Queralt Penedès Fradera
Two years ago, Roser Salicrú i Lluch contacted me about the DiplomatiCon project. I was automatically interested in it because it gave me the opportunity to work with colleagues on an important and interesting project about diplomatic activity in the Mediterranean, which was and is a field that aligns perfectly with my interests. Moreover, I was looking forward to focusing on the research world.
After finishing my bachelor’s degree in Humanities at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona, I enrolled for a master’s degree in Management of Cultural Heritage. I interned at the Catalan Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (ICRPC-CERCA), a research institute created by the Generalitat de Catalunya and Universitat de Girona (UdG). While doing the internship in which I had the chance to research in different areas related to modern history and cultural heritage, I realized that what I enjoyed the most was research and that I wanted to focus my career on it.
Before starting my PhD position at DiplomatiCon, I had already been working on the project as a research assistant. From February 2023 until August 2023, I spent seven months in the Arxiu de la Corona d’Aragó (ACA) in Barcelona along with Alvit Martínez Civit, Eudald Blanché Coll, Adrián Arjona, and Marta Manso Rubio intending to identify unpublished archival material relevant to the project, that is diplomatic relationships between the Crown of Aragon and the Mamluk Sultanate, and to document and record basic information about these documents in the DiplomatiCon Database.
As a PhD, I am based in the Université de Liège under the supervision of Frédéric Bauden, along with Marta Manso Rubio, Michele Argentini, and postdoc Bodgan Smarandache. However, I will be in Barcelona to pursue the archival word needed for my thesis. Under the DiplomatiCon framework, the thesis aims to work on the actors and agents who handled the relations between the Crown of Aragon and Mamluk Egypt. It will concentrate on the 14th century, specifically on James II’s reign (1291-1327), although the gaze will be wider and spread from the end of the 13th century to the end of the 15th century. Focusing on this period, during which the sources are richer and the contacts seem to have been deeper, will allow us to achieve the PhD’s goals better and contribute to the DiplomatiCon project’s global results.
Focusing on the actors and agents in the contacts during the 14th century will allow us to understand the connections between both worlds better and demonstrate that the Mediterranean’s diplomatic relationships went beyond religious differences. The main goal is to identify the network of actors and agents who performed diplomatic relations on both sides of the Mediterranean and to understand how they were organized, the role they developed, and the way they were addressed to others.
To investigate the most relevant actors and agents of the diplomatic contacts between the Crown of Aragon and the Mamluk Sultanate in the medieval Mediterranean, I am using, and I will use during the following years, a variety of sources: royal letters (Archive of the Crown of Aragon), chancery registers (Archive of the Crown of Aragon): Sigili secreti, Curie, Diversorum, Legationum, Regum Sarracenorum, Guerre Sarracenorum, etc., Historic Archives of the City of Barcelona, Notarial Archives of Barcelona, private documents, travel and pilgrimage accounts, merchant guides and diaries, chronicles, other narrative sources.
Finally, being part of a collective and collaborative project, my PhD and research will benefit from the results of the other PhDs involved, both in Liège and Antwerp, and simultaneously take advantage of them. All PhDs are in contact, and we try to help each other by recommending bibliography and giving support on any matter. So, I am enjoying working with my wonderful PhD colleagues: Evelina del Mercato, Giacomo Mastrogregori, Gianluca Ratti, Marta Manso, and Michele Argentini.