Abstract:

Don Juan Manuel (d. 1348), who attracted attention as a versatile scholar and colorful intellectual personality, lived on the Iberian Peninsula at a time when Muslim-Christian relations were intensifying in medieval Europe. This Spanish figure, one of the most important scholars in the history of medieval Spain, wrote work on subjects such as literature, history, theology and political science. In his works, he worked on themes such as state administration and history, as well as narratives containing political and moral lessons. Don Juan Manuel, who lived the lands of Castile, where a significant Muslim population continued to exist after it was conquered by Christians in the thirteenth century, had the opportunity to get to know Muslims better over time as a member of the multi-religious and multi-cultural Castilian society. Don Juan Manuel, a historian, writer, political scientist and diplomat, included some information about Islamic culture and Muslims in his works on different subjects. The aim of this study is to identify the information about Islamic culture and Muslims in the works written by Don Juan Manuel on subjects such as literature, history and politics and to explain his perception of Islam. In addition, in this study it will be discussed what similarities and differences the Spanish scholar had from the Christian philosophers, theologians and writers before him in terms of mentality by comparing Don Juan Manuel’s Islamic vision with the Islamic vision of Christian scholars who lived in medieval Spain in previous years.

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