Juan Manuel was born the son of an infant, grandson of King Fernando III, and nephew of King Alfonso X, being one of the most cultivated men of his time. All the work that has come down to us is written in prose. In his language, following the pattern of Alfonso X the Wise, he shows a clear awareness of the linguistic autonomy of Castilian Spanish and of its heritage fundamentals, eliminating the sustainable traces of the Latin that he had studied.

 Due to the influence of the work of that of his regal uncle, he has been presented at times as a mere continuation of the prose work of Alfonso X. Although it is true that there are some testimonies in his works of the admiration he also professed for his ancestor it is true that his work has traits that demonstrate its own character and personality. Unlike his uncle that merely managed most of his literary prodution, Juan Manuel personally wrote his works, thus giving his work a greater linguistic and stylistic unity. Although he is inspired by previous works, usually in Latin, he does not translate them, but rather elaborates what he reads and expresses it in his own way. He strives to erase any trace or reference to previous sources, presenting his work as the result of his personal experience and not of his readings, often self-reflecting on his own experiences. If Alfonso X's court preferentially translated and composed books referring to the physical world, history, and the law, don Juan is attracted by moral problems, by the formation of tough characters. He is above all an educator.

Although it is true that the phonetics of Spanish has not changed substantially since the author's time, the syntax is much more complex, using fewer copulative coordinates and a varied series of subordinate phrases: therefore, as I want, so that, because, among ohters. Don Juan Manuel's work is characterized by the desire for clarity, the author striving to express himself with the utmost neatness and care, lengthening the sentences with coordination and subordination, as if he were never satisfied with having been clear. On the other hand, his style is generally sober, without the use of many literary figures or embellishing devices. It is a clear style that is concise and austere at the same time, assuming its prose is an advance with respect to that of Alfonso X. 

Juan Manuel's work constitutes one of the first ones elaborated by a Castilian mind, without the guidance of a model that is translated and that leads the thinking process of the writer. His most popular book, El Conde Lucanor, consists of a series of stories and apologues (story in prose or verse that provides a teaching or moral advice) recount by the tutor Patronio to Count Lucanor. He gives advice to the count and reinforces the message with the corresponding example. The examples are usually fables, many of oriental origin (Persian, Hindu, or Arabic), from the translations and compilations of his uncle Alfonso X. Others, are of Spanish, Christian, or Arabic origin, from the sermon tradition of the Church (sermons or talks ), of Greek-Latin origin.

El conde Luncanor

The work tells the story of the questions that Count Lucanor asks his counselor Patronio about how to act in different situations that arise in life.

Fiction

Short Story

The Baroque is period characterized by a cultural development unwind due to the Counter-Reformation and the Council of Trent. In many respects, Baroque supposes a  return to the Middle Ages, ceasing the clear Renaissance separation between the natural and the supernatural. The Inquisition watches over any intellectual activity that does not highlight or otherwise avoids the transcendental. Scientific research and rational philosophy practically end in Spain, with Theology taking their place. Superstition supplants religiosity in people's minds and so-called miracles ubiquitously flourish. 

In this context, the Spanish genius, unable to create intellectually in other areas, takes refuge in the aesthetic task, with an impressive list of painters, sculptors, and architects who live in this era. The literature demonstrates the same splendor. When Cervantes was still alive,  other outstanding authors such as Lope de Vega, Góngora, and Quevedo wrote their literary masterpieces. Shortly after this giants of the Spanish literature history died, began his careers the last genius of the Baroque era, Calderón de la Barca and Gracián. Somehow, the limitation in freedom of expression is offset by an increase in artifice and exaggeration in style, subjecting the language of the Renaissance to an intense elaboration that gives rise to the two great movements of the time: the 'culteranismo' and the 'conceptismo'.

Middle Ages

Crónica Najerense

Guía de Perplejos, by Maimónides

Poema del Mio Cid

Batalla de las Navas

Fernando III, King of Castile and León

Libro de Apolonio

Historia Gothica, by Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada

Alfonso X crowned king of Castile, León and Galicia

Alfonso X crowned king

Universidad de Valladolid

Estudios Generales de Alcalá

Libro del Caballero Zifar

Libro de Buen Amor

El conde Lucanor, by don Juan Manuel

Fratricídio de Montiel

Historia universal, by Ibh Jaldún

Rimado de palacio, by López de Ayala

Compromiso de Caspe

Debete on the Talmud

Cancionero de Baena

Corbacho, by Arcipreste de Talavera

Cancionero de palacio

Coplas de Ay, panadera

Isabel la Católica crowned queen

Inquisition is stablished in Castile

Conquest of Granada

The Jews are expeled from Spain

Treaty of Tordesillas

Cancionero, by Juan del Encina

La Celestina, by Fernando de Rojas

De amore, by Andreas Capellanus

Saladino recovers Jerusalen

Third crusade

Harmonia Mundi, by Kepler

Novum Organum, by Bacon

University of Bologna

IV Council of Letrán

Frederic II crowned emperor

Canticle of the sun, by Francis of Assisi

University of Montpellier and Toulouse

Carmina Burana

Roman de la Rose, by Guillarme de Lorris

Chronicon Mundi, by Lucas de Tuy

Seventh crusade

Tractatus, by Étiene de Bourbon

Opus Maius, by Roger Bacon

Tractatus, by Humberto de Romans

Eighth crusade

Roman de la Rose, by Jean de Meun

Marco Polo writes a manuscript about his travels 

Travels of Marco Polo

Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri

Poems from Petrarca

One Hundred Years War starts

Black Death

The Decameron, by Boccaccio

Canterbury Tales, by Chaucer

Benedict XIII pope

Council of Constanza 

End of the Western Schism

Council of Basilea

El conde Lucanor (1335)

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El conde Lucanor (1335)

By Juan Manuel, de Villena y Borgoña

Time Period: Middle Ages

Genre: Fiction, Short Story

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