The Church in Western Iberia (León, Asturias, Galicia, and Portugal) III: Women’s Religious Communities

Session 1216: Wednesday, July 8, 14:15 - 15:45 The Church in Western Iberia (León, Asturias, Galicia, and Portugal) III: Women’s Religious Communities Abstract: The prominent women’s religious communities of León and Castile in the Central Middle Ages have attracted particular attention in connection with the patronage of women of the royal family and the institution of the Infantado, an inheritance of royal princesses that included oversight of nunneries closely associated with the Crown. These three papers look at a broader class of aristocratic women, their motives and methods for founding and supporting nunneries, and their patronage, production, and performance of works of art and the liturgy in nunneries, particularly of the Cistercians and Dominicans. Sponsor: Société d’Études Interdisciplinaires sur les Femmes au Moyen Âge et à la Renaissance (SEIFMAR) Organiser: James D’Emilio, Department of Humanities, University of South Florida Moderator/Chair: Raquel Alonso Álvarez, Departamento de Historia del Arte y Musicología, Universidad de Oviedo Papers: a. Why Found a Convent?: Female Patronage in Times of Reform, Laura Cayrol-Bernardo, Centre de Recherches Historiques, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris b. Founders and Families: Networks of Noblewomen and the Cistercian Nunneries of León, James D’Emilio, Department of Humanities, University of South Florida c. Reassessing Women’s Agency in the Architecture and Liturgy of Dominican Nunneries in the Western Iberian Peninsula, 13th-15th Centuries, Mercedes Pérez Vidal, Centro de Investigaciones sobre América Latina y el Caribe (CIALC), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México