Algunos moros muy sabidores: Virtuous Muslim Kings in Examples 30 and 41 of El conde Lucanor^*

This article analyses the representation of Muslim kings in Examples 30 (King al-Muʿtamid of Seville) and 41 (Umayyad Caliph al-Ḥakam al-Mustanṣir) of El conde Lucanor by Juan Manuel, sustaining that they offer models of positive leaders whose virtues and morals help the author construct an idealized model of kingship. Central to the study is an examination of how Juan Manuel adapts Andalusī historical chronicles and folkloric traditions in the examples in order to offer his readers exemplary, although hyperbolic, models of how a good king should behave towards his subjects. Ultimately, it is argued, this exercise of cultural translatio, from al-Andalus to Castile, serves a political purpose: to criticize the inefficient politics and behaviour of a bad king, Alfonso XI of Castile.