Season 1, Episode 129

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A document in Violant’s name orders a change in jurisdiction, or possibly an enforcement, regarding a legal case among members of the Jewish aljama in Zaragoza.

Today’s Document

• Subject: intervention in a legal case in the Jewish aljama of Zaragoza
• Date: May 2, 1387
• Day of the Week: Thursday
• Language: Latin
• Archival Reference Number: ACA CR R1822 f148r
• Link to PARES
• Place: Barcelona
• Sender: Violant
• Recipients: Raymundo Correlles, a judge in Zaragoza

Historical Thinking Notes

• Sourcing: Violant, as queen, had administrative authority over the aljama of Zaragoza; the new judge might have been preferred by litigants in the case

• Contextualization: the modern historian Yitzak Baer wrote a very informative profile of the Zaragoza aljama at this time¹; according to Baer, in the late fourteenth century the Zaragoza aljama was very vibrant and a registration document of Jews by occupation listed a great many types of artisans; Baer describes how a doctor named Moses ben Alazar was so respected by the Franciscan monks that he cared for that the Jews of Zaragoza were given additional privileges beyond what aljamas had in other cities like Girona

• Corroboration: Joan also issued a document like this one, notifying a judge of the change of jurisdiction for a case involving the Zaragoza aljama and that document was discussed in Episode 112

• Close-Reading: while the details of this case remain elusive to me, it is clear that several officials approved of the transfer of this matter to Raymundo Correlles’s jurisdiction

What is this document doing?

• This document reinforces the right of royal intervention in judicial processes for the Zaragoza aljama.
• The document intervenes in the court system within the context of interfaith relations.

Questions

• Did Violant and Joan always share this type of authority over the judicial processes for the Zaragoza aljama or was Violant’s role in this document a new development?
• What were the details of the case?
• Who in Zaragoza stood to benefit from this change in jurisdiction?
• What was the level of Violant’s involvement in the creation of this document?

AI Usage

The transcription and translation of this document was carried out by my OpenClaw pipeline. In this case, the output was of such inferior quality that it wasn’t even usable. Latin plus difficult paleography really strained the LLMs.

I also used Claude to reserach the Zaragoza aljama.

Bibliography

• Baer, Yitzhak. A History of the Jews in Christian Spain. Jewish Publication Society of America, 1961.

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