Season 1, Episode 32

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Joan appoints several people to the Inquisition of Girona.

Today’s Document

• Subject: Inquisition appointments
• Date: January 25, 1387
• Day of the Week: Friday
• Language: Latin
• Archival Reference Number: ACA CR R1912 f42r-v
• Link to PARES
• Place: Barcelona
• Sender: Joan
• Recipients: new officials of the Inquisition in Girona

Historical Thinking Notes

• Sourcing: Joan, as king, possesses ultimate authority over criminal investigations of secular matters; he might also perceive that he has, pratically speaking, full authority over ecclesiastical investigations even though he would wield that authority in the name of the Pope; it is possible that these officials will investigate both secular and ecclesiastical matters

• Contextualization: the Inquisition must have operated differently as an institution across time and regions within the Crown of Aragon; Michael A. Ryan has observed the consensus among historians that in the Crown of Aragon ‘the papal inquisitorial apparatus failed to take root’ and Joan, later in his reigh, had the power to exile the Inquisitor Nicolau Eymerich, calling him a ‘venomous viper’ ¹

• Corroboration: there are other documents, both from later in 1387 and further in to Joan’s reign, that illustrate Joan’s involvement in the rulings of inquisitors on religious doctrine

• Close-Reading: the reference to the constitution of Catalonia reveals the imnportance of legal justifications for the kind of institutional action that Joan facilitates in this document

What is this document doing?

• This document perpetuates an institution charged with criminal investigation at the level of the state and apparently separate from the authority of the municipality.

Questions

• Were these appointments sensitive? Foregone conclusions?
• Did any of the new officers in this document rise to further prominence in later years?
• What are the jurisdictional boundaries of the Inquisition at this time? How does it vary between localities within the Crown of Aragon?
• How does this document demonstrate overlap or conflict between the Pope’s authority and the King’s authority?

Additional Notes on Latin Paleography

One of the most widely consulted sources for Latin paleography is Capelli Online, hosted by Universität Zürich.

Bibliography

• Ryan, Michael A. A Kingdom of Stargazers: Astrology and Authority in the Late Medieval Crown of Aragon. Cornell University Press, 2011.
• Trenchs Odena, José, and Ignasi J. Baiges i Jardí. ‘Documents sobre música, músics i instruments musicals a la casa reial catalano-aragonesa (segles XIV-XV): el regnat de Joan I.’ Estudis castellonencs, no. 9 (2000): 135–318.

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