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How to be a Knight: Political Lessons from 14th-Century Spain

Module description

In a world of disguises and deceit, how can we distinguish friend from foe? In this module, you will decode the timeless political lessons of El Conde Lucanor, a collection of tales featuring crafty friendships, false allies and secret intentions. You will examine El Conde Lucanor’s nuanced engagement with issues of class, faith, race relations, genders roles and scientific thinking in a multicultural Iberian society. You will sharpen your ability to read complex social dynamics and human motives, and consider the surprising relevance that political lessons from medieval Spain may have for our lives today.

Module aims - intentions of the module

You will:

• engage critically with Don Juan Manuel's medieval Spanish classic, El Conde Lucanor, through close reading and discussion.
• examine the tumultuous historical context surrounding the text's production in 14th century Iberia.
• analyse the text's portrayal of prevailing social dynamics, tensions, and notions around class, religion, race, gender, and scientific thought in multicultural medieval Spain.
• appreciate the rich cultural intersections and exchanges that shaped medieval Iberian society as represented in El Conde Lucanor.
• relate the themes, characters, and storytelling of El Conde Lucanor to ethical and political dilemmas that still resonate in the present day.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Gain an in-depth understanding of a medieval classic.
• 2. Demonstrate familiarity with the historical context and epistemological landscapes of fourteenth-century Iberia.
• 3. Hone your analytical skills while deciphering intricate interpersonal quandaries, ambiguous motives, and hidden agendas represented in Don Juan Manuel’s collections.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Articulate ideas and arguments clearly and persuasively in writing and discussion
• 5. Work independently to construct a persuasive and nuanced argument supported by relevant details and examples from textual sources or additional materials.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Draw connections between the political wisdom and social commentary in El Conde Lucanor and contemporary practical and ethical dilemma in the political sphere.
• 7. Examine the multicultural exchanges and complex socio-political dynamics that have shaped Spanish culture.
• 8. Gain insight into how cross-cultural contact and exchange is negotiated in the political discourse.

Syllabus plan

Over the course of the module, we will examine groups of tales around a common thread, including deception, faith, gender roles, cultural diversity, and the elusive nature of truth. Our reading will focus on selections that spotlight false appearances and hidden intentions, offer a window into Muslim culture in medieval Iberia, explore dynamics between husbands and wives, tout martial skill and crusading prowess, comment on science and magic, and – last but not least – seek to illuminate the path towards spiritual salvation, in this case, by fulfilling the duties ascribed to a particular social class.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Juan Manuel, and Blecua, José Manuel, ed., El Conde Lucanor (Madrid: Castalia, 1969).

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – Faculty to provide hyperlink to appropriate pages
• Open Iberia/ America https://openiberiaamerica.hcommons.org/2020/09/17/don-juan-manuel-conde-lucanor-ca-1335/

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• Burgoyne, Jonathan, Reading the Exemplum Right: Fixing the Meaning of El Conde Lucanor (Chapel Hill: U.N.C. Dept. of Romance Languages, 2007).
• Burke, James F. Desire against the Law: The Juxtaposition of Contraries in Early Medieval Spanish Literature (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford UP, 1998). Chapter 13: Riddle Me a Riddle, pp. 230- 244.
• Gerli, Michael. ‘Textualidad y autoridad hacia una teoría de los orígenes de la escritura señorial (el caso de El libro del conde Lucanor)’, in Propuestas teórico-metodológicas para el estudio de la literatura hispánica medieval, coord. Lillian von der Walde Moheno, 2003, pp. 337-349
• Laurence de Looze, Manuscript Diversity, Meaning, and Variance in Juan Manuel's El Conde Lucanor (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006).
• ---, ‘The Problem of Look-Alike Characters in the Vulgate Cycle of the Arthurian Romances and Juan Manuel's El Conde Lucanor’, Comparative Literature 66.2 (2014): 173-85.
• ---, ‘Subversion of Meaning in Part I of El Conde Lucanor’, Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos, 19 (1995): 341-55.
• Wacks, David, ‘Reconquest Colonialism and Andalusi Narrative Practice in the Conde Lucanor’, Diacritics 36.3-4 (2006): 87-103.

Key words search

Medieval, Spanish, Spain, literature, history