WEBVTT 00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:05.110 Hello. In The Crown of Aragon, 639 years ago, 00:00:05.509 --> 00:00:12.509 it was February 8, 1387. My name is Jonathan 00:00:12.509 --> 00:00:16.070 Seyfried. I'm a PhD candidate in history at the 00:00:16.070 --> 00:00:19.890 University of New Mexico. And this is the Historian's 00:00:19.890 --> 00:00:24.390 Notebook, a podcast about how history gets made. 00:00:24.929 --> 00:00:29.059 Season one is titled Molt Cara Companyona. we're 00:00:29.059 --> 00:00:31.859 looking at a document from each day of the first 00:00:31.859 --> 00:00:36.159 year of the reign of King Joan I of Aragon and 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:40.920 Queen Violant de Bar. Let's begin today's document. 00:01:04.840 --> 00:01:10.980 Today's document is one authored by Joan. It's 00:01:10.980 --> 00:01:17.359 in the commune category of register, which could 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:22.799 be pronounced commune. I'm not sure. But this 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:26.540 particular register is one where it's supposed 00:01:26.540 --> 00:01:33.560 to include rulings on cases, petitions maybe. 00:01:34.379 --> 00:01:38.659 where there's somebody, some kind of aggrieved 00:01:38.659 --> 00:01:44.040 party that has appealed to the king. So that's 00:01:44.040 --> 00:01:48.500 what all of the documents in this register are 00:01:48.500 --> 00:01:52.579 supposed to be. But then I think there's another 00:01:52.579 --> 00:01:58.060 category. It's actually phrased by the archivists 00:01:58.060 --> 00:02:07.219 at Pares as rulings on documents or topics that 00:02:07.219 --> 00:02:13.719 are on the behalf of interested parties. So it's 00:02:13.719 --> 00:02:17.500 not necessarily that there's some kind of civil 00:02:17.500 --> 00:02:22.659 lawsuit happening. For example, a couple episodes 00:02:22.659 --> 00:02:24.659 down the road, we're going to look at a document 00:02:24.659 --> 00:02:32.330 that Trenchs Odena and Baijes y Jardí had transcribed 00:02:32.330 --> 00:02:36.409 about a minstrel, and basically it's in the same 00:02:36.409 --> 00:02:42.710 register as this, and the document is just providing 00:02:42.710 --> 00:02:47.129 safe passage for this minstrel as he travels 00:02:47.129 --> 00:02:53.349 from Barcelona to France. So that's not a civil 00:02:53.349 --> 00:02:58.590 lawsuit at all. So basically when I'm looking 00:02:58.590 --> 00:03:04.500 at this document today, I don't have any framework 00:03:04.500 --> 00:03:09.039 to apply to it. Like, it's not like I can depend 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:13.879 on trying to find two sides to an argument that 00:03:13.879 --> 00:03:17.000 then Joan is ruling in favor of one of the 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:20.479 sides. It's not like I can count on that. So 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:25.699 I will tell you that this particular document 00:03:25.699 --> 00:03:32.340 was just extremely challenging for me. This scribe 00:03:32.340 --> 00:03:40.539 has basically a way more difficult tendency to 00:03:40.539 --> 00:03:46.000 switch up the way that he writes the letter C 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:53.710 and T and then I think the R's in this one sometimes 00:03:53.710 --> 00:03:58.789 look like a C or a T, and then occasionally the 00:03:58.789 --> 00:04:02.909 E's don't look like the other E's. And then there's 00:04:02.909 --> 00:04:08.569 some abbreviations that I think are abbreviations, 00:04:08.969 --> 00:04:13.500 but I have not really encountered them in my 00:04:13.500 --> 00:04:16.279 recent memory, and I'm thinking in particular 00:04:16.279 --> 00:04:23.420 in line five after the word AGEBAT. So AGEBAT 00:04:23.420 --> 00:04:28.040 is three words into line five, and then the word 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:32.839 following that, I have just struggled with that 00:04:32.839 --> 00:04:38.910 word for Many, many minutes. And overall, I've 00:04:38.910 --> 00:04:41.329 spent a lot of time with this document. I have 00:04:41.329 --> 00:04:45.670 done it justice in terms of putting in the time 00:04:45.670 --> 00:04:48.550 to try to make progress on it. And my only hope 00:04:48.550 --> 00:04:51.709 is that I can come back after a few more months 00:04:51.709 --> 00:04:57.230 and it will be a bit more accessible to me. I'm 00:04:57.230 --> 00:04:59.069 going to share with you what I do know about 00:04:59.069 --> 00:05:04.699 this document. This document is addressed to 00:05:04.699 --> 00:05:14.139 the curiae et vicarii of Lerder. So that is Lerida. 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:24.939 The town in medieval Catalan is Lerida. And in 00:05:24.939 --> 00:05:33.459 today's designation, of modern Catalan, it's 00:05:33.459 --> 00:05:38.779 Lleida. So this town is a really interesting place. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:44.300 It's the location of the oldest university in 00:05:44.300 --> 00:05:49.540 the Crown of Aragon. The University of Lerida, 00:05:49.899 --> 00:05:54.300 or the University of LIeida, was founded in 1300 00:05:54.300 --> 00:05:59.079 and Alas, it didn't have continuous operation 00:05:59.079 --> 00:06:03.079 all the way until this day. I think in the 18th 00:06:03.079 --> 00:06:09.379 century it discontinued operation after a decline 00:06:09.379 --> 00:06:15.379 of some decades, but it has been revived and 00:06:15.379 --> 00:06:19.980 there is currently today a University of LIeida. 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:24.439 In the Middle Ages, in the 14th century, this 00:06:24.439 --> 00:06:29.259 was a very prestigious university for the study 00:06:29.259 --> 00:06:37.540 of law and medicine. And so we're here in this 00:06:37.540 --> 00:06:44.839 university town, and the person who is the first 00:06:44.839 --> 00:06:48.860 subject mentioned in this letter is named Raymundo. 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:52.019 And then there's a last name that's something 00:06:52.019 --> 00:06:58.480 like Spolico, or there might be an R at the end. 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:04.319 It's really hard to make out the end of Raimondo's 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:08.879 surname. And then we have a title, Baccalaureo 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:16.220 in Decretum. And then we have what I think is 00:07:16.220 --> 00:07:25.790 Habitore. So that is a phrase that indicates 00:07:25.790 --> 00:07:30.790 he's a current resident of the city of Lerida. 00:07:32.110 --> 00:07:37.410 He's got a law degree. And I really struggled 00:07:37.410 --> 00:07:42.550 with the paleography for Habitore because I didn't 00:07:42.550 --> 00:07:47.050 want to believe that the scribe was omitting 00:07:47.050 --> 00:07:52.209 the letter B. and that the Macron stood for a 00:07:52.209 --> 00:07:58.069 B. I think that's where I've landed now, but 00:07:58.069 --> 00:08:02.029 I just am so uncomfortable with that because 00:08:02.029 --> 00:08:07.550 it, in my mind, while it's not, like, super unheard 00:08:07.550 --> 00:08:12.069 of, I have encountered the Macron being used 00:08:12.069 --> 00:08:16.500 for a B and other... documents it's it's just 00:08:16.500 --> 00:08:21.819 not common and there's a lot of written out B's 00:08:21.819 --> 00:08:27.379 in other instances in this same document so yeah 00:08:27.379 --> 00:08:30.879 it could just be because saying that someone's 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:33.620 residing in a city is a very common thing to 00:08:33.620 --> 00:08:37.080 note in the Chancery documents and so abbreviation 00:08:37.080 --> 00:08:42.460 is more likely for the more common phrases But, 00:08:42.600 --> 00:08:45.779 goodness gracious, I went back and forth with 00:08:45.779 --> 00:08:49.419 ChatGPT on this to quite an extent. This is one 00:08:49.419 --> 00:08:55.320 of my longest ChatGPT chats, because I was just 00:08:55.320 --> 00:08:57.559 throwing everything at the wall when it came 00:08:57.559 --> 00:09:03.139 to some of the Latin words in this document and 00:09:03.139 --> 00:09:06.059 the paleography, trying to explore, well, could 00:09:06.059 --> 00:09:08.940 it be this word? Could it be that word? And I'm 00:09:08.940 --> 00:09:13.259 still not at the point after several hours working 00:09:13.259 --> 00:09:15.759 with this one. I'm still not at the point where 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:20.019 I can tell you what the problem was. I've got 00:09:20.019 --> 00:09:26.940 the place, I've got a few names, and that's that's 00:09:26.940 --> 00:09:31.779 kind of it. So I would sink more time into this 00:09:31.779 --> 00:09:35.360 if the paleography wasn't so difficult. If I 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:39.539 could be sure of the letter forms, then I would 00:09:39.539 --> 00:09:44.950 have way more easy of a time trying to figure 00:09:44.950 --> 00:09:48.830 out the meaning, but there's so many words that 00:09:48.830 --> 00:09:52.809 I can't pin down. And when we're talking about 00:09:52.809 --> 00:09:55.750 Latin, one thing you have to keep in mind is 00:09:55.750 --> 00:10:02.110 that the ending of the word or some kind of form 00:10:02.110 --> 00:10:05.149 of the word that could be off by just one letter 00:10:05.149 --> 00:10:09.269 can dramatically alter the meaning of the entire 00:10:09.419 --> 00:10:16.100 phrase. So that's why I'm just gonna pause on 00:10:16.100 --> 00:10:21.559 my understanding of this letter and or this document. 00:10:21.620 --> 00:10:23.840 It's probably more of a ruling than a letter. 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:28.399 Let me tell you more about what I do know. There 00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:32.159 are three people mentioned in this letter. Raymundo, 00:10:32.460 --> 00:10:37.000 who I had mentioned earlier. Then further down 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:43.100 on folio 27R is someone whose name includes Arnoldi. 00:10:43.740 --> 00:10:49.580 And then at the beginning line of folio 27V is 00:10:49.580 --> 00:10:56.899 someone named Bernardo. So that's what I got. 00:10:58.059 --> 00:11:03.179 But what I can do is zoom out a bit and learn 00:11:03.179 --> 00:11:10.320 more about the addressee of this letter. Curie 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:22.259 et Vicario of Lérida. So the curie was the small 00:11:22.259 --> 00:11:26.220 court is a phrase that's used by a scholar that 00:11:26.220 --> 00:11:28.639 I've been reading about some of the structures 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:32.809 here. Deborah Boucoyannis has written a really 00:11:32.809 --> 00:11:37.830 interesting book called Kings as Judges, looking 00:11:37.830 --> 00:11:43.269 in more detail at how in various places in the 00:11:43.269 --> 00:11:49.429 Middle Ages, the king's justice was enacted or 00:11:49.429 --> 00:11:54.169 resisted. And chapter eight is all about Catalonia. 00:11:54.629 --> 00:11:57.950 Most of the content of that chapter is about 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:04.259 the political structures in the earlier part 00:12:04.259 --> 00:12:10.080 of the Crown of Aragon, so 13th century and early 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:14.820 14th century, but there's a lot that's still 00:12:14.820 --> 00:12:19.779 applied. I consulted Thomas Bisson's book about 00:12:19.779 --> 00:12:24.539 the history of the Crown of Aragon, and Bisson 00:12:24.539 --> 00:12:27.549 mentions how a lot of these institutions were 00:12:27.549 --> 00:12:31.750 very long -lasting. So the curiae and then the 00:12:31.750 --> 00:12:37.210 vicario here is actually referred to by other 00:12:37.210 --> 00:12:45.769 scholars as the veguer. So the veguer was a representative 00:12:45.769 --> 00:12:51.350 of the nobility, although I'm seeing some moments 00:12:51.350 --> 00:12:56.970 where the king could override or the appointment 00:12:56.970 --> 00:13:02.330 of a particular vaguer. So it's not clear to 00:13:02.330 --> 00:13:06.909 me that it's like an entity the person in that 00:13:06.909 --> 00:13:10.309 office could go against the king necessarily 00:13:10.309 --> 00:13:14.389 or be somebody that the regional noble would 00:13:14.389 --> 00:13:18.450 prefer over who the king prefers. So we have 00:13:18.450 --> 00:13:24.460 some kind of court of justice. The Vicario or 00:13:24.460 --> 00:13:29.240 Veguer is the authority figure. And I think that 00:13:29.240 --> 00:13:32.340 what's going on in this letter is that someone 00:13:32.340 --> 00:13:40.399 has appealed to the king. Or maybe it's a situation 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:46.080 where the topic at hand requires the king's authority 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:50.269 over that of the more local authorities. But 00:13:50.269 --> 00:13:55.809 either way, Joan has entered into whatever dispute 00:13:55.809 --> 00:14:05.190 or situation this was. So that's, I think, all 00:14:05.190 --> 00:14:12.370 I got. I'm going to put onto the webpage for 00:14:12.370 --> 00:14:20.220 this document a few quotes from different sources 00:14:20.220 --> 00:14:24.019 that I've consulted for my understanding of some 00:14:24.019 --> 00:14:31.399 of the judicial structures for the towns within 00:14:31.399 --> 00:14:37.059 the Crown of Aragon. Oh, one more thing I wanted 00:14:37.059 --> 00:14:39.720 to mention here, actually, as I'm looking through 00:14:39.720 --> 00:14:43.799 my notes. Marie Kelleher's book, The Hungry City, 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:49.990 was very helpful in explaining another type of 00:14:49.990 --> 00:14:54.570 official who we see coming up in a lot of the 00:14:54.570 --> 00:15:00.169 documents, the bailiff. So the bailiff was directly 00:15:00.169 --> 00:15:06.009 appointed by the king and had primary responsibilities 00:15:06.009 --> 00:15:11.330 over the financial aspects of governance, so 00:15:11.330 --> 00:15:16.769 taxes and any kind of financial dealings that 00:15:16.769 --> 00:15:21.850 involved. bringing in the authority of the king, 00:15:22.149 --> 00:15:25.070 that would be handled by the bailiff. And then 00:15:25.070 --> 00:15:29.629 the veguer was in charge of the court system 00:15:29.629 --> 00:15:37.750 in that locality and ensuring justice, so police 00:15:37.750 --> 00:15:40.830 kinds of responsibilities, and then also the 00:15:40.830 --> 00:15:44.200 military muster. So that's... a distinction between 00:15:44.200 --> 00:15:49.279 bailiff and veguer that I think is a good one 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:52.220 to keep in mind. And remember, there's no bailiffs 00:15:52.220 --> 00:15:56.500 mentioned in this document here. Pretty sure. 00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:03.139 All right. Well, gosh. Thanks for listening to 00:16:03.139 --> 00:16:06.840 this episode of the Historian's Notebook, season 00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:12.799 one, Molt Cara Companyona. Yeah. If you are leaving 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:16.220 with more questions than you arrived with, like, 00:16:16.340 --> 00:16:20.519 what the heck is this document even about? Well, 00:16:20.740 --> 00:16:27.659 I guess I've done my job. Low bar, low bar. Remember, 00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:32.779 the motto of the historian's notebook is dissatisfaction 00:16:32.779 --> 00:16:36.299 guaranteed. Visit the website to see an image 00:16:36.299 --> 00:16:40.139 of today's document. and if you want to knock 00:16:40.139 --> 00:16:42.700 your head against the wall of some difficult 00:16:42.700 --> 00:16:47.460 paleography, this is one for you. And listen 00:16:47.460 --> 00:16:50.440 again tomorrow to hear about the next day in 00:16:50.440 --> 00:16:54.299 the first year of the reign of King Joan I of 00:16:54.299 --> 00:16:59.139 Aragon and Queen Violant de Bar. In the meantime, 00:16:59.899 --> 00:17:00.360 take care.