WEBVTT 00:00:00.110 --> 00:00:06.349 Hello. In the crown of Aragon 639 years ago, 00:00:06.969 --> 00:00:14.109 it was March 14th, 1387. My name is Jonathan 00:00:14.109 --> 00:00:18.230 Seyfried. I'm a PhD candidate in history at the 00:00:18.230 --> 00:00:22.870 University of New Mexico. And this is the Historian's 00:00:22.870 --> 00:00:27.629 Notebook, a podcast about how history gets made. 00:00:28.210 --> 00:00:32.729 Season one. is titled Molt Cara Companyona. We're 00:00:32.729 --> 00:00:35.649 looking at a document from each day of the first 00:00:35.649 --> 00:00:40.009 year of the reign of King Joan I of Aragon and 00:00:40.009 --> 00:00:44.710 Queen Violant de Bar. Let's begin today's document. 00:01:08.620 --> 00:01:13.219 Today's document is a really great one for my 00:01:13.219 --> 00:01:17.900 overall research question about how Joan and 00:01:17.900 --> 00:01:24.859 Violant were cooperating in their rule of the 00:01:24.859 --> 00:01:27.980 Crown of Aragon at the outset of their reign. 00:01:29.019 --> 00:01:34.760 So this particular document is in the Secret 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:40.819 Seal Register. And it is addressed to, well, 00:01:41.500 --> 00:01:50.680 as Violant phrases it, So calling this particular 00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:56.480 king brother is something that I figured out 00:01:56.480 --> 00:02:03.590 was the way that is customary when Violant and 00:02:03.590 --> 00:02:07.609 Joan are addressing the King of Castile. And 00:02:07.609 --> 00:02:11.849 it's an interesting move to call the King of 00:02:11.849 --> 00:02:18.009 Castile brother. There is a very fraught history 00:02:18.009 --> 00:02:22.789 between Castile and Aragon, and yet there's also 00:02:22.990 --> 00:02:26.189 these moments it really vacillates between like 00:02:26.189 --> 00:02:28.189 going to war together like there was the War 00:02:28.189 --> 00:02:32.930 of the Two Pedros that is the name for the conflict 00:02:32.930 --> 00:02:36.650 between joan's father Pere the ceremonious and 00:02:36.650 --> 00:02:39.949 then a king of castile who went down in history 00:02:39.949 --> 00:02:44.870 as Pedro the Cruel so there there was a fierce 00:02:44.870 --> 00:02:49.729 war between castile and aragon in the the the 00:02:49.729 --> 00:02:55.439 not so distant past but the current king of Castile 00:02:55.439 --> 00:02:58.979 is definitely one who's more friendly towards 00:02:58.979 --> 00:03:04.979 Aragon and actually married Joan's sister Eleanor 00:03:04.979 --> 00:03:11.759 and so the current king of Castile, Juan I, so 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:17.400 John I of Castile, it's kind of interesting that 00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:21.210 it's John I of Castile at the same time that 00:03:21.210 --> 00:03:26.650 it's John I of Aragon. So I don't know. I think 00:03:26.650 --> 00:03:30.849 they kind of have a bit of a bond. Juan in Castile 00:03:30.849 --> 00:03:33.669 has been on the throne for a bit longer. I think 00:03:33.669 --> 00:03:39.949 he started his reign in 1380. And by the time 00:03:39.949 --> 00:03:43.270 Joan and Violant become king and queen of the 00:03:43.270 --> 00:03:46.389 Crown of Aragon, I think relations have really 00:03:46.389 --> 00:03:51.710 smoothed over. And so there's this brother, this 00:03:51.710 --> 00:03:58.930 king brother address -y custom that is one that 00:03:58.930 --> 00:04:03.430 we're gonna see just consistently when Joann 00:04:03.430 --> 00:04:09.909 and Violant write to the king of Castile. The 00:04:09.909 --> 00:04:13.870 content of the letter is super interesting. It's 00:04:13.870 --> 00:04:18.509 basically a very long apology, and it's not like, 00:04:18.649 --> 00:04:21.990 you know, they did something terrible. It's that 00:04:21.990 --> 00:04:26.769 they're just gonna have to say no. And the topic 00:04:26.769 --> 00:04:29.850 that they're saying no to is mysterious. It's 00:04:29.850 --> 00:04:33.709 referred to just as, you know, the thing that 00:04:33.709 --> 00:04:38.230 was requested. So there was something that the 00:04:38.230 --> 00:04:42.509 King of Castile requested, and he sent two ambassadors. 00:04:42.629 --> 00:04:44.750 And this is super interesting, too, because the 00:04:44.750 --> 00:04:50.709 ambassadors are religious figures. So they're 00:04:50.709 --> 00:05:00.620 a bishop and an archdeacon, I think. And so there's 00:05:00.620 --> 00:05:06.300 these two religious officials, these two ecclesiastical 00:05:06.300 --> 00:05:10.339 office holders, who are coming from Castile as 00:05:10.339 --> 00:05:17.360 ambassadors of the King of Castile to the Crown 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:23.000 of Aragon. And I'm not. quite sure if we can 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:26.339 really infer all that much about the content 00:05:26.339 --> 00:05:30.439 of the request from the King of Castile by the 00:05:30.439 --> 00:05:33.220 fact that he sent religious figures as ambassadors. 00:05:34.120 --> 00:05:39.220 It could just be that that was not strange to 00:05:39.220 --> 00:05:43.660 send clerics as your ambassador for whatever 00:05:43.660 --> 00:05:47.949 kind of request you might have. or it might be 00:05:47.949 --> 00:05:52.490 that it had something to do with some ecclesiastical 00:05:52.490 --> 00:05:57.910 management of some kind. The Kingdom of Castile 00:05:57.910 --> 00:06:04.329 was in line with the Crown of Aragon in its support 00:06:04.329 --> 00:06:08.889 of the Avignon Pope during the Great Schism. 00:06:09.250 --> 00:06:16.899 So I think that the religious figures, the ecclesiastical 00:06:16.899 --> 00:06:21.060 officials who are acting as ambassadors here 00:06:21.060 --> 00:06:27.319 would not really have any trouble in terms of 00:06:27.319 --> 00:06:31.519 being on sort of the same side of things as the 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:34.160 ecclesiastical officials in the Crown of Aragon. 00:06:34.600 --> 00:06:37.079 Yeah, that's kind of the best I can do when trying 00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:40.379 to think through what it means that the ambassadors 00:06:40.379 --> 00:06:46.529 were ecclesiastical officials. So the interesting 00:06:46.529 --> 00:06:52.329 part of this letter for my purposes is, gosh, 00:06:52.629 --> 00:06:57.509 it's really about halfway through, a little over 00:06:57.509 --> 00:07:00.149 halfway through the part of the letter that's 00:07:00.149 --> 00:07:06.649 on folio 95 V. And I guess what I'll do is just 00:07:06.649 --> 00:07:14.019 say the line number. 12 and then going on until 00:07:14.019 --> 00:07:20.579 line 16. That whole sentence is basically conveying 00:07:20.579 --> 00:07:28.660 that the king has also sent a letter in response, 00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:37.680 la letra responsivia, and that letter is a rejection 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:42.560 of whatever request was being made by the king 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:48.579 of Castile and Violant is referring to it in 00:07:48.579 --> 00:07:52.839 a way that shows that she knows full well what 00:07:52.839 --> 00:07:57.579 was written in it or at least that the point 00:07:57.579 --> 00:08:02.620 of it and so basically here she's summarizing 00:08:23.269 --> 00:08:29.610 This said Lord. for reasons necessary and urgent. 00:08:30.069 --> 00:08:34.929 We're not going to be able to do the thing that 00:08:34.929 --> 00:08:39.789 you had asked us to do. And this has been explained. 00:08:40.190 --> 00:08:42.710 The reasons have been explained, apparently, 00:08:43.009 --> 00:08:46.269 in the letter that Joan sent. I would love 00:08:46.269 --> 00:08:49.009 to find that letter. I've, of course, been looking 00:08:49.009 --> 00:08:54.879 around the various registers and can't have it 00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:58.399 come upon that letter. Of course, it doesn't 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:02.940 help that there's big jumps in the chronology 00:09:02.940 --> 00:09:07.360 of the different letters, and so maybe further 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:10.139 down the line, you know, like in the middle of 00:09:10.139 --> 00:09:12.279 April or something, we'll have a few letters 00:09:12.279 --> 00:09:15.860 for March, and I'll be able to find that in one 00:09:15.860 --> 00:09:19.919 of Joan's registers. But what this shows is 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:24.649 that Violant is helping to smooth this over, 00:09:25.230 --> 00:09:27.970 that she's writing this very long letter, and 00:09:27.970 --> 00:09:30.110 then the other parts of the letter are all about, 00:09:30.590 --> 00:09:34.049 we really value you, and we hope you're doing 00:09:34.049 --> 00:09:37.389 well, and please, if there are other things, 00:09:37.529 --> 00:09:39.730 this is how the letter ends, if there are, like, 00:09:40.149 --> 00:09:44.519 an otra manera is on the last line of folio 95 00:09:44.519 --> 00:09:49.759 v and then on on the next folio there's she kind 00:09:49.759 --> 00:09:54.940 of repeats that idea by saying uh you know other 00:09:54.940 --> 00:10:01.820 you know other things please let us know and 00:10:01.820 --> 00:10:10.279 we are here to help you whenever we can so basically 00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:18.570 Violant is in a sense, assisting with this diplomatically 00:10:18.570 --> 00:10:24.470 difficult situation in which Joan, at the beginning 00:10:24.470 --> 00:10:29.730 of his reign, has to say no to the King of Castile. 00:10:30.889 --> 00:10:39.889 So that is a challenging, awkward thing to do. 00:10:40.029 --> 00:10:42.690 because you want to kind of start out in your 00:10:42.690 --> 00:10:46.490 diplomatic exchanges at the beginning of your 00:10:46.490 --> 00:10:50.570 time in power by kind of building up the relationships. 00:10:50.990 --> 00:10:54.889 And by saying no to some particular request, 00:10:55.730 --> 00:11:00.409 it's causing some difficulty in that overall, 00:11:00.409 --> 00:11:04.570 you know, ideal situation diplomatically. And 00:11:04.570 --> 00:11:08.580 so Violant comes in. and she writes this long 00:11:08.580 --> 00:11:14.120 letter to try to reassure the King of Castile 00:11:14.120 --> 00:11:20.879 that everything is very positive in the way that 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:24.960 they're thinking of him and please don't give 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:28.940 up on trying to ask us to do things because we 00:11:28.940 --> 00:11:34.679 want to build up this relationship through doing 00:11:34.679 --> 00:11:38.740 things that benefit you, because of course, then 00:11:38.740 --> 00:11:41.240 it can be reciprocated later is the implication. 00:11:42.919 --> 00:11:48.139 So, Violant is stepping in to help to smooth 00:11:48.139 --> 00:11:55.639 over this perhaps awkward or difficult situation. 00:11:56.080 --> 00:12:01.759 And so we can see here that there is this level 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:05.120 of cooperation between Joan and Violant. If 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:09.340 you had a king who just was handling his own 00:12:09.340 --> 00:12:15.000 business and didn't really bother to even talk 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.360 to the queen, as happens, I mean, there's plenty 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:24.019 of medieval kings who essentially ignore their 00:12:24.019 --> 00:12:29.019 wives, the queen, and so that's kind of... in 00:12:29.019 --> 00:12:31.480 many ways the opposite of what's going on here, 00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:36.039 that we see evidence that Violant is participating 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:41.139 in the maintenance of relationships, diplomatic 00:12:41.139 --> 00:12:46.440 relationships, that she is able to do so because 00:12:46.440 --> 00:12:51.259 she is confident in her familiarity of the issues. 00:12:51.779 --> 00:12:55.919 She doesn't list them out explicitly here, but 00:12:55.919 --> 00:13:00.110 it's very clear to me that the length of this 00:13:00.110 --> 00:13:03.750 letter and its tone and also the fact that she 00:13:03.750 --> 00:13:07.529 calls out the ambassadors by name, it really 00:13:07.529 --> 00:13:13.169 does communicate that she is in the know. And 00:13:13.169 --> 00:13:17.169 therefore, I see this letter as one that does 00:13:17.169 --> 00:13:20.470 demonstrate that they're really working together 00:13:20.470 --> 00:13:24.669 and communicating a lot together about issues 00:13:24.669 --> 00:13:28.019 at hand. There's something else I wanted to point 00:13:28.019 --> 00:13:30.620 out about this document at the end, which is 00:13:30.620 --> 00:13:34.820 the language. So if you are following along really 00:13:34.820 --> 00:13:37.620 closely, you've probably noticed that when a 00:13:37.620 --> 00:13:42.440 document is written in Catalan, the word for 00:13:42.440 --> 00:13:48.720 the preposition for is per. It's often abbreviated 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:52.879 as a P with a horizontal line through the descender. 00:13:53.379 --> 00:14:01.679 But this letter, it uses the word por for what 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:07.580 in English we have as the word for for and the 00:14:07.580 --> 00:14:11.279 reason for that and other different differences 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:14.580 in the spelling of words that you'll see in this 00:14:14.580 --> 00:14:18.759 letter compared to the ones in Catalan the reason 00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:27.299 is that this is in a mixture of Catalan and Aragonese 00:14:27.299 --> 00:14:32.299 and Castilian. We have Shadow here saying, I 00:14:32.299 --> 00:14:35.860 want to learn about the different subtleties 00:14:35.860 --> 00:14:39.440 in these vernaculars. So it's interesting because 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:43.899 we have, goodness, Shadow. Okay, come here. Oh, 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:47.360 all right. Got Shadow on the lap, so now we can 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:53.610 continue. All right, so the... So it's not consistent, 00:14:53.610 --> 00:14:59.610 okay, because there's still the X being used 00:14:59.610 --> 00:15:05.029 for what in Castilian would be like a CH sound. 00:15:05.889 --> 00:15:13.750 And so the actual distinctions between Aragonese 00:15:13.750 --> 00:15:18.230 and Catalan are a little bit beyond my knowledge 00:15:18.230 --> 00:15:24.830 base. And then the moments where in Catalan and 00:15:24.830 --> 00:15:29.370 Castilian the words are very similar, but have 00:15:29.370 --> 00:15:33.429 a difference in the Castilian form, I sometimes 00:15:33.429 --> 00:15:36.889 don't, I don't notice because I don't have as 00:15:36.889 --> 00:15:39.990 much experience with both languages to identify 00:15:39.990 --> 00:15:42.429 them right off the bat. So what I can tell you 00:15:42.429 --> 00:15:47.090 is that there's a lot of accommodation linguistically. 00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:51.899 in this letter to make it easier to read for 00:15:51.899 --> 00:15:55.860 a Castilian reader. And that, I think, is another 00:15:55.860 --> 00:16:00.820 example of how Violant, as well as the Chancery 00:16:00.820 --> 00:16:05.620 staff, are handling the diplomatic relationship 00:16:05.620 --> 00:16:09.360 here. Like, they're really showing through the 00:16:09.360 --> 00:16:13.820 language choice and the spellings and such that 00:16:13.820 --> 00:16:20.480 they are sensitive to the perspective of the 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:24.639 audience. In this case, the King of Castile, 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:29.259 who of course would be most comfortable in the 00:16:29.259 --> 00:16:36.159 language Castilian, which today is commonly known 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:43.139 as Spanish. So that though is in Iberia today, 00:16:43.299 --> 00:16:48.269 not really a a very accurate way of describing 00:16:48.269 --> 00:16:52.129 the language, so it would be known as Castilian 00:16:52.129 --> 00:16:59.490 in Iberia today. Okay, so a little bit of a micro 00:16:59.490 --> 00:17:03.470 attention to some of the language issues in this 00:17:03.470 --> 00:17:09.809 letter, but it does speak to the larger concern 00:17:09.809 --> 00:17:13.670 and diplomatic relationship maintenance that 00:17:13.670 --> 00:17:19.660 goes on at this time. Alright, thanks for listening 00:17:19.660 --> 00:17:23.200 to this episode of the Historian's Notebook, 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:28.400 Season 1, Molt Cara Companyona. If you are leaving 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:31.640 with more questions than you arrived with, I've 00:17:31.640 --> 00:17:36.140 done my job. Remember, the motto of the Historian's 00:17:36.140 --> 00:17:41.079 Notebook is dissatisfaction guaranteed. visit 00:17:41.079 --> 00:17:44.519 the website to see an image of today's document 00:17:44.519 --> 00:17:49.099 and additional show notes, and listen again tomorrow 00:17:49.099 --> 00:17:52.200 to hear about the next day in the first year 00:17:52.200 --> 00:17:57.460 of the reign of King Joan I of Aragon and Queen 00:17:57.460 --> 00:18:01.599 Violant de Bar. In the meantime, take care!