The monastery of Santa María la Real de las Huelgas, popularly known as the monastery of Las Huelgas, located in the city of Burgos, is a monastery of the congregation of Cistercian nuns of San Bernardo.
It was founded in 1187 by King Alfonso VIII of Castile and his wife Leonor de Plantagenet.
There was a small palace on the site where the monastery is located, of which some small remains have been preserved. The site was chosen by King Alfonso VIII and his wife Leonor de Plantagenet to build a Cistercian monastery for women, which was founded in June 1187.
The life of the monastery began with a group of nuns who arrived from the Monastery of Santa María de la Caridad de Tulebras (in Navarre), where the first female Cistercian monastery on the peninsula had existed since 1157. The first two abbesses were the infanta of royal blood Misol (or Mariasol) and the infanta Constanza, daughter of the founding kings.
During the Middle Ages, important ceremonies such as the proclamation of kings and the arming of knights took place in this monastery. Among the knights armed before becoming kings were Fernando III the Saint, Edward I of England, Alfonso XI of Castile and León, Peter I of Castile (who was also born in the building's defensive tower) and John II. The kings crowned here were Alfonso XI and his son Enrique II of Trastámara.
It was also of great importance as a royal and noble pantheon, with magnificent tombs, many of which were desecrated during the Spanish War of Independence.
It houses works of great value, including some of the oldest stained-glass windows in Spain.Article obtained from Wikipedia article Wikipedia in his version of 14/09/2020, by various authors under the license Licencia de Documentación Libre GNU.