‘El omne con bondad … acrecenta las riquezas’: Juan Manuel and Money

Summary

In an article which combines characteristically sharp textual analysis with wide-ranging elucidation of social and cultural context and astute observations on human behaviour, Nick Round showed how Juan Ruiz, Archpriest of Hita, used the nummus tradition in the Libro de buen amor to satirize the power of money and its ability to distort human conduct and eternal truths. The development of a monetary economy had been relatively slow in medieval Castile, but by the first half of the fourteenth century the process of change was well underway. It seems appropriate, then, in this volume to use Nick Round’s study as the starting point for an analysis of Juan Manuel’s response to these changes. Juan Ruiz and Juan Manuel, in this as in many other respects, provide fertile ground for a ‘compare and contrast’ approach. On the one hand they were both producing texts at approximately the same time, within the same society and the same set of historical circumstances, in the same language, and with interests in similar areas of humanity (the tensions between physical existence in this life and spiritual existence in the next). On the other hand, Juan Ruiz was a cleric, whereas Juan Manuel was a layman; and Juan Ruiz only produced one text (as far as we know), whereas Juan Manuel produced many; Juan Ruiz’s text is enigmatic, ironical and humorous, whereas Juan Manuel’s texts are predominantly transparent and serious in tone. My analysis of the proper role of money as defined by a powerful secular figure aims to complement Nick Round’s analysis of one view from within the clergy, and help us to understand better the diversity of views held on such matters in fourteenth-century Castile.

It is possible to arrive at a rounded picture of Juan Manuel’s views on many topics, because of the range of texts which he produced: eight full-length texts survive, in diverse genres, as well as a number of letters. He is also the subject matter of other texts, as in some of the letters reproduced by Giménez Soler, and in the Crónica de Alfonso XI and the Poema de Alfonso XI. Analysis of all these texts can provide us with an understanding of Juan Manuel’s views and his alleged conduct with regard to, among other topics: poverty vs.