Blanche de Castille (Biographies Diverses) (French Edition)

---

London and New York, , p. University Park, PA, , esp. The enthroned queen turns with a gesture to her son Louis IX b. Art, Music, History, ed. Maxwell University Park, PA, , pp.

See color plate According to one such vignette, Louis and his brothers assisted the monks in carry- ing stones to the building site. Thus, in one story that takes place at the abbey, Louis scolds his boisterous younger broth- ers, reminding them that they should behave like the monks themselves. In the following, I will quote the edition. It should also be compared to the 21, livres Blanche spent on 6 years of wages and materials for the construction of Maubuisson, see below note Michaels, he has his own cell at the abbey , p.

Guillaume explains that half the dossier was sent to him from Rome, the other half was given to him by Jean de Samois, Bishop of Rennes — and Lisieux — See also Le Goff, Saint-Louis, pp.

Henri Platelle Rome, , pp. Jules de Gaulle, 6 vols. Paris, — , vol. Blanche and her son Louis. Attributing to the royal patrons direct agency and control over architectural design, he con- sidered agency to be conditioned essentially by the moral character or the personal taste of a patron. Scholars like Caroline Bruzelius pointed out that while mid-thirteenth- century architecture can be associated with Paris and the prestige of the royal court, it cannot be narrowed down to the sole influence of the king.

Sherborne London, , pp. Romanesque and Gothic in Northern Europe, ed.

Blanche of Castile, queen of France | Epistolae

Conrad Rudolph Oxford, , pp. Her uncompromising reaction to the Paris University riots of speaks of severity rather than moderation. With their radical new approach, blending architectural, social, and material history, the authors challenged many of the existing theoretical models, among them earlier approaches to patronage and a concentration on prestigious buildings. In comparing Maubuisson, Le Lys, and Royaumont, they argued that there was never a single royal court style. Royaumont became a mausoleum for the royal children, the queen herself was buried at Maubuisson, and her heart was brought to Le Lys.

Furthermore, the flat east end of Le Lys, compared to the polygonal one at Maubuisson, indicates together with other details that the convent reserved for the heart of the queen had a lower status than the one that served as the burial place for her body. Yves Gallet Paris, , pp. Such an approach offers not only a far broader understanding of the effects of patronage on architecture, but furthermore, by associating the choices of patrons and architects with the function, status, and meaning of the building, the model, ultimately, anchors the idea of patronage in a more historically grounded context.

Most importantly, the authors infer from the architectural dif- ferences between Royaumont, Maubuisson, and Le Lys that a male com- munity would have enjoyed a higher status than a female community in thirteenth-century France. Another problem concerns the proposed hierarchy of burial places. However, Kimpel and Suckale do not mention that debate, stating only that Royaumont was built for members of the royal family. A Medieval and Modern Woman. Clarefest Selected Papers, ed.

Bonaventure and New York, , pp. Cistercian Nuns and Their World, ed. Lillich Kalamazoo, MI, , pp. For male Cistercian abbey churches that continued to use the square eastern apse, see Matthias Untermann, Forma Ordinis: The only way of explaining why the royal family should be buried in more ostentatious surrounding than the queen herself would be to assume that simplicity was an automatic cate- gory of female patronage.

In fact, the importance of later heart burials for the Capetians and the often very elaborate tombs suggest that the relationship between the two rituals was not a hierarchical one. Therefore, in the case of Royaumont, Maubuisson, and Le Lys, the idea of a stylistic hierarchy, although liberating us from the narrow notion of a single court style, also challenges us to question our ideas of status and decorum in connection with female patronage and to re-examine closely the circumstances surrounding the foundation of all three sites.

Due to the survival of sources we are better informed about the work at Maubuisson than at Le Lys, but the construc- tion and foundation of the two abbeys seem to have followed the same pattern. My references are to the posthumous publication: The author points out that most of the archives of Le Lys were destroyed or dispersed in the Revolution. Over the next six years a total of 21, livres Parisis, 15 solidi, and 4 derniers was spent on wages and materials.

Et hec est recepta magistri Richardi de Torni pro operibus dicte abbacie, que fundata fuit prima ebdomada post Penthecosten.

You are here

See also Berger, Blanche de Castille, pp. Analyse du cartulaire et annexes Pontoise, , pp. Berman, Women and Monasticism in Medieval Europe: However, purchases of linen for dresses, shoes, etc. See Pierre Soulier, ed. Studies in Honor of Jean Leclercq, ed. Rozanne Elder, Kalamazoo, MI, , pp. We know of 8 charters that were given by the queen in the years and The central part of the foundation charters for Maubuisson March and Le Lys June uses the same terms, and Le Lys itself was settled by a community of nuns from Maubuisson.

Cir- cumstantial evidence suggests that the queen was preparing for her death at least by the late s. Before leaving on crusade, in June , Louis IX allowed Blanche to use in advance the revenues from her income for the two years that would follow her death or her entry into religious life, sug- gesting that Blanche intended to join a monastery at the end of her life.

Five or six days before her death she joined the Cistercian order of Maubuisson.

On the subject of donations made by the queen see also Berger, Blanche de Castille, p. Blanche herself made 2 further donations in and before her death in Berger, Blanche de Castille, pp. Paris Paulin, Paris, — , pp. See also her helpful summary of this discussion, pp. Nolan suggests that Capetian queens might have chosen burial away from Saint- Denis, while earlier Erlande-Brandenburg, Le roi est mort, pp. The seventeenth-century Sebastian Rouillard, who claims to base his accounts on earlier documents, recounts that Blanche herself asked for her heart to be taken to Le Lys before her death.

The parallel circumstances of the foundation, making the convents sister abbeys, are—as we shall see—also reflected in the architectural similarities of the abbey churches, suggesting that the abbeys were built with a similar purpose in mind. The Case for Blanche as a Patron of Royaumont Despite the fact that Louis acted as the principal founder of Royaumont in the charters, there are, as Branner noted, many good reasons for supposing that Blanche was the instigator of the foundation. In his testament of , the dying King Louis VIII stipulated that the crown jewels should be sold to found a Victorine abbey in his memory.

He renamed it Royaumont Regalis Mons , inviting, however, not a Victorine but a Cistercian community. On the title page, Rouillard claims for his study: See also Berger, Blanche de Castille, p.

Guillaume de Nangis, Chronicon, ed. Ludovicus rex Franciae fundavit abbatiam Regalis Montis. In qua ab initio novitatis suae abbatem cum xx. Monachis de ordine Cisterciensi ad serviendum Domino ibidem instituit,. Latin ; published by Duclos, Histoire de Royaumont, pp.

Blanche of Castile, queen of France

See also Lester K. Her nephew Alfonso, son of her sister Urraca, was brought up at the French court.

Among the people in her entourage several were perhaps Castilian, among them a Lady Mincia. In Imitation of Fontevrault?

Royaumont, Maubuisson, and Le Lys were all founded near royal resi- dences, not unlike Las Huelgas, which was founded on the outskirts of the northern Castilian capital of Burgos and perhaps replaced a country seat in that place. At Las Huelgas, a royal palace was constructed near the convent.

Blanche also built a palace next to Maubuisson. Baker Oxford, , pp. Christian Freigang Frankfurt, , p. Quam quidem abbatiam, sanctam Mariam regale,. Colum Hourihane Tempe, AZ, , pp. Alfonso and Leonor had pledged their bodies to the convent in and, after their deaths in , they were buried in a double sarcopha- gus, perhaps directly in the church. Blanche had lost several children, among them Philippe, born in as heir to the throne and died in , who was buried at Notre-Dame.

Another son, Etienne died some time after his birth in , and Jean de France died in For a genealogy, see Le Goff, Saint-Louis, p. However, one could also argue that Jean was not buried at Royaumont because the church was still under construction. In addition, envoys from her sisters Berenguela — and Leonor d. From her parents, Blanche must have learned the importance of count- ing the Order amongst her allies, both politically and spiritually. The Royaumont foundation charter certainly does not mention burial. While we do not have her letter on the subject, there is a record of a request from Blanche to pope Honorius III, asking his help for vows she knows she made during illnesses of her children but of which she has forgotten the substance.

The pope writes to the prior of St. Victor in Paris asking him to hear her confession and commute the vows into works of mercy HGF Vatican, , 1. Nonetheless, Louis held much of south-east England, including London. They would have preferred a son of Blanche, but she did not press that claim, a renunciation the poet Sordello held against her in his lament for Blacatz lines Louis himself died only three years later, leaving Blanche, by his will, in charge of the government and the kingdom.

Blanche took an active part in the affairs of the kingdom: The marriages did not occur, however, and the rebel army regrouped. Not everyone was happy with her administration. Unusually concerned with the plight of the poor, she rescued serfs from prison and from abuse by canons, heading the force that freed them in person Pernoud, , and she freed many serfs before her death Pernoud, But she gave alms generously to the poor and to the sick and lepers and she was an enthusiastic supporter of the Cistercian order.

He makes much of her grief for her sons, suggesting it hastened her death, which he reports thus: Her death, a great loss and source of grief to the French, was prematurely brought on by manifold sorrows. Fayard, , 88, notes that her husband had confirmed her dowery in an act of the royal chancellery in at her request, which he thinks suggests that she was already aware of opposition and protecting herself in case he died.

Albin Michel, , Most of the details of Blanche's biography come from Pernoud. Warren, King John New Haven:

• Una ola de terror (Vampiratas 2) (Spanish Edition)
• Requiem in C Minor, Op. 54: No. 2, Dies Irae
• Breaking the Maverick Code: Let Your Mind Take You to Places Far Beyond Your Imagination
• Past Perfect
• Covert Coffee (The Serena Wilcox Mysteries Dystopian Thriller Trilogy Book 2)