El Conde Lucanor

Don Juan Manuel's El conde Lucanor , also called Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio in other versions , joins the list of the most important prose works of the Spanish High Middle Ages . The work, created between 1330 and 1335, was already a true bestseller in the 15th century, but the manuscripts that have survived today vary in size.

structure

The best-known first part of the work comprises 51 Exempla , exemplary stories with didactic and moralizing intent. Structurally, the examples in Don Juan Manuel's work are brought into a uniform scheme: The count ("conde") Lucanor poses a problem to his loyal advisor Patronio. He answers with great modesty and tells in a lively, dialogical way a story from which the solution of the given task results, namely in the sense of an action in the manner of one of the main characters of the story. This most popular part of the Conde Lucanor was published in 1840 in a translation by Joseph von Eichendorff in Berlin in three volumes in German. Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale: The Emperor's New Clothes can be traced back to this source .

The Conde Lucanor but has in stock a total of five parts. In its function as a treatise on the ongoing upbringing and education of the young nobleman, it not only makes use of the tradition of exemplary literature, but more generally of the moral, didactic, didactic tradition of the Middle Ages and uses different literary forms. The entertaining examples in the first part are followed by far more theoretical sententiae (sentences) and proverbios (proverbs), which are grouped around the same narrative framework that forms the dialogue between Count Lucanor and his adviser Patronio. The work is then concluded in the last part by a theological treatise. The Conde Lucanor is therefore more than just a recourse to collections of specimens such as the 12th century Disciplina clericalis in Latin . It unites Christian ideas of everyday experience and tradition with treatises on patristicism and influences from the Orient: Indian fables and Arabic stories stand alongside representations of Christian doctrine and medieval worldview. The Conde Lucanor thus has a double legacy and in this way symbolizes a mirror image of Spanish society in the Middle Ages, which held a special position within Europe because of the Moorish presence on the Iberian Peninsula .

The Conde Lucanor is not only interesting in terms of its quality as a reservoir for the various social and literary traditions. It also plays an important role in the area of written tradition. Its author, Don Juan Manuel , was clearly aware of his duties as an author, a fact that is not only astonishing in view of the time the Conde Lucanor was written , but also resulted in the author's tireless preoccupation with his own literary texts manifested itself in self-corrections and self-made bibliographical lists.

The literary research on the Conde Lucanor is as good as completed. Their findings are extremely contradicting in many respects and probably result from the different cultural and social currents of their time. If 19th century critics were clearly benevolent towards the author (which manifested itself in praise for the moral rigor), while the frivolity of the Libro de buen amor , who was roughly the same age , was strongly condemned, this picture turned in the research results of scientists, such as Example in the case of María Rosa Lida de Malkiel , the last century in the negative. Since Don Juan Manuel was the grandson and nephew of kings and had great political relevance from his youth, literary scholarship in the case of the Conde Lucanor is faced with the unique situation that the life of this author, in contrast to the conventional medieval author, has a lot to do with contemporary sources. Since these sources tend to paint the negative image of a power-hungry and word-breaking politician, the research became deeply entangled in a web of interpretations and prejudices by comparing the author's life with the ideas he propagated and revealing obvious contradictions. The Conde Lucanor was thus recognized as a significant work, but lost much of its popularity among scholars who turned away from its rigid, moralizing message and towards the humorous and erotic qualities of a libro de buen amor .

The historical context

The Conde Lucanor was undoubtedly created within a significant historical context. Its moral and didactic properties are also the result of a long process in the history of literature, so that when looking at it one cannot avoid paying attention to the social framework, especially the social dimension of the nobility.

The class society

Medieval society in Europe was divided into several classes . Belonging to a class (or estado in Spanish) was considered to be the key to defining both privileges and duties of each individual. In simplified terms, the hierarchical social structure of the Middle Ages was represented in three classes, whose members were referred to as oratores (clergy), bellatores (warriors, later nobility) or laboratores (workers; the rest of the free people). Although the three-class system was particularly characteristic of France, thanks to the cultural uniformity in medieval Europe, the population was divided into three classes in the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon .

In contrast to today's class society , a social group was defined by its social position and its respective legal status, which was based on the existence or non-existence of certain privileges and duties. These either resulted from facts already given (origin, level of education, occupation) or were awarded by a higher social authority, such as the king. The correlation of rights and duties as well as the striving to consolidate and maintain these privileges formed an important part of the political worldview of the European Middle Ages: The breakup of this unity meant the dissolution of the worldly, God-given order, because the existence of different, not equal social Groups were seen as part of the divine plan that gave each individual his or her place and function within society. As a rule, there was no permeability between the individual stands. There was equality among Christians solely through their membership of the same religious community. Birth and death as elementary biological laws functioned as the only homogenizing factors.

The social dimension of the nobility

Moral code

The nobility defined themselves through a self-created moral code. A warrior distinguished himself from other members of society primarily through his action in combat. With the increasing hierarchization of society, the reality of chivalry was confronted with ideals that gave it a new, more religious direction. In this way the “simple warrior”, the protector of the poor and the weaker, turned into the protector of the Christian faith and the earthly order willed by God. This entailed the creation of a common, abstract knight ethic in order to preserve the integrity of the nobility. This ethic determined and schematized the life of a nobleman despite or precisely because of their highly unrealistic character, which soon found expression in European literature: The reputation of a knight or noble was determined by various material and non-material factors, such as the enrichment of family property , the accomplishment of good deeds and the preservation of one's own honor, which resulted in respect, deference and esteem - not only within one's own class. These factors soon manifested themselves in personal ambitions and a penchant for constant fame, which should more and more characterize nobles.

The concept of honor and prestige, the so-called "onra", was to experience further significant social developments and was essential to the philosophy and literature of the Spanish Siglo de Oro .

education

The ethical and moral principles formed the cornerstone of the feeling of belonging and were secured and maintained through an upbringing. "Raised" was on the one hand by living together with others within the same class (for example at the court of a prince or the king) on the other hand by showing examples and archetypes of the past and the present. In addition to so-called prince mirrors , collections of specimens in Latin enriched the didactic and moral tradition.

The representation of the historical or fictional ideal of a ruler, his tasks and duties, was initially based on figures from antiquity, but over time it became more independent and gained great importance with regard to the respective national realities. Due to the progressive character of kingship and empire, clergy dignitaries increasingly urged to write their own works of a didactic and moral nature for current princes or kings, which not only contained political-social and private rules of conduct, but also increasingly concerned themselves with ethical interpretations of power as well concerned with the public good.

family

As a rule, alliances only took place between men, so that friendship ties usually had greater emotional significance than the marital relationship between man and woman. Both were characterized by a strong public character. In most cases, weddings were only concluded for political reasons, so the relationship between men and women in the family context was far less important than that between parents and children. Both unmarried women and wives did not count legally and within the social structure as independent personalities. At the same time, however, it can be assumed that, in practical terms, the noble woman had far more rights than the legal and social regulations of the society in which she lived provided.

The relationship between parents and their children was primarily defined by their upbringing. In most cases the family inheritance, mostly territorial property, passed on to the firstborn son after the death of the noble owner, so that there were repeated cases in which second and third born were fighting for a political and material right that was due to their birth had been prohibited. The relationships between siblings were usually conditioned by this inequality. The only solution seemed to be an education that primarily propagated justice, modesty, friendship and nobility.

The attainment of salvation

Belonging to the Christian faith and the entanglement of Christians in the fall of man imposed the duty on all people of medieval society to obtain salvation within their class and to return to paradise after their death. Since life in this world was seen solely as a phase of transition to life in the hereafter, the majority of hopes were directed towards an afterlife and the attainment of salvation. Man as such was seen less as an individual within a socio-historical reality than as part of the divine plan and order, and valued in terms of abstract considerations of virtue and sinfulness. An education consequently did not go beyond the limits of the church's view of virtue, sin and the ideal Christian.

The nobility as a member of the Christian community and its protector from enemies of the faith were also confronted with this different weighting of this world and the hereafter. However, this imbalance among the nobles was far less significant than it seems. Obviously, the nobility could not just throw Christian philosophies overboard, but they also found this life to be an important part of their existence.

Social upheavals and political crises in 14th century Spain

The first half of the 14th century in Castile was marked by a gradual dissolution of the previously valid social order. These processes of upheaval had several outlets: in political terms, two successive minority governments led to the aspirations for power of the most prominent members of the Spanish aristocracy. In the context of the conflict between king and nobility, the Castilian nobility claimed far more political power and territorial possessions than before in view of the unstable royal family. But even among the nobles themselves, disagreements and friction contributed to the further destabilization of the political order, so that conditions similar to civil war prevailed at times.

The Reconquista reached after the conquest of Seville in 1248 and that of Cádiz in 1262 under Ferdinand III. the saint or Alfonso X the wise a standstill. Until 1340 the Castilian troops celebrated no further major military successes against the Moors, also due to serious economic difficulties. Already towards the end of the 13th century, a depression was heralded in both demographic and economic terms, which reached its climax with the Black Plague in 1348/1349. The reasons for the increasingly frequent conflicts, however, lay deeper. The feudal system of the Middle Ages was based on the unequal distribution of power, education and wealth. Economic upswings and military successes initially concealed the social contradictions, but never completely silenced them. To the extent that annual incomes fell and prices rose (not least due to the migration of the third estate to the newly conquered areas), the nobility began to raid what was denied them in the normal, previous way.

Due to the inhomogeneity of the third estate (both in its composition and in its geographical distribution), its response to violence by nobles and to economic and social grievances was by no means uniform: The so-called Hermandades were formed , but reactions were also evident in other forms such as riots and isolated uprisings, even if the peasant struggle in Castile was nowhere near as advanced as in the rest of Europe.

In addition, a new social group formed within the city walls, which increasingly enjoyed the protection of new laws: the bourgeoisie . Their growing economic influence due to the increasingly important trade clashed hard with the ideological ideas of the nobility, who on the one hand vigorously opposed the new developments by placing their emphasis on traditional social values, but on the other hand abandoned their own principles for economic and power-political reasons threw.

The old system was thus endangered by the increasing importance of the money economy , which dissolved the traditional relationships between the individual classes and gave rise to the existence of new social classes. During the lifetime of Don Juan Manuel (1282–1348) this process was already well advanced.

Cultural Spain in the 14th century

Within medieval Europe, Spain held a special position in social and cultural terms due to the coexistence and coexistence of three religions. Toledo in particular advanced to become one of the cultural strongholds of the Castilian kingdom due to its translation school and its literary treasures. As early as the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th centuries, the libraries not only had treatises on patristics and theological interpretations of the Bible, but increasingly also works of oriental and European origin, especially from Italy and France.

The Christian Church in Western Europe went through a spiritual crisis in the 13th and 14th centuries. The church as an institution was faced with the problem of protecting and maintaining the Christian faith from the influences of Arab culture and new Christian denominations. The two new religious orders that most influenced the thinking of the Middle Ages were the Dominican order of preachers around Thomas Aquinas (who also taught at the University of Paris, and whose theological writings greatly influenced the literary work of Don Juan Manuel) and the religious community the Franciscans , who were based on the rule of the order written by Francis of Assisi for the first mendicant order he founded .

Preserved manuscripts

The Conde Lucanor is one of the few medieval texts that has been reprinted and reprinted in the Spanish Siglo de Oro. Argote de Molina published a version printed in Seville as early as 1575, and another edition followed in Madrid in 1642 .

Completed in 1335, its author deposited his own corrected version of the Conde Lucanor and versions of his other works in the monastery of Peñafiel , which he himself founded in 1318. However, none of the manuscripts have survived. Instead, there are five other, much younger copies of the original manuscript today. Three of them are in the hands of the Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid , another is part of the Real Academia de la Historia , and the fifth belongs to the Real Academia Española . Not all are of the same age and size. Another four manuscripts have been lost.

Content and structure of the Conde Lucanor

Don Juan Manuel's Libro de los Ejemplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio consists of a total of five books (so-called libros ), which, viewed individually, fulfill different functions, but as a whole function as a unit.

Three different parts can be identified: Part I contains the already mentioned collection of 50 or 51 Exempla, the second part a collection of sentences or proverbs, and the third part is a theological treatise on the attainment of salvation. This three-way division of the Conde Lucanor is based not only on content (for example through common or different topics) or methodological, i.e. H. in the way the literary discourse takes place. The separation is also recognizable from the outside, because on the one hand the individual parts are delimited by prologues or introductions, on the other hand there is a significant difference between the individual parts in terms of their scope: the first part, which has become the most popular, comprises around four fifths of the entire work while the second and third parts are limited to a few pages. In addition, the last part is divided into three parts and again has nuclei of different contents and lengths.

Parallel to the decrease in the amount of material, an intensification of the content and the treated matter can be determined. This opposing movement of quantity and intensity is characteristic of the Conde Lucanor and significant for its architectural structure.

The framework story

A framework action connects all three parts: a count (Lucanor) asks his adviser (patronio) for advice on specific problems and situations that concern him. The frame constellation around Lucanor and Patronio is expanded in the first part by a further, higher-level frame, the axis of which is the figure of the author himself.

This question-and-answer situation between two fictional characters as a dialogical framework discussion is not an invention of Don Juan Manuel. This type of frame structure can already be seen in a similar way in earlier works. For example, the Arabic Calila et Digna , the broadcast bar or the Disciplina clericalis by Pedro Alfonsi , written in Latin, use a comparable framework.

Repetitive linguistic elements are characteristic of the narrative framework in the Conde Lucanor . Especially in the first part, in which the individual autonomous units (Exempla) fit into the framework of the conversation between Lucanor and his advisor Patronio, several linguistic framework elements can be recognized. They serve to connect the individual stories linguistically and in terms of content and to embed them logically in the framework.

The three parts of the Conde Lucanor

The individual stories in the first part mainly deal with the problems of a 14th century nobleman: political intrigues and alliances, (false) friends and advisers, but also everyday things (right or wrong love, loyalty and betrayal, sects and alchemy). To this day, many can still be regarded as - quite secular - wisdom.

Some concrete examples:

In copy 11, Count Lucanor reports to his loyal advisor Patronio about a man who asked for and received his help, but did not provide the promised consideration himself. Patronio then tells the story of The Dean of Santiago and Don Illan In it, the Dean of Santiago visits the magician Don Illan in Toledo to learn from him. The magician points out, however, that people in high positions tend to forget what others have done for them. The dean asserts that he will not behave in such a way, but he does: with the help of the magician he becomes bishop, cardinal, even pope, but always refuses the post requested by Illan for a member of his family. In the end, it turns out that the dean's entire ascension was just a magical dream stimulated by Don Illan and the dean finds himself ashamed.

In copy 20, Count Lucanor reports of a person who had promised to provide him with great financial advantage and honor, but he needed money for this, which he would of course return at a ratio of ten to one. Patronio then tells the story of the king and the false alchemist, which ends in the advice not to sacrifice anything of one's own for uncertain promises and uncertain advantages and not to listen to the advice of someone who is himself one of the poor when investing assets.

The most famous was example 32: The wonderful fabric , an anecdote that Hans Christian Andersen used as a model for his fairy tale The Emperor's New Clothes . In it the count reports that someone had come to him who had suggested an extraordinarily advantageous deal. However, he must keep the strictest silence about it. If he did talk about it, all his property and even his life would be in danger. Patronio then tells the story of the three jugglers who pretended to be able to spin such a fine web that only someone who is really the son of whoever is considered his father can recognize it. The (Moorish) king is interested in this art, but he hopes to be able to collect the land for the crown of those who would be exposed as illegitimate heirs. Of course, everyone pretends to be able to see the imaginary fabric, including the king himself. When he paraded naked through the streets of his capital, it is not a child (as later with Andersen) but a black horse servant who calls out. "Sir, I do not mind whose son you think I am, but I tell you: either I am blinded or you are naked". Patronio closes this story with the admonition that anyone who demands absolute trust and discretion will certainly deceive you.

Although the Exempla are based on concrete fictional individual experiences, they detach themselves from the respective individual situation and thereby lose their anecdotal character. This enables the reader, based on the concrete problematic of the story, to apply it to his own situation; the individual case presented in the story is thus given a universal and instructive character.

This effect is reinforced by the condensation of what has just been narrated using the moralizing verses or proverbs (so-called “viessos”) that are formulated at the end of each story by the character Don Juan Manuel. The universality of the individual messages also results from the breadth of the individual topics addressed in the Conde Lucanor. In the Conde Lucanor , earthly and spiritual concepts are not mutually exclusive. Worldly riches are seen as instruments for attaining salvation and are not in opposition to the spiritual good.

The structure of each individual copy is always identical: each short story can be divided into three sequences, each carried by one of the three main characters. The first sequence includes Lucanor's question to his advisor Patronio about a specific problem or situation that affects him. In the second sequence, Patronio tells the respective example. It comprises the largest part of the entire enxiemplos. The conclusion is formed by a third sequence, which contains the formulation of a generalizing morality by the figure of Don Juan Manuel (and thus the author functions as a protagonist within his own work).

The second part comprises books two to four of the Conde Lucanor . Each one has its own title, but all three have a common dialogue and, due to their common methodological approach, form a large unit. The narrative framework of the first part is maintained (here too Lucanor is in conversation with Patronio), but in contrast to this, Don Juan Manuel deliberately decides against the use of exemplary examples in this part of the Conde Lucanor . While the first part is written in a simple and understandable way for the less educated reader, Don Juan Manuel pursues a "darker", not entirely open narrative style in the second part, which is characterized by a simple string of proverbs or sayings (so-called sentençias). In the search for a new, more subtle style, the narrative part of the first part is omitted, only a moral, similar to the “viessos” of the first part, is formulated; there are more than 100 proverbs in a row.

In contrast to the narrative style, which undergoes a radical change, there is no modification of the subject matter. The second part also focuses on the preservation of honor, reputation and status as well as the attainment of salvation; the focus is still clearly on worldly things.

The third part of the Conde Lucanor shows significant differences from the previous parts. The central characters of the first two parts are retained, but there is no return to the “easy” form of the stories. With a doctrinal treatise by Patronio on the attainment of salvation, the author consciously turns away from the worldly concerns of the two preceding parts and deals with the Christian aspect of salvation. At the same time, a link is drawn to the stories of the first part, as Patronio uses some of the characters in the first part to trace his thesis of good deeds. And finally, the third part also includes the description of man and the world in which he lives in order to show the path to salvation more clearly. The result, however, is sobering: although man is described as the highest of creation , he cannot free himself from the sinfulness that is innate in him. Instead, more than any other worldly living being, he is full of imperfections.

The three protagonists

Due to their central position in all three parts of the Conde Lucanor, there are a total of three main characters: Count Lucanor, his adviser Patronio and, in the highest instance, the author Don Juan Manuel. These three constitute the narrative framework and establish two levels of action. Minor characters only appear in the first part of the individual stories and play a subordinate role in the overall work. However, a few isolated characters from the stories of the first part find attention in the explanations of Patronios in the second and third part. Due to the brevity of the stories in which these supporting characters appear, their portrayal is limited to the action. Its function is to exemplify and demonstrate concepts and views.

The three main characters are also characterized by the function they fulfill in the text: Lucanor, who asks Patronio for help when faced with a clearly illustrated problem; Patronio, who comes to his aid with a story, a proverb or a treatise; and Don Juan Manuel, who actively intervenes in his own action and gives it a universal character. The first two characters are the ones who carry the plot and are more linear and stereotypical than independent characters. Lucanor is the typical nobleman, while Patronio is the figure of the intellectual.

Lucanor is the liveliest of the three characters. Your job is to seek advice and learn. Lucanor's membership of the power-holding class within feudal society puts him in certain situations typical of this class that he has to overcome. His questions revolve around the questions that are vital to him. The stories of the first part, as well as the proverbs of the second part, are tailored to him, are important to him. In this sense, "important" means meaningful for the maintenance of one's status within feudal society, which is constantly being tested in contact with other members of society - an elementary component of the idealized knightly ethos. Identical in social rank and concern for its preservation, Lucanor is the literary projection of the politician Don Juan Manuels.

In contrast to Lucanor and Patronio, the figure of Don Juan Manuel is more concrete and tangible, not least because of his real mirror image. The importance of their position within the Conde Lucanor arises unquestionably from their ubiquity in all three parts. She seems to be watching over the plot and ultimately directing it. The appearance of the author as a character within his own fictional plot is just one example of Don Juan Manuel's autobiographical interest. The references to other works written by him within the Conde Lucanor are a further indication of this phenomenon.

The Conde Lucanor as an image of theocentric society

In an epoch in which the Christian faith permeated all strata of the population without exception, the number three was not without meaning ( Trinity , three heavenly choirs, etc.). This number occurs again and again in the Conde Lucanor , be it in the number of individual parts of the book, the nuclei or the number of protagonists. Obviously, Don Juan Manuel was not only pursuing a specific goal with the content-related aspects of the Conde Lucanor , but also sought to underline this through the external and internal structure.

The progressive obscuration in both the matter and the narrative style means that each part is aimed at different types of readers. The first part is easy to understand and is aimed at people who are poorly educated : The morality of the viessos is made understandable to them in narrative form using exemplary stories. The second part is for more educated readers who are able to understand the condensed messages of Proverbs without generalizing, exemplary situations. Their subtle cleverness allows them to interpret these messages correctly, to relate them to themselves and thus to apply them to their own situations. Based on the socio-cultural context, it makes sense to relate the individual parts to the individual components of society based on their characteristics. In this case, the first part, which is characterized by a great wealth of material and bandwidth of topics and is characterized by clarity and obviousness in its narrative style, would coincide with the lowest class, that of the people, which is a large inhomogeneous mass as well as large Represents educational deficits. Another indication of this is the fact that in the first part, instead of a moralizing quintessence , in some cases even proverbs from the Castilian language are used.

Don Juan Manuel certainly viewed his work as a unit that should be read coherently, even if different surviving manuscripts did not always respect this. The statements in the preceding prologues, which hold the individual parts together, leave no doubt as to the literary unity of the Conde Lucanor . At these moments, the author himself or in the figure of Patronio refers to previous parts or sections of the work - comments, which are certainly omitted, should the individual parts be published separately. The reference or preference to different readers is just another stylistic aid that, in addition to the use of darkening and the decrease in the abundance of material, follows a special intention of Don Juan Manuel. Undoubtedly shaped by its historical context, especially by the scholastics of his time, who saw the artist as an imitator of the God-given, natural order, the triad structure of the Conde Lucanor , the characteristics of its individual parts and the readers addressed there are reminiscent of the division of the theocentric society into three social classes with different privileges and duties. Don Juan Manuel imitates the order of the Christian Middle Ages through an architectural structure of the Conde Lucanor and in this way legitimizes it. Similar to the three paths of man during his stay in this world, which are described in the third part, the existence of all three parts in don Juan Manuel's work confirms that of the theocentric society and thus justifies its unconditional maintenance. The structure and content of the Conde Lucanor are therefore strongly tied to the ideas of medieval society.

The didactic intention of the Conde Lucanor

The Conde Lucanor combines the typical characteristics of the didactic and moral literature of the time. With the help of exemplary stories, Don Juan Manuel presents a Christian moral doctrine, of which he himself is arguably the most ardent follower. However, the own name enxiemplos is new in this literary form. Instead of specimens from previous collections, the author of the Conde Lucanor creates his own specimen, an expression of his pronounced individualism. His wish is to show ways to preserve and increase one's own status, wealth and reputation, in order to ultimately achieve salvation as well. The language is also clearly formulated. Don Juan Manuel eschews "difficult" material in every respect. In all cases, it is primarily a matter of gaining knowledge, as well as a teaching and learning process that uses concrete initial situations and stories to teach an abstract moralizing lesson that ends in concrete advice. The form of dialogue in the framework, although it is fictional, conveys a real and tangible situation that is acceptable to the reader and is characterized by liveliness and closeness.

There is also the image of a writer who was not only aware of the didactic tradition offered by both the Occident and the Orient , but also viewed his work as an aesthetic product. He establishes his own formal elements, for example the creation of several fictional levels within a text, in which the reader is masterfully guided from one fictional level to another, higher level. In other cases, Don Juan Manuel uses the element of repetition of individual sentences or entire sequences to accentuate certain developments more clearly or to intensify the plot. The reading of the Conde Lucanor is therefore primarily intended to teach and form. It is supposed to convey to the (young) nobleman those values and norms that are and will be of importance to him and deals with purely worldly matters as well as with the worldly and spiritual requisites necessary for attaining salvation. Don Juan Manuel's plan to facilitate learning with the help of moral stories is directly related to the role of a doctor.

Conclusion

The writing of a collection of moralizing stories and sentences as well as a theological treatise that should dispel any doubts about the Christian faith acts like a bulwark against the process of social disintegration. Don Juan Manuel repeatedly refers to the importance of the education of the individual as an essential tool for maintaining that which characterizes the nobility. In addition, in the Conde Lucanor he idealizes its fundamental properties by serving as a prop for the attainment of salvation. The nobility is experiencing a renewal of its moral significance, as Don Juan Manuel revives its social dimension and ethical-moral code. In view of cultural and social crises, the author falls back on the tried and tested certainties of faith and the idealized worldview.

The defense of the Christian faith and the divine order does not take place with the sword, as is characteristic of the nobility. Don Juan Manuel also fulfills this mission as a writer. Don Juan Manuel thus pushed the process of the idealized knight even further. At the same time, however, he also reached a high point in literary literature by putting his own individual stamp on it. This makes the Conde Lucanor more than a mere guide or a simple collection of specimens. It is a literary testimony of its time and at the same time an appeal from its author to return to the foundations of the Christian faith in the face of cultural, political and social upheavals and thus to underpin a social system.

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