WEBVTT 00:00:00.140 --> 00:00:04.919 Hello. In the Crown of Aragon 639 years ago, 00:00:05.419 --> 00:00:12.300 it was January 23rd, 1387. My name is Jonathan 00:00:12.300 --> 00:00:15.619 Seyfried. I'm a PhD candidate in history at the 00:00:15.619 --> 00:00:19.320 University of New Mexico. And this is the Historian's 00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:23.500 Notebook, a podcast about how history gets made. 00:00:24.420 --> 00:00:28.280 Season one is titled Molt Cara Companyona. We're 00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:30.780 looking at a document from each day of the first 00:00:30.780 --> 00:00:34.700 year of the reign of King Joan I of Aragon and 00:00:34.700 --> 00:00:38.659 Queen Violant de Bar. Let's begin today's 00:00:38.659 --> 00:01:05.260 document. Today's document is a great one to 00:01:05.260 --> 00:01:08.599 follow up on what we were discussing yesterday 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:14.840 about interfaith relationships, interfaith encounters, 00:01:15.379 --> 00:01:19.900 interfaith conflicts in the late Middle Ages 00:01:19.900 --> 00:01:25.000 generally and specifically in the Crown of Aragon 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:30.540 in the late 14th century. There were other polities 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:36.719 in the Middle Ages that parceled out the different 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:40.599 religious minority communities and taxed them 00:01:40.599 --> 00:01:44.099 differently. I think that this was a practice 00:01:44.099 --> 00:01:49.829 when Muslims ruled in Iberia and Christian communities 00:01:49.829 --> 00:01:53.930 were being taxed differently. There was in fact 00:01:53.930 --> 00:01:59.829 a tradition called the Jizya, which was the special 00:01:59.829 --> 00:02:06.930 tax that would be paid by other monotheistic 00:02:06.930 --> 00:02:12.159 Abrahamic faith groups under Muslim rule. the 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:17.360 Christians and the Jews in Muslim -led polities 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:22.919 in the Middle Ages were identified by a special 00:02:22.919 --> 00:02:27.460 title that distinguished them from other groups 00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:31.699 that were non -Muslims. That term is the Dhimmis. 00:02:31.879 --> 00:02:37.419 The dhimmis were the Jews and the Christians, and 00:02:37.419 --> 00:02:41.949 they were treated with a special higher status 00:02:41.949 --> 00:02:48.610 than say non -Abrahamic faith groups that were 00:02:48.610 --> 00:02:53.830 present in Muslim governed polities. So these 00:02:53.830 --> 00:02:59.550 traditions of having different governance and 00:02:59.550 --> 00:03:05.110 jurisdiction and taxation for the faith groups 00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:08.900 There, this is a long tradition, and so it's 00:03:08.900 --> 00:03:11.599 been going on for centuries by the time we get 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:15.400 to the moment that we're focusing in on here 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:24.300 in 1387. So here in this document, we have Joan 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:34.870 making a declaration of receipt of a fine. He 00:03:34.870 --> 00:03:40.949 imposed a fine on the Muslims of the city of 00:03:40.949 --> 00:03:46.330 Fraga. Fraga is about halfway between Barcelona 00:03:46.330 --> 00:03:51.330 and Saragossa. It's not a very large city. So 00:03:51.330 --> 00:03:55.069 I'm not quite sure about the number of Muslims 00:03:55.069 --> 00:03:59.310 in this town of Fraga. I mean, I'm guessing it 00:03:59.310 --> 00:04:06.240 can't really be more than like 500. Maybe? Just 00:04:06.240 --> 00:04:09.419 kind of a random guess there. Certainly not in 00:04:09.419 --> 00:04:14.080 the thousands. Unless I'm really missing something 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:15.840 about the population of Fraga, then I'm gonna 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:18.620 have to go back and correct that impression. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:26.399 The title of this document is Remissio Sarracenorum 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:34.699 Villa Fraga, a remission of the Muslims. So the 00:04:34.699 --> 00:04:40.079 term Saracen is pejorative and in our time it's 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:46.160 very insulting. In the time that we're studying 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:52.720 it was a term used as just a matter of course 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:59.220 to refer to a group of Muslims. So This document 00:04:59.220 --> 00:05:06.879 is about the Muslims of Fraga and some kind of 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:10.459 note about what has been received from them. 00:05:11.579 --> 00:05:15.560 What has been received from them is a fine of 00:05:15.560 --> 00:05:22.259 1 ,000 florins. That is a lot of money. That 00:05:22.259 --> 00:05:27.750 is 11 ,000 solides. Okay, just think about some 00:05:27.750 --> 00:05:30.589 of the chunks of change that we've been talking 00:05:30.589 --> 00:05:36.290 about on the podcast. So we had the baker and 00:05:36.290 --> 00:05:40.970 the minstrels who were paid for something like 00:05:40.970 --> 00:05:43.129 a couple months of work and they were being paid 00:05:43.129 --> 00:05:48.470 in sort of like the 200, 300 solidis. And now 00:05:48.470 --> 00:05:53.870 we've got a fine for a thousand florins, 11 ,000 00:05:53.870 --> 00:05:58.120 solidis. that's a huge amount of money. What 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:03.839 is it that Joan had fined these Muslims for? 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:07.759 Turns out, and I found out about this document 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:13.439 from Benjamin Gampel in his book on the anti 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:18.310 -Jewish riots of 1391, And Gampel had read about 00:06:18.310 --> 00:06:22.970 it from an earlier article by Jaume Riera i Sans, 00:06:23.129 --> 00:06:25.269 whose work we've already looked at in the podcast 00:06:25.269 --> 00:06:30.449 a whole bunch. So what had happened is that there 00:06:30.449 --> 00:06:34.230 was some violent conflict between the Muslims 00:06:34.230 --> 00:06:40.670 and Jews in Fraga. So Christians were not identified 00:06:40.670 --> 00:06:46.329 as being involved in the violence here. And what 00:06:46.329 --> 00:06:52.430 had gone on was that there was a procession to 00:06:52.430 --> 00:07:00.490 honor the passing of Pere the Ceremonious. So 00:07:00.490 --> 00:07:08.069 Pere the King had died and the townsfolk had 00:07:08.069 --> 00:07:14.910 organized a procession in order to commemorate 00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:21.459 the death of Per. So this took place had to have 00:07:21.459 --> 00:07:26.300 been something around January 6th, 7th, 8th. 00:07:26.300 --> 00:07:31.519 And in the course of that procession, violence 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:36.540 broke out and it was determined by the authorities 00:07:36.540 --> 00:07:40.079 who investigated that the Muslims had started 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:47.790 the violence against the Jews. And because of, 00:07:47.790 --> 00:07:52.329 apparently, the severity but also the insult 00:07:52.329 --> 00:07:56.449 of violence breaking out around a procession 00:07:56.449 --> 00:08:00.670 that was supposed to honor the monarchy, the 00:08:00.670 --> 00:08:05.949 fine of a thousand Florins was imposed on the 00:08:05.949 --> 00:08:09.569 Muslim community. And they pay it up. And they 00:08:09.569 --> 00:08:13.089 paid up pretty promptly because this document 00:08:13.089 --> 00:08:20.970 is dated the 23rd of January. So, you know, just 00:08:20.970 --> 00:08:23.569 about two weeks they came up with the money and 00:08:23.569 --> 00:08:28.149 sent it in. So there's a lot of questions that 00:08:28.149 --> 00:08:32.570 are going to be coming up. First of all, what 00:08:32.570 --> 00:08:38.610 is a procession? And For that, I can recommend 00:08:38.610 --> 00:08:42.970 a really, really great book by Abigail Agresta. 00:08:43.210 --> 00:08:48.529 And it's all about the city of Valencia and how 00:08:48.529 --> 00:08:52.789 Valencia responded to certain crises, whether 00:08:52.789 --> 00:08:58.629 it was a drought or a plague. And one of the 00:08:58.629 --> 00:09:02.750 things that they would do is organize a procession. 00:09:03.570 --> 00:09:07.750 They would also take action that in our time 00:09:07.750 --> 00:09:11.529 we would call more pragmatic, like trying to 00:09:11.529 --> 00:09:16.850 institute regulations and infrastructural projects 00:09:16.850 --> 00:09:21.389 in order to shore up whatever problems they were 00:09:21.389 --> 00:09:24.570 having. But another thing that they would do 00:09:24.570 --> 00:09:30.850 was they would appeal to the divine to intercede 00:09:30.850 --> 00:09:37.940 and help to alleviate whatever suffering was 00:09:37.940 --> 00:09:43.320 being brought about by well nature in the minds 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:46.139 of the people who were doing this so they they 00:09:46.139 --> 00:09:48.799 saw especially with something like plague that 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:52.600 this was coming from nature and so they could 00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:58.500 appeal to God to end it and one of the ways they 00:09:58.500 --> 00:10:01.700 made this appeal was to organize a religious 00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:06.259 procession a walk around town, gathering together, 00:10:06.519 --> 00:10:11.440 walking around, probably saying prayers as they 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:15.220 were walking. And processions were something 00:10:15.220 --> 00:10:19.399 that happened quite a lot, and it's really hard 00:10:19.399 --> 00:10:25.259 for us to imagine this in our time. But you can 00:10:25.259 --> 00:10:29.480 also think about certain forms of protest where 00:10:29.480 --> 00:10:34.500 people gather they're assembling in a large group 00:10:34.500 --> 00:10:40.080 in order to collectively add some kind of emphasis 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:44.320 to a message. And so in that sense, I think we 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:47.539 can relate to this. But processions were something 00:10:47.539 --> 00:10:52.720 that happened a whole lot. And so it wasn't surprising 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:57.299 when I saw that there was a procession in order 00:10:57.299 --> 00:11:03.250 to commemorate the passing of the king in order 00:11:03.250 --> 00:11:10.690 to do some kind of demonstration of loyalty, 00:11:11.210 --> 00:11:18.250 fidelity, honor toward the monarchy as a signal 00:11:18.250 --> 00:11:26.230 of the overall relationship between the faith 00:11:26.230 --> 00:11:32.899 communities in Fraga and the monarchy, in the 00:11:32.899 --> 00:11:35.220 different relationships that existed between 00:11:35.220 --> 00:11:38.539 each faith group and the monarchy. They could 00:11:38.539 --> 00:11:42.820 all come together and do this commemoration, 00:11:43.019 --> 00:11:45.700 which was, in the judgment of those officials 00:11:45.700 --> 00:11:50.639 who investigated, ruined by who? The Muslims. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:54.860 The Muslims were at fault in this case. And so 00:11:55.289 --> 00:12:02.090 That's the scenario here. And I think it's still 00:12:02.090 --> 00:12:04.889 a little bit difficult to figure out, well, like, 00:12:04.889 --> 00:12:09.730 how do you go from making a procession to an 00:12:09.730 --> 00:12:14.269 outbreak of violence? What Gampel says is that 00:12:14.269 --> 00:12:20.409 the Muslims were found to be resentful of the 00:12:20.409 --> 00:12:25.100 fact that they were put behind the Jews in the 00:12:25.100 --> 00:12:30.899 procession. So someone had decided that this 00:12:30.899 --> 00:12:35.059 faith group would be in front of the other faith 00:12:35.059 --> 00:12:42.059 group in the actual procession. And so that's 00:12:42.059 --> 00:12:47.299 how the ill will started. And then, goodness, 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:51.100 it's very difficult for me to imagine how you 00:12:51.100 --> 00:12:55.080 get from being angry about your order in the 00:12:55.080 --> 00:13:00.080 procession to some kind of outbreak of violence. 00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:07.320 But it somehow happened and the conflict led 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:13.879 to probably a lot of injuries. I don't see... 00:13:13.789 --> 00:13:17.250 any indication here that anybody was killed, 00:13:17.269 --> 00:13:20.330 but it's possible. Certainly the amount of money 00:13:20.330 --> 00:13:23.269 indicates that there was a lot of damage and 00:13:23.269 --> 00:13:27.289 maybe some killing that happened. I don't... 00:13:27.289 --> 00:13:30.350 I will say that I have not read every single 00:13:30.350 --> 00:13:33.450 word in this because it's a long Latin document, 00:13:34.070 --> 00:13:37.889 but I haven't identified whether anybody was 00:13:37.889 --> 00:13:44.049 killed. But what I have found is 10... lines 00:13:44.049 --> 00:13:49.190 from the bottom on the middle page of this Folio 00:13:49.190 --> 00:13:57.870 52 V. There's the term criminalis et crimina. 00:13:58.029 --> 00:14:02.929 So there were identified criminal acts that took 00:14:02.929 --> 00:14:08.450 place. And that is what's justifying the fine. 00:14:09.750 --> 00:14:17.980 The very steep fine. So we have here a illustrative 00:14:17.980 --> 00:14:24.940 example of interfaith tension, but also interfaith 00:14:24.940 --> 00:14:28.879 coexistence, that there was an expectation that 00:14:28.879 --> 00:14:32.879 all of the faith groups would gather and participate 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:37.679 in these kinds of civic events, procession, to 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:45.279 honor the king who has died. One other piece 00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:48.279 of this document that I want to point out is 00:14:48.279 --> 00:14:51.879 something that doesn't really have much to do 00:14:51.879 --> 00:14:54.759 with interfaith encounter in the Middle Ages, 00:14:54.940 --> 00:14:57.980 and rather to do with conventions of the chancery. 00:14:58.659 --> 00:15:01.860 I just want to point out that at the end of this 00:15:01.860 --> 00:15:05.639 document, the scribe, who seems to be someone 00:15:05.639 --> 00:15:14.000 named Berenguer de Busquetis, he has chosen to 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:20.120 spell out all of the numbers in the date and 00:15:20.120 --> 00:15:25.120 the year. And I just found that to be super interesting, 00:15:25.580 --> 00:15:30.879 because usually you see that the numbers of the 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:35.720 year are rendered in Roman numerals. That's happening 00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:39.529 in almost every other document. You do occasionally 00:15:39.529 --> 00:15:44.230 see certain pieces of the date spelled out, and 00:15:44.230 --> 00:15:48.110 there's no consistency. Some scribes seem to 00:15:48.110 --> 00:15:53.429 enjoy spelling out the number of the day. Other 00:15:53.429 --> 00:15:58.990 scribes seem to enjoy spelling out part of the 00:15:58.990 --> 00:16:04.169 number of the day. So it'll be a mixture of the 00:16:04.169 --> 00:16:07.450 Roman numeral and then a spelled out. And so 00:16:07.450 --> 00:16:14.730 we just see this lack of consistency and just 00:16:14.730 --> 00:16:19.269 enjoying how the scribes just have their own 00:16:19.269 --> 00:16:23.269 quirks. So I wanted to point that out that at 00:16:23.269 --> 00:16:27.190 the end of this we've got the numbers of the 00:16:27.190 --> 00:16:30.669 day spelled out and each part of the number of 00:16:30.669 --> 00:16:35.769 the year. spelled out. So there you have it, 00:16:35.789 --> 00:16:39.990 another little quirk of the Chancery Scribes. 00:16:41.730 --> 00:16:45.230 Thanks for listening to this episode of the Historian's 00:16:45.230 --> 00:16:49.450 Notebook, season one, Molt Cara Companyona. If 00:16:49.450 --> 00:16:51.610 you are leaving with more questions than you 00:16:51.610 --> 00:16:55.090 arrived with, I have done my job. Remember, the 00:16:55.090 --> 00:16:59.090 motto of the Historian's Notebook is dissatisfaction 00:16:59.090 --> 00:17:02.919 guaranteed. Visit the website to see an image 00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:06.700 of today's document and additional show notes. 00:17:07.619 --> 00:17:09.880 And listen again tomorrow to hear about the next 00:17:09.880 --> 00:17:13.539 day in the first year of the reign of King Joan 00:17:13.539 --> 00:17:18.720 I of Aragon and Queen Violant de Bar. In the 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:20.319 meantime, take care.