Crown of Sancho IV

Last updated April 16, 2023

The crown of Sancho IV, imperial crown or crown of the cameos is a royal crown which belonged to King Sancho IV of Castile. The crown was first mentioned by Alfonso X of Castile in his will on 21 January 1284.^[1]^[2]^[3] Known to have been worn at least by kings Fernando III, Alfonso X, and Sancho IV,^[1] the crown was buried with the latter in the Cathedral of Toledo, and fortuitously discovered in 1948 when archaeologists were conducting a search for the tomb of Sancho II of Portugal. As such, it is one of very few extant and entirely unmodified medieval royal crowns in existence.

Description

The crown, measuring some 57×8cm, is made up of eight 7×4.5cm gilded silver plates joined by hinges. At the top, in the centre of each plate, is a heraldic castle with three towers.

In the centre of each plaque is a precious stone or a cameo. Four have uncut sapphires; alternating with the sapphires are four cameos: two of Imperial Roman origin and two of Staufer or Southern Italian origin. The two roman cameos, dating back to the 1st century CE, depict portraits of Drusus the Younger and Queen Omphale, covered with the skin of the Lion of Nemea.^[1] The medieval italian cameos copy the style of ancient roman cameos, and depict two unidentified men.^[1]

History

The crown was mentioned for the first time in the will of Alfonso X the Wise on 21 January 1284:^[1]

[...] e las coronas con las piedras e los camafeos que lo haya todo aquel que con derecho por nos heredase nuestro señoría mayor de Castilla y León. [...and the crowns with the stones and the cameos, may them be had by whoever rightfully inherits from us our lordship of Castilla and Leon.]

The three preserved copies of the will speak of crowns in plural.^[1] The use of cameos in Castilian royal crowns seems to not have been infrequent.^[1] Indeed, on 1 November 1362 Pedro I of Castile granted his testament in Seville, in which he wrote:^[1]

[...] I also command to the said Infanta Doña Constanza, my daughter, the crown that belonged to my father's king [...] in which are the cameos.

The treatment of the royal crowns and jewels was similar to the distribution of the family jewels of a father to his children. Sancho IV ordered his burial in the Cathedral of Toledo in 1285:^[1]

[...] we choose our burial in the Holy Church of Santa María aforesaid [of Toledo]. And when it might be God's will that we shall perish, we order that we be entombed in that place we arranged with archbishop don Gonçalvo and the dean Miguel Ximénez[...]

On the death of King Sancho IV on 25 April 1295, he was buried in a chapel of the Cathedral which the king himself had ordered be built, and to which he had transferred the remains of all other monarchs buried in Toledo. The tomb, probably a simple stone box, was soon replaced by a better one, ordered by his widow. The body was transferred to the new tomb in 1308, which possibly corresponds to the one that can be seen today to the right of the main altar. The body was moved again in the 16th century by order of Cardinal Cisneros, who placed them in their current location, where the crown was found.^[2]

Discovery

The crown was found in 1948 during the search for the tomb of Sancho II of Portugal in the high altar area of Toledo Cathedral. Four sarcophagi were found: that of Alfonso VI of Castile, that of his son Sancho III of Castile, that of Sancho IV, and that of the infant Pedro, son of Alfonso XI of Castile. These sarcophagi had miraculously escaped the plundering of the comuneros and the Napoleonic troops.^[1] The body of Sancho IV was found wrapped in a quilt.^[2]

The corpse of a man, of tall stature, appeared open, for in the process of sepulchral corruption the soles of his feet, which ordinarily form an angle with his legs, were shown to have fallen forward; he also wore a crown of eight links, supported by a hempen cord which, like a chinstrap, passed under his chin. The corpse, mummified and in an excellent state of preservation, was naked from the waist up and wore a kind of panty or pants and a San Francisco cord around his waist. Wearing fine leather shoes, he carried a broad-bladed sword with an illegible inscription and on the upper part of the pommel some enamels, which are now missing, and a circular ornament, which may have originally contained some enamel or relic, as the arabesques on one of its sides suggest.
— J. F. Rivera Recio (1985)^[4]

The crown is currently held in the cathedral of Toledo.^[1]

Related Research Articles

Ferdinand II, was a member of the Castilian cadet branch of the House of Ivrea and King of León and Galicia from 1157 until his death.

Alfonso X was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germany on 1 April. He renounced his claim to Germany in 1275, and in creating an alliance with the Kingdom of England in 1254, his claim on the Duchy of Gascony as well.

Alfonso VI, nicknamed the Brave or the Valiant, was king of León (1065–1109), Galicia (1071–1109), and Castile (1072–1109).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferdinand IV of Castile</span> King of Castile and León

Ferdinand IV of Castile called the Summoned, was King of Castile and León from 1295 until his death.

Ferdinand I, called the Great, was the count of Castile from his uncle's death in 1029 and the king of León after defeating his brother-in-law in 1037. According to tradition, he was the first to have himself crowned Emperor of Spain (1056), and his heirs carried on the tradition. He was a younger son of Sancho III of Navarre and Muniadona of Castile, and by his father's will recognised the supremacy of his eldest brother, García Sánchez III of Navarre. While Ferdinand inaugurated the rule of the Navarrese Jiménez dynasty over western Spain, his rise to preeminence among the Christian rulers of the peninsula shifted the focus of power and culture westward after more than a century of Leonese decline. Nevertheless, "[t]he internal consolidation of the realm of León–Castilla under Fernando el Magno and [his queen] Sancha (1037–1065) is a history that remains to be researched and written."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry II of Castile</span> King of Castile and León

Henry II, called Henry of Trastámara or the Fratricidal, was the first King of Castile and León from the House of Trastámara. He became king in 1369 by defeating his half-brother Peter the Cruel, after numerous rebellions and battles. As king he was involved in the Fernandine Wars and the Hundred Years' War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sancho IV of Castile</span> King of Castile and León from 1284 to 1295

Sancho IV of Castile called the Brave, was the king of Castile, León and Galicia from 1284 to his death. Following his brother Ferdinand's death, he gained the support of nobles that declared him king instead of Ferdinand's son Alfonso. Faced with revolts throughout his reign, before he died he made his wife regent for his son Ferdinand IV.

The Kingdom of Castile was a large and powerful state on the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Its name comes from the host of castles constructed in the region. It began in the 9th century as the County of Castile, an eastern frontier lordship of the Kingdom of León. During the 10th century, its counts increased their autonomy, but it was not until 1065 that it was separated from León and became a kingdom in its own right. Between 1072 and 1157, it was again united with León, and after 1230, this union became permanent. Throughout this period, the Castilian kings made extensive conquests in southern Iberia at the expense of the Islamic principalities. The Kingdoms of Castile and of León, with their southern acquisitions, came to be known collectively as the Crown of Castile, a term that also came to encompass overseas expansion.

The coat of arms of the Spanish autonomous community of Castile and León depicts the traditional arms of Castile quartered with the arms of León. It is topped with a royal crown.

Alfonso of León, Lord of Molina was an infante (prince) of León and Castile, the son of King Alfonso IX of León and his second wife Queen Berengaria of Castile. He was the brother of King Ferdinand III of Castile and León, and father of Queen Maria of Molina, wife of King Sancho IV. He became Lord of Molina and Mesa after his first marriage to Mafalda González de Lara, the heiress of those lands.

Constance of Portugal, was Queen of Castile by her marriage to Ferdinand IV.

The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then Castilian king, Ferdinand III, to the vacant Leonese throne. It continued to exist as a separate entity after the personal union in 1469 of the crowns of Castile and Aragon with the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs up to the promulgation of the Nueva Planta decrees by Philip V in 1715.

María Alfonso Téllez de Meneses, known as María de Molina, was queen consort of Castile and León from 1284 to 1295 by marriage to Sancho IV of Castile, and served as regent for her minor son Ferdinand IV and later her grandson Alfonso XI of Castile (1312-1321).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elisabeth of Swabia</span> Queen consort of Castile

Elisabeth of Swabia, was a member of the House of Hohenstaufen who became Queen of Castile and Leon by marriage to Ferdinand III.

Philip of Castile was an Infante of Castile and son of Ferdinand III, King of Castile and León, and his first queen, Beatrice of Swabia. He was Lord of Valdecorneja, and, according to some sources, Knight of the Order of the Temple, in one of those churches, the Church of Santa María la Blanca in Villalcázar de Sirga, he was buried in a coffin adorned with emblems of the Templars.

The Pantheon of Asturian Kings is a chapel of Nuestra Señora del Rey Casto in the Cathedral of San Salvador, Oviedo, Spain. It is the burial place of many of the rulers of the medieval kingdoms of Asturias and León.

Juan Núñez I de Lara y León, also known as "el Gordo" or "the Fat", was a Spanish noble. He was the head of the House of Lara, Lord of Lerma, Amaya, Dueñas, Palenzuela, Tordehumos, Torrelobatón, and la Mota. He was further known as Señor de Albarracín through his first marriage with Teresa Álvarez de Azagra.

The Royal Collegiate Church of Saint Hippolytus is a Catholic Church in Córdoba, (Spain) founded in 1343 at the initiative of King Alfonso XI of Castile. The church, which was later granted in perpetuity to the Society of Jesus, contains the tombs of King Ferdinand IV and his son Alfonso XI.

The Castilian House of Burgundy is a cadet branch of the House of Ivrea descended from Raymond of Burgundy. Raymond married Urraca, the eldest legitimate daughter of Alfonso VI of León and Castile of the House of Jiménez. Two years after Raymond's death, Urraca succeeded her father and became queen of Castile and Leon; Urraca's and Raymond's offspring in the legitimate line ruled the kingdom from 1126 until the death of Peter of Castile in 1369, while their descendants in an illegitimate line, the House of Trastámara, would rule Castile and Aragón until the 16th century.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Gonzalo Menéndez Pidal (1986). La España del siglo XIII: leída en imágenes (in Spanish). Real Academia de la Historia. p. 40. ISBN 9788460048619.
1 2 3 Isidro G. Bango Torviso (2014–2015). "La llamada corona de Sancho IV y los emblemas de poder real" (PDF). Alcanate: Revista de estudios Alfonsíes (in Spanish) (9): 261–286. ISSN 1579-0576 . Retrieved 15 November 2021.
↑ "MAVIT 000079 - Corona del Rey Sancho IV de Castilla". Museo Catedralicio de la Catedral de Toledo.
↑ J. F. Rivera Recio (1985), Los restos de Sancho IV en la catedral de Toledo. Crónica retrospectiva (in Spanish), Real Academia de Bellas Artes y Ciencias Históricas de Toledo, pp. 127–137

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Menéndez-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Gonzalo Menéndez Pidal (1986). La España del siglo XIII: leída en imágenes (in Spanish). Real Academia de la Historia. p. 40. ISBN 9788460048619.

[Bango-2] 1 2 3 Isidro G. Bango Torviso (2014–2015). "La llamada corona de Sancho IV y los emblemas de poder real" (PDF). Alcanate: Revista de estudios Alfonsíes (in Spanish) (9): 261–286. ISSN 1579-0576 . Retrieved 15 November 2021.

[MCT-3] "MAVIT 000079 - Corona del Rey Sancho IV de Castilla". Museo Catedralicio de la Catedral de Toledo.

[4] J. F. Rivera Recio (1985), Los restos de Sancho IV en la catedral de Toledo. Crónica retrospectiva (in Spanish), Real Academia de Bellas Artes y Ciencias Históricas de Toledo, pp. 127–137

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]