The Self-Coronation of Iberian Kings: A Crooked Line

Resumen:
This article focuses on the practice of self-coronation among medieval Iberian Castilian kings and its religious, political, and ideological implications. The article takes Alfonso XI of Castile self-coronation (1332) as a central event, and establishes a conceptual genealogy, significance, and relevance of this self-coronation, taking Visigothic, Asturian, Leonese, and Castilian chronicles as a main source, and applying political theology as a methodology. The gesture of self-coronation has an evident transgressive connotation which deserves particular attention, and could throw some light upon the traditional debate on the supposed ¿un-sacred¿ kingship of Castilian kings