Season 1, Episode 51
Violant orders the governor of Valencia to apprehend Berenguer Vilaragut and his followers.
Episode 51
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ACA CR R1819 f84r Source: PARES
Today’s Document
- Subject: Violant ordering a law enforcement action
- Date: February 13, 1387
- Day of the Week: Wednesday
- Language: Catalan
- Archival Reference Number: ACA CR R1819 f84r
- Link to PARES
- Place: Barcelona
- Sender: Violant
- Recipients: Aznardo Pardo
Historical Thinking Notes
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Sourcing: somehow law enforcement in Valencia fit in Violant’s portfolio; this might be connected to Joan’s support for James the Bishop of Valencia, as he was known as an opponent of Berenguer Vilaragut
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Contextualization: families rose to prominence in urban settings as well as in rural settings during this period and they competed with each other for status and dominance; judging from the difficulties they had suppressing Anti-Jewish Riots in 1391, municipal and state authorities might not have had enough power to stop what was the medieval equivalent of gang violence
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Corroboration: the work done by Paz Lloret on the family feuding in Valencia at this time corroborates the depiction of Berenguer Vilaragut in this document; however, it would be good to find sources more sympathetic to Vilaragut and critical of the other side, perhaps even a negative portrayal of James the Bishop of Valencia
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Close-Reading: on line 6, Violant asks for Aznardo Pardo to send her the names of people arrested and I am not quite sure what to make of that; the request for names could be a way of verifying that the law enforcement action had actually been carried out or it could be for the purpose of reporting those names to others
What is this document doing?
- This document pressures a local authority to apprehend an enemy who threatens the social order.
- The document further establishes Violant as a supervisor of law enforcement.
Questions
- How much of a distruption to Valencia was Berenguer Vilaragut’s feuding causing?
- How many followers did Berenguer Vilaragut have?
- Was this the first order from the royal family of the Crown of Aragon on this subject or was Violant continuing an ongoing communication about Berenguer Vilaragut’s criminality?
- Does this letter to Aznardo Pardo, the governor of Valencia, have a connection to the work that Joan did for James the Bishop of Valencia the day before?
- How is this in Violant’s portfolio and why is it not in Joan’s?
AI Usage
I used ChatGPT to help with the translation of medieval Catalan for this document and for some research into family feuds in late fourteenth-century Valencia.
Bibliography
- Gampel, Benjamin R. Anti-Jewish Riots in the Crown of Aragon and the Royal Response, 1391-1392. Cambridge University Press, 2016.
- Lloret, Paz. “El linaje de los Vilaragut y la violencia nobiliaria.” Saitabi: Revista de la facultat de geografia i història 51–52 (2001): 269–84.