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:42.299 is one that Violant wrote to, at the time, Prince 00:10:42.299 --> 00:10:48.620 Charles of Navarre, and she says, and I'm doing 00:10:48.620 --> 00:10:51.779 a faithful paraphrase here, but once you hear 00:10:51.779 --> 00:10:53.720 this, you're just gonna have to, like, rewind 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:58.720 to be like, what? Violante writes to Charles, 00:10:59.240 --> 00:11:10.460 and this is what she says, danced so hard that 00:11:10.460 --> 00:11:19.639 I had a miscarriage. Not only that, but the child 00:11:19.639 --> 00:11:29.799 that I had in my womb was one that I was going 00:11:29.799 --> 00:11:38.299 to name after you. Okay, so there's just a lot 00:11:38.299 --> 00:11:41.259 to, like, really figure out what's going on there. 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:45.019 First of all, they had a great time dancing together, 00:11:45.100 --> 00:11:49.379 that's for sure, to the extent that Violant 00:11:49.379 --> 00:11:53.019 can come to the conclusion that it was the hard 00:11:53.019 --> 00:11:58.750 dancing that led to her miscarriage. So we know 00:11:58.750 --> 00:12:01.649 that they were getting along, having a good time. 00:12:01.970 --> 00:12:07.309 That was a real Molt car cosi there. But then 00:12:07.309 --> 00:12:09.669 there's this statement about the miscarriage. 00:12:10.289 --> 00:12:17.049 It's a tremendous, tremendous problem as a royal 00:12:17.049 --> 00:12:21.809 family member for a woman to have a miscarriage. 00:12:21.809 --> 00:12:27.419 I mean, it would be in... all kinds of cases, 00:12:27.500 --> 00:12:32.480 not to minimize the miscarriage experience at 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:38.620 all. But for women who were in these elite positions, 00:12:39.860 --> 00:12:44.659 the potential of having a child, especially a 00:12:44.659 --> 00:12:50.029 male child, was very tied to the opportunity 00:12:50.029 --> 00:12:52.970 to increase their own power, their own stature, 00:12:53.450 --> 00:12:57.889 the stature of their husband, because so much 00:12:57.889 --> 00:13:04.909 was invested in producing an heir. And so to 00:13:04.909 --> 00:13:09.830 have miscarriage is something that is a very, 00:13:10.809 --> 00:13:15.320 very sensitive, even beyond whatever you could 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:18.179 put as the baseline of like sensitivity and trauma 00:13:18.179 --> 00:13:24.559 of having a miscarriage. And so when Violant 00:13:24.559 --> 00:13:29.460 says, I was going to name that baby after you, 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:37.299 is she trying to make Charles feel bad for like 00:13:37.299 --> 00:13:42.840 how hard he was dancing with her? Or is this 00:13:42.840 --> 00:13:49.090 actually like a level of irony that Violante 00:13:49.090 --> 00:13:55.330 is sending off to Charles as a kind of like, 00:13:56.389 --> 00:14:00.309 you know, I'm not gonna hold it against you even 00:14:00.309 --> 00:14:02.990 though I'm saying that I'm holding it against 00:14:02.990 --> 00:14:08.049 you. Yeah, it's really hard to untangle the meaning 00:14:08.049 --> 00:14:13.710 behind that letter of 1386. But look at what 00:14:13.710 --> 00:14:18.730 we have here in the following year. A letter 00:14:18.730 --> 00:14:23.509 that is really gushing with affection. She's 00:14:23.509 --> 00:14:28.850 writing to the King of Navarre with just Molt car, 00:14:28.929 --> 00:14:33.929 Molt car, car cosi, car cosi all throughout. I 00:14:33.929 --> 00:14:40.330 mean, this is one of the most gushy letters that 00:14:40.330 --> 00:14:46.179 I've ever seen. And so the affection that Violant 00:14:46.179 --> 00:14:52.519 has for Charles III, King of Navarre, is, I think, 00:14:52.860 --> 00:14:57.860 pretty much confirmed in this letter. So what 00:14:57.860 --> 00:15:02.179 to make of the kind of message that appeared, 00:15:02.179 --> 00:15:06.019 you know, in the prior year, May of the prior 00:15:06.019 --> 00:15:10.200 year, about about their interaction. That is 00:15:10.200 --> 00:15:13.799 something that actually I hope I'm going to be 00:15:13.799 --> 00:15:16.000 able to talk about in a bonus episode of the 00:15:16.000 --> 00:15:18.899 podcast when I get to have an interview with 00:15:18.899 --> 00:15:22.120 one of my classmates here in the graduate program 00:15:22.120 --> 00:15:25.059 at the University of New Mexico, Katie Despeaux, 00:15:25.240 --> 00:15:30.259 who specializes in studying medieval pregnancy 00:15:30.259 --> 00:15:33.639 in the late Middle Ages. So we'll see if we get 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:38.409 to have that happen. I hope so. All right, that 00:15:38.409 --> 00:15:43.250 is today's document and just a whole lot of background 00:15:43.250 --> 00:15:47.610 information about it. Oh, one last detail. I 00:15:47.610 --> 00:15:52.710 wanted to specify how Charles III King of Navarre 00:15:52.710 --> 00:15:56.269 and Violant are related, because they are cousins. 00:15:57.549 --> 00:16:05.090 So Charles is the son of Violante's mother's 00:16:05.090 --> 00:16:15.419 sister. So that is how they're related, because 00:16:15.419 --> 00:16:20.159 Charles III's father, Charles II, married a daughter 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:24.720 of the French king, and that's how they're cousins. 00:16:25.240 --> 00:16:32.519 Because same thing with Violante. Her father, 00:16:32.519 --> 00:16:35.879 Robert de Barre, married another daughter of 00:16:35.879 --> 00:16:39.539 the French king. Okay, hopefully that isn't super 00:16:39.539 --> 00:16:41.399 confusing. I think it might be time for, like, 00:16:41.480 --> 00:16:43.799 a family tree, if I can try to find one and put 00:16:43.799 --> 00:16:47.620 it on the website. Alright, that does it for 00:16:47.620 --> 00:16:50.539 today's episode. Thanks for listening to this 00:16:50.539 --> 00:16:53.440 latest installment of the Historian's Notebook, 00:16:53.639 --> 00:16:57.840 Season 1, Molt cara Companyona. If you are leaving 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:00.299 with more questions than you arrived with, I 00:17:00.299 --> 00:17:03.700 have done my job. Remember, the motto of the 00:17:03.700 --> 00:17:07.519 Historian's Notebook is dissatisfaction guaranteed. 00:17:08.539 --> 00:17:10.819 Visit the website to see an image of today's 00:17:10.819 --> 00:17:14.720 document and additional show notes. And listen 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:17.980 again tomorrow to hear about the next day in 00:17:17.980 --> 00:17:21.099 the first year of the reign of King Joan I of 00:17:21.099 --> 00:17:25.480 Aragon and Queen Violant de Bar. In the meantime, 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:26.559 take care.