Ideological Programs through the Imagem: some examples from the Middle Ages

Abstract

The iconography of Jacques the Conqueror is the result of ideological programs originated by official institutions or by the monarchy itself. It implies a positive judgement of the king’s profile, that short after his mourned death, was given a legendary aura. This nevertheless did not always count with the Church’s support. Some examples of the attributions to the king are: epical crussader against the infidel sarracins, epitomy of a hero, root of a glorious dinasty in Valencia and Mallorca, etc. And those were mere samples of the different meanings that the recorded effigies express. Meanings that offer an extraordinary vision of king Jacques I, although not always close to reality.