Education of nobles and theme of war in Don Juan Manuel's work titled El Conde Lucanor

This master's thesis aims to examine the purpose and importance of the use of exemplum in the education of young nobles in the author's work. Don Juan Manuel, who lived as an important noble in Castile in the 14th century, has personal experience in the political and military fields. For this reason, before examining the book, the historical personality of the author and important historical events in the period in which he lived were discussed and explained in this study. Afterward, the literary texts that inspired the book and the origin of the exemplum literary genre and its function in didactic education are explained. The book is inspired by different didactic works of both eastern and western origin. The author used well-known folk tales and anecdotes to present the ideas closest to his ideology in his work. However, the author managed to differ from his predecessors due to the changes he made by showing consciousness and the style of expression he used. Don Juan Manuel conveyed his political and social thoughts through didactic literature. Thanks to the open-ended nature of the exemplum genre and the use of dialogue to which makes the learning progress interactive, the work has become both an enjoyable and instructive tool for the education of young people. In this study, it is aimed to examine what kind of advice the author gave to the young nobles in the field of politics and war through fifty-one stories in El Conde Lucanor. At the same time, through these recommendations, it has been examined how the education process of young people should be from the perspective of the author. In this process, it was seen that the social class of the author and the historical developments in the century he lived in were intertwined with the educational philosophy presented in the book.