View source for Tomb of Charles III of Navarre and Eleanor of Castile

{{Short description|Charles III's tomb}}
[[File:Mausoleo real en la catedral de Pamplona (40003781663).jpg|thumb|Tomb in situ]]
[[File:Sepulcro carlos iii pamplona.jpg|thumb|Top view]]
[[File:Sepulcro de Carlos III el Noble y Leonor de Trastámara, Pamplona. Cabecera.jpg|thumb|Side view: mourners]]
The monumental tomb of King [[Charles III of Navarre]] and his queen, [[Eleanor of Castile, Queen of Navarre|Eleanor of Castile]], in [[Pamplona Cathedral]] was constructed in the [[Gothic sculpture|Gothic style]] between late 1413 and mid-1419. The work by a team of craftsmen from France, [[Duchy of Burgundy|Burgundy]] and the [[Burgundian Netherlands]] was overseen by {{ill|Johan Lome|es|Janin Lomme de Tournai}}.<ref name=CFLA>Clara Fernández-Ladreda Aguadé, [https://en.unav.edu/web/catedra-patrimonio/activities/cycles-and-conferences/2016/johan-lome-y-la-escultura-cortesana-en-tiempos-de-carlos-iii-y-blanca "Gothic Art in Navarre: Johan Lome and Court Sculpture in the Times of Charles III and Blanche"] ([[Universidad de Navarra]], 2016).</ref>
The tomb sparked a fad for funerary monuments in Navarre, which had been rare up to that time. Charles III's freestanding bed, however, was not imitated, later monuments being of the [[arcosolium]] variety.<ref name=CFLA/>
==Artists==
The names of seven men who worked on the tomb under Lome are known. Many of them are described in documents as "French". Two, Michel and Collin, were from [[Reims]]. Michel de Reims, a painter, came to Navarre with Lome in 1411. He and Anequín de Sora were the most important collaborators. The others were Viçent Huyart, Johan de Lille from [[County of Flanders|Flanders]], Johan de La Garnie from Picardy and a certain Johan from Burgundy.<ref name=JMJJ>[[José María Jimeno Jurío]], "Autores del sepulcro de Carlos III de Navarra", ''Príncipe de Viana'' '''35'''.136 (1974): 455–482.</ref>
==Description==
The design of the tomb was inspired by the tomb of [[Charles V of France]] and [[Joanna of Bourbon]], which was designed by [[André Beauneveu]] and [[Jean de Liège]], and the tomb of [[Philip the Bold]], Duke of Burgundy, which was designed by [[Claus Sluter]]. It is a freestanding structure, constructed of [[sandstone]] and [[alabaster]]. Green and white paint have been used to make the sandstone bed appear like marble. There are some touches of coloured paint and gilding, but the precious stones which once existed are lost.<ref name=CFLA/>
Statues of the king and queen are recumbent atop the false marble slab. They are both crowned with their heads resting on pillows beneath Gothic canopies. The king is wearing his coronation robes and his feet rest on a lion, a symbol of strength. His face is thought to be a portrait. The queen is wearing fashionable clothes and her feet rest on two dogs fighting over a bone, "an allusion to human life gnawed by time." Her face is idealized and does not seem to be a portrait.<ref name=CFLA/>
The base of the tomb is covered in carved mourners (''plorantes'') representing the funeral procession. These include cardinals, bishops, canons, monks and laymen in complementary pairs. They have sometimes been taken to represent contemporary persons, but Clara Fernández-Ladreda Aguadé considers this unlikely.<ref name=CFLA/>
==Epitaphs==
The tomb has two carved and gilded [[Ibero-Romance languages|Romance]] epitaphs in [[Blackletter|Gothic script]] on the top of the canopies. That for Charles III also extends around the edge of the table.<ref name=GP>Germán de Pamplona, [https://www.culturanavarra.es/uploads/files/03-PV6-pagina0031.pdf "Los epitafios del sepulcro de Carlos III el Noble"], ''Príncipe de Vian'' '''3'''.6 (1942): 31–36.</ref> It mentions his descent from [[Charlemagne]] and [[Louis IX of France|Saint Louis]] while extolling his recovery of "a great part of boroughs and castles of his kingdom which were in the hands of the king of Castile", his recovery of his patrimony in France that had been confiscated, his building projects and how he "ennobled  and  exalted  [many] who were his subjects."<ref name=JMA>Javier Martínez de Aguirre, "Architecture and Legacy in Medieval Navarre", in Flocel Sabaté (ed.), ''Memory in the Middle Ages: Approaches from Southwestern Europe'' (ARC Humanities Press, 2020), pp. 253–254.</ref>
The epitaph for the queen is much shorter. She is described as "a very good queen, wise and devout". In both epitaphs Charles is numbered IIII (a variant of the Roman numeral IV), which is probably best explained by the reference to Charlemagne, who ruled over part of Navarre and may have been considered the first Charles. The death dates of the king and queen, however, appear to be in error in both epitaphs. This probably indicates that they are later additions to the tomb.<ref name=GP/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
*Castro, José Ramón. ''Carlos III el Noble, rey de Navarra''. Pamplona, 1967.
*{{ill|José Goñi Gaztambide|lt=Goñi Gaztambide, José|es}}. "El sepúlcro de Carlos III el Noble." ''Pregón siglo XXI'' '''57''' (2020 [1969]): 68–70.
*Janke, Richard Steven. ''Jehan Lome and Late Gothic Sculpture in Navarre'', 2 vols. PhD diss., University of Michigan, 1973.
*Janke, Richard Steven. ''Jehan Lome y la escultura gótica posterior en Navarra''. Pamplona, 1977.
{{coord missing|Spain}}
[[Category:Tombs in Spain]]
[[Category:Kingdom of Navarre]]
[[Category:1410s sculptures]]