In a world dominated by and for men, those who choose to stand out are sacrificed by History. Among queens and consorts of our legacy, with a name known but of English origins, Leonor de Plantagenet, consort of Alfonso VIII, should stand out.
Her mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was not at all a woman of her time, quite the opposite, she was a revolutionary in every sense who paid for it with imprisonment in the tower, but even from there, she continued to control the threads of life. In contrast, her father had an endless number of conflicts. His struggles with his children over power are well known, as is the intense character of the monarch, the conquests of Wales, Scotland, the British Isles and Ireland. From this mix of parents was born Leonor, who, among Richard, dubbed "the Lionheart" mythologized by Robin Hood's legend, and the future consort, were the most attached to their mother. She was married to Alfonso VIII, known as "of Las Navas," from whom she had a total of ten children. While it was a marriage in line with the political interests of Henry and Alfonso himself, it resulted in a fruitful and harmonious relationship. So much so that both lie in a joined tomb in the central nave of the Monastery of Las Huelgas.
After this brief comment on the life of the queen, we proceed to what is here intended, nothing less than to highlight her artistic work. In Burgos, a city that saw the death of the "lovers of Teruel," considered also the royal city, Leonor, in 1187, made an important donation to the convent of Las Huelgas, which she had sponsored alongside her husband. Also noteworthy are the Hospital del Rey (1209) and the Monastery of Santa Maria Regalis; In Soria, the facade of the Church of Santo Domingo stands out; in Toledo there is a chapel dedicated to the martyr founded by Count Don Nuño. Salamanca had the church of Santo Tomás Cantuariense in 1175. There are also examples of sculpture under Leonor's influence, these were statue-columns due to the influence received from her place of origin. Examples of them can be found in the church of San Martín de Fuentidueña, in Segovia, where one could see the Annunciation ensemble. As for paintings, we highlight the mural paintings of the tower of the Monastery of Arlanza (Yagüe and Martínez, 2017).
Stepping away a bit from the major arts, it is well known that the influence of troubadours was strong in Eleanor of Aquitaine's court, as she was a great patroness of them. It is therefore logical to think that her daughter also brought this influence to Castilian lands. In fact, there were at least eight troubadours: Bertrand de Born, Folquet de Marseille, Guevaudán, Guiraut de Calenson, Ramón Vidal de Besalú, Peire Rogier, Guiraut de Borneul, and Aimeric de Peguillan (Cerda, 2012).
As we can see, the marriage between both future monarchs meant, on one hand, the alliance between the kingdoms of England and Castile, as well as a cooperative life project. Leonor brought with her influences of a new artistic style, the proto-Gothic Cistercian, while Alfonso established the Castilian tradition. For all this, for her literary and artistic work, and her great role as queen consort, Leonor deserves the place that History has barely given her.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Yagüe Poza, M. and Martínez Olivares D (2017). Alfonso VII and Leonor of England: Artistic Confluences around 1200. Ediciones Complutense. Madrid.
Cerda J.Manuel (2012). Leonor Plantagenet and the Consolidation of Castile during Alfonso VII's Reign. Anuario de Estudios Medievales. Universidad de Mistral.
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