[MUSIC] Welcome to our final class of Deciphering Secrets, Unlocking the Manuscripts of Medieval Toledo. I really appreciate the time you've made to study this material, to learn a little bit more about medieval Spain. And these details of Toledo, which we've learned Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities all living together, sometimes in better times, and sometimes not so well. We learned a little bit about King Alfonso the Wise. We learned about the Taifa of Toledo, and the Islamic palaces that are located in present day Toledo. We've seen a lot. But now we're finally at this last piece of the course. And this really is about transcribing manuscripts. It's our opportunity to begin a new set of research, a new discovery process to figure out what was the Middle Ages like. And so, we have three kind of paleographic projects for you this week, and I've tried to range these so that everybody can participate. We have an introductory level one, that's 18th and 19th century handwriting. We have an intermediate level, which is 13th century handwriting, and last, we have an advanced paleographic set of projects, which are 15th century handwriting. Now, I've decided and called them those as introductory to advanced, based off my perceptions of what is more difficult to read. And in that respect, I think you'll find the materials well-suited to your level. Anyway that you can participate would be perfect. So what's in the introductory level of materials? Well, we have, actually from the cathedral archive in Toledo, a really interesting collection of Finey eggs, and these are indices that indicate different houses that were owned by the cathedral, different kinds of financial transactions. But in these indices that were congregated in the 18th and 19th centuries, they describe where all these individual assets are located. And there's some located in the [FOREIGN] the Jewish quarter, some in the alhamra, the Muslim quarter, and then in other parts of the city. So they're really interesting, because you start to get a sense of who, what, when, and where, where were people living. And they give us an idea kind of the facts on the ground, how do individuals reside in this city. And those records pertain to the 1200s, all the way to the 1600s. But I think you'll find those easy to work with, and they're super valuable to work with. I actually like the indices often the best, because they start to give us a more comprehensive picture of what's contained in an archive, as well as the types of information available. Now the intermediate level materials that we're bringing to you are from the National Historic Archive, the Nobility Section, or the [FOREIGN], and these were a very late edition. We actually were securing these in the last two weeks before the course started, and working with the director of that archive, we're going to be working with some royal privileges. And these are really extraordinary too, because it's a different kind of cost to document, because you get a sense of what is the king doing? How is the king operating in his domains, and the three documents and all of them kind of give you a sense of what's occurring in Castile. So one set of documents relates to crime and punishment, and it's a one page document, and it's about certain privileges that are being granted to a city. And I'm not sure what's going on here. That's why I brought it to you. I think we should read this document. Another document pertains to special taxes that were being collected in Castile, and those were granted to a particular city for them to use for their own purposes as well. Another kind of interesting set of documents. Now at the advanced level, we have two other pieces, and those are documents that are coming from the municipal archive, as well as from the cathedral archive. There are two different collections, and they're both being generated right in the early 1400s. One set is from the the secret archive of a municipality, and what's intriguing about this collection is that it's detailing again kind of assets and affairs are happening at the very local level. And then in those, what we've been able to identify is there are some Jewish individuals and Christian individuals, all kind of interacting. And so, again, that's another place where we can start to get at the granular nature of relationships. The last set of documents, also granular in nature, is from the cathedral archive, and it's from a collection known as [FOREIGN]. You can literally think about it as the works and maintenance department of a cathedral. But it really is, this collection is about all the activity that goes into maintaining the cathedral and its resources, its properties. And as you can imagine, the cathedral has a lot of property. They're contracting with individuals to maintain properties, they're leasing out properties, and things like that. Again, what we find is that at that granular level, we can see what's happening across the city in little pictures. And ultimately, that's how we really kind of approach history in this day and age. It varies from time to time. But in this case, it's kind of a French annal school of research, where we will come to some larger conclusions, but we're going to do this kind of micro analysis at the base level. And why is that important? Well, for us to come to some conclusions about how people interacted. We really need to see some details. And are those details consistent over time. Do they happen everywhere or are they exception? So by us working on these introductory, intermediate and advanced level projects, we can start to collect that data and assemble it to have a more comprehensive understanding of this historical period. So the last piece I'd like to mention, and it's kind of a farewell and also saying, I hope you stick around, is that if you can, please visit the decipheringsecrets.com website. It's where I report everything about the different Moocs that we're delivering. We're actually in the process, and this is why it's been a bit crazy these last couple of months for me, of releasing a series of eight moocs. And what I'm doing with those, which is different, is breaking those into components that are best suited to each different kind of group of students that are here. So one set of classes is just about coexistence in medieval Spain at the big picture. And it's kind of asking those questions of what's working, what's not working, and looking at little case histories. A second set of courses relates to the process, or ways historians work. So how do we evaluate sources? How do we look for those sources? How do historians work in their craft? How do we analyze documents? Because in this day and age, as we can appreciate, how do you know what you're reading is a real thing? How do you know the resources are robust? And so historians use one set of tools to kind of evaluate what's presented in front of them, the evidence. And that's what I want to present to you. The last section of the course is, that I'm building, are just paleographic courses, and they range from beginner all the way to advanced. And at those advanced levels, we actually will bring back these whole large collection of documents that I've been assembling now for several years. From the city of Plasencia, from the city of Burgos, now from the city of Toledo, and we'll be adding some other cities as well along the way. But those courses, in addition to learning the craft of palaeography, which is great if you're a genealogist, or a family historian, or working on a degree in history, or languages where you want to access these documents. Those types of courses are really good, because you can practice the task of learning to read the manuscripts, but also in some ways, certify that you know what you're doing, and that's what will work in these individualized courses, where you can really hone those skills. And I think the point is at the end of the process, which I think you realize as you start to work in palaeography, it's a very much so kind of a set of techniques, some gut instincts, and ultimately just your best judgment what's on the page. And in many respects, just even after a couple months, we all have our certain levels of expertise, and those are all valuable. So you don't have to have been an expert in paleography for 15 years. Even a couple months of training is the beginning of a really solid foundation for doing your own research, your own writing, and your own investigations. So I appreciate your time. Enjoy this last week. It'll be a little bit challenging. And I hope to see you again very soon. 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