*4.2. Sigillography*

There are three stages in the changes to the legends and iconographies on Peter IV's stamps and seals [22]. The greatest differences can be seen in the second stage when, in documents from 1343 and 1344 and in accordance with the order that he alludes to in his chronicle (See [1], chap. 3), the king used imprints that were new in iconographic and formal terms, although, typologically, they retain the traditional style: that is, an enthroned effigy on the obverse and an equestrian effigy on the reverse.

In his main seal, the majesty effigy stands out for the change in the design and the complex solium which, surmounted by lions and covered by embroidered cloth, is reminiscent of those in vogue in France from the times of Louis IX [23] (Figure 3). The equestrian image also introduces novelties: first, although it maintains the star preceding the rider, there is a change in the direction in which the king rides, who now shows his right side in accordance with the Anglo-French type [24] and the model used by the King of Mallorca. Secondly, on the head of the Sovereign, which stands out against the filigree background, is the crest of the dragon, this being the first graphic evidence of its use by a king of Aragon (See [17], pp. 91–92).

**Figure 3.** Seals of Peter IV. Above: 1337. Below: 1343–1344 and 1344. Published by De Sagarra, *Sigil*·*lografia*, nums. 57, 59, 58.

In 1344 he issued a new seal also based on Mallorcan pieces (See [22], num. 261). This new type continued without interruption until the Catholic Monarchs and shows the enthroned king and a counterstamp with a shield crowned with the arms of Aragon.

After proclaiming himself king of Mallorca, Peter IV took the iconography of the Mallorcan royal sigillography and, after mixing it with other designs from Aragon and Navarre, created new types exclusively for himself (More details in [18]). He achieved a suitable image by not reusing the same imprints as his deposed predecessor, while at the same time integrating himself into the artistic trends of the time.

#### *4.3. Court and Household Ordinances*

Encouraged by those close to him [25] and moved by his desire to provide his court with regulations that would guarantee institutional decorum, he ordered the drafting of ordinances for his house and court, the oldest manuscript of which contains annotations in his own handwriting (See [14], estudi introductori). There were earlier ordinances that James II had put into practice after his return from Sicily, perhaps also using certain Hohenstaufen provisions as a model [26,27]. It is no coincidence that Peter IV's date is from 1344, just after the conquest of Mallorca. He seems to have taken the *Leges Palatinae* of the island as a model, given the textual and iconographic coincidences between both manuscripts [28,29].

In his miniatures, the king, elegantly attired, attends to each official whose ordinances he heads. The first folio is extraordinary (Figure 4). The border contains plant and animal motifs and the coat of arms of Aragon (the paly), the cross of Saint George (whom Peter emphasised for his role as defender of the monarchy and of whom he obtained relics) and the cross of Iñigo Arista (which he defined as the "ancient sign of the king of Aragon") [30]. Within the initial, Peter IV sits on a magnificent Gothic throne raised by steps and decorated with coats of arms bearing the pales of Aragon, a pattern that is repeated in the solemn vestments and cushions, including the one beneath his feet. It is a visual representation of what is laid down in the ordinances, both in terms of how the king should dress, his *regalia* and accessories, and in terms of how the attendants should position themselves in relation to him and address him (See [14], among other chaps. 81. De les vestedures e altres ornaments; and 89. De la manera de seer e proposar en consell nostre; Study of its illuminations in [17], pp. 276–283).

**Figure 4.** *Ordinacions de Cort*, Ms. Esp. 99, Paris, Biblothèque Nationale de France ©. Fol. 1r. Peter IV. c. 1370–1380. Published by Alturo, J. *El llibre manuscrit a Catalunya. Orígens I esplendor*; Generalitat de Catalunya: Barcelona, Spain, 2009, p. 253.

#### **5. Artistic Commissions for the Glory of the Monarchy**

It is not possible to analyse all the effigies of Peter IV that have survived from the Middle Ages, such as the mural paintings of Daroca, the dozens of illuminations of the copies of the *Usatges i Constitucions de Catalunya*, in the various *fueros*, the *Tercer Llibre Verd*, or in privileges such as those of the Carthusian monastery of Valldecrist. And in sculpture, such as the sepulchre of Lope Fernández de Luna, the reliquary of the corporals of Daroca, or the ephemeral votive offerings, to cite just a few examples (see [17]). But I will detail those commissions that, on a royal and symbolic level, were the most eloquent or significant.

## *5.1. Devotion and Profitability*

There were many devotional commissions that he sought to benefit from. For example, his obsession with siring a son to guarantee the continuity of his lineage led him to commission, sometime around 1341–1342, the Book of Hours of Mary of Navarre. Although its pages do not feature effigies of the king, it was commissioned for praying and exhorative purposes, as is illustrated on folio 15v, which shows the young queen praying in front of a *Virgo lactans* [31].

#### 5.1.1. Second Translation of the Relics of Saint Eulalia

Described in detail in the documentation ([32], also see [1], Chap. 2), this translation had iconographic repercussions (Figure 5) and consisted of offering a new burial place to the saint at a particularly propitious moment for the king, who was in Barcelona on one of his first visits as sovereign to receive homage from the man who would shortly afterwards lose his kingdom, Jaume III of Mallorca [33–35].

**Figure 5.** Santa Eulalia sarcophagus, detail. c. 1327. © Barcelona Cathedral, serie 28, n. 40; *Misal de Santa Eulalia*, Ms. 116, Barcelona, Arxiu Capitular ©. Fol. 308r. 1403. Published by Alturo, *Llibre ma-nuscrit*, p. 173.

The tomb of the saint follows Italian models by Lupo di Francesco [36]. The cover, by another artist, displays sculpted motifs that were contemporary to the time of its execution, which itself was exceptional in the sculpture carried out in the Crown of Aragon at that time. During the solemn translation of 1339, among the retinue following the religious dignitaries (the Cardinal of Rhodes, the Archbishop of Tarragona and some of the "bishops and prelates of our kingdoms" (See [1], Chapter 2, pp. 34–35), three individuals stand out in the foreground: the one in the centre is Peter IV, who takes off one of his gloves to touch the saint with his right hand before she is placed in the final tomb. To his right is the *Infante* don Jaime, brother of the king and then Count of Urgell [37]. It is unanimously agreed that the king of Mallorca is absent, although he could be the personage also wearing a diadem in the background, just behind Peter IV (See [16], p. 437). Finally, preceding the king, wearing a nun's habit and with a troubled gesture, is Queen Elisenda, by then already living in seclusion at Santa Maria de Pedralbes.

A later iconographic echo is found on fol. 308v of the *Missal de Santa Eulàlia*, illuminated in 1403 by Rafael Destorrents and members of his workshop [38]. The Proper of Saints describes the first translation, but the presence of the king with his back turned (which can be explained by the fact that he had died when the manuscript was completed) seems to indicate that the scene refers to the second translation (See [38] p. 51. Also Planas, J. La Miniatura Catalana del Periodo Internacional. Primera Generación. Universitat de Barcelona: Barcelona, Spain, 1992; p. 441).

#### 5.1.2. The Pantheon of Poblet

Peter IV soon turned his attention to what was to become the dynastic pantheon of the kings of Aragon. The place he chose was the Cistercian monastery of Poblet, breaking with his forebears' preference for the Franciscans. The initiative would be accompanied by other emblematic developments, given that "our monastery of Poblet [...] is the custodian of the bones of the most glorious kings that ever were in the house of Aragon" (See Bracons J. 'Operibus monumentorum que fieri facere ordinamus'. L'escultura al servei del Cerimoniós, in [4]: 220). Among these developments were its fortification, the royal chambers and the library, which is presided over by the inscription "*llibreria del rei en Pere III*" and would house writings in memory of the kings buried there for the propagandistic purpose of legitimising the dynasty by evoking its power and glory through chronicles and genealogies, as the *Llibre dels Feyts del rei en Jacme* by Destorrents, from 1343, or the *Genealogia de Poblet*, or *Rotlle genealogic de Poblet*, circa 1409, preserved in the monastery and where the Ceremonious appears with his characteristic dagger [39].

On 2 January 1377, he declared the monastery the pantheon and burial place for himself and his successors without exception, and he ordered his subjects not to swear allegiance to the new king unless he had first arranged to be buried there [40]. He also closely followed the progress of the works, in which he was directly involved (See [40]. Also, Marés, F. Las Tumbas Reales de los Monarcas de Cataluña y Aragón del Monasterio de Santa María de Poblet; Asociación de Bibliófilos: Barcelona, Spain, 1952.; as well as [16], pp. 402–430. and [4], pp. 209–243). (Figure 6) His recumbent was placed towards the *Capella Reial* and shows him dressed in a deacon's robes and holding a dagger in his hands. It is a faithful replication in stone of the body deposited inside, given that the king ordered that he be dressed in the same clothing and insignia that he wore on the day of his coronation, a scrupulous attention to detail that was also evident in other funerary undertakings ([40], p. 996. and [41]).

**Figure 6.** *Capella Reial* in Santa Maria de Poblet. Detail of the recumbent figure of Peter IV, restored by Marès. 1944–1949. © Monestir de Poblet.

The pantheon, much remodelled and without the wooden canopies that once crowned it, is also evidence of the political theology of the monarch as *rex et sacerdos* that under Peter IV reached one of its most prominent visual manifestations. What was already patent in his coronation ceremony, in his speeches and in his sermons was also made visible in stone in the pantheon of Poblet through the representation of certain sovereigns such as James I and Alphonse II, who had double recumbents as both kings and as monks [42,43].

#### *5.2. Other Royal Initiatives: Relevance of Genealogies*

#### 5.2.1. The Saló del Tinell

In 1359 he erected the *cambra major*, or *saló del tinell*, the first stone of which was laid after consulting his astrologers. Peter IV devised the allegorical stories to be painted on the walls, and the commemorative ones above the entrance door [44]. The room was complemented by a gallery of sculpted portraits of members of a political and legal system of the first order, thus legitimising and conferring an aura of glory on them while at the same time giving the room a sense of magnificence. The idea first came to him in 1342 and led him to contract the master Aloi (See [39]: 213–214) to carve 19 statues of kings of Aragon and counts of Barcelona to be attached to the diaphragmatic arches of the hall (See [41], p. 20), the location for of the most illustrious ceremonies. None of these have survived, but their commission is evidence of the monarchy's new urge, under Peter IV, to glorify and perpetuate the dynasty. He wished to show the continuity of his institution by arranging the sculptures of his forebears in order and to inspire the moral rectitude of his successors, who would see in the symbolic hall the images of their exemplary predecessors (See [45], pp. 177–192]. Also [8]). It would also be evocative for his subjects, who would see the representation of dynastic power in an emblematic and performative room to which the most illustrious magnates of the kingdom had access.

## 5.2.2. The Coronation Sword

In 1360 Peter IV commissioned the Valencian silversmith Pere Bernés, "*fidelis argentarium noster*" (De Dalmases, N. Els argenters de la cort en temps de Pere III. In [4], p. 204), to make a sword with the "most beautiful, richest and most subtle" ornamentation possible. "But in particular we want the outside of the scabbard to feature 19 enamels from one side to the other done in such a way that each one can display the figure of a king or count. Because in these enamels we want to have the figures of the kings of Aragon and counts of Barcelona, past, and our own" [46]. To understand the meaning of this sword, it is essential to relate it to Peter's aforementioned Coronation Ceremonial, which turned the coronation into a visual spectacle (See [45], p. 178). Given the importance of the ceremony, the elements used in it, including the insignia, had to be carefully selected. The promotion of the sword by Peter was probably greatly influenced by his conquest of Mallorca and has been noted by historiography. The king, understanding the ornamentation of this *regalia* as a visual resource and as a categorical mnemonic technique, adopted two important concepts to emphasise and recall the stability of the monarchy over time, namely, lineage and territorial expansion, both of which are identifiable in the iconography of the scabbard [47]. After his annexation of the kingdom of Mallorca, the genealogy represented on the scabbard had a legitimising effect on his conquest. The decoration proclaimed a continuous and uninterrupted dynastic succession, albeit a false one, in the different kingdoms over which the new monarch would rule once crowned. Peter IV was again able to compare himself to James I by linking the sword to the right of conquest, which was the basis of his power, and by handing the sword over to his heirs as an emblem that would play a similar role to that of *Tisó* (*Tizona* or *Tizón* in Spanish is a sword that tradition attributed to Rodrigo Diaz, known by the title of Campeador) in their investitures [48]. This is related to the fact that in the Middle Ages it was common practice to recreate the past within the present in order to legitimise contemporary political practices [49].
