Season 1, Episode 63

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Joan asks his procurator in Valencia, Pedro Tolza, to bring justice to those who committed certain financial misdeeds in Valencia.

Today’s Document

• Subject: legal response to financial misdeeds in Valencia
• Date: February 25, 1387
• Day of the Week: Monday
• Language: Catalan
• Archival Reference Number: ACA CR R1751 f14v-15r
• Link to PARES
• Place: Barcelona
• Sender: Joan
• Recipient: Pedro Tolza, Procurator of Valencia

Historical Thinking Notes

• Sourcing: the recipient of this letter gives us a further view into royal authority in Valencia; the royal presence there includes James, the Bishop of Valencia, who is Joan’s first cousin once removed; Joan, as king, attempts to operate the levers of royal power in this distance locality, which would include his own subordinates and sometimes direct coordination with James; the position of the municipal government in Valencia remains unaddressed in this letter

• Contextualization: many localities in the Crown of Aragon retained their traditional laws, known as furs, in the time after their incorporation into the larger insitution of the state; in this document we see the effort made to operate in a way that respects both the royal law and the traditional furs in Valencia; at times, the two legal frameworks could come into conflict

• Corroboration: in the document examined in Episode 47, Violant summoned a resident of Valencia to Barcelona; perhaps that person has brought information to Joan and Violant that is related to the misdeeds that Joan wants Pedro Tolza to rectify

• Close-Reading: the last sentence before the dating clause, at the top of f15r, includes the word ‘certificants vos’ which indicates that Joan requires Pedro Tolza to inform him of further developments in this case; this pushes the document from the status of a simple notification into something more serious, in that Joan expects a report of action taken

What is this document doing?

• This document negotiates between local and state law enforcement authority.
• The document strengthens the institutional connection between the king and a faraway subordinate.

Questions

• What were the misdeeds that Joan tasked Pedro Tolza with rectifying?
• Was Pedro Tolza already aware of these problems? If so, why did he need this additional command from Joan?
• In what ways would the municipal government of Valencia get involved in situations like these, if at all?
• Who was the governor of Valencia and what information had he sent to Joan?
• Did Pedro Tolza eventually inform Joan of a resolution?

AI Usage

I used Gemini for transcription of the bulk of this document, the portion visible on f14v. I then pasted Gemini’s transcription into ChatGPT for a translation and a scan of the secondary literature. In both uses of AI, I reviewed the work of the chatbot, checking for mistakes. While not perfect, this combination proved dependable for the purposes of an initial review of the document for its general sourcing and content. If I were to use this document in a later stage of research, I would spend additional time identifying transcription errors and considering alternative translations for some phrases. The last sentences of the document, on f15r, were not difficult for me to do on my own in a very short time.

Bibliography

• Bisson, Thomas N. Medieval Crown of Aragon: A Short History. Clarendon Press, 1986.
• Girona y Llagostera, Daniel. “Itinerari de l’Infant En Joan, Fill Del Rei En Pere III. 1350-1387.” III Congreso de Historia de La Corona de Aragón (Valencia), Hijo de F. Vives Mora, 1923, 169–592. Available on Google Books, accessed December 26, 2025.

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