Season 1, Episode 128

Return to episodes list

A letter attributed to Joan gets sent to the King of Castile with a boilerplate exchange of pleasantries. There is no mention of Joan’s illness or his near-death experience three days prior.

Today’s Document

• Subject: boilerplate exchange of pleasantries, states receipt of King of Castile’s April 9th letter
• Date: May 1, 1387
• Day of the Week: Wednesday
• Language: Castilian
• Archival Reference Number: ACA CR R1751 f55r-v
• Link to PARES
• Place: Barcelona
• Sender: Joan
• Recipient: The King of Castile

Historical Thinking Notes

• Sourcing: it was against Joan’s interest to reveal his physical weakness to the King of Castile, but it remains a question as to whether Joan had any involvement in the composition of this document at all

• Contextualization: in 1957, the historian Ernst Kantorowicz demonstrated the intense symbolic linkage between the physical body of the king and the functioning of the state in the political concepts widely held in the Middle Ages¹; to a large extent we can see this continue in modern discourse, such as in discussions of the physical state of Joe Biden in the 2024 election cycle

• Corroboration: on its surface this document appears to contradict the accounts in recent letters from Violant, but we have seen a consistent pattern of omitting information about the severity, or the existence at all, of Joan’s illnesses throughout the first months of their reign; see the episodes tagged with illness for a selection of these documents

• Close-Reading: in this document the absence of any mention of health problems reveals the importance of concealing such matters from fellow heads of state

What is this document doing?

• This document creates a record of normal diplomatic exchange between the two sovereigns.
• The document erases Joan’s illness and physical disabilities.

Questions

• What is the reason for the absent probata on this document and the one prior to it in the register? Who was the one who copied this letter into the register?
• Was this letter conceived and sent for the purpose of counteracting rumors of Joan’s severe illness? Is the King of Castile prioritized over others in this regard?
• What was Joan’s physical status on May 1?
• Was there anyone at the time who argued against writing this letter because of the king’s condition?

AI Usage

The transcription and translation of this document was carried out by my OpenClaw pipeline.

Bibliography

• Kantorowicz, Ernst H. The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Mediaeval Political Theology. Princeton University Press, 1957.
• Krötzl, Christian, Katariina Mustakallio, and Jenni Kuuliala, eds. Infirmity in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Social and Cultural Approaches to Health, Weakness and Care. Ashgate, 2015.
• Trenchs i Odena, Josep, and Antonio María Aragó. Las cancillerías de la Corona de Aragón y Mallorca desde Jaime I a la muerte de Juan II. Cátedra Zurita, Institución Fernando el Católico, 1983.

← return to episode list