This paper discusses Ramon Llull's Doctrina Pueril, which he wrote in 1275 for the education of his son. It is one of the most outstanding teaching texts of the late Middle Ages and was very popular during the 14th and 15th centuries, as confirmed by the various handwritten copies that still survive. At a time when cities had acquired an incipient prominence, Llull drew up an encyclopaedia primarily intended for educating a layperson who would enter the world of active life and therefore needed to learn a trade. The work -consisting of two well-differentiated parts, one religious (the larger) and another profane (the smaller)- stresses the role of the mechanical arts, to the detriment of the liberal arts, particularly the quadrivium, which is reduced to the cultivation of music. In any case, the ultimate goal of this school encyclopaedia -which was also used in the education of Blanquerna, the hero of one of Llull's most notable didactic novels- was none other than to love, serve and honour God.
