Monumentum and Memento: The tomb of Infant Dinis in the Monastery of St Dinis and St Bernardo at Odivelas (Portugal)

Built at the command of King Dinis of Portugal (1261–1325), the Cistercian monastery of St Dinis and St Bernardo in Odivelas, near Lisbon, is today renowned for housing the same king’s own imposing sepulchre. Yet the abbey church, at one time intended to be the royal family pantheon, contains another remarkable tomb. Its effigy, apparently a boy of perhaps ten to twelve years old, is highly misleading, for when the sarcophagus was opened in the late nineteenth century the remains of a baby of approximately twelve months were discovered inside. The identity of this noble infant has been the subject of considerable dispute since the monument lacks an inscription, and no documentation relating to its construction or installation has yet come to light. Nevertheless, through a scrutiny of the evidence provided by the tomb itself, and by analysing its location in Odivelas and contemporary Portuguese royal politics and affections, this article makes the case that the child is in fact Infante Dinis, the third child and second son of the then heir to the throne Prince Afonso and his wife Beatriz of Castile. The iconographic programme of the tomb, laden with political overtones, is not only unique in Portuguese art but also provides a clear prototype for the representation of deceased children in Portuguese Gothic funerary sculpture.