WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.980 Hello. In The Crown of Aragon, 639 years ago, 00:00:05.500 --> 00:00:11.939 it was March 7th, 1387. My name is Jonathan Seyfried. 00:00:12.339 --> 00:00:15.560 I'm a PhD candidate in history at the University 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:19.239 of New Mexico. And this is The Historian's Notebook, 00:00:19.699 --> 00:00:24.120 a podcast about how history gets made. Season 00:00:24.120 --> 00:00:28.140 one is titled Molt Cara Companyona. We're looking 00:00:28.140 --> 00:00:30.780 at a document from each day of the first year 00:00:30.780 --> 00:00:35.219 of the reign of King Joan I of Aragon and Queen 00:00:35.219 --> 00:00:39.479 Violant de Bar. Let's begin today's document. 00:01:03.079 --> 00:01:07.780 Today's document is really kind of hilarious. 00:01:08.519 --> 00:01:13.420 So you've noticed that what we really do on this 00:01:13.420 --> 00:01:17.959 podcast is we look at letters attributed to Joan 00:01:17.959 --> 00:01:22.879 or attributed to Violant. My original idea for 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:25.439 the podcast was that sometimes I'd be able to 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:29.200 work in letters from other people, like we have 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:33.430 registers of letters from Marti. or Maria de 00:01:33.430 --> 00:01:37.390 Luna. So that's really kind of difficult to do 00:01:37.390 --> 00:01:40.890 because just navigating these registers and finding 00:01:40.890 --> 00:01:44.510 letters takes a whole lot of time. But occasionally 00:01:44.510 --> 00:01:47.370 I'll come across something in the secondary literature 00:01:47.370 --> 00:01:53.670 that I feel would be a great addition to the 00:01:53.670 --> 00:01:57.750 Joan and Violant authorship that dominates 00:01:57.750 --> 00:02:01.530 the podcast. And actually this one It wasn't 00:02:01.530 --> 00:02:03.829 really all that hard to find because it's right 00:02:03.829 --> 00:02:08.830 on the next page of register 1751 after what 00:02:08.830 --> 00:02:12.069 we were looking at yesterday. But I came across 00:02:12.069 --> 00:02:15.189 it before I was going through this register for 00:02:15.189 --> 00:02:21.050 the purposes of yesterday's podcast. It was written 00:02:21.050 --> 00:02:25.090 about in an article by the scholar Jaume Riera 00:02:25.090 --> 00:02:32.639 i Sans in a 1987 article about Joan and Violant's 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:37.400 first son, Jaume, coincidentally the same name 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:41.680 as the scholar who was writing that piece. So 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:46.180 Jaume has been mentioned before on the podcast. 00:02:46.740 --> 00:02:52.139 He was designated the Dauphin in early January, 00:02:52.139 --> 00:02:58.080 and this was a move that a lot of critics of 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:02.800 Joan and Violant saw as a bridge too far in 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:07.620 terms of the importation of French customs into 00:03:07.620 --> 00:03:11.580 the crown of Aragon. But for Joan, there was 00:03:11.580 --> 00:03:14.300 no bridge too far when it came to the importation 00:03:14.300 --> 00:03:17.979 of French customs. He loved French culture so 00:03:17.979 --> 00:03:20.979 much, and the more that he could bring in, the 00:03:20.979 --> 00:03:25.599 better. And so he designate, he and Violent designated 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:30.439 Jaume officially as the Dauphin. So it's a French 00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:36.620 term for the first in line to the throne. And 00:03:36.620 --> 00:03:41.759 Jaume the Dauphin is in the beginning of 1387. 00:03:42.539 --> 00:03:47.039 He's three years old, and he's about to turn 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:52.639 four at the time of this letter that we're going 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:56.960 to look at today. His birthday is March 23rd. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:03.280 1384 oh that would mean that he's actually turning 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:09.340 uh three so yeah problem with counting there 00:04:09.340 --> 00:04:15.520 he's about to turn three and and so uh what do 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:19.279 you do if you've got you know a near three -year 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:23.839 -old child and you're you're just starting out 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:28.990 your reign and you're establishing some groundwork 00:04:28.990 --> 00:04:34.050 with the Avignon Pope in that nerve center of 00:04:34.050 --> 00:04:40.290 diplomacy and reaching out to try to lay groundwork 00:04:40.290 --> 00:04:43.310 for how you're going to relate to this extremely 00:04:43.310 --> 00:04:47.129 powerful authority who has control over so much 00:04:47.129 --> 00:04:52.339 property and so much power in your realm through 00:04:52.339 --> 00:04:56.339 all of the ecclesiastical positions, what are 00:04:56.339 --> 00:04:59.879 you going to do? Well, I don't know if you thought 00:04:59.879 --> 00:05:03.319 of this already, but Joan and Violant had 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:08.540 kind of a fun idea. They decided that they would 00:05:08.540 --> 00:05:15.980 compose a letter in the voice of their three 00:05:15.980 --> 00:05:20.750 -year -old. in the voice of their three -year 00:05:20.750 --> 00:05:27.889 -old son to the pope and the letter itself is 00:05:27.889 --> 00:05:35.589 a hoot because what's so funny is that the scribe 00:05:35.589 --> 00:05:40.810 writing in latin okay latin is so hard like oh 00:05:40.810 --> 00:05:44.310 my gosh like what three -year -old would be able 00:05:44.310 --> 00:05:51.370 to write in latin definite genius So the scribe 00:05:51.370 --> 00:05:55.750 is self -consciously playing with this whole 00:05:55.750 --> 00:06:00.329 thing. And the letter, it starts out with this 00:06:00.329 --> 00:06:03.709 statement, which is quite funny, I think, in 00:06:03.709 --> 00:06:08.829 which he's saying, even though, so in the voice 00:06:08.829 --> 00:06:12.350 of Jaume. So, okay, so I have a translation 00:06:12.350 --> 00:06:14.990 here. Hold on, hold on just a second and bring 00:06:14.990 --> 00:06:19.240 it up. Here's how and I got this translation 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:21.579 from Claude by the way, I think did a pretty 00:06:21.579 --> 00:06:25.040 good job It's provisional. All right, but even 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:27.019 if we just get a general sense here and there 00:06:27.019 --> 00:06:30.959 are some certain mistakes we we can follow along 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:35.420 with the Latin especially because There's a certain 00:06:35.420 --> 00:06:38.459 really really fun moment in the letter right 00:06:38.459 --> 00:06:41.819 at the beginning so the letter translated into 00:06:41.819 --> 00:06:49.399 English goes most blessed and most Clement father. 00:06:50.420 --> 00:06:55.300 Although we are constituted in tender years and 00:06:55.300 --> 00:07:00.480 innocence, such that we can scarcely utter A 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:05.860 -A -A, the artless babbling words of infancy, 00:07:06.750 --> 00:07:10.870 Nevertheless, among certain other little ones, 00:07:11.269 --> 00:07:14.569 even if older than us in age, there are those 00:07:14.569 --> 00:07:17.990 whom we hold dear and who had been attentive 00:07:17.990 --> 00:07:22.050 to us while we were formerly wailing in our cradle 00:07:22.050 --> 00:07:26.189 and afterward. And therefore we humbly supplicate 00:07:26.189 --> 00:07:30.189 your apostolic holiness that you deign to kindly 00:07:30.189 --> 00:07:35.750 admit and mercifully grant the small list enclosed 00:07:35.750 --> 00:07:39.790 with the present letter which we offer to your 00:07:39.790 --> 00:07:43.410 same holiness in favor of the aforesaid persons 00:07:43.410 --> 00:07:46.569 blah blah blah blah blah and then what comes 00:07:46.569 --> 00:07:55.829 is this weird request to um make it so that the 00:07:55.829 --> 00:08:02.779 particular privilege of uh who can get into the 00:08:02.779 --> 00:08:07.040 canonry in Girona like who can who can become 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:11.259 an ecclesiastical official that it can only be 00:08:11.259 --> 00:08:16.100 for nobility like that's that's Jaume's request 00:08:16.100 --> 00:08:20.819 to the pope and the way that this letter ends 00:08:20.819 --> 00:08:25.139 after all of this is requested is kind of cute 00:08:25.139 --> 00:08:32.740 so on folio 23r There's the probata in which 00:08:32.740 --> 00:08:40.100 we have the scribe, Pere de Beniure, who's Joann's 00:08:40.100 --> 00:08:43.700 scribe for most of this register, taking credit 00:08:43.700 --> 00:08:50.960 for the work of writing this. But, you know, 00:08:51.220 --> 00:08:55.340 he's got the usual mandavit mihi saying this 00:08:55.340 --> 00:09:00.990 was commanded to me, but the people listed above 00:09:00.990 --> 00:09:07.070 that line on the probata Dominus Rex et Domina 00:09:07.070 --> 00:09:11.210 Regina. So what's happened here is that we have 00:09:11.210 --> 00:09:16.549 another moment where Joan and Violant are 00:09:16.549 --> 00:09:22.429 unified in voice, and now they're speaking through 00:09:22.429 --> 00:09:29.690 two other people. They are instructing the scribe 00:09:29.690 --> 00:09:35.909 Pere de Beniure to hold their words, the words 00:09:35.909 --> 00:09:41.149 that they're saying, but the words are in the 00:09:41.149 --> 00:09:49.029 voice of their son, Jaume. So the scribe probably 00:09:49.029 --> 00:09:53.309 responsible for some of the artistic and creative 00:09:53.309 --> 00:09:57.929 flourishes in this letter, but I would say that 00:09:57.929 --> 00:10:02.429 also Joan and Violant are sharing in some 00:10:02.429 --> 00:10:08.029 of the creative process here that led to a Latin 00:10:08.029 --> 00:10:14.110 letter written to the Pope in the voice of the 00:10:14.110 --> 00:10:18.789 young three -year -old Prince Jaume the Dauphin. 00:10:19.450 --> 00:10:25.429 So I just think that, you know, it's clear that 00:10:25.429 --> 00:10:30.049 when Jaume Riera i Sans, the scholar who wrote 00:10:30.049 --> 00:10:34.350 this article about Jaume, and he kind of notes 00:10:34.350 --> 00:10:40.789 that this is a kind of fun little thing, and 00:10:40.789 --> 00:10:46.039 it's cute, and that we should look at this and 00:10:46.039 --> 00:10:49.159 think about how Joan and Violant had a sense 00:10:49.159 --> 00:10:54.740 of humor about them. Claude, in its analysis 00:10:54.740 --> 00:10:57.740 of this letter, came up with another angle on 00:10:57.740 --> 00:11:00.379 it, which I think is a really interesting one, 00:11:00.740 --> 00:11:04.659 that if you send a request in this cute way, 00:11:05.179 --> 00:11:10.200 it makes it so that if the Avignon Pope, Clement 00:11:10.200 --> 00:11:16.690 VII, denies it, then he looks like he's a total 00:11:16.690 --> 00:11:21.429 curmudgeon like of course the pope knows that 00:11:21.429 --> 00:11:24.929 the three -year -old did not actually write this 00:11:24.929 --> 00:11:27.350 letter and that the three -year -old will have 00:11:27.350 --> 00:11:33.710 no idea that the pope has ruled against him but 00:11:33.710 --> 00:11:38.990 still he's rejecting this game if he were to 00:11:38.990 --> 00:11:44.200 deny the request that the sort of persona of 00:11:44.200 --> 00:11:48.759 Jaume is making. So the pope is in a position 00:11:48.759 --> 00:11:54.179 of looking like kind of a curmudgeonly grumpster 00:11:54.179 --> 00:11:58.620 if he says no. And so it's a bit of a manipulation 00:11:58.620 --> 00:12:04.980 to do this, to connect some kind of random request 00:12:04.980 --> 00:12:09.980 about who gets to be in the ecclesiastical postings 00:12:09.980 --> 00:12:18.200 in Girona to this voice of a child. So it's manipulative. 00:12:18.679 --> 00:12:22.600 It's cute. It's got a sense of humor. It's got 00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:27.860 an edge. It's just got this cleverness that I 00:12:27.860 --> 00:12:33.279 think speaks a whole lot to the way that Joan 00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:37.059 and Violant could work together. Because if 00:12:37.059 --> 00:12:40.799 you are not getting along together as a king 00:12:40.799 --> 00:12:45.480 and queen, if your marriage is just a formality 00:12:45.480 --> 00:12:48.700 and you don't really like each other, is this 00:12:48.700 --> 00:12:51.519 the kind of thing that you would be able to produce? 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:57.169 Okay. Maybe, maybe, but probably not likely. 00:12:57.750 --> 00:13:01.889 It's way more likely that if you have a kind 00:13:01.889 --> 00:13:07.929 of working relationship that is functional and 00:13:07.929 --> 00:13:11.590 cooperative, that you would come up with this 00:13:11.590 --> 00:13:15.889 idea to do something like this. Okay, maybe this 00:13:15.889 --> 00:13:19.370 was a convention. Maybe medieval monarchs wrote 00:13:19.370 --> 00:13:22.740 to the pope in the voice of their toddler. all 00:13:22.740 --> 00:13:26.240 the time. I have never heard of that, but we 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:28.200 have to also admit that that is a possibility. 00:13:29.059 --> 00:13:33.659 I just think it's not so likely. I think that 00:13:33.659 --> 00:13:37.659 I'm going to agree with the scholar Jaume Riera 00:13:37.659 --> 00:13:41.200 i Sans in his article that he wrote in 1987, 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:47.820 and just say that This is a clever and original 00:13:47.820 --> 00:13:52.879 kind of thing to do. And this is right in line 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:56.980 with exactly what I'm trying to investigate in 00:13:56.980 --> 00:14:01.059 this podcast, which is getting into some examples 00:14:01.059 --> 00:14:06.139 of how Joan and Violant were doing this 00:14:06.139 --> 00:14:12.200 cooperative rule that Their reign was this level 00:14:12.200 --> 00:14:15.779 of cooperation that was something different than 00:14:15.779 --> 00:14:20.659 what we usually see. Thanks so much for listening 00:14:20.659 --> 00:14:23.580 to this episode of the Historian's Notebook, 00:14:23.899 --> 00:14:28.240 Season 1, Molt Cara Companyona. If you are leaving 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:31.059 with more questions than you arrived with, I've 00:14:31.059 --> 00:14:35.200 done my job. Remember, the motto of the Historian's 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:39.860 Notebook is dissatisfaction guaranteed. Visit 00:14:39.860 --> 00:14:42.860 the website to see an image of today's document 00:14:42.860 --> 00:14:47.039 and additional show notes, and listen again tomorrow 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:51.340 to hear more about the next day in the first 00:14:51.340 --> 00:14:55.659 year of the reign of King Joan I of Aragon and 00:14:55.659 --> 00:14:59.480 Queen Violant de Bar. In the meantime, take 00:14:59.480 --> 00:14:59.860 care.