Le culte de Santa Librada à Sigüenza: Patronage urbain et emblématique impériale

Abstract

After the reconquest of Sigüenza in 1124, St. Librada became the town's patron saint. Legend has it that she was born out of a múltiple delivery and that, because of her christian faith, her father had her die together with her eight sisters. On the iconography of her martyrdom, one of the representations is that of the crucified «strong virgin»; the other, more conventional, is on a plateresque altarpiece which honors her memory in Sigüenza's cathedral, a donation by a bishop close to Charles V. Behind these representations lies the complex relationship among the saint, the town's inhabitants, the church and, beginning from the l6th century, the state. St. Librada was then associated with Hercules, Charles V's favorite hero, in the defense of the sovereign's political interests.