DON JUAN MANUEL AND HIS CONNECTION WITH THE ORDER OF PREACHERS

Don Juan Manuel (1282-1348) is well known as one of the foremost literary figures of medieval Spain. His endeavors were not, however, confi­ ned to literature; he was a multifaceted individual. From the age of twelve he had participated in the frontier war against the Moors and he remained a noble knight throughout his life, proud of his status and skills. King Alfonso XI granted him the prestigious position of adelantado of the fron­ tier and kingdom of Murcia as a reward for his services in Castile's war against the Muslims. As a conscientious religious person, Don Juan Manuel, in fighting che Muslims, sought the best way a nobleman like himself could serve God, gain salvation, and maintain the honor of his social estate. 2 Don Juan Manuel also played a crucial political role as regent and roy al tutor in the crisis during and after the minorities of Kings Fernando IV and Alfonso XI in the early fourteenth century. His political activity, however, led him to dissatisfaction at the end. In addition to his political ambitions, Don Juan Manuel demonstrated concrete interese in two issues; namely, the hierarchical organization of society and che salvation of the soul. Both were also a substancial part of the church's agenda to which the Dominican Order greatly contributed. In


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FRANCISCO GARCÍA-SERRANO fact, to the advantage of Don Juan, the Preachers were extremely useful in maintaining tbe social status quo and in promising salvation for those nobles wbo supported tbem. Tbe usefulness of tbe friars is demonstrated by the fact that in all of his works Don Juan showed not only a commit ment toward his own noble estate bue also a solid connection with Dominican teaching ..
Tbere was a constant concern in Don Juan 's books to make bis ideas comprehensible. In the Libro dt los estatkJs he pursued that a didactic approach in which the articulation of questions and answers containing examples, was che best form ro make concepts more obvious to his readers.  Don Juan Manuel's works provide us with an excellent opportunity to become familiar with the stories most widely used by the Dominicans in their sermons. Even though the friars did not write in Castilian, it is cer tain however, that they preached in vernacular languages to make themsel ves understood and to malee the desired impression on their listeners. The exempla of the sermons needed to be presented in the most suitable langua ge of late medieval Castile, which was Castilian, not Latin. 7 Many sermons included anecdotes that became popular and were transmitted orally from generation to generation, constituting the basis of traditional Castilian tales.
In addition to be exposed to chis oral tradition, Don Juan Manuel read Latin and therefore had access to a wide variety of Latin sources. On many occasions he followed Dominican preachers, such as the above mentioned Étienne de Bourbon, not only in method but also in content. The tradicio nal exempla used by Dominican friars to illustrate complex theological con cepts appeared regularly in Don Juan Manuel's literature. For instance, severa! exemplary stories in his literary production are genuinely Dominican, such as the ones about Saint Dominic (example XIV), the Franciscans of París (example XXXI), and the fake beguine (example XLII), all of them contained in Conde Lucanor. 8 The Dominicans found in Don Juan Manuel an excellent communica tor and encouraged him to write in Castilian to spread their religious prin ci ples. For example, Don Juan's Libro de las armas was written under a request by a friar, Don Juan Alfonso. 9 Likewise, the Dominican hand is noticeable at the end of Libro de los estados where there is an entire section dedicated to emphasizing the excellences of the friars preacher. 10 In this 7 Francisco Rico supports this same theory in Predicación y Literat11ra en la España Meáiwal, Cádiz, 1977, p. 8: «Por otra parte, hasta los manuscritos del siglo XV confirman que solían escribirse en latín guiones o textos que luego se pronunciaban en romance. También ocurre lo contrario: cuando se escribía un sermón predicado antes en vulgar, la regla era ponerlo en latín,. 154 FRANCISCO GARCfA-SERRANO same book the character of Julio also presents the key qualities of a prea cher missionizing in a distant land. 11 Finally, another Dominican feature adopted by Don Juan consisted of asserting the Thomist importance of reason to gain faith. In arder to have faith, it was first necessary to understand the superiority of the orthodox Catholic religion. This approach carried a certain degree of tolerance in converting infidels since it was emphasized that none should be forced to embrace Chriscianity; only reason and faith should lead them to do so. 12 In like manner, Don Juan Manuel resolved to show by means of reason how Catholic religion was superior to ali others. He was convinced that, despite the freedom of choice of che individual, Catholicism would be inevitably chosen due to its obvious superiority. 13 On many occasions well-prepared Dominican preachers were involved in religious debates against infidels to publicly demonstrate the supposed superiority of Christianity. Although taking part in these debates made Christians more knowledgeable of their own faith, there was also a poten cial clanger of exposing che weakness of Catholicism. Heretics, especially Waldensians and Jews, who were well read, could easily refute che argu ments of uneducated Christians. Aware of this fact, che Dominicans Saint Thomas Aquinas in his Summa theo/ogica (11, I, quaest. 10, art. 7) and Bernard Gui in his Practica inquisitionis hereticae pravitatis, a manual for inquisitors, warned about the dangers of public debates. Don Juan Manuel also reflected the same concerns in his books and advised bis readers avoi dance of open religious discussions with nonbelievers. 14 The connection between Don Juan Manuel and the Dominicans was not just limited to spiritual and intellectual levels. They self-consciously shared mutual worldly interests as well. In fact, the material advantages that the preachers obtained from Don Juan could only be matched by those they got from the royal family. Possibly Don Juan Manuel tried to gain support over the king from such an influential religious order; by the four teenth century the Dominicans were far from being a small group of friars begging and struggling to survive. On the contrary, they were highly influential mediators who played a decisive role in internal and externa! political affairs. The frequency of donations by the upper nobility and the royal family gradually led the Dominicans away from their modest beginnings of the early thirteenth century. The friars, in turn, recruited members of the aris tocracy to become part of their ranks. Although only one hundred years had passed between the foundation of the first convents in Castile and the foundation of the convent of Peñafiel, there was a clear evolution in the Dominican outlook. The friars preacher, no longer the ascetic men of scarce resources that at first scattered through medieval Europe, could better ser ve the intereses of the nobility. This explains in part the fact that the Dominicans, despite substantially neglecting their original ideal of mate rial poverty, were praised by a powerful noble like Don Juan Manuel. Plainly, by the fourteenth century they had truly become an order of noble status which controlled great power and wealth.
Consequently, the Dominicans had to change their original premises to such an extent that the urban setting so necessary for the preaching of the early friars now yielded to a more tradicional and secluded way of reli gion, similar to that of the pre-mendicant Benedictine monks. The con vent founded by Don Juan Manuel illustrates chis fact. In effect, Peñafiel was just a small village, very rural, with its only distinction being that of hosting the palace of Don Juan Manuel. The contact between friars and urban inhabitants was meager in Peñafiel since the bourgeoisie and prospe rous merchants who crowded the cities were almost nonexistent there. 24 explanation of the value of Castilian currency see Peter SPUFFORD, Ha11dbook of Muliwal Exchange, London, 1986, pp. 155-161. As an example of che cost of living in che Castile of Juan Manuel the prices of sorne major items may help; a horse was valued at between 2,000 and 5,000 maravedis, a hawk cost 750, and a house between 7,000 and 12,000. A pound of mutton or pork was 7 to 8 dineros ( 1 O dineros= 1 maravedi), beef 4 to 6 dineros, lamb 3 to 4 dineros. Salt pork 12 to 14 dineros, a pound of cheese was just over 3 dineros (GI�NEZ SoLER, pp. 698, 662-63).

FRANCISCO GARCf A-SERRANO
Preaching, the Dominicans' main activity, would have been hard to exerci se in a village which could only offer a limited audience. Furthermore, Peñafiel was a convent of noble origin established to serve the intereses of its founder and, accordingly, the Dominicans concentrated on large scale politics instead of preaching. These radical changes in the Dominican institution are comprehensi ble in a broader historical context. lt is important to keep in mind that the precarious economic conditions that the crisis of che fourteenth century spread across Western Europe progressively made poverty a social plague. Poverty was beginning to be regarded as a social evil rather than as an apostolic virtue; and, as a consequence, the social utility of che mendicant friars was questioned in so far as they lived on the detriment of those who truly were needy. 2 � Social norms were also blurred by the corrupt behavior of both laity and clergy. The claustra, a very lenient way of being religious, was the model followed by most members of religious orders in Castile. Due to this decaying situation, the Dominican masters were forced to ini tiate a reform in order to reinstate both discipline and the teachings of Saint Dominic. 26 During this time, the Dominicans were generally closer to the aristo cracy, as in Peñafiel, and they were also willing to accept donations that greatly exceeded the restrictive norms of original Dominican poverty. For instance, far from being committed to mendicancy, the convent of Peñafiel accepted jewels and fine garments from Don Juan, and used them openly at weddings and other commemorative services. The material wealth and the questionable behavior of the friars did attrack attention to the point that Don Juan Manuel himself was forced to warn them, threatening to cease giving them more material support. Don Juan's direct reference to donations suggests the high value that the friars attributed to worldly pos sessions. 27 Meanwhile, the general social discontent of the fourteenth century generated a clash of intereses between the members of the lower estates of To solve this problem, poverty was conceived of as an attitude and not as an actual economic status. Being naturally poor or being born poor did not secure spiritual perfection because poor people did not have to renounce a material wealth which they never actually held. Being born wealthy and rejecting wealth was, on the other hand, the most certain way to gain sal vation.
Don Juan endorsed these beliefs by pointing out that, despite having other options in life, che merit of salvation lay in being voluntarily poor. 33 In addition, he states that since education and reason were essential to gai ning salvation, members of the lower estates were in greater danger of con demnation due to their ignorance. Under these premises, the third estate of society was therefore not only dispossessed of its material well-being on eanh but also of the means to salvation, which were monopolized by the aristocracy as well. 34 This conception of society brings up the question of social inequality during Don Juan Manuel's life. The hierarchical division in the three esta tes described in Libro de los eJtados was thought to be the natural order for society because of its divine origin. Altering the structure of society was thus seen as an act against God's will, embody ing the danger of sin or heresy. In consequence, one had to achieve perfection within one's social estate. In general, the Dominicans shared with Don Juan Manuel this sta tic vision of the world, to which they contributed with theories of their own.
In this light the merchants, who were included in the third estate des cribed in the book, were viewed as a danger to Christian society. In the thirteenth century friars and merchants, sharing the same urban and social background, pursued much the same interests. By the early fourteenth cen tury, however, things had changed and the merchants were seen as greedy individuals who could compete for the privileges of the nobility and dis rupt the divine arder of society.
Don Juan Manuel, too, looked clown openly upon merchants in his works and took great pains to distinguish them from the nobility. The http://estudiosmedievales.revistas.csic.es nobles were ricos homnes claiming honor and ancestry while che merchants were just homnes ricos whose lack of honor deprived them of ali purpose except that of making a profit. The merchants were also considered to be harmful to the social order since, much to the dismay of Don Juan Manuel, they sought to improve their social status by means of economic leverage.
Despite their wealth, however, they still belonged to the estate of rhe labo ratores because they earned they living. 3 � A high social status, thus, was not essential to having a prosperous economic status. While one condition could only be inherited through lineage and could not be won through one's own efforts, the other was obtained through economic growth, in such a manner that, regardless of the amount of wealth possessed, the social status of a nobleman always excelled that of a merchant.
In conclusion, the connection between Don Juan Manuel and che Dominicans reflects how the intereses of a nobleman were best fostered by a religious order. Reciprocally, the Dominicans, who abandoned their early devotion to apostolic poverty, sought the protection of the upper nobility to secure their existence in times of dire straits. In the political unrest of fourteenth-century Castile, both gained through their alliance. Both repre sented, however, powers in risk of decline; the peasants' revolts and the well-organized urban councils channeled the social discontent that caused the voices of the members of the lower society to be heard. As a result the urban centers, taking power away from the nobility, gained representation in the parliament (Cortes) of the highly centralized medieval Castile.