The coat of arms of Louis II, King of Hungary and Bohemia, in the choir of Barcelona Cathedral. The role and significance of the Jagiellonian dynasty in the nineteenth assembly of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1519

Abstract

The 19th assembly of the Order of the Golden Fleece took place in Barcelona in March 1519 in the choir of the cathedral. After the sudden death of Emperor Maximilian I, the Habsburg, the chair of this prestigious meeting was held by his son, the young King of Spain and Head of the Order, Charles I. As a commemoration of this convention, a heraldic prospect of all the noble participants was commissioned. Among the 64 painted and gilded coats of arms there is also the heraldic sign of Louis II the Jagiellon, King of Hungary and Bohemia. Using the document named Codex 243, held in the Barcelona Cathedral Archives, which I had the pleasure to investigate in the summer of 2019, the course of the four days’ celebrations can be reconstructed and an attempt made to resolve the question of the place and role of the Jagiellonian dynasty in the network of and medieval tradition of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The priority of this work is to draw the readers’ attention to the artistic qualities of both: the Barcelona Cathedral choir stalls and the heraldic prospect of coats of arms of the European aristocracy at the beginning of the sixteenth century.