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TheRhetoric
ofPowerinJuanManuel's
El CondeLucanor
JamesA. Grabowska
ofMinnesota
University
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46 SouthCentral
Review
tofacilitate
understanding.
Universitiesandthescholasticmovement taughta different
form ofstudy
fromtheoldermonastic tradition
ofreadingasspiritual
exercise.Scholastic
readingemphasized reasoning and consultationofauthorities thatre-
quireda more orderly and accessible
presentationof thetext. Ordinatio
developed during thethirteenth andfourteenthcenturieswiththeredis-
coveryofAristotelian and
logic, the structure
oftextsreflected
theneedfor
in
precision the ordering of knowledge. Specifically,
compilations were
dividedintobooksandthoseintochapters withrunning titles.Thetext
wasalsoequippedwitha tableofcontents tofacilitate The
accessibility.
SpanishcollectionConde Lucanor,completedin1335bynobleman donJuan
Manuel,manifests manyoftheseaspectsofordinatio, and,liketheother
itsform
collections, is crucial
tounderstanding thetext.
Thepurpose ofthisshortstudyistoidentify anddiscusstheideological
foundationsofexemplary talesbyexploring therhetoricofpowerinJuan
Manuel'stales.2Myanalysis focuseson BookOne,whichdemonstrates
howthewriter JuanManuelwas ableto communicate specificideasor
notionsaboutgoverning andmaintainingsocialprestigetoa specific
group
ofreadersina specificway.Thefunctional relationshipbetween form and
contentor narrativestructure (narrative rhetorical
scripts, devices,and
andcommunicative
fiction) content for
(scripts behavior, historical
devices,
and situations)is whatinterests mein thispreliminary study.
A closeexamination ofthetextofEl CondeLucanor indicatesthatthrough
the rhetoricofpastoralpower,Juan Manuel hoped to maintain royalpower
on a societallevel. By utilizingpastoralpowerand the implications of
forthesalvationof others(a Christian
self-sacrifice of
ideology spiritual
means),JuanManueljustifies theuse ofroyalpower(theideologyofsocial
materialends). Royalpoweris used to describethe statusquo of the
fourteenth-century Castiliansocial orderin whichsacrificeis not de-
mandedforthepreservation ofthethroneperse butratherforthemainte-
nanceoftheexisting socialorder.3JulioValde6nBaruque,in an outlineof
the historicalperiodduringwhichJuanManuel completedmuchofhis
literaryproduction, has shownthatduringthisperiodthenobilitycon-
stantly for
fought greater participation inthegovernment ofthekingdom.
According to Valde6n Baruque, these were
conflicts based upontheestate
structureoffourteenth-century Castiliansocietyand theinternalcontra-
dictionsstemming fromtheinherent inequalityofthesystem.Akintothe
perceivedheavenly socialorder, civilsociety dividedintothreesocial
was
strata:oradores,defensores,and labradores.4 Each one ofthesegroupswas
a
assigned specific setof rights and duties which servedto integrate each
classwiththeother.None couldfunction completely withouttheaid of
the others. The nobility, to whomthe defenseof the community was
and extracted
entrusted,ruledlocal communitiesand even entireterritories
fundsfromthese communitiesand territories forthe purpose ofmaintain-
ing theirstandardofliving.5Alreadyin the fourteenth century,expansion
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JamesA. Grabowska 47
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48 South CentralReview
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JamesA. Grabowska 49
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50 SouthCentral
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A. Grabowska
James 51
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52 SouthCentral
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A. Grabowska
James 53
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54 South CentralReview
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A. Grabowska
James 55
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56 SouthCentral
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A. Grabowska
James 57
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58 SouthCentral
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JamesA. Grabowska 59
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60 South CentralReview
NOTES
in History1350-1400(London: Hutchinson & Company,
1. JanetColeman, EnglishLiterature
160.
1981),
2. To back myclaimsabout theideologicalfoundationsofpopularand institutionalized rhetoric
of power in the CondeLucanor,I have reliedon relatedstudiesof the historicalperiodduring
whichJuanManuel wrote,such as thoseby Valde6n Baruque,R. B. Tate and JoseLuis Martin.
Two authorswho make the linkbetween fourteenth-century Spanish historyand the fiction
ofJuanManuel throughideologyare JoseAntonioMaravall and Luciana de St6fano;both use
Juan Manuel's fictionalrepresentationsof social relationsto define the Spanish medieval
conceptionof societyand the roles and responsibilitiesof each of its members. The role of
historicalphenomena is also the focus of much of Maria Rosa Lida de Malkiel's research
especiallyas foundin the article,"Tres notas sobre don JuanManuel," Estudiosde literatura
de Buenos Aires,1966). Anotherarea
espaiiolaycomparada(Buenos Aires:Editorialuniversitaria
which has receivedmuch scholarlyexaminationis thatof the sources of the exemplarytales
employedin El CondeLucanor. Here I have availed myselfof studies such as those by Jos6
Manuel Blecua and Reinaldo Ayerbe-Chaux,the latterof whom exploresthe originsof the
exemplarytales in his El CondeLucanor- materialtradicional creadora(Madrid:
y originalidad
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JamesA. Grabowska 61
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