Nigromancia ilusoria y ruptura del secreto en el Exemplo XI del Libro del Conde Lucanor

Abstract

Abstract This article studies the role played by illusory magic (praestigium), its techniques, the function of secrecy as a necessary condition for it, and its relationship with demonic practices in the Exemplo XI of Don Juan Manuel’s Libro del Conde Lucanor (around 1335). I propose that the function that this particular kind of magic performs constitutes a device to criticize the deep moral crisis that the Church experienced in the fourteenth century as well as the conflict existing between secular power and ecclesiastical authorities for the administration of knowledge.