Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena

Don Juan Manuel, ( born May 5, 1282 in Escalona, Toledo Province, † June 13, 1348 at Castle Peñafiel Peñafiel, Valladolid Province) was a Spanish statesman and writer. As the latter, he is considered one of the main representatives of the medieval prose in Castilian vernacular.

Life and work

Don Juan Manuel was born the son of the Infante Don Manuel of Castile and his wife Beatrice of Savoy, and thus belonged to one of the richest and most powerful families of the Castilian nobility. At the age of five he lost both parents by the age of twelve he took on his first expedition in part, the defense against the Moorish occupation of Murcia. Don Juan Manuel enjoyed a knightly education in the style of his time (hunting, riding, fencing ), but was also interested in large measure for intellectual disciplines such as law, history, and theology. With its kings Ferdinand IV and Alfonso XI. was Don Juan Manuel in tense relationship. His daughter Constança Manuel he married already with seven years who has reached majority age of 14 just Alfonso XI. Whose teacher he was at times. After this had the marriage annulled two years later, he married her to the Portuguese Crown Prince Pedro, the future King Pedro I.

From Don Juan Manuel eight books have survived, including his most famous, El Conde Lucanor, a 1330-35 created a dialogue constructed collection of 51 tales ( exempla ) with moralizing intent, which relies mainly on elements of ancient and Arabic narrative tradition. It also contains the template for Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairy tale The Emperor's New Clothes.

Don Juan Manuel wrote in Castilian vernacular and not in Latin, in order to achieve maximum readers. His original models lie in the anonymous collective works of his uncle, King Alfonso X of Castile ( the nicknamed " The way " wore). In the course of his literary development intensified in Don Juan Manuel didactic and moralizing element.