Enbies tu graçia e acreçientes sus virtudes. Female power, virtue and the Querelle des femmes in Constanza de Castilla’s tomb

Abstract

Despite its historical and artistic signiicance, the female Dominican convent of Santo Domingo el Real de Madrid, founded in 1219, was demolished in 1869. Some of the works of art it contained, such as the so-called Madona de Madrid, are now housed in a new convent constructed on the site of the old one, while other objects – including the tomb of its prioress, Constanza de Castilla, originally located in the conventual choir – were transferred to the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid. In the present paper I will briely examine Constanza’s priorate, with a special focus on the privileges she enjoyed thanks to her royal lineage, as well as her artistic and pioneering spiritual, political and social interests. All were partly expressed in her exceptional sepulchre, worthy of a wise woman ahead of her time.