Lastra, Elizabeth Anne

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Biography of a City: Art, Urbanization, and Shifting Structures of Power in Carrion de los Condes, 1050-1200
(2017-01-01) Lastra, Elizabeth Anne
One of the central narratives in the study of Spanish Romanesque art is that of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, the medieval pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James. While the Camino has been conceptualized primarily as a conduit of people and ideas, the monuments of the pilgrimage city of Carrión de los Condes demonstrate an intra-referentiality that challenges this unilateral construct. Pilgrimage must be understood as a binary phenomenon, comprised of not only the moving, transitory parties, but also the infrastructure that at once supports and is supported by them. This dissertation examines the three extant medieval monuments built during Carrión’s period of greatest growth and prominence, ca. 1050-1200: the monastery of San Zoilo and the parish churches of Santa María and Santiago. Each addresses distinct audiences corresponding to its particular moment in Carrión’s development and position within the city. Reframing the pilgrimage city as a crucial site of social and economic interaction, this dissertation situates the three monuments in relation to one another within a single, evolving urban fabric, one that had to negotiate and address multiple audiences—transient and enduring—through its artistic production.