Resumen de Golfines and Tabardíes in Exemplo 20 of El conde Lucanor: Don Juan Manuel's View of Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-Century Castilian Monetary Policy

David Zuwiyya

• Juan Manuel's Exemplo 20 from El Conde Lucanor tells the story of a king whose foolhardiness allows a swindler to steal his money. The moral of the tale is not to risk one's wealth on a poor man. The swindler, called a golfín, although claiming to be poor, invests one hundred doubloons and dresses in fancy robes. The king is publically shamed for his poor judgement. This article examines possible connections between the tale and the historical context, including the possibility that the character of the king is modeled on Alfonso X, that the tabardíe refer to maravedíes, the principal monetary unit of fourteenth-century Castile, and that the golfín was a member of the Italian clan that defrauded Alfonso X of his imperial dream.