MANY SCHOLARS, OF whom Adeline Rucquoi is one of the most prominent, have recommended eradicating the term “legitimation” from any discussion of monarchical institutions in the Iberian Peninsula, a conclusion to which I concur after my studies on Spanish royal symbols and insignia in material, documentary, and iconographic sources. Successors to the throne of Aragon were authorized by the right of primogeniture; so, a successor's investiture as King of Aragon was based on this principle alone. The case of James or Jaume I “the Conqueror” is illustrative because although he never took part in any coronation ceremony, in 1213 he was named King of Aragon immediately after the death of his father Peter the Great, King of Aragon, Count of Barcelona, and Lord of Montpellier.3 Nevertheless, I use this problematic term extensively throughout this chapter because the fact that James I was denied a formal coronation led him to create a series of other techniques designed to legitimize his rule. One of the strongest and most illuminating arguments in favour of this hypothesis was put forward by Bonifacio Palacios, who stated that James I invoked the “right of conquest” to justify his sovereignty over newly conquered lands. However, as we will see, James I also employed other legitimizing narratives, such as the supposed assistance that he received from St. George during his conquest of the kingdoms of Mallorca and Valencia, because, of course, the idealized image of the monarch was not limited to the military sphere alone, but had to portray other virtues such as religious legitimacy.

This chapter shows how and to what extent these legitimizing techniques, motivated by the lack of a Church-sanctioned coronation, were reflected in the iconography of Iberian kings of the Middle Ages, in particular James I (the Conqueror) and Peter the Ceremonious, and how they were used to seal into memory a set of arguments. It also determines why Peter the Ceremonious, who had to assert his potestas over the increasingly powerful estates, was so active in disseminating these techniques through texts and images and thereby fixing them in the memory of his subjects. As has been stated elsewhere, Hispanic medieval culture was, in itself, a memorial culture that sought to foster solemn recollection in which art played an indispensable role.