«Tendrán la Regla a la letra». Religious observance and royal patronage in late medieval Spain

Abstract

In the late Middle Ages, the observant reform had important consequences for the identity and spirituality of the religious orders, which tried to recover the splendour of past times by (re)constructing and (re)creating the past. In Spain, this profound reform process was supported by the monarchy, which sought to link its main political strategies to the emerging observant spirituality, often influenced by their own confessors. The paper aims to analyse this complex scenario from three different angles: the Trastamara dynasty’s support for the eremitical spirit of certain reformist initiatives, the conception of the Observant movement as a royal commemorative strategy, and the close relationship between royal patronage, observance, and female virtue.