WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.860 Hello. In the Crown of Aragon, 639 years ago, 00:00:06.419 --> 00:00:13.919 it was March 8, 1387. My name is Jonathan Seyfried. 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:17.600 I'm a PhD candidate in history at the University 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:21.679 of New Mexico. And this is the Historian's Notebook, 00:00:22.300 --> 00:00:26.719 a podcast about how history gets made. Season 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:30.899 1 is titled Molt Cara Companyona. We're looking 00:00:30.899 --> 00:00:33.840 at a document from each day of the first year 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:38.439 of the reign of King Joan I of Aragon and Queen 00:00:38.439 --> 00:00:42.740 Violant de Bar. Let's begin today's document. 00:01:06.669 --> 00:01:11.230 Today's document is a short one. It's about ten 00:01:11.230 --> 00:01:18.069 lines and gosh, Violant, she just cannot stop 00:01:18.069 --> 00:01:22.629 writing to the Pope. It's like, can a single 00:01:22.629 --> 00:01:25.709 day go by when she's not writing to the Pope? 00:01:26.590 --> 00:01:30.829 I don't quite understand how this is working 00:01:30.829 --> 00:01:35.609 that things just keep like randomly coming up 00:01:35.609 --> 00:01:38.950 and she has to write to the pope like yet again 00:01:38.950 --> 00:01:42.489 after all of the correspondence that's been going 00:01:42.489 --> 00:01:45.769 on for the last two weeks where she's writing 00:01:45.769 --> 00:01:50.329 to the pope about all the different things well 00:01:50.329 --> 00:01:55.170 here we go we've got yet another another petition 00:01:55.170 --> 00:01:59.469 for some kind of office probably although it 00:01:59.469 --> 00:02:03.920 doesn't say it's so general It's in Latin, so 00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:07.280 I did my usual, what's become my usual routine, 00:02:07.400 --> 00:02:11.039 where I have Gemini do a transcription attempt, 00:02:11.580 --> 00:02:14.500 and then I have Claude do a transcription attempt, 00:02:14.860 --> 00:02:17.960 and then I have Claude reconcile the two, and 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:20.939 that seems to be producing a pretty accurate 00:02:20.939 --> 00:02:29.300 transcription. This time around, the The interpretation 00:02:29.300 --> 00:02:33.960 from Gemini that this was written in Barcelona, 00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:39.000 which to me is really good, a good interpretation. 00:02:39.419 --> 00:02:41.919 It's in the second to last line of the letter, 00:02:42.360 --> 00:02:47.419 Barchinone. It's very, to me, a clear A -R -C 00:02:47.419 --> 00:02:52.830 -H -N, but that... B at the beginning, the way 00:02:52.830 --> 00:02:55.150 the scribe wrote it, it makes it look like an 00:02:55.150 --> 00:02:59.669 L. And so Claude decided to override Gemini's 00:02:59.669 --> 00:03:03.050 interpretation there and say that this was Lleida. 00:03:03.689 --> 00:03:08.650 So that was a mistake on Claude's part. So the 00:03:08.650 --> 00:03:12.550 transcription of the Latin is going generally 00:03:12.550 --> 00:03:17.039 okay. The results are definitely not perfect. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:19.819 I mean, there's times when Gemini is totally 00:03:19.819 --> 00:03:23.219 off and Claude does a very helpful correction, 00:03:23.460 --> 00:03:25.900 and then there are times where they're both stumped 00:03:25.900 --> 00:03:30.159 and I go in and I try to figure it out. Is my 00:03:30.159 --> 00:03:33.419 skill all that much better than those two large 00:03:33.419 --> 00:03:39.020 language models combined? Um, sometimes. All 00:03:39.020 --> 00:03:44.340 right, maybe 75 % of the time. So here in this 00:03:44.340 --> 00:03:48.689 letter, we have very little information about 00:03:48.689 --> 00:03:53.650 who the subject of the letter is. It's somebody 00:03:53.650 --> 00:03:59.449 named Petrus. There's no shortage of people named 00:03:59.449 --> 00:04:04.129 Petrus, that's for sure. And of course, in Catalan, 00:04:04.310 --> 00:04:07.710 that would be Pere. In Castilian, that would be 00:04:07.710 --> 00:04:12.360 Pedro. In English, that would be Peter. So at 00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:16.060 the end of the second line, we have this phrase, 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:21.560 fidelum familiarum nostrum petrum, our faithful 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:26.300 familiar Peter. I guess instead of familiar, 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:31.319 you could say acquaintance or something like, 00:04:33.100 --> 00:04:35.339 oh, there's got to be another word that makes 00:04:35.339 --> 00:04:38.589 it a little bit closer than acquaintance. but 00:04:38.589 --> 00:04:43.269 subject maybe might work. I don't see words being 00:04:43.269 --> 00:04:47.250 used in these letters for subject exactly, so 00:04:47.250 --> 00:04:50.449 maybe familiarum is almost like what they say 00:04:50.449 --> 00:04:54.230 instead of using the word subject. So we've got 00:04:54.230 --> 00:04:58.290 the first name Petrus at the end there, and then 00:04:58.290 --> 00:05:03.350 the next line really looks like spiritu a molto. 00:05:04.470 --> 00:05:08.550 tempore, spiritua molto tempore, and then after 00:05:08.550 --> 00:05:12.189 that it's a little rough trying to figure out 00:05:12.189 --> 00:05:17.470 what that word is after tempore, but what's clear 00:05:17.470 --> 00:05:20.490 is that we're not getting any other additional 00:05:20.490 --> 00:05:24.970 information about who this particular petrus 00:05:24.970 --> 00:05:31.089 might be. Not only that, But further down in 00:05:31.089 --> 00:05:39.089 line five, we have mention of contenta sub petitione 00:05:39.089 --> 00:05:45.730 contained in this petition. So the large language 00:05:45.730 --> 00:05:49.930 models, they figured that this was like a cover 00:05:49.930 --> 00:05:53.189 letter for a packet, and that there would be 00:05:53.189 --> 00:05:57.029 a packet of information about this particular 00:05:57.319 --> 00:06:04.519 Petrus and that this was referring to those contents 00:06:04.519 --> 00:06:09.680 and that's why this letter is so general because 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:13.779 you don't need any information identifying this 00:06:13.779 --> 00:06:18.439 particular person because this is just the outside 00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:24.920 cover that is meant to be Kind of just a general 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:28.519 introduction to the content a little recommendation 00:06:28.519 --> 00:06:32.480 and then there's gonna be documents inside that 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:40.000 offer more specifics and Alas, we have no idea 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.060 where that packet is if that is even what is 00:06:44.060 --> 00:06:50.430 going on so there's on the next page of this 00:06:50.430 --> 00:06:55.709 register it jumps ahead to March 12th and it's 00:06:55.709 --> 00:07:01.490 on a different topic so whatever those documents 00:07:01.490 --> 00:07:04.430 might have been that were included in the petition 00:07:04.430 --> 00:07:11.069 we don't have that so Alas, there is not that 00:07:11.069 --> 00:07:15.269 much to say about this particular fellow, this 00:07:15.269 --> 00:07:19.790 particular Peter, out of the many Peters in the 00:07:19.790 --> 00:07:24.310 Crown of Aragon in the late 14th century. So 00:07:24.310 --> 00:07:31.769 what are we going to do here? I think that there's 00:07:31.769 --> 00:07:35.790 not much that we can do with this letter. There 00:07:35.790 --> 00:07:39.810 is couple other there are a couple other things 00:07:39.810 --> 00:07:42.110 that i want to point out as little mysteries 00:07:42.110 --> 00:07:47.670 so first of all we have seemingly for no reason 00:07:47.670 --> 00:07:51.529 that i can figure out an additional statement 00:07:51.529 --> 00:07:56.310 at the bottom so we've got the usual probata 00:07:56.310 --> 00:08:01.470 at the very bottom right domino regina mandavit 00:08:01.470 --> 00:08:08.720 mihi and we have Not the usual Bartolomeo Sirvent. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:11.759 Maybe Bartolomeo Sirvent had a day off on this 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:16.480 day. But then above that we've got Etius and 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:23.220 then an H. Maybe honore is oftentimes what's expanded 00:08:23.220 --> 00:08:35.659 when you just have an H. Or maybe Aragonem? I 00:08:35.659 --> 00:08:40.240 can't quite off the top of my head say what the 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:45.159 ending there is. What kind of ending Aragon is 00:08:45.159 --> 00:08:48.480 supposed to have. But what this all amounts to 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:52.679 is basically saying, you know, you're devoted 00:08:52.679 --> 00:08:58.980 daughter, Violant, queen of Aragon. And it's 00:08:58.980 --> 00:09:02.759 interesting that that is added in there. Maybe 00:09:02.759 --> 00:09:06.500 it was something extra that was written at the 00:09:06.500 --> 00:09:09.659 bottom of the actual letter that got sent out. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:14.639 And then we've got this really different kind 00:09:14.639 --> 00:09:20.009 of abbreviated word following the date. So I 00:09:20.009 --> 00:09:23.250 kind of working my way up from the bottom here. 00:09:23.590 --> 00:09:28.929 So after the year, all of the Roman numeral letters 00:09:28.929 --> 00:09:34.190 for 1387, we've got the letter P with the curl 00:09:34.190 --> 00:09:38.929 that is for pro. So pretty sure that it is pro. 00:09:39.490 --> 00:09:45.690 And then it's either a T or a C. The little Bit 00:09:45.690 --> 00:09:49.210 that goes up above makes me think that it's a 00:09:49.210 --> 00:09:54.029 T and Then we have an H and then we have the 00:09:54.029 --> 00:09:58.389 abbreviation for the US so it's something like 00:09:58.389 --> 00:10:03.049 I Know shadow. It's it's frustrating. Can't figure 00:10:03.049 --> 00:10:06.429 out what this word is. Is it something like? 00:10:10.299 --> 00:10:14.259 Know it's a struggle. It's a struggle. So I'm 00:10:14.259 --> 00:10:19.399 gonna try to figure that one out It's not like 00:10:19.399 --> 00:10:24.120 Procurator there is an H in there and it's probably 00:10:24.120 --> 00:10:32.080 a th and ah Like something pro they use Gosh 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:37.059 don't know the information at the lower right 00:10:37.059 --> 00:10:42.250 is all very standard for in a dressy line for 00:10:42.250 --> 00:10:48.090 the Pope. So all the usual stuff, you know, the 00:10:48.090 --> 00:10:52.129 universal church, blah, blah, blah. All right. 00:10:52.269 --> 00:10:54.909 Well, let's see. I'm trying to think of what 00:10:54.909 --> 00:10:57.990 else I could pull out from this letter that could 00:10:57.990 --> 00:11:05.629 be useful in any way. But alas, it is just so 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:11.080 general. All of the usual stuff like, you know, 00:11:11.340 --> 00:11:15.539 hope that you're doing well and that you're going 00:11:15.539 --> 00:11:19.860 to continue on for a long time. The last phrase 00:11:19.860 --> 00:11:24.259 right before the dating clause is Pertempora 00:11:24.259 --> 00:11:29.419 Longoria. And let's see if there's anything else. 00:11:30.539 --> 00:11:34.580 Goodness. i am pretty sure that we are kind of 00:11:34.580 --> 00:11:38.179 at the end of the line with with this oh okay 00:11:38.179 --> 00:11:42.580 wait here's something else on line five yeah 00:11:42.580 --> 00:11:46.240 it's such a rambling episode i'm so sorry all 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:49.200 right so on line five the same line where we 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:55.799 had the contenta sub petitione the last two words 00:11:55.799 --> 00:12:00.450 in that line are interclusa odd And then the 00:12:00.450 --> 00:12:05.250 next word in the next line is expeditionis. So 00:12:05.250 --> 00:12:09.210 interclusa, I thought, was a word that would 00:12:09.210 --> 00:12:13.090 mean like included, like here included, to be 00:12:13.090 --> 00:12:19.710 expedited. But actually, interclusa means hinder. 00:12:19.909 --> 00:12:23.169 So I think what's being said here is please don't 00:12:23.169 --> 00:12:30.309 do anything to hinder the expediting of a favorable 00:12:30.309 --> 00:12:38.289 ruling for the said Peter. But I'm having trouble 00:12:38.289 --> 00:12:42.769 finding the negation for interclusa. So that 00:12:42.769 --> 00:12:47.809 is something a little bit mysterious about the 00:12:47.809 --> 00:12:53.029 medieval Latin. in this letter and that one word, 00:12:53.029 --> 00:12:56.309 interclusa, it might be something just a little 00:12:56.309 --> 00:13:00.309 bit more idiomatic. All right, that's what I 00:13:00.309 --> 00:13:04.950 got for this little document. Violante. Penpals 00:13:04.950 --> 00:13:10.330 with anti -pope. Clement VII. Of course, she 00:13:10.330 --> 00:13:13.029 would have considered him the real pope and the 00:13:13.029 --> 00:13:17.100 Roman one the anti -pope. Thanks for listening 00:13:17.100 --> 00:13:20.179 to this episode of the Historian's Notebook, 00:13:20.500 --> 00:13:24.759 Season 1, Molt Cara Companyona. If you are leaving 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:27.379 with more questions than you arrived with, such 00:13:27.379 --> 00:13:32.340 as, which Peter is this letter about? Then I've 00:13:32.340 --> 00:13:36.139 done my job. Remember, the motto of the Historian's 00:13:36.139 --> 00:13:40.730 Notebook is, dissatisfaction guaranteed. visit 00:13:40.730 --> 00:13:43.429 the website to see an image of today's document 00:13:43.429 --> 00:13:46.690 and additional show notes, including if I can 00:13:46.690 --> 00:13:50.590 figure out what that little word is after the 00:13:50.590 --> 00:13:53.529 year at the end of this letter. Hopefully I'll 00:13:53.529 --> 00:13:56.929 figure it out at some point. And listen again 00:13:56.929 --> 00:14:00.690 tomorrow to hear about the next day in the first 00:14:00.690 --> 00:14:05.549 year of the reign of King Joan I of Aragon and 00:14:05.549 --> 00:14:09.500 Queen Violant de Bar. In the meantime, Take 00:14:09.500 --> 00:14:53.029 care.