WEBVTT 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:05.780 Hello. In the Crown of Aragon 639 years ago, 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:12.779 it was March 9th, 1387. My name is Jonathan Seyfried. 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:16.760 I'm a PhD candidate in history at the University 00:00:16.760 --> 00:00:20.679 of New Mexico. And this is the Historian's Notebook, 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:25.480 a podcast about how history gets made. Season 00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:29.559 1 is titled Molt Cara Companyona. We're looking 00:00:29.559 --> 00:00:32.320 at a document from each day of the first year 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:36.899 of the reign of King Joan I of Aragon and Queen 00:00:36.899 --> 00:00:41.060 Violant de Bar. Let's begin today's document. 00:01:05.609 --> 00:01:08.909 for today's document we've got a really interesting 00:01:08.909 --> 00:01:14.730 situation of interfaith encounter and let's do 00:01:14.730 --> 00:01:19.909 the sourcing first of all well the date is the 00:01:19.909 --> 00:01:23.609 9th of march although it's pretty interesting 00:01:23.609 --> 00:01:30.390 how the date is written the minimum for the i 00:01:30.390 --> 00:01:34.450 that comes before the x went horizontal, like 00:01:34.450 --> 00:01:37.629 it went sideways. But I think it's really clear 00:01:37.629 --> 00:01:42.689 that this is the 9th of March. And Daniel Girona 00:01:42.689 --> 00:01:45.510 y Llagostera, who did the itinerary for Joan, 00:01:45.810 --> 00:01:51.530 he used this document for the 9th of March. And 00:01:51.530 --> 00:01:55.650 so he and I are in agreement that this is not 00:01:55.650 --> 00:02:03.870 some weird tail of the X. It is actually an i 00:02:03.870 --> 00:02:07.590 that just went sideways. And also, I just want 00:02:07.590 --> 00:02:12.150 to mention that although we don't really have 00:02:12.150 --> 00:02:16.449 a lot of instances of March being spelled with 00:02:16.449 --> 00:02:20.789 the cedilla, we might be able to get that at least 00:02:20.789 --> 00:02:24.150 a couple times. So the way that March is spelled 00:02:24.150 --> 00:02:28.650 in most of these documents is M -A -R -C -I. 00:02:29.569 --> 00:02:32.069 And maybe there's two I's in there, actually. 00:02:32.169 --> 00:02:34.870 It kind of looks like there's two I's. So... 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:39.020 Basically, it's in the genitive case mar -ce, 00:02:39.939 --> 00:02:45.439 so the day of March. So the genitive case in 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:49.379 Latin is the equivalent of using the preposition 00:02:49.379 --> 00:02:54.500 of in English, or possessive. It can be used 00:02:54.500 --> 00:02:59.840 for that, too. Alright, so it's the 9th of March. 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:02.659 I guess all the writing to the Pope has settled 00:03:02.659 --> 00:03:06.159 down. And now Joan can turn his attention to 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:11.280 some far away towns on the other side of the 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:16.060 Crown of Aragon. And so this particular document 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:26.310 is about two villages called Elx and... The 00:03:26.310 --> 00:03:33.469 other one is called Crivillent. Both of these 00:03:33.469 --> 00:03:37.949 towns have a significant Muslim population, and 00:03:37.949 --> 00:03:43.590 in Latin, the Muslim district, the Aljama, it's 00:03:43.590 --> 00:03:46.509 the same word that's used, by the way, for both 00:03:46.509 --> 00:03:50.979 Muslims and Jews, Aljama or Aliama. The aljama 00:03:50.979 --> 00:03:59.099 is rendered as aliamorem serresenorem, and I'm 00:03:59.099 --> 00:04:08.050 seeing that in line four of folio 66 V. This 00:04:08.050 --> 00:04:12.250 particular document is about economic activity 00:04:12.250 --> 00:04:17.990 and about freedom of movement when transporting 00:04:17.990 --> 00:04:22.250 one's goods, and specifically grain, as mentioned 00:04:22.250 --> 00:04:27.649 here. The word blada appears two different times 00:04:27.649 --> 00:04:34.540 on folio 66V. In folio 67R, we have the mention 00:04:34.540 --> 00:04:39.540 of Martí. Martí is returning into the picture. 00:04:39.899 --> 00:04:43.160 It seems like Martí might have some jurisdiction 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:46.879 over this particular region. It's in the province 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:52.860 of Alicante. And so Martí appears in the third 00:04:52.860 --> 00:05:01.540 line of folio 67R. and he's there as Martinem, 00:05:01.939 --> 00:05:10.180 or maybe Martina, fratris nostri carissimi, my 00:05:10.180 --> 00:05:17.860 most dear brother. So as far as I can tell, with 00:05:17.860 --> 00:05:22.579 the huge assistance of the large language models 00:05:22.579 --> 00:05:28.519 continuing on in my process, using Gemini, initial 00:05:28.519 --> 00:05:32.540 transcription, then having Claude reconcile that 00:05:32.540 --> 00:05:34.759 against its own transcription, and then sticking 00:05:34.759 --> 00:05:40.800 with Claude for a final translation. With all 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:45.639 of that help, I've been able to figure out that 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:52.079 it seems as though the governors of this region 00:05:52.079 --> 00:05:57.240 have been interfering in some way with the Muslim 00:05:57.240 --> 00:06:01.319 economic activity, maybe doing something like 00:06:01.319 --> 00:06:05.620 charging tolls as the grain and other products 00:06:05.620 --> 00:06:08.699 are being transported. That's something that 00:06:08.699 --> 00:06:12.899 I could imagine happening. And it's clear also 00:06:12.899 --> 00:06:18.759 that the Muslim Aljama has reached out to Joan 00:06:18.759 --> 00:06:24.660 with a supplication, with a request that he intervene 00:06:24.660 --> 00:06:30.079 in order to tell the governors to stop, to make 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:35.199 it so that they can proceed along with transporting 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:39.500 their goods without any kinds of interruptions. 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:44.579 And indeed, that's what Joan decides to do. He, 00:06:44.579 --> 00:06:49.810 at the end of this document, tells the addressee, 00:06:49.889 --> 00:06:55.329 which is the governors of this region, that they 00:06:55.329 --> 00:07:01.230 are to no longer disturb the Muslims in their 00:07:01.230 --> 00:07:06.870 economic activity. So here we have the king taking 00:07:06.870 --> 00:07:13.550 the side of a Muslim community against the economic 00:07:13.550 --> 00:07:18.800 interests of the local government. This is a 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:23.949 perfect example. of the concept of the royal 00:07:23.949 --> 00:07:29.509 treasure as a way of referring to the Muslim 00:07:29.509 --> 00:07:32.649 and Jewish communities throughout the Archive 00:07:32.649 --> 00:07:37.649 of the Crown of Aragon. Because of the way that 00:07:37.649 --> 00:07:41.230 Christian communities were treated under Muslim 00:07:41.230 --> 00:07:45.529 rule as having special designation for their 00:07:45.529 --> 00:07:51.519 taxation and regulation, when the rule changes, 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:55.379 when the governing authority changes from Muslim 00:07:55.379 --> 00:07:58.279 to Christian rule, there's a lot of traditions 00:07:58.279 --> 00:08:03.160 that move forward and are created in the initial 00:08:03.160 --> 00:08:08.100 treaties as those transitions of power take place. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:13.019 And one of the traditions that makes Iberia so 00:08:13.019 --> 00:08:18.250 interesting is that the state the Crown of Aragon 00:08:18.250 --> 00:08:25.529 is directly in charge of the Muslim and Jewish 00:08:25.529 --> 00:08:28.709 communities. The Muslim and Jewish communities 00:08:28.709 --> 00:08:35.470 are like states within the state, and they are 00:08:35.470 --> 00:08:40.570 not subject, in terms of final authority, to 00:08:40.570 --> 00:08:46.240 the municipal or local regional governments, 00:08:46.700 --> 00:08:50.279 and this document is a perfect example. It also 00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:54.960 helps to explain why resentment grew against 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:57.860 the Muslim and Jewish communities, a perception 00:08:57.860 --> 00:09:01.919 on the part of the majority Christian communities 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:05.740 that the Muslims and Jews were getting special 00:09:05.740 --> 00:09:10.679 treatment, and indeed they were. And the royal 00:09:10.679 --> 00:09:15.529 family profited from this, because instead of 00:09:15.529 --> 00:09:19.529 the taxation revenue from the Muslim and Jewish 00:09:19.529 --> 00:09:23.169 communities going to the local municipalities 00:09:23.169 --> 00:09:27.409 or the regional government, that money went directly 00:09:27.409 --> 00:09:34.230 to the royal family. And so you have this situation 00:09:34.230 --> 00:09:38.899 that in the earlier centuries might not have 00:09:38.899 --> 00:09:41.240 really bothered anybody too much because it was 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:44.419 just taken for granted that, okay, there's these 00:09:44.419 --> 00:09:46.840 different faith communities. They're going to 00:09:46.840 --> 00:09:50.019 have different rules. That's just the way that 00:09:50.019 --> 00:09:54.080 things have always been done. But then over time, 00:09:54.759 --> 00:09:59.960 there gets to be a further attitude of othering 00:09:59.960 --> 00:10:03.960 that these communities are seen as collections 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:09.070 of enemies within. and there's definitely instances 00:10:09.070 --> 00:10:13.610 where all the way up until the 15th century and 00:10:13.610 --> 00:10:17.909 way into the 15th century we see amazing cooperation. 00:10:18.519 --> 00:10:21.820 between Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities 00:10:21.820 --> 00:10:24.840 in different areas within the Crown of Aragon. 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:28.200 And then, of course, even within the same city, 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:31.740 you can have very different attitudes, where 00:10:31.740 --> 00:10:35.519 there's documentation of interfaith friendships 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:40.200 and camaraderie, even in the midst of larger 00:10:40.200 --> 00:10:45.820 forces that are persecuting the religious minorities 00:10:45.820 --> 00:10:50.909 in those same cities. So it really is a patchwork, 00:10:51.490 --> 00:10:56.210 and generalizations are impossible when it comes 00:10:56.210 --> 00:11:00.129 to describing the interfaith encounter. You have 00:11:00.129 --> 00:11:05.429 to really look at specific contexts and also 00:11:05.429 --> 00:11:10.110 specific times, because when in one decade there 00:11:10.110 --> 00:11:14.230 might have been harmony almost to fulfilling 00:11:14.230 --> 00:11:18.779 the convivencia narrative, in another subsequent 00:11:18.779 --> 00:11:23.039 decade, there might have been a lot of interfaith 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:28.820 conflict. And so really, the question is, how 00:11:28.820 --> 00:11:33.720 are the economic ties transforming over time? 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:37.620 And then also, what kinds of cultural developments 00:11:37.620 --> 00:11:41.659 or environmental developments put pressure on 00:11:41.659 --> 00:11:44.279 these communities and the individuals in them 00:11:44.279 --> 00:11:49.620 to either cooperate or increase distance. And 00:11:49.620 --> 00:11:51.820 you can see this moving at different speeds and 00:11:51.820 --> 00:11:58.100 different levels all throughout the 12th, 13th, 00:11:58.139 --> 00:12:02.700 14th, and 15th centuries. So we have a little 00:12:02.700 --> 00:12:07.600 snapshot from a region kind of close to Valencia. 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:12.919 Not quite sure in this particular document. what 00:12:12.919 --> 00:12:17.940 Marti's role is in all of this. Maybe somehow 00:12:17.940 --> 00:12:23.580 Marti had jurisdiction prior and now Joan has 00:12:23.580 --> 00:12:28.059 the jurisdiction. It's also very common for Violant 00:12:28.059 --> 00:12:33.240 to have Aljamas or Aljamas in her portfolio. 00:12:33.940 --> 00:12:37.399 So how these all are divvied up is a question 00:12:37.399 --> 00:12:41.600 that's really difficult to answer. But In this 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:46.600 instance, we clearly have the king siding with 00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:51.860 the Muslim community against the interests of 00:12:51.860 --> 00:12:55.600 the local authorities. So another really interesting 00:12:55.600 --> 00:13:00.019 window into the way that the royal family divvied 00:13:00.019 --> 00:13:04.980 up responsibilities, the larger picture of interfaith 00:13:04.980 --> 00:13:09.360 encounter, and its connection into the finances 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:14.500 of the royal family of the Crown of Aragon. Thanks 00:13:14.500 --> 00:13:18.700 for listening to this episode of the Historian's 00:13:18.700 --> 00:13:23.299 Notebook, Season 1, Molt Cara Companyona. If you 00:13:23.299 --> 00:13:25.519 are leaving with more questions than you arrived 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:29.919 with, I've done my job. Remember, the motto of 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:33.379 the Historian's Notebook is, dissatisfaction 00:13:33.379 --> 00:13:37.120 guaranteed. Visit the website to see an image 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:40.259 of today's document and additional show notes. 00:13:40.840 --> 00:13:43.620 And listen again tomorrow to hear about the next 00:13:43.620 --> 00:13:47.460 day in the first year of the reign of King Joan 00:13:47.460 --> 00:13:52.279 I of Aragon and Queen Violant de Bar. In the 00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:53.820 meantime, take care.