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ABSTRACT
The point of departure for this article is the small wooden chest that the Countess of Empúries, Maria Álvarez de Xèrica (c. 1310-1374), commissioned to hold the instructions for the annual commemorations of her death. I address the wills, tomb, death, funeral rites, and anniversary celebrations of the countess as a grand performance, a work deployed over space and time. In addition, I focus on the agency of the memory containers: chests, tomb, boxes. The aim of this exploration of the acts, desires, objects, and people that made up this performance is to understand them not only in and of themselves, but as parts of a network. The study reveals the potential of such a network to construct memory by forging a constellation of nodes of objects but also of family ties, and political and social consciousness.
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Notes
1 This study is part of the Paisajes Monásticos (Monastic Landscapes) research project (PGC2018-095350-B-E00). Translated from Spanish by Peter Collins.
2 An alloy coin of one quarter silver and three quarters copper minted in Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia.
3 I have consulted the documentation on the County of Empúries in the Archivo Ducal Medinaceli held at the Arxiu Municipal de Castelló d’Empúries, where it is available in digital form: Arxiu Municipal de Castelló d’Empúries (AMCE), Fons Archivo Ducal Medinaceli (ADM), comtat d’Empúries. A significant number of documents cited in this study will soon be published in the four-volume collective work, Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, in which I have participated. The first three volumes are studies and the fourth collects around 1500 transcribed documents.
4 “A wooden box in which to keep the documents ordered by the lady countess for the anniversaries to be celebrated in the Cathedral of Barcelona and in the house of the friar-preachers of the same city” (Tecam fusteam in qua reponi debent instrumenta faciencia pro anniversariis fieri ordinatis per dictam dominam comitissam in Sede Barchinone et in domo fratrum Predicatorum predicte civitatis): AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 794; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 760. The word teca obviously refers to a box or chest. I draw attention to it, however, because it is not a word that is frequently found in the archival documents and it appears to be significant. There is a striking parallel with the word tumbo, whose etymology has sometimes been associated with the tomb and memory; as pointed out by Sáez Sánchez, “Origen y función de los cartularios hispanos,” 39, in the western Iberian Peninsula the word was used to refer to books containing copies of documents kept in a wooden or stone container resembling a small tomb. It should also be mentioned that the coffin made in November 1369, the night after the death of Blanca of Sicily, the daughter-in-law of Maria Álvarez and also Countess of Empúries, was also called a teca (Arxiu Històric de Girona, Fons Notarial de Castelló d’Empúries AHG, Ca, 308, 1369, f. 98v). It does not seem to be a coincidence that the word used for Blanca's coffin is also used for the box that would hold the documents relating to the annual commemorations of the death of Maria Álvarez.
5 I refer to the term coined by Therese Martin, “maker,” to describe agency (particularly female agency) in the promotion, creation, and circulation of works of art in the medieval world. Here I apply it to the endeavor to construct memory addressed in this article. See Martin, “The Margin to Act,” 5-7.
6 I understand the actions, rites, and objects used to construct memory as a “distributed work,” in Alfred Gell's use of the term. Dispersed in a network or constellation, objects act as extensions of people, express and extend their agency, and configure a distributed personality that enables them to play a role in social life: Gell, Art and Agency, 140. I adopted this approach in my study on Joana de Aragó: Garí, “Los cofres de la infanta.”
7 In recent years, research has focused on funeral rites within the Crown of Aragon and elsewhere, and significant progress has been made in this field, especially in relation to the nobility and the Crown. This study continues that work. Recent studies on the family environment of the Catalan-Aragonese Crown include Cingolani, “La reina María y los funerales de su madre Brianda d’Agout,” 71-90, and L’infant Pere i la comtessa Joana de Foix.
8 Maria Álvarez de Xèrica has been little studied, but the main details on her life can be found in the chapter by Costa i Paretas: La casa de Xèrica i la seva política, 249-56. See also Garí, “Els testaments de Maria Álvarez de Xèrica.”
9 Wedding charter, AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 302.
10 On the chronology of this exchange, see Colomer Casamitjana and Fumanal Pagés, “Economía, política i mecenatge al comtat d'Empúries,” 130–39.
11 Emancipation document, AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 324. As we know from the first will of Maria Álvarez dated 25 November 1343 (AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat Empúries, 10134). Partial transcriptions of documents relating to the death and funeral of Maria will appear in the fourth volume of the work on tombs, pantheons, and rituals in the dynasty of Aragon directed by Stefano Cingolani, to which I am also contributing. See Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV. Maria acts as Joan's sole guardian from 1346. AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 326 and 386.
12 Although they continue to use the county title. AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 377, 380, and 381.
13 AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 9165 codicil of Blanca de Sícilia; AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat Empúries, 394 and 420, respectively will and codicil of Maria Álvarez. Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, docs. 723, 773, and 781.
14 AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 390 and 391; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 662.
15 AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 9364 (llibre de la marmessoria); Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 667. Miquel Ángel Fumanal makes a thorough study of this document in volume III of the work in preparation, Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort.
16 Examples of her political and economic power include acts of homage such as the dance at Monells in 1369: AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 5276. The accounts of Maria Álvarez for the year 1372-1373 are contained in the book of protocols: AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 10460.
17 These documents can be found here: will of 25 November 1343: AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat Empúries, 10134; will of 28 November 1372: AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat Empúries, 394; codicil of 1374: AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat Empúries, 420. A partial transcription of the three documents can be found in Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, docs. 439, 773, and 781.
18 AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat Empúries, 397.
19 Garí, “Els testaments de Maria Álvarez de Xèrica.”
20 The count’s will reveals that on that date the tomb was already under construction and had been assigned the place where it would be located “in the said church next to the high altar above the door of the sacristy, which is there, and there on the wall is the tomb of our son Jaime, deceased, and of our honourable consort” (In dicta ecclesia iuxta altare maius et supra portale sacristie quod ibi est, et ubi in pariete est quidam tumulus cuiusdam filii nostri Iacobi, quondam, et dicte inclite consortis nostre). AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 390 and 391; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 662.
21 On the monumental tombs in the convent of Santa Caterina, see Terés, “Pere Moragues;” Madurell i Marimon, “La obra del sepulcro.” There will be a chapter by Blanca Garí and Rosa Terés on the significance of Santa Caterina de Barcelona as a burial place in the fourteenth century in volume III of Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort.
22 Recently, both Jaspert, “Testaments,” and Español Bertrán, “Formas artísticas y espiritualidad,” have stressed the inclination of the Catalan-Aragonese dynasty to favor Franciscan and related orders. On this matter, see also Garí, “Reginalidad.” It seems, however, that at least in Catalonia, there was a change of trend in the middle of the fourteenth century that is reflected in the tombs of Santa Caterina.
23 Will of 25 November 1343: AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat Empúries, 10134; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 439.
24 Will of 28 November 1372: AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat Empúries, 394; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 773.
25 On the documents relating to the construction of the tomb entrusted to Pere Moragues and Bernat Roca, see Garí, “Els testaments de Maria Álvarez;” Terés, "Pere Moragues.”
26 See Cingolani, “¿Juntos o separados?,” for the memory strategies of royal spouses or royal relatives, including the choice to be buried alone or to share a mausoleum with their spouses.
27 AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat Empúries, 394; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 773.
28 24 October 1374 AMCE, ADM comtat d’Empúries, 10212; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 802.
29 25 March 1374: AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 7639; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 786.
30 Lara Alberola, “Testamento de Celestina,” 49: “Classical sorceresses knew that an amulet could be made with the bone of the deer's heart.” On this matter, see also Marrero-Fente, “De yerbas, animales y otras ponzoñas,” 209.
31 In the codicil, Blanca expresses her wish to be buried in Sant Antoni in Barcelona or transferred there when possible if, at the time of her death, she is provisionally buried in Castelló de Empúries. AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 9165; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 723.
32 As demonstrated by the payment made for the six nuns who held a vigil over the Infanta Blanca. AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 7125 (26 October 1374) and the friars who watched over Maria Álvarez. AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 404; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, docs. 803 and 796.
33 ADM Fons d’Empuries 10212.
34 In the case of Maria Álvarez: AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 10212. In the case of Blanca of Sicily: AMCE. Fons ADM, comtat Empúries, 419. For both: Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 802 and 801.
35 Arxiu Històric Ciutat Barcelona, 1G-5, f. 296v, Crònica del Racional, 148: Die iovis, nona die ffebroarii anno a Nativitate Domini M°CCC°LXX° quarto, fuit sepulta in ecclesia Predicatorum Barchinone inclita domina Maria, uxor incliti Raymundi Berengarii, quondam, come Impuriarum, ac filia nobilis Iacobi de Xericha, quondam. Et fuerunt in ipsa sepultura dominus rex Petrus, et plures nobiles ac barones et milites, et domini archiepiscopus Teracone et episcopus Barchinone et episcopus Gerunde et episcopus Elnensis et episcopus Suellensis, et abbas de Stagns, et abbatissa Sancti Petri et abbatissa Vallidonselle, et prioresa de Gonqueris, cum multitudine canonicorum et religio(so)rum et monacorum et monialium, et cum maxima luminaria et solemnitate portando corpus dicte defuncte de domo sive ecclesiam Sancte Aulalie de Campo, que est extra et prope portale Novum, veniendo ad dictum monasterium Predicatorum. Die veneris post sequenti, cum simili et maiori solepnitate, fuit aportatum de dicta ecclesia Sancte Eulalie de Campo deportatum ad ecclesia sororum Minorum corpus domine Blanxe, nurus dicte domine Marie, et que fuerit consors domini Iohannis, comes Impuriarum. The same report, translated into Catalan, can be found in Rúbriques de Bruniquer, I:326.
36 The "field" is the background of the coat of arms embroidered, in this case, on gold cloth. ACA, Reial Patrimoni, MR, reg. 503, f. 57v; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc 785.
37 On the function of “cloth of gold,” see Pérez Monzón, “Escenografías funerarias,” 236; Seeberg, “Monument in Linen,” 81-82; Cingolani, “La reina María y los funerales de su madre Brianda d’Agout,” 77.
38 ACA, Reial Patrimoni, MR, reg. 503, f. 79v; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc 785.
39 AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 10212, 1374 /10/24; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 802.
40 AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 10212, 1374 /10/24; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 802.
41 I take the idea of the emblem as a combined system of agency from Barbara Stafford's work. See in particular, Stafford, Echo Objects, 43.
42 AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 398-404; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 797.
43 AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 6933; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 794.
44 AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 7272 (1374/9/27); Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 795.
45 Costa i Paretas, Un conflicte monàstic, 10.
46 AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 10212 (1374 /10/24); Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 802.
47 AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 398-404; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 796.
48 AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 6933; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 794.
49 AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 7272 (1374/9/27); Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 795; AMCE, Fons ADM, comtat d’Empúries, 401; Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vol. IV, doc. 796.
50 Censal rents were a perpetual obligation, with the possibility of redemption, to pay an annual pension to a person or institution, by virtue of a capital amount received by the person contracting it.
51 AHG, Fons Notarial de Castelló d’Empúries (AHG-Ca), 308 (1369), f. 98v. We know that it was Tuesday the 13th from the carpenter who hurriedly built the wooden coffin and the bed (lectum) for the original burial in Castelló d’Empuries.
52 AHG-Ca, 332 (1378), f. 113v. The “daughter of the lord count” refers to Joan of Empúries.
53 AHG-Ca, 332 (1378), f. 113v.
54 AHG-Ca, 332 (1378), f. 127v.
55 AHG-Ca, 332 (1378), f. 132; Ca 333 (1378-1379) f. 16v.
56 On the concepts of objects of belonging and objects of memory and the link between them, see Garí, “Los cofres de la infanta.”
57 Queens, infantas, and nobles of the Crown of Aragon in the last centuries of the Middle Ages undoubtedly understood and prepared for their funerals as a global performative act. The funerals of Maria Álvarez (although she was neither queen nor infanta) stand out for the importance and resonance that the sources reveal. See Cingolani et al., Més enllà de la mort, vols. III and IV; Cingolani, “La reina María y los funerales de su madre Brianda d’Agout,” 71-90, and “L’infant Pere i la comtessa Joana de Foix;” Garí, “Els testaments de Maria Álvarez de Xèrica.” See also for comparison Woodacre, “Absent in (Life and) Death?”
58 While Alfred Gell has helped me to define Maria Álvarez’s construction of memory as a “distributed work,” the notion of “atmosphere” is taken from Gernot Böhme’s aesthetic anthropology described in Atmosphäre. Essays zur neuen Ästhetik, in particular the chapter entitled “Das Ding und seine Ekstasen,” 31-34. Böhme uses the “ecstasy of the object” to describe an object's capacity to radiate an atmosphere. I apply this idea in a very different context because it seems to me a valuable way of refreshing our understanding of "things and their contexts" in medieval documentation, a subject on which I have been working for years.
59 In the future I intend to study the boxes, chests, and coffins as privileged objects of memory. This is the direction in which another article is already oriented: Garí, "Los cofres de la Infanta.”
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Notes on contributors
Blanca Garí
Blanca Garí, Professor of Medieval History at the University of Barcelona, has devoted her studies to the history of medieval spirituality and female monasticism. Recently she has also paid attention to queenship, memory, and performativity. Her publications include La Mirada Interior, Madrid: Siruela, 2021 (co-authored with Victoria Cirlot) and the article “Queenship, Materiality and Memory. The Objects of Blanca of Sicily in the Convent of Sant Antoni and Santa Clara of Barcelona,” SVMMA 16 (2020): 205-27. She has been principal investigator of the projects Claustra http://www.ub.edu/claustra/spa and Spiritual Landscapes http://www.ub.edu/proyectopaisajes/index.php/ and is currently involved, among others, with the project F-Atlas https://www.f-atlas.eu