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Don Juan Manuel
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LIFE

His father died in 1284, and the young prince was educated at the court of his cousin, Sancho IV Of Castile , with whom his precocious ability made him a favorite. In 1294 he was appointed '' Adelantado '' of Murcia and in his fourteenth year served against the Moors at Granada . In 1304 he was entrusted by the queen-mother, Dona Maria de Molina, to conduct political negotiations with James II Of Aragon on behalf of her son, Ferdinand IV , then under age. His diplomacy was successful and his marriage to James II's daughter, Constantina, added to his prestige. On the death of Ferdinand IV and of the regents who governed in the name of Alphonso XI , Don Juan Manuel acted as guardian of the king who was proclaimed of age in 1325.

His ambitious design of continuing to exercise the royal power was defeated by Alphonso, who married the ex-regent's daughter Constanza, and removed his father-in-law from the scene by nominating him ''adelantado mayor de la frontera''. Alphonso XI's repudiation of Constanza, whom he imprisoned at Toro , drove Don Juan Manuel into opposition, and a long period of civil war followed.

On the death of his wife Constantina in 1327, Don Juan Manuel strengthened his position by marrying Dona Blanca de la Cerda; he secured the support of Juan Nunez, ''alferez'' of Castile, by arranging a marriage between him and Maria, daughter of Don Juan el Tuerto; he won over Portugal by promising the hand of his daughter, the ex-queen Constanza, to the infante of that kingdom, and he entered into alliance with Muhammad III Of Granada . This formidable coalition compelled Alphonso XI to sue for terms, which he accepted in 1328 without any serious intention of complying with them; but he was compelled to release Dona Constanza. War speedily broke out anew, and lasted till 1331 when Alphonso XI invited Juan Manuel and Juan Nunez to a banquet at Villahumbrales with the intention, it was believed, of assassinating them; the plot failed, and Don Juan Manuel joined forces with Peter IV Of Aragon . He was besieged by Alphonso XI at Garci-Nufiez, whence he escaped on July 30 1336 , fled into exile, and kept the rebellion alive till 1338, when he made his peace with the king. He proved his loyalty by serving in further expeditions against the Moors of Granada and Africa, and died a tranquil death in the first half of 1349.


LITERARY WORKS

Distinguished as an astute politician, Don Juan Manuel is an author of the highest eminence, and, considering the circumstances of his stormy life, his voluminousness is remarkable. The ''Libra de los Sabios'', a treatise called ''Engenos de Guerra'' and the ''Libra de Cantares'', a collection of verses, were composed between 1320 and 1327; but they have disappeared together with the ''Libra de la caballeria'' (written during the winter of 1326, and the'' Reglas como se debe Irovar'', a metrical treatise assigned to 1328-1334.

Of his surviving writings, Juan Manuel's ''Cronica abreviada'' was compiled between 1319 and 1325, while the ''Libra de la caza'' must have been written between 1320 and 1329; and during this period of nine years the ''Crania de Espana'', the ''Cronica complida'', and the ''Tratado sobre las armas'' were produced. The ''Libra del caballero et del escudero'' was finished before the end of 1326; the first book of the ''Libra de los estados'' was finished on 22 May 1330 , while the second was begun five days later; the first book of '' El Conde Lucanor '' was written in 1328, the second in 1330, and the fourth is dated 12th of June 1335- We are unable to assign to any precise date the devout ''Tractado'' on the Virgin, dedicated to the prior of the monastery at Peñafiel, to which Don Juan Manuel bequeathed his manuscripts; but it seems probable that the ''Libra de las frailes predicadores'' is slightly later than the ''Libra de los estados''; tha the ''Libra de los castigos'' (left unfinished, and therefore known by the alternative title of ''Libra infinido'') was written not later than 1333, and that the treatise ''De las maneras de amor'' was composed between 1334 and 1337.

The historical summaries, pious dissertations and miscellaneous writings are of secondary interest. The ''Libra del caballero et del escudero'' is on another plane; it is no doubt suggested by Raymond Lull 's ''Libre del orde de cavalleria'', but the points of resemblance have been exaggerated; the morbid mysticism of Lull is rejected, and the carefully finished style justifies the special pride which he author took in this performance. The influence of Lull's ''Blanquerna'' is likewise visible in the ''Libra de los estados''; but here are marked divergences of substance which go to prove Don Juan Manuel's acquaintance with some version (not yet dentified) of the Barlaam and Josaphat legend. Nothing is more striking than the curious and varied erudition of the turbulent prince who weaves his personal experiences with historical or legendary incidents, with reminiscences of Aesop and Phaedrus, with the ''Disciplina clericalis'' of Petrus Alfonsi , with Kalilah and Dim-iah, with countless Oriental traditions, and with all the material of anecdotic literature which he embodies in the ''Libra de redecessor'' of Boccaccio in the province of romantic narrative.

The ''Cento novelle antiche'' are earlier in date, but these anonymous tales, derived from popular stories diffused throughout the world, lack the personal character which Don Juan lends to all he touches. They are simple, unadorned variants of folklore terms; ''El Conde Lucanor'' is essentially the production of a conscious artist, deliberative and selective in his methods. Don Juan Manuel has not Boccaccio's festive fancy nor his constructive skill; he is too persistently didactic and concerned to point a moral; but he excels in knowledge of human nature, in the faculty of ironic presentation, in tolerant wisdom and in luminous conciseness. He naturalizes the Eastern apologue in Spain, and by the laconic picturesqueness of his expression imports a new quality into Spanish prose which attains its full development in the hands of ''; and a more direct connection exists between some of Don Juan Manuel's 'enxemplos' and some of Andersen 's fairy tales.


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