WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.919 Hello! In The Crown of Aragon, 639 years ago, 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:13.460 it was February 13, 1387. My name is Jonathan 00:00:13.460 --> 00:00:17.059 Seyfried. I'm a PhD candidate in history at the 00:00:17.059 --> 00:00:21.379 University of New Mexico. And this is The Historian's 00:00:21.379 --> 00:00:25.640 Notebook, a podcast about how history gets made. 00:00:26.219 --> 00:00:30.399 Season 1 is titled Molt Cara Companyona. We're 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:33.420 looking at a document from each day of the first 00:00:33.420 --> 00:00:37.520 year of the reign of King Joan I of Aragon and 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:41.799 Queen Violant de Bar. Let's begin today's 00:00:41.799 --> 00:01:10.700 document. Today's document is in a register labeled 00:01:10.700 --> 00:01:17.180 Varia, and it's one of Violant's registers. 00:01:18.659 --> 00:01:26.879 The actual dating and seal line for this letter 00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:33.879 says that it's recorded in the secret seal Acostumat. 00:01:36.960 --> 00:01:39.879 And I'm trying to figure out what the meaning 00:01:39.879 --> 00:01:45.219 of acostumat is in that phrase, but here we've 00:01:45.219 --> 00:01:49.239 got a register called varia, and inside it we 00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:52.799 have something that's labeled secret seal, so 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:57.420 we're clearly still in some kind of organizational 00:01:57.420 --> 00:02:02.099 period for the Chancery staff and I've also seen 00:02:02.099 --> 00:02:04.659 other registers where things are kind of mixed 00:02:04.659 --> 00:02:08.419 up in terms of dates and so just wanted to point 00:02:08.419 --> 00:02:12.379 that out so we can keep track of what is going 00:02:12.379 --> 00:02:15.080 into what register and maybe by the end of this 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:20.560 process figure something out about what the organizational 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:25.219 challenges were for the Chancery staff. The sender 00:02:25.219 --> 00:02:29.199 of this letter is, of course, Violant. And the 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:36.000 recipient is named Aznardo Pardo. And Aznardo 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:43.879 Pardo is a vice governor for the city of Valencia. 00:02:44.759 --> 00:02:49.270 The first line of the letter is about how 00:02:49.270 --> 00:02:54.930 Aznardo Pardo has received supplies and orders 00:02:54.930 --> 00:02:59.770 and how he should know what he's supposed to 00:02:59.770 --> 00:03:03.990 do. And then Violant goes on to say what you're 00:03:03.990 --> 00:03:10.150 supposed to do is apprehend a certain person 00:03:10.150 --> 00:03:15.939 named Bernger de Vilaragut. and that person apparently 00:03:15.939 --> 00:03:19.939 has followers because in the fourth line from 00:03:19.939 --> 00:03:31.020 the bottom the line starts and his followers 00:03:31.020 --> 00:03:36.080 are adherent so there's something happening in 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:42.539 valencia and it has to do with some person who 00:03:42.539 --> 00:03:46.819 needs to be apprehended named Berengar de Vilaragut. 00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:53.599 The last name Vilaragut has a lot of cachet in 00:03:53.599 --> 00:03:57.000 the Crown of Aragon in the late 14th century. 00:03:57.710 --> 00:04:01.349 I was initially thinking that this particular 00:04:01.349 --> 00:04:06.650 person might be closely related to somebody who 00:04:06.650 --> 00:04:13.969 had been a lady in waiting for Violant. Carroca 00:04:13.969 --> 00:04:19.110 de Vilaragut. And Carroca de Vilaragut was at the 00:04:19.110 --> 00:04:23.050 center of some kind of controversy and used as 00:04:23.050 --> 00:04:29.149 a pawn for Sibilla de Fortia, Violant's stepmother 00:04:29.149 --> 00:04:33.089 -in -law, the queen at the time, to try to get 00:04:33.089 --> 00:04:38.720 at violante by making accusations against this 00:04:38.720 --> 00:04:42.040 lady -in -waiting. I did a little research about 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:47.500 Berenguer de Vilaragut in Valencia, and yes 00:04:47.500 --> 00:04:51.720 there is some kind of familial connection there, 00:04:51.939 --> 00:04:56.230 but it's sort of distant. So I don't I think 00:04:56.230 --> 00:05:00.550 that this is connected to that controversy from 00:05:00.550 --> 00:05:04.689 earlier in the 1380s. I think this is something 00:05:04.689 --> 00:05:10.029 kind of fresh and on its own. And what I did 00:05:10.029 --> 00:05:14.670 find was a really interesting article by a scholar 00:05:14.670 --> 00:05:20.430 named Paz Lloret. And in that article, there's 00:05:20.430 --> 00:05:25.310 a really good explanation of not only Berenguer 00:05:25.310 --> 00:05:30.689 de Vilaragut, but also the Vilaragut family in 00:05:30.689 --> 00:05:35.889 Valencia. And it turns out that they were leading 00:05:35.889 --> 00:05:40.110 some kind of feudal disagreement. And I really 00:05:40.110 --> 00:05:43.509 am using the word feudal in the sense of it's 00:05:43.509 --> 00:05:47.769 a feud. There's like two families that are feuding. 00:05:48.220 --> 00:05:53.399 so almost like in the Wild West sense of the 00:05:53.399 --> 00:06:00.980 term versus the feudalism thing that is talked 00:06:00.980 --> 00:06:05.560 about with medieval economics so there's a feud 00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:09.959 that is broken out in Valencia and as I was reading 00:06:09.959 --> 00:06:16.899 this article about it I was really Happily surprised 00:06:16.899 --> 00:06:22.860 to see the name of James the Bishop of Valencia 00:06:22.860 --> 00:06:28.360 coming up. It turns out that James the Bishop 00:06:28.360 --> 00:06:34.339 of Valencia was a leader in the opposing party 00:06:34.339 --> 00:06:42.839 to that of Berenger. the person who Violant is 00:06:42.839 --> 00:06:46.439 in this letter saying that the governor should 00:06:46.439 --> 00:06:50.180 apprehend and also provide a list of the names 00:06:50.180 --> 00:06:56.879 of his followers. So here we've got this really 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:02.139 interesting connection between Joan's document 00:07:02.139 --> 00:07:08.439 yesterday and Violant's document today. I think 00:07:08.439 --> 00:07:13.639 that Joan's push to get James the Bishop of 00:07:13.639 --> 00:07:18.660 Valencia, his first cousin once removed, to become 00:07:18.660 --> 00:07:26.439 a cardinal is connected to this feuding conflict 00:07:26.439 --> 00:07:31.860 that has broken out in Valencia. I'm not exactly 00:07:31.860 --> 00:07:35.459 sure what the connection is, but it seems to 00:07:35.459 --> 00:07:40.920 me a pretty good inference to say that if James 00:07:40.920 --> 00:07:45.060 the Bishop of Valencia becomes a cardinal and 00:07:45.060 --> 00:07:49.180 has that increased stature and probably some 00:07:49.180 --> 00:07:53.160 increased resources as a result of that from 00:07:53.160 --> 00:07:58.660 the Avignon Papacy, then he's going to have an 00:07:58.660 --> 00:08:03.759 advantage. an additional advantage in the struggle 00:08:03.759 --> 00:08:08.740 that is taking place in Valencia. I might have 00:08:08.740 --> 00:08:13.240 been reading this wrong in the article by Paz 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:19.100 Lloret, but it seems like the original feud broke 00:08:19.100 --> 00:08:23.980 out because of disagreements that emerged from 00:08:23.980 --> 00:08:30.449 a construction project. there was like road construction 00:08:30.449 --> 00:08:34.809 or something and the two families got really 00:08:34.809 --> 00:08:38.070 angry like it seems like something really spiraled 00:08:38.070 --> 00:08:41.669 out of control there or maybe I'm just misreading 00:08:41.669 --> 00:08:44.769 it and my Catalan isn't so good. Oh, except this 00:08:44.769 --> 00:08:50.370 is an article in Spanish, so... I don't know. 00:08:50.710 --> 00:08:55.750 So anyway, that's what I got for you about the 00:08:55.750 --> 00:08:59.730 source of the feud in Valencia. But in any event, 00:09:00.149 --> 00:09:04.509 the main point here for my purposes is that here, 00:09:04.669 --> 00:09:08.570 I think we've got like Valencia Day happening 00:09:08.570 --> 00:09:15.210 in the work agenda of Violent and Joan, because 00:09:15.210 --> 00:09:23.259 we've got Joan writing this intercessionary letter 00:09:23.259 --> 00:09:27.840 to help James, Bishop of Valencia, become Cardinal. 00:09:28.179 --> 00:09:33.679 And then we've got Violant sending a letter 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:37.559 to the governor or vice -governor in Valencia 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:40.960 saying, hey, you were supposed to have apprehended 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:46.679 Berenguer de Vilaragut, an enemy. of James, 00:09:47.100 --> 00:09:48.740 Bishop of Valencia. You were supposed to have 00:09:48.740 --> 00:09:53.080 apprehended him by now. What's going on? And 00:09:53.080 --> 00:09:56.220 then at the end of the letter, Violante adds 00:09:56.220 --> 00:09:59.720 a little as if as if it wasn't already obvious. 00:10:00.120 --> 00:10:03.659 If you don't do this, then the king and I are 00:10:03.659 --> 00:10:09.700 going to be molt desplaer. So I'm going to be 00:10:09.700 --> 00:10:14.649 very unhappy. All right. Of course. Of course, 00:10:15.009 --> 00:10:20.389 there's questions to ask about this. How is it 00:10:20.389 --> 00:10:27.309 that Violant is the one that is in charge of 00:10:27.309 --> 00:10:31.809 following up with the governor, vice governor, 00:10:32.330 --> 00:10:37.190 of Valencia about the apprehension of Berenguer 00:10:37.190 --> 00:10:43.129 de Vilaragut? Why is this in her portfolio? 00:10:44.039 --> 00:10:48.840 That is something that I don't at this point 00:10:48.840 --> 00:10:52.279 have a good guess about, because it doesn't seem 00:10:52.279 --> 00:10:57.000 to me like Violant is in charge of the criminal 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:03.419 justice goings -on in Valencia. Perhaps Joan 00:11:03.419 --> 00:11:06.100 is also going to be writing to some government 00:11:06.100 --> 00:11:12.059 officials in Valencia in order to further the 00:11:12.059 --> 00:11:15.549 struggle against... Berenguer de Vilaragut, 00:11:16.970 --> 00:11:21.049 and implicitly, then, to help James Bishop of 00:11:21.049 --> 00:11:26.730 Valencia, royal family member. Well, it's just 00:11:26.730 --> 00:11:30.669 difficult for me to figure out where Violant's 00:11:30.669 --> 00:11:36.669 portfolio relationship is here, because it seems 00:11:36.669 --> 00:11:41.149 to me like something Joan could have done too, 00:11:41.490 --> 00:11:45.840 and I'm not... noticing at this point why it's 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:51.299 Violant who is the one getting involved. But 00:11:51.299 --> 00:11:54.860 that's one of the things I hope to figure out 00:11:54.860 --> 00:11:59.879 as we continue on with this project. I also really 00:11:59.879 --> 00:12:08.850 want to know more about whether this was a very 00:12:08.850 --> 00:12:13.289 threatening situation in Valencia, or if it was 00:12:13.289 --> 00:12:18.190 just sort of like run -of -the -mill factional 00:12:18.190 --> 00:12:23.269 conflict? Like, was this in danger of really 00:12:23.269 --> 00:12:28.730 destabilizing this particular territory within 00:12:28.730 --> 00:12:33.629 the Crown of Aragon? And there's also a lot of 00:12:33.629 --> 00:12:38.460 questions about the status of Valencia. as a 00:12:38.460 --> 00:12:43.840 territory in the Crown of Aragon. And one thing 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:48.340 to keep in mind is that Valencia is still referred 00:12:48.340 --> 00:12:53.679 to as the Kingdom of Valencia, even though it 00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:59.000 doesn't have a separate king. The king of the 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:04.700 Kingdom of Valencia is, this time, Joan. So 00:13:04.700 --> 00:13:08.080 even though it's called like in the second line 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:15.620 of this letter, Regne de Valencia, it's not an 00:13:15.620 --> 00:13:19.879 entity, a polity that has a separate king or 00:13:19.879 --> 00:13:27.039 queen. The rule, the whatever kind of way you 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:32.779 want to say it, the kingship of Valencia, it 00:13:32.779 --> 00:13:35.919 used to be separate. But then it was conquered 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:39.580 by the Crown of Aragon, and it's been kind of 00:13:39.580 --> 00:13:43.340 like another crown that the King of the Crown 00:13:43.340 --> 00:13:47.539 of Aragon wears. And a pretty important one, 00:13:47.539 --> 00:13:53.960 too. All right. Well, I think that there's definitely 00:13:53.960 --> 00:13:58.980 more questions to ask about this, like how many 00:13:58.980 --> 00:14:02.879 reminders has Aznardo Pardo gotten before this 00:14:02.879 --> 00:14:06.799 one? And will there be more in the future? Is 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:13.000 Aznardo Pardo a competent vice governor? Or is 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:16.820 this somebody that cannot really be counted on? 00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:22.279 I'm curious about that. I think that does it 00:14:22.279 --> 00:14:25.220 for today's episode. Thanks for listening to 00:14:25.220 --> 00:14:28.100 this installment of the Historian's Notebook, 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:32.370 Season 1, Molt Cara Companyona. If you are leaving 00:14:32.370 --> 00:14:35.049 with more questions than you arrived with, I 00:14:35.049 --> 00:14:38.830 have done my job because, remember, the motto 00:14:38.830 --> 00:14:42.389 of the Historian's Notebook is dissatisfaction 00:14:42.389 --> 00:14:46.409 guaranteed. Visit the website to see an image 00:14:46.409 --> 00:14:49.870 of today's document and additional show notes, 00:14:50.549 --> 00:14:54.090 and listen again tomorrow to hear about the next 00:14:54.090 --> 00:14:57.950 day in the first year of the reign of King Joan 00:14:57.950 --> 00:15:03.429 I of Aragon. and Queen Violant de Bar. In 00:15:03.429 --> 00:15:05.169 the meantime, take care.