WEBVTT 00:00:00.010 --> 00:00:05.389 Hello. In The Crown of Aragon, 639 years ago, 00:00:05.870 --> 00:00:12.710 it was February 16th, 1387. My name is Jonathan 00:00:12.710 --> 00:00:16.269 Seyfried. I'm a PhD candidate in history at the 00:00:16.269 --> 00:00:20.149 University of New Mexico. And this is The Historian's 00:00:20.149 --> 00:00:24.410 Notebook, a podcast about how history gets made. 00:00:25.070 --> 00:00:28.640 Season one is titled Molt Cara Companyona. we're 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:31.379 looking at a document from each day of the first 00:00:31.379 --> 00:00:35.820 year of the reign of King Joan I of Aragon and 00:00:35.820 --> 00:00:39.799 Queen Violant de Bar. Let's begin today's 00:00:39.799 --> 00:01:08.010 document. Well, today's document has a couple 00:01:08.010 --> 00:01:13.549 layers of mystery to it. To be honest, I did 00:01:13.549 --> 00:01:19.349 not expect to see something like this. The topic 00:01:19.349 --> 00:01:24.730 of today's letter is the same as the one from 00:01:24.730 --> 00:01:31.209 February 14th. It's in the Varia register. Just 00:01:31.209 --> 00:01:34.140 a couple... actually wait it's in a different 00:01:34.140 --> 00:01:39.319 Varia register so it's written a couple days 00:01:39.319 --> 00:01:43.079 later but it's put into a different register 00:01:43.079 --> 00:01:52.739 and it's from Violant to the Pope and it's about 00:01:52.739 --> 00:01:59.730 I think that same topic so it's almost like Violant 00:01:59.730 --> 00:02:08.789 is sending a reminder or like a follow -up it 00:02:08.789 --> 00:02:15.250 is really something I didn't expect to see because 00:02:15.250 --> 00:02:20.409 well she would have to understand that the first 00:02:20.409 --> 00:02:24.789 letter couldn't have arrived all that much earlier 00:02:24.789 --> 00:02:29.009 than this second one I really don't think that 00:02:29.009 --> 00:02:33.169 you could deliver a letter from Barcelona to 00:02:33.169 --> 00:02:40.669 Avignon in 24 hours. I am also pretty skeptical 00:02:40.669 --> 00:02:46.349 that it could be done in 48 hours, but maybe 00:02:46.349 --> 00:02:53.189 not. For some reason, Violant is writing a letter 00:02:53.189 --> 00:03:00.960 on the same topic to days later and the language 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:08.180 in this letter is one that has more urgency than 00:03:08.180 --> 00:03:14.159 what we saw in the February 14th letter. So once 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:21.259 again we have the name Petra Serva or something 00:03:21.259 --> 00:03:28.340 like Peter servant in English or maybe Pere Servent 00:03:28.340 --> 00:03:33.379 in Catalan, but I'm not sure. The title associated 00:03:33.379 --> 00:03:43.740 with Petrum or Petra serva is Archidiacone or 00:03:43.740 --> 00:03:53.340 maybe Archidiaconum and then there's a word following 00:03:53.340 --> 00:04:00.180 that which is something like Penitentem. And 00:04:00.180 --> 00:04:06.719 so that's what we know about this Petrum Serva. 00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:12.479 We know that he's an ecclesiastical official 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:19.000 an Archdeacon. We don't know where he's from, 00:04:19.079 --> 00:04:24.810 like what region of the Crown of Aragon. And 00:04:24.810 --> 00:04:28.889 in the previous letter, I thought that a reasonable 00:04:28.889 --> 00:04:34.769 interpretation, based on the not extensive work 00:04:34.769 --> 00:04:39.129 that I did with it, was that he was being supported 00:04:39.129 --> 00:04:44.050 for some kind of ecclesiastical office. But this 00:04:44.050 --> 00:04:48.029 letter really makes it seem like Violant has 00:04:48.029 --> 00:04:55.620 sent him to Avignon. And the reason for that 00:04:55.620 --> 00:05:02.199 is the word that comes after his name and title 00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:08.139 on the fourth line of this letter, which is Commisimus. 00:05:08.620 --> 00:05:15.800 We commission him. And then a little ways down 00:05:15.800 --> 00:05:24.269 in the letter, we have a phrase at the end of 00:05:24.269 --> 00:05:26.470 it's the fourth line from the bottom it starts 00:05:26.470 --> 00:05:39.889 with so there will be an end to some kind of 00:05:39.889 --> 00:05:53.810 debt obtained by the same Petrus or Petrum in 00:05:53.810 --> 00:06:02.129 doing the work of resolving whatever issue and 00:06:02.129 --> 00:06:06.850 so there's these two factors in this letter that 00:06:06.850 --> 00:06:14.389 makes it seem that this Petrus Serva is an emissary 00:06:14.389 --> 00:06:17.990 which I didn't get from the previous letter but 00:06:17.990 --> 00:06:22.490 looking at it again, I see that it's possible. 00:06:23.829 --> 00:06:29.850 So I think that Violant has sent this person 00:06:29.850 --> 00:06:36.209 to Avignon, but then what's mysterious is that 00:06:36.209 --> 00:06:40.250 there's these two letters in such close proximity 00:06:40.250 --> 00:06:46.550 to each other so that we have a kind of... I 00:06:46.550 --> 00:06:48.459 don't even know what to call it. Is it... is 00:06:48.459 --> 00:06:51.759 it like nagging? I mean that's a really kind 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:54.800 of there's a lot of connotations and a lot of 00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:57.959 gendered connotations to that so I don't really 00:06:57.959 --> 00:07:00.079 want to use that word but I'm trying to think 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:06.459 of what is the purpose of sending a follow -up 00:07:06.459 --> 00:07:13.379 letter so soon or maybe this was just how things 00:07:13.379 --> 00:07:18.160 worked that you just had to send follow -up letters 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:21.240 and that would just be a signal that the matter 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:27.120 was an important one? There's just so many questions 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:33.759 in my mind seeing this return to the same topic 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:38.240 after such a short span of time from the previous 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:45.449 letter. So I don't know what is the issue that 00:07:45.449 --> 00:07:51.329 is trying to be resolved here. I hope to find 00:07:51.329 --> 00:07:56.069 out at some point. I did do a little searching 00:07:56.069 --> 00:08:02.110 through a good old ChatGPT for somebody named 00:08:02.110 --> 00:08:08.329 Pere Servent or Petrus Serva. Nothing really seemed 00:08:08.329 --> 00:08:14.439 to come up. So this has opened up quite quite 00:08:14.439 --> 00:08:17.959 a mystery for me, and I'm hoping that I will 00:08:17.959 --> 00:08:21.480 come across some other additional correspondence 00:08:21.480 --> 00:08:27.480 that has to do with this archdeacon, and I'll 00:08:27.480 --> 00:08:32.080 get some kind of clue regarding what this is 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:38.019 about. And while we're on the topic of Violant 00:08:38.019 --> 00:08:43.120 writing to the Pope, the Avignon Pope, where 00:08:43.450 --> 00:08:46.169 This is taking place during the Great Western 00:08:46.169 --> 00:08:51.610 Schism, where there's a pope in Rome, Urban VI, 00:08:51.669 --> 00:08:55.769 then there's a pope in Avignon, Clement VII. 00:08:56.669 --> 00:09:03.190 I just want to draw attention to what I have 00:09:03.190 --> 00:09:08.269 seen about the way that Violant considers the 00:09:08.269 --> 00:09:13.139 pope within the larger scheme of her projects 00:09:13.139 --> 00:09:20.919 and her rulership. The papal court in Avignon 00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:28.720 is yes a religious center, but almost more importantly 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:36.320 it's a diplomatic center. So there are so many 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:41.759 instances of conflict resolution or conflict 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:45.740 intensification that take place in the Papal 00:09:45.740 --> 00:09:49.279 Court at Avignon. It's also a cultural center 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:52.799 where there's troubadour performances regularly. 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:57.980 There's a lot of manuscripts constantly being 00:09:57.980 --> 00:10:04.019 added into the library in the Papal Court of 00:10:04.019 --> 00:10:10.539 Avignon. So this is a place where people of high 00:10:10.539 --> 00:10:16.460 power send emissaries they themselves might visit. 00:10:17.139 --> 00:10:20.600 I'm thinking in particular of an episode with 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:25.740 Joanna of Naples who is in Avignon and in the 00:10:25.740 --> 00:10:30.960 midst of tense conflict over her own rulership 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:39.620 of Naples. The papal court in Avignon where big 00:10:39.620 --> 00:10:47.919 deals get done and in particular marriage negotiations. 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:53.340 So what's going to be coming up in a few episodes 00:10:53.340 --> 00:10:56.419 from now and then in others throughout the year 00:10:56.419 --> 00:11:03.120 is that Joan and Violant are working to arrange 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:09.000 a marriage for their oldest child, who historically 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:13.379 is known as Yolande of Aragon. So named after 00:11:13.379 --> 00:11:19.039 Violant. Yolande of Aragon eventually does marry 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:24.620 Louis II of Anjou, but that is a long process. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:29.799 The marriage negotiations, they take at least 00:11:29.799 --> 00:11:36.790 a year, and they're carried out in Avignon. And 00:11:36.790 --> 00:11:43.629 it's not Petra Serva who comes up in those negotiations. 00:11:43.850 --> 00:11:48.250 It's somebody else. A Genoese fellow named Lucchino 00:11:48.250 --> 00:11:51.690 Scarampi. There will be a lot more about him 00:11:51.690 --> 00:11:54.110 coming up. I think I might have mentioned him 00:11:54.110 --> 00:11:59.149 once already. But I wanted to mention that these 00:11:59.149 --> 00:12:04.970 marriage negotiations are high level, diplomatic, 00:12:05.879 --> 00:12:11.480 encounters and endeavors that the papal court 00:12:11.480 --> 00:12:18.039 in Avignon is the venue in which that plays out 00:12:18.039 --> 00:12:24.139 and that it is extremely important work. So in 00:12:24.139 --> 00:12:27.279 our time we might think, oh why, you know, you 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:29.120 just kind of decide to get married, you figure 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:32.289 it out, you know, you just pair them up. but 00:12:32.289 --> 00:12:35.049 actually these are intense negotiations that 00:12:35.049 --> 00:12:39.250 have all these additional stipulations and territorial 00:12:39.250 --> 00:12:46.190 exchanges and money for dowry and all kinds of 00:12:46.190 --> 00:12:50.450 deal making gets packed into this marriage negotiation 00:12:50.450 --> 00:12:57.009 the marriage is more of like the title of the 00:12:57.009 --> 00:13:01.590 bill and then the bill like in like congress 00:13:01.590 --> 00:13:04.350 or something like it's packed with all these 00:13:04.350 --> 00:13:09.190 other provisions and these provisions are all 00:13:09.190 --> 00:13:15.370 up for negotiation so the marriage negotiation 00:13:15.370 --> 00:13:19.649 is a big big deal i don't see anything in here 00:13:19.649 --> 00:13:25.100 about Petrus Serva in today's letter being involved 00:13:25.100 --> 00:13:28.779 in the marriage negotiation that is about to 00:13:28.779 --> 00:13:34.659 be initiated by Joan and Violant in Avignon. 00:13:35.100 --> 00:13:38.620 I don't know if he's involved or not. He could 00:13:38.620 --> 00:13:41.820 be an emissary for a completely different matter, 00:13:41.820 --> 00:13:46.799 but the important thing to keep in mind when 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:50.259 we're seeing Violant writing to the Pope is 00:13:50.259 --> 00:13:59.240 that she is writing to a nerve center of international 00:13:59.240 --> 00:14:09.679 diplomacy and she is asking for the intercession 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:14.340 or participation of one of the biggest power 00:14:14.340 --> 00:14:19.679 players that you could possibly have. in the 00:14:19.679 --> 00:14:23.320 constellation of power elites in western Europe 00:14:23.320 --> 00:14:27.740 at this time i mean i would put the Duc de Berry 00:14:27.740 --> 00:14:32.179 as like in the top five i would put the Avignon 00:14:32.179 --> 00:14:37.019 Pope Clement the seventh in the top five i would 00:14:37.019 --> 00:14:40.840 probably put Joan and Violant in the top five 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:47.399 actually and so there's this sense that I'm getting 00:14:47.399 --> 00:14:50.960 that when we see Violant writing to the Pope 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:55.620 like every day and writing a letter like this, 00:14:55.659 --> 00:15:00.600 which is like a very quick follow -up. I mean, 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:04.539 the earlier letter in this one might have been 00:15:04.539 --> 00:15:08.019 delivered to the Pope's hands at the same time. 00:15:09.019 --> 00:15:13.360 When I see this happening, I'm thinking that 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:20.679 what is being represented here is that Violant, 00:15:20.940 --> 00:15:24.799 of course, feels very comfortable writing to 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:30.419 the pope about all kinds of stuff. Yes, the letter 00:15:30.419 --> 00:15:34.840 includes the typical language of we, you know, 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:39.299 are requesting your help. We are humbly humiliter. 00:15:39.419 --> 00:15:42.379 We are humbly requesting your attention to this, 00:15:42.539 --> 00:15:48.659 but those words are completely drowned out by 00:15:48.659 --> 00:15:53.740 the volume and then just also this kind of immediate 00:15:53.740 --> 00:15:57.120 following up kind of behavior that we're seeing 00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:02.139 from Violant. I get the sense that Violant 00:16:02.139 --> 00:16:08.820 expects the Pope to be acting in accordance with 00:16:08.820 --> 00:16:12.399 the allegiance with the kind of partnership that 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:17.980 the Crown of Aragon has established with the 00:16:17.980 --> 00:16:21.980 Avignon Papacy at the time of a very troublesome 00:16:21.980 --> 00:16:25.360 schism. The Crown of Aragon has thrown its weight 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:30.659 as as Joan has ascended to the throne. The neutrality 00:16:30.659 --> 00:16:35.750 that Père the Ceremonious had has been put into 00:16:35.750 --> 00:16:39.710 the past, and now the Crown of Aragon is firmly 00:16:39.710 --> 00:16:44.710 behind the Avignon Papacy, and I think Violant 00:16:44.710 --> 00:16:50.730 knows that that was a heavy move, and so I get 00:16:50.730 --> 00:16:53.769 the sense, and maybe I'm wrong, and I could find 00:16:53.769 --> 00:16:56.289 out later things, maybe Violant is intimidated 00:16:56.289 --> 00:16:58.769 writing to the Pope, but I kind of get the sense 00:16:58.769 --> 00:17:02.169 that Violant is not intimidated at all in writing 00:17:02.169 --> 00:17:07.880 to the Pope, and that she has expectations of 00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:14.440 partnership and maybe even expectations of compliance 00:17:14.440 --> 00:17:18.539 from the Pope. So that might be taking it a little 00:17:18.539 --> 00:17:21.980 bit too far, but I just wanted to riff for a 00:17:21.980 --> 00:17:28.359 little while on the possible attitude that Violant 00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:33.380 displays toward the Avignon Pope because to 00:17:33.380 --> 00:17:36.559 me this letter raises some really interesting 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:40.200 possibilities about that and how Violant sees 00:17:40.200 --> 00:17:45.380 her own status in relation to one of the most 00:17:45.380 --> 00:17:48.579 powerful figures in Western Europe at this time. 00:17:49.700 --> 00:17:53.799 We'll keep track of how Violant corresponds 00:17:53.799 --> 00:17:57.599 with the Pope because there's no shortage of 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:03.160 letters from Violant to Pope Clement VII. Alright, 00:18:03.220 --> 00:18:07.640 thanks for listening to this episode of the Historian's 00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:12.819 Notebook, Season 1, Molt Cara Companyona. If you 00:18:12.819 --> 00:18:14.940 are leaving with more questions than you arrived 00:18:14.940 --> 00:18:19.059 with, I have done my job, because remember, the 00:18:19.059 --> 00:18:23.299 motto of the Historian's Notebook is dissatisfaction 00:18:23.299 --> 00:18:27.259 guaranteed. If you're feeling satisfied completely 00:18:27.259 --> 00:18:30.700 by any history that you are reading, you're probably 00:18:30.700 --> 00:18:35.400 reading some bad history. Good history, accurate 00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:40.640 history, always raises more questions and leaves 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:48.140 you dissatisfied. Visit tomorrow. Oh, visit tomorrow. 00:18:49.420 --> 00:18:50.960 Should I delete that? No, I'm just going to keep 00:18:50.960 --> 00:18:53.299 it. Visit tomorrow. Let's all visit tomorrow. 00:18:53.420 --> 00:18:56.140 I like that. In a show about the past, we'll 00:18:56.140 --> 00:19:00.859 visit tomorrow. I think Maybe more reasonably, 00:19:01.640 --> 00:19:04.700 you should visit the website to see an image 00:19:04.700 --> 00:19:08.059 of today's document and additional show notes, 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:11.319 and listen again tomorrow to hear about the next 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:14.920 day in the first year of the reign of King Joan 00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:20.019 I of Aragon and Queen Violant de Bar. In the 00:19:20.019 --> 00:19:21.740 meantime, take care.