Season 1, Episode 53

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Joan recommends Fray Alemany of Ejulve to become the commander of the Hospitaller castle at Villel, near Teruel.

Today’s Document

• Subject: recommendation for a vacancy at the Hopsitaller castle in Villel
• Date: February 15, 1387
• Day of the Week: Friday
• Language: Catalan
• Archival Reference Number: ACA CR R1825 f33v
• Link to PARES
• Place: Barcelona
• Sender: Joan
• Recipient: Juan Fernández de Heredia, Master of Rhodes, head of the Hospitallers

Historical Thinking Notes

• Sourcing: both Joan and Violant frequently exchanged letters with Juan Fernández de Heredia, often about literature and obtaining new translations of ancient Roman texts; Joan might have had a greater purpose in mind than in typical recommendation letters, since this particular castle was the location where Juan Fernández de Heredia had his first appointment with the Hospitallers

• Contextualization: the military orders, such as the Knights Templar and the Hospitallers, originated in the context of the Crusades in the High Middle Ages; by the time of this letter the Templars had gone into decline, in part due to the enmity of King Philip IV of France in the early fourteenth century; at the end of the fourteenth century,the Hospitallers were still going strong, having been granted the Templars’ properties by Pope Clement V in 1312

• Corroboration: the documents examined in Episode 2 and Episode 3 corroborate this one, in that we can be quite certain that today’s addressee is Juan Fernández de Heredia and also that Joan and Violant have previously corresponded with him about administrative appointments for the Hospitallers

• Close-Reading: Joan’s use the word for heart, coraçon, in the third to last line of the letter might indicate an additional level of emotion in this letter

What is this document doing?

• This document intensifies the cooperation between the Crown of Aragon and the Knights Hospitallers.
• The document also facilitates the upward mobility in the career of a member of the Hospitallers.

Questions

• Did Fray Alemany de Ejulve get the job?
• Where was Juan Fernández de Heredia at this time?
• At the time of writing this, did Joan know that the castle at Villel had been the first appointment that Juan Fernández de Heredia had as a Hospitaller?
• Did Violant also correspond with Juan Fernández de Heredia about this appointment?
• What was the role of the castle at Villel in the overall organization of the Hospitallers?
• Was Joan’s involvement in the personnel of the Hospitallers at a different level from that of his father?
• What was the nature of the financial relationship between the Hospitallers and the Crown of Aragon at this time?

AI Usage

ChatGPT came through for this document, saving me from the significant amount of time I would have spent searching through Google to narrow down the possibilities for the paleography in the last line of addressee and the place discussed in the letter.

Bibliography

• Cabré, Lluís, and Montserrat Ferrer. “Els llibres de Franca i la cort de Joan d’Arago i Violant de Bar.” In El saber i les llengües vernacles a l’època de Llull i Eiximenis: estudis ICREA sobre vernacularització, Primera edició, edited by Anna Alberni. Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, 2012.
• Luttrell, A. “Juan Fernandez de Heredia’s History of Greece.” Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 34, no. 1 (2010): 30–37.
• Ponsich Claire. “Violant de Bar (1365-1431). Ses liens et réseaux de relations par le sang et l’alliance.” In 5e Colloque International de l’Université Paul Valéry, 1:233–76. Reines et princesses au Moyen Âge. Presses universitaires de Montpellier, 1999.
• Rubió y Lluch, Antonio. Documents per l’historia de la cultura catalana mig-eval. Vol. 2. Barcelona: Institut d’Estudis Catalans, 1921.
• Vives, José. Juan Fernández de Heredia, gran maestre de Rodas. Biblioteca Balmes, 1927.

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