Queen as King: Politics and Architectural Propaganda in Twelfth-Century Spain

Queen as King traces the origins of San Isidoro in León as a royal monastic complex, following its progress as the site changed from a small eleventh—century palatine chapel housed in a double monastery to a great twelfth—century pilgrimage church served by Augustinian canons. Its most groundbreaking contribution to the history of art is the recovery of the lost patronage of Queen Urraca (reigned 1109—1126). Urraca maintained yet subverted her family’s tradition of patronage on the site: to...