Burying a Saintly King and his Dynasty: Memory and Representation in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century Castile

The second tombs commissioned for Alfonso VIII of Castile and his wife Eleanor Plantagenet at the Royal Monastery of Las Huelgas, Burgos represent a departure from traditional forms of sepulchral design, especially that represented by Alfonso VIII's original tomb. In this article I argue that this departure was intended to promote a fusion of the saintly image of Alfonso VIII, gained by his important role in the reconquista, through the evocation of reliquaries and the tombs of saints. This was also the beginning of a dynastic style evoked by generations of the royal family, or infantes, who were interred at the monastery. These Castilian tombs and their evocative style cannot be understood in isolation. They are part of a larger pattern of dynastic burial monasteries, usually pertaining to the Cistercian order, commissioned by twelfth-century Sicilian, French, and English monarchs. This connection is further exemplified by comparisons to the monuments commissioned by James II of Aragon for himself and his father, the first Aragonese kings of Sicily. These comparisons suggest these tombs speak to issues of medieval self-representation, historical memory, and propaganda among the highly interconnected royal families of twelfth- and thirteenth-century Europe.