Celo inter manus pontificum tradidit spiritum. The Ideology surrounding Royal Deaths in the Light of the Latin Castilian-Leonese Chronicles (Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries)

Abstract

The death of a king in the medieval chronicles is an incomparable historiographical locus from which to examine this phenomenon. Historiographical texts written at the Castilian-Leonese court during the twelfth century and first half of the thirteenth century, in addition to offering first hand information on royal deaths and the accompanying ceremonies and funeral rites, fully reflect the ideological conceptions and propagandistic constructs surrounding such exceptional events, as will be seen in the first section of this article. In a second section, attention will be paid to the narrative and literary treatment given to the death of a king, as on a formal plane this is also considered to be an event of notable importance.