Season 1, Episode 50

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Joan writes a letter supporting James, the Bishop of Valencia, in his bid to become a Cardinal.

Today’s Document

• Subject: support of James of Aragon to be made a Cardinal
• Date: February 12, 1387
• Day of the Week: Tuesday
• Language: Latin
• Archival Reference Number: ACA CR R1954 f2v-3r
• Link to PARES
• Place: Barcelona
• Sender: Joan
• Recipients: College of Cardinals of Avignon Papacy

Historical Thinking Notes

• Sourcing: as king, Joan would look for ways to leverage his kinship ties to secure his own power in disparate territories; since James is Joan’s first cousin once removed (James the son of Joan’s father’s uncle), Joan can perhaps rely upon James to further his interests in matters taken up by the College of Cardinals in Avignon

• Contextualization: Western Schism of 1378, Pere attempted neutrality and Joan sided with Avignon; Valencia sometimes appears quite distant from Barcelona and it is easy to imagine that various kings of the Crown of Aragon had difficulty securing their rule over the faraway city

• Corroboration: other documents that connect to the topic of the Great Western Schism and the role of Joan in moving the Crown of Aragon closer to the Avignon Papacy include Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 18, and Episode 20.

• Close-Reading: Joan refers to Pere as his progenitor, a far cry from the way he talked about his father-in-law, Robert de Bar, as ‘molt car pare’ as we examined in Episode 36; the apparent reference to the Inquisition also opens up a lot of questions about the relationship between the College of Cardinals and the Inquisition

What is this document doing?

• This document activates Joan’s kinship network.
• The document perpetuates the involvement of secular authorities in ecclesiastical leadership decisions.

Questions

• Would the College of Cardinals and Pope Clement VII already favor James’s bid to become a Cardinal or was this an uphill battle for James and Joan?
• For the question of becoming a Cardinal, what were the factors beyond James’s control that influenced that decision for the College of Cardinals?
• Would Joan’s father, Pere the Ceremonious, have been opposed to this level of involvement with the Avignon Papacy?
• Did James and Joan know each other well?
• Is there a connection to the institution of the Inquisition in this document?
• Regarding the materiality of these folios, how long did it take for the worms and bugs to create the damage to the paper that is now present on the pages?

Additional Notes

The monograph The Classical Tradition in Medieval Catalan, 1300-1500: Translation, Imitation, and Literacy provides more information and context for the literary patronage of Cardinal James of Aragon, Bishop of Valencia.¹

AI Usage

ChatGPT helped me with my initial research into James, his literary patronage, and his familial connection to Joan.

Bibliography

• Cabré, Lluís, Montserrat Ferrer, Alejandro Coroleu, Josep Pujol, and Albert Lloret. The Classical Tradition in Medieval Catalan, 1300-1500: Translation, Imitation, and Literacy. Tamesis, 2018.

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