Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Navarra
Abstract
The art and architecture of Romanesque
churches provided for fascinating manifestations of
«crusade ideology» in the Iberian Peninsula during
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Scenes of combat,
imitations of the Holy Sepulcher, and grand eschatological
visions of Christian triumph all appeared
in church décor. This phenomenon is beautifully exhibited
in two churches in the city of Toledo, in which
the victory of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212) is celebrated
with vivid apocalyptic imagery and inscriptions. However,
the same churches incorporate Islamic artistic
styles as well, indicating the complexity of holy war in
the cultural world of medieval Spain
