Season 1, Episode 54

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Violant writes to the Pope again, two days later, on the topic connected to Petrus Serva.

Today’s Document

• Subject: A follow-up letter about Petrus Serva
• Date: February 16, 1387
• Day of the Week: Saturday
• Language: Latin
• Archival Reference Number: ACA CR R1819 f85v
• Link to PARES
• Place: Barcelona
• Sender: Violant
• Recipient: Avignon Pope Clement VII

Historical Thinking Notes

• Sourcing: of the polities that sided with Avignon during the Great Western Schism, the Crown of Aragon was among the very most powerful, probably second only to France; this gave Joan and Violant some clout with Clement VII and possibly we see this on display in Violant’s willingness to send what seems like a reminder letter to the Avignon Pope

• Contextualization: the Great Western Schism grew out of political decisions made by Pope Gregory XI in the 1370s, specifically in a violent conflict between the papacy and eight Italian city-states led by Florence - relatively little doctrinal difference emerged between the two Popes during the schism; Pere attempted neutrality and Joan sided with Avignon

• Corroboration: this document appears to be a follow-up of the one we examined in Episode 52 and I cannot see any new information in this second version; the frequency of the correspondence between Clement VII and Joan and Violant has come up in earlier episodes, especially Episode 20

• Close-Reading: this letter does include phrase ‘opus eplicandam per ipsum Petrum’ indicating that Petrus Serva is authorized to carry out some kind of labor or negotiation on behalf of Violant

What is this document doing?

• This document, in its repetition of a recent earlier message, conveys urgency and an expectation of action.
• The document appears to position Violant as an equal partner to Clement VII.

Questions

• Did Violant see Pope Clement VII as someone from whom she could expect compliance? Or did she feel more deferential toward him?
• Who was Petrus Serva and what was his previous experience with diplomacy?
• What was the topic that Petrus Serva would speak to Clement VII about?
• Was this related to the marriage negotiations for Yolande of Aragon?
• Would this letter and the February 14th letter have arrived to the Pope’s hands at the same time? If not, how much of a time lag would there have been?

AI Usage

I struggled with the transcription ChatGPT made for this document, in which the chatbot had a difficult time letting go of an interpretation that Petru Serva was the Archdeacon of Peniscola.

Bibliography

• Casteen, Elizabeth. From She-Wolf to Martyr: The Reign and Disputed Reputation of Johanna I of Naples. Cornell University Press, 2015.
• Rollo-Koster, Joëlle, and Thomas M. Izbicki, eds. A Companion to the Great Western Schism (1378-1417). Brill, 2009.
• Rohr, Zita. “Lessons for My Daughter: Self-Fashioning Stateswomanship in the Late Medieval Crown of Aragon.” In Self-Fashioning and Assumptions of Identity in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia, edited by Laura Delbrugge. Brill, 2015.
• Rohr, Zita Eva. Yolande of Aragon (1381-1442) Family and Power: The Reverse of the Tapestry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

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