Copyright by Eileen Patricia McKiernan González 2005 The Dissertation Committee for Eileen Patricia McKiernan González certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Monastery and Monarchy: The Foundation and Patronage of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas and Santa María la Real de Sigena Committee: _______________________________ Joan A. Holladay, Supervisor _______________________________ John R. Clarke _______________________________ Glenn A. Peers _______________________________ Martha Newman _______________________________ Pamela Patton Monastery and Monarchy: The Foundation and Patronage of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas and Santa María la Real de Sigena by Eileen Patricia McKiernan González, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2005 In loving memory of my father John William Patrick McKiernan (1939-1982) for whom my heart still aches. Acknowledgements From the beginning seeds of this dissertation I have had the benefit of the support, guidance, and encouragement of my advisor Joan A. Holladay, to whom I will always be indebted. Her trust in my ideas, encouragement of new directions, and meticulous editing, has left their mark on all aspects of this work. I am also deeply grateful to my committee, John R. Clarke, Martha Newman, Pamela Patton, and Glenn A. Peers, for their generous and careful reading of this document and their suggestions for further work. Pamela Patton is also among a group of highly congenial, generous scholars of Iberian Medieval Art from whom I have benefited enormously. I would like to extend my deep gratitude particularly to Therese Martin and James d’Emilio. Both of whom have been generous in sharing unpublished works, introductions, and early support for my ideas. The following foundations also generously provided support for my research in Spain: Program for Cultural Cooperation between Spain’s Ministry of Education and United States Universities, E.W. Doty Endowed Presidential Scholarship in Fine Arts, Medieval Studies Travel Grant, International Education Fee Scholarship, Lucas Foundation Scholarship Fund, and the Graduate Art History Endowed Scholarship. I would also like to thank the following institutions that made my research possible: Archivo de la Corona de Aragón, Archivo Histórico Nacional, Archivo Histórico Provincial de Huesca, Casa de Velázquez, and the Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses. v Both of the monasteries at the center of my research have active communities and both were very generous in opening their doors to me, even on short notice. The restoration work on Santa María la Real de Sigena is slow and ongoing. Yet the Sisters of Belén have always allowed me access to the historic site. At Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, the sisters generously took me into their retreat house on two occasion. I would like to especially thank the archivist, sor Ana María for her patience, spiritedness, and encouragement. She gained permission for me to access several areas within the conventual walls and introduced me to Elena Casas Castells, also working on Cistercian women, who has been an extremely generous colleague. How to thank those who have provided the support, encouragement, and humor all these years? I would not be where I am without my family and friends. I am indebted to their patience in allowing me to explore my ideas, their untiring fascination with them when that was what I needed, and their generosity of reading through multiple drafts at every stage. For this I am particularly grateful to Maureen Quigley and Lisa Kirch for their patient and critical reading of my work. Lisa in particular provided me generous editorial aid in the final incarnation of this dissertation. My brothers John and Larry have provided different readings, encouragement, humor, and support. They have an amazing ability to bring me out of myself and to help me believe in the shape of what I am pursuing. Mamita linda, you above all have made this possible. Mi eterno agradecimiento a todos. vi Monastery and Monarchy: The Foundation and Patronage of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas and Santa María la Real de Sigena Publication No. __________ Eileen Patricia McKiernan González, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2005 Supervisor: Joan A. Holladay Power, piety, and remembrance came together in the artistic patronage of two Iberian queens at the end of the twelfth century. In their endeavors to create lasting institutions that would preserve the memory of their respective dynasties, Leonor Plantagenet, Queen of Castilla, and Sancha of León-Castilla, Queen of Aragón, intentionally supported unique architectural developments in their kingdoms. The monastic foundations of Las Huelgas in Castilla and Sigena in Aragón signal the distinct architectural style to be followed by contemporary architects in each kingdom: Castilla became the flagship of the Gothic style on the peninsula; Aragón, the last bastion of the Romanesque. The queens’ choices as patrons reveal not only their desire to make associations with their natal lands, but also an acute understanding of their realms’ particular political and vii religious situations. The distinct path each took in affiliating their monastery with foreign orders – the Cistercian and Hospitaller respectively – the location of the monastery, the legal constructions, and the choice of architectural style of the institutions reveal a keen awareness of where power lay in their lands. The queens’ establishment of dynastic necropolises at women's foundations affirmed the role of women in the economy of prayer associated with the dead and claimed a greater role for women of the royal house in remembrance. Through their manipulation of these institutions, the monasteries survived, thrived, and maintained a strong royal association into the twentieth century. viii Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter I: Women and power in Twelfth-Century Iberia 24 1. Queens and Royal Power in the Early Iberian Kingdoms 29 2. The Pious Queen: Sancha of León-Castilla 38 3. Leonor Plantagenet: Troubador Queen, Regal Intercessor 55 Chapter II: Monastic Choices for Women in Twelfth-Century Iberia 70 1. Women and the Hospital in the Twelfth Century 74 2. Women and the Cistercian Order in the Twelfth Century 101 Chapter III: Architectural Style and Meaning in Twelfth Century Aragón and Castilla: The role of new trends in architecture at Sigena and Las Huelgas 123 1. The Frómista-Jaca Style: The Development of Romanesque Architecture on the Iberian Peninsula 131 2. Sigena and the Persistence of Romanesque Architecture at the End of the Twelfth Century 136 3. The patronage of Alfonso VIII of Castilla and Leonor Plantagenet in the early incorporation of Gothic architecture on the peninsula 165 Chapter IV: Queens and Royal Burial at the Monasteries of Las Huelgas and Sigena 197 1. Sancha, Alfonso II, and the Struggle over Dynastic Burial Spaces 207 2. Leonor and Alfonso VIII: From Geographic Expansionism to Familial Necropolis 214 Conclusion 237 Illustrations 242 Appendix 308 Bibliography 322 Vita 361 ix Introduction Spectacular exceptions to the usual roles of women in society and politics mark the study of queenship. Queens such as Isabel la Católica in Spain, Elizabeth in England, and Marie de’ Medici in France present case studies of powerful women who commanded nations, armies, and faiths in the early modern period. The Middle Ages had their equivalents in Urraca of León-Castilla (r. 1109-1126) and Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204), queens who entered the mythic realm with songs extolling their willfulness and flagrant disregard for the traditional role of women in their societies. These historic queens, however, were aware of the boundaries of their roles and balanced governance, diplomacy, and religious intervention. Yet they exercised their power in public areas, at a time when women were suppose to tread in private. Even the private sphere of queenship presented arenas of tremendous influence, however, this was influence exercised through familial alliances, wealth, counsel, and lineage. In focusing on exceptional expressions of power, scholars diminish the real power and influence at the disposal of queens who did not flout convention. In this dissertation I analyze the architectural patronage and influence of two lesser-known Iberian queens at the end of the twelfth century: Sancha of León-Castilla (d. 1208) and Leonor Plantagenet (d. 1214). 1 Sancha and Leonor ruled at the sides of their husbands 1 Dulce Ocon Alfonso has also linked Leonor and Sancha in “El papel artístico de la reinas hispanas en la segunda mitad del siglo XII: Leonor de Castilla y Sancha de Aragón,” VII Jornadas de arte: La mujer en el arte español (Madrid, 1997). She discusses the impact of Leonor’s patronage upon Castilla. This is a topic I will look at in depth in chapter 1. Ocon Alonso uses Leonor’s connection to Sicily through her sister Joana to relate her to Sancha’s patronage of the Sicilian-Byzantine fresco cycle in Sigena’s chapterhouse. The remarks on Sancha are an addendum to her argument. 1 for over twenty years during periods of tremendous political and artistic ferment. Poised at a moment of transformation, these queens marked their kingdoms and reveal the sustained power queens could exercise. Their ability to influence their societies was connected to the perception of their piety and care for their families in life and death. This study of queenly power and prestige in the twelfth century argues that stylistic transformation in architecture provides a window into the dynamics of monastic politics in northern Iberia. In 1187 Sancha, as queen of Aragón, and Leonor, as queen of Castilla, founded the monasteries of Santa María la Real de Sigena and Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, respectively. The simultaneous establishment of these two monasteries provides a unique opportunity to study the political and artistic development of monasteries in northern Iberia during the late Reconquest.