Memoria, panegírico y epigrafía: la condesa Teresa Peláez de Carrión (ob. 1093)

Abstract

In the present article, we undertake the first in-depth analysis and contextualization of the funerary inscription from the tomb lid of Countess Teresa de Carrión (d. 1093), designed by the monks at the Cluniac priory of San Zoilo in Carrión de los Condes (Palencia). Focusing on the figure of a carismatic woman from the central Middle Ages, we investigate the context of the elite kin network in Castilla-León to which she pertained, as well as the deliberate construction of her memory in later centuries. The memorial discourse was created through a complex web of documentation, both visual and written, which developed in differing patterns for a range of purposes. Their ultimate common goal was to establish an attractive – and lucrative – history of the countess as monastic patron during a time when the institution was falling into progressive decadence. In unexpected results, the material evidence of the inscription opens a new window onto a little-studied moment in the history of the monastery through the deliberate elevation of a past female patron.