Season 1, Episode 23

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On the day of the big meeting to organize the new government, Violant writes to the Bishop of Granollers.

Today’s Document

• Subject: Violant supports the pilgrimage of Friar Petrus
• Date: January 16, 1387
• Day of the Week: Wednesday
• Language: Latin
• Archival Reference Number: ACA CR R1819 f74r
• Link to PARES
• Place: Granollers
• Sender: Violant
• Recipient: Bishop of Granollers

Historical Thinking Notes

• Sourcing: this document confirms Violant left Barcelona and arrived in Granollers in time for the January 16th meeting to form the new government; the recipient, as the local ecclesiastical official, would not have been at this meeting - if he did attend at all - if the meeting had not happened to take place in this small city; my working theory is that the purpose of this document was connected to the meeting, in that Violant wants to provide something to the bishop to reciprocate for the hospitality; as queen, Violant would have the resources to support a local friar’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land (although I’m not convinced that this interpretation of the letter is correct)

• Contextualization: pilgrimages took place very frequently in Europe during the Middle Ages and many pilgrimage narratives survive; elites often funded pilgrimages for subjects as well as their own journeys, not only to the Holy Land but also to holy sites connected to saints or miracles, such as Montserrat

• Corroboration: the lack of corroboration for this document leads me to suspect my interpetation of it; there are very few documents from January 16th; I will need other documents about supporting pilgrimage in order to be sure of my interpretation

• Close-Reading: the mention of discretion in this letter leads me to seriously question my current interpretation - it just doesn’t seem to make sense for Violant to emphasize the discretion of the friar in the context of support him for a pilgrimage; instead, discretion would more logically be emphasized if the letter more directly connected to the topic of the big meeting, forming the government

What is this document doing?

• This document positions Violant as a patron for Church officials in a small city.
• The document reinscribes the value accorded to discretion in the character of local officials.

Questions

• How was this letter connected to the big meeting of Joan’s governing council that occurred on this day?
• Did the Bishop of Granollers have some kind of interaction with the big meeting?
• Is this letter about funding a pilgrimage to the Holy Land?
• Why are there so few documents from January 16th in the registers?
• What is the full list of officials who came to Granollers on that day?

AI Usage

In the ChatGPT transcript, you will see the reasons that it interpreted the letter as one about pilgrimage. I am still concerned that the various references to sanctified land are not about a pilgrimage.

Bibliography

• Riera i Sans, Jaume. “El Dalfinat de Girona (1387-1388).” Annals de l’Institut d’Estudis Gironins 29 (1987): 105–28.

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