Season 1, Episode 94

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Violant arranges for the properties confiscated from Bernat de Fortià to be transferred to Bernat Vilella, an official who worked in the house of the Dauphin Jaume.

Today’s Document

• Subject: tranfer of properties of Boria and Magallon to Bernat Vilella
• Date: March 28, 1387
• Day of the Week: Thursday
• Language: Catalan
• Archival Reference Number: ACA CR R1819 f94r
• Link to PARES
• Place: Barcelona
• Sender: Violant
• Recipients: Mossen Francesc

Historical Thinking Notes

• Sourcing: it appears that Bernat Vilella has been a loyal servant and is getting a reward for that in the form of properties formerly owned by Bernat de Fortià; by placing someone loyal in these lands, Violant could gain assurance that her will would carry more authority in locations loyal to her adversaries

• Contextualization: new monarchs often made moves to eject those who had assisted political adversaries in the years prior to the change of rule; consolidation of power in disparate realms would present a difficult challenge for most new kings and queens

• Corroboration: the locations in this document correspond to the ones mentioned in the castigatory letters that Joan and Violant sent to the Governor of Aragon earlier this month, which we examined in Episode 76 and Episode 77

• Close-Reading: the ‘scrivanies de justicia’ are not familiar to me as a type of office-holder and I think they are like court clerks

What is this document doing?

• This document secures the ownership of property for a loyal official.
• The document strengthens the ties between a subordinate and the queen by establishing a reward for loyal service.

Questions

• What was Bernat Vilella’s role in connection with the household of Jaume, the three year-old dauphin?
• Are the properties in Boria and Magallon actually the same ones confiscated from Bernat de Fortià?
• If so, does that mean that the Governor of Aragon had responded to Joan’s and Violant’s grumpy missives with compliance?
• Who were the ‘scrivanies de justicia’ and how did their authority relate to that of notaries and other officials?

AI Usage

I used Gemini for an initial transcription, which I then had Claude reconcile with its own initial transcription. Claude then produced a translation into English with footnotes.

In this episode I explained my first steps in using agentic AI through OpenClaw on an old laptop. I am working on replicating my usual workflow with Gemini and Claude through agentic AI. As of this date, it looks like there’s no way that Transkribus is going to be able to generate useful HTR at the rate and quality that I am getting from the LLMs. However, the cost is very high, with each register totalling about $75 in API fees.

Bibliography

• Ruiz Domingo, Lledó. “Queenship, Wealth and Material Culture in Late Medieval Iberia: Sibila de Fortià’s Evolution from Royal Mistress to Dowager Queen of the Crown of Aragon (1375–1387).” Journal of Medieval History 50, no. 5 (2024): 615–36.
• Silleras Fernández, Núria. “Money Isn’t Everything: Concubinage, Class, and the Rise and Fall of Sibil.La de Fortià, Queen of Aragon (1377-87).” In Women and Wealth in Late Medieval Europe, edited by Theresa Earenfight. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

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