Del cuento histórico al cuento ejemplar: la 'Estoria de España' en 'El conde Lucanor'

Conde Lucanor’s examples 15 and 16, which have as protagonists respectively Lorenzo Suárez and Fernán González, are inspired by Alphonsin and post-Alphonsine chronicles material that Don Juan Manuel, starting from a version called *Crónica manuelina, resumed in the Crónica abreviada. Both are the result of a profound and skilful reworking: in the first case, through the “condensation” of elements from two originally distinct chronistic episodes of the siege of Seville; in the second, through the “ellipsis”, the amputation of those parts of the chosen anecdote that
are irrelevant or potentially disorienting for the purposes of the preestablished interpretation. As usual, it is the frame that guides the operation, and in particular Patronio’s commentary, who selects from among the concrete elements of the hypotexts (which have been, through the transformatio of the materials used, structurally adapted for this purpose), those pertinent to the “lessons” he intends to impart and which don Johán summarizes in his morale: in one case recommending the patientia, a virtue linked to fortitudo, understood as the capacity to know how to wait, enduring fear with courage and reason; in the other condemning
that particular form of pusillanimitas constituted by the otiositas, by the inaction, that is, the non-fulfilment of the duties inherent to one’s status.