Don Juan Manuel and his connection with the Order of Preachers

Abstract

This paper intends to show how the social interests of the Dominican Order changed dramatically during the first half of the fourteenth century. From being an Order committed to poverty and preaching the masses at first, the Dominicans became later attached to the nobility and its sources of power and wealth. The example of Don Juan Manuel, a powerful noble, and his connection with the Dominicans helps to illustrate this fact. The Preachers provided Don Juan with intellectual sources, political advise, religious guidance, and helped him to main­tain his social status. The friars in turn enjoyed munificent donations and high esteem from Don Juan Manuel. Don Juan's commitment to the Order of Preachers is not only seen in bis founding of a Dominican convent in tis village of Peñafiel but also in his writings. The Dominican influence is often found in the stories and examples used by Don Juan. The friars' vision of the world induced him to conceive society as a traditional order divided into three estates and domi­nated by nobles and clergymen. However, this idea of society was hard to impose because the fourteenth century was a time of upheaval and of challenge for those who traditionally ruled society. Consequently, the Dominicans and Don Juan Manuel saw in each other an allied to foster their reciprocal interests and to keep the traditional status quo of society.