Cantar de mio Cid


El Cantar de mio Cid, literally "The Song of my Cid", also known in English as The Poem of the Cid, is the oldest preserved Castilian epic poem. Based on a true story, it tells of the Castilian hero El Cid, and takes place during the Reconquista, or reconquest of Spain from the Moors. It is considered a national epic of Spain.
The work survives in a medieval manuscript which is now in the Spanish National Library.

Origin

The Spanish medievalist Ramón Menéndez Pidal included the Cantar de mio Cid in the popular tradition he termed the mester de juglaría. Mester de juglaría refers to the medieval tradition according to which popular poems were passed down from generation to generation, being changed in the process. These poems were meant to be performed in public by minstrels, who each performed the traditional composition differently according to the performance context—sometimes adding their own twists to the epic poems they told, or abbreviating it according to the situation.
El Cantar de mio Cid shows signs of being designed for oral transmission. For example, the poem ends with a request for wine for the person who has recited it.
On the other hand, some critics believe El Cantar de mio Cid was composed by one Per Abbad who appears to be credited as the writer of the work in a colophon to the text. It has been suggested that the poem, which is written in Old Spanish, is an example of the learned poetry that was cultivated in the monasteries and other centers of erudition.
However, Per Abbad puts the date 1207 after his name and current thinking is that his claim to have written the work has simply been copied along with the text of an earlier manuscript now lost. The existing copy forms part of a 14th-century codex in the Biblioteca Nacional de España in Madrid, Spain. It is, however, incomplete, missing the first page and two others in the middle. For the purposes of preservation, it is not normally on display.
There are sources that claim that the song was written several years earlier, considering the historical Cid died in 1099. These, however, recognize that the poem itself would not have been written immediately after the death of its titular hero since the narrative would not have been picked up if the story of the Cid did not yet attain its legendary status. There are those who also take into consideration the emergence of the Carolingian legends, which began after 1100 since it is believed that these stories also influenced the poem. The Poem of the Cid, for example, echoes the plot devices used in The Song of Roland epic.

Title

One of the oldest document preserved at the Real Academia de la Historia in Madrid only stated this phrase Hic incipiunt gesta Roderici Campi Docti as the poem's title, which means "Here begins the deeds of Rodrigo the Campeador." Its current title is a 19th-century proposal by Ramón Menéndez Pidal since its original title is unknown. Some merely call the poem El Poema del Cid on the grounds that it is not a cantar but a poem made up of three cantares. The title has been translated into English as The Lay of the Cid and The Song of the Cid. Mio Cid is literally "My Cid", a term of endearment used by the narrator and by characters in the work. The word Cid originates from Arabic sidi or sayyid, an honorific title similar to English Sir.
The commonly used title El Cantar de mio Cid means literally The Song of my Lord or The Poem of my Lord. As the original title of the poem is lost to history, this one was suggested by historian Ramón Menéndez Pidal. It is Old Spanish, adjusted to modern orthography. In modern Spanish the title might be rendered El Poema de mi Señor or El Poema de mi Jefe. The expression cantar was used to mean a chant or a song. The word Cid, was a derivation of the dialectal Arabic word سيد sîdi or sayyid, which means lord or master. During the period the poem was written, Arabic was still a widely used and highly regarded language in Iberia. Çid was not a common word, though, in old Spanish and thus can be treated almost as a proper noun.

The story

El Cid married the cousin of King Alfonso VI, Doña Ximena, but for certain reasons, he fell into the disfavor of the king and had to leave his home country of Castile.
The story begins with the exile of El Cid, whose enemies had unjustly accused him of stealing money from the king, Alfonso VI of Castile and León, leading to his exile. To regain his honor, he participated in the battles against the Moorish armies and conquered Valencia. By these heroic acts he regained the confidence of the king and his honor was restored. The king personally marries El Cid's daughters to the infantes of Carrión. However, when the princes are humiliated by El Cid's men for their cowardice, the infantes swear revenge. They beat their new wives and leave them for dead. When El Cid learns of this he pleads to the king for justice. The infantes are forced to return El Cid's dowry and are defeated in a duel, stripping them of all honor. El Cid's two daughters then remarry to the principes of Navarre and Aragon. Through the marriages of his daughters, El Cid began the unification of Spain.
Unlike other European medieval epics, the tone is realist.
There is no magic, even the apparition of archangel Gabriel happens in a dream.
However, it also departs from historic truth: for example, there is no mention of his son, his daughters were not named Elvira and Sol and they did not become queens.
It consists of more than 3,700 verses of usually 14 through 16 syllables, each with a caesura between the hemistiches. The rhyme is assonant.
Since 1913, and following the work of Ramón Menéndez Pidal, the entire work is conventionally divided into three parts:

''Cantar del Destierro'' (verses 1–1086)

El Cid is exiled from Castile by King Alfonso VI and fights against the Moors to regain his honor.
Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar is called Mío Cid by the Moors. His current task is to collect the tributes from the Moorish territory owed to his king, Alfonso VI of León. Cid's enemy accuses him of taking some of these tributes and the king exiles him from León and Castile. Before he leaves, he places his wife, Doña Ximena, and his two daughters, Doña Elvira and Doña Sol, in the Monastery of Cardeña. The canto then gives accounts of raids in the Moorish territory in which Cid and his men get rich off of the spoils.

''Cantar de las bodas de las hijas del Cid'' (verses 1087–2277)

El Cid defends the city of Valencia, defeating King Chufa ibn Tashfin of the Almoravids. El Cid restores his honor and grants his daughters permission to marry the infantes of Carrión.
It begins with Cid's capture of the city of Valencia. He brings his family to live with him. It is discovered that the Infantes de Carrión, the nephews to the king, are the enemies who caused Cid's exile. They plot to marry his daughters to take some of his wealth. The king acts on behalf of his nephews and pardons Cid and allows the marriages. Cid suspects that something bad will happen from the marriages but he allows it anyway.

''Cantar de la Afrenta de Corpes'' (verses 2278–3730)

The infantes of Carrión were put to shame after being scared of a lion roaming in the court and running away from a campaign to fight against the Moors. So, in revenge, they decide to abuse and abandon their wives at the roadside in Corpes, tied to trees. Once more, El Cid has to gain his honor back, so he asks the court of Toledo for justice. The infantes are defeated in a duel by El Cid's men, and his daughters remarry to the infantes of Navarre and Aragon.
The Cantar shows that the Infantes are cowards in battles with the Moors. They are made fun of and decide to get revenge by attacking their wives. They set out for Carrión with their wives and an escort, Felix Muñoz, the cousin of the daughters. Once on the journey, they send the escort ahead of them, steal their wives' great dowries and beat them and leave them for dead. Muñoz suspects trouble and returns to his cousins and takes them to receive help. Cid seeks to right the wrongs done to his daughters, and a trial is held. A duel is held between some of Cid's men and the Infantes in which the Infantes lose. In the middle of the trial, a message is sent from the kings of Navarra and Aragon, proposing to marry their sons to Cid's daughters. These marriages take place after the defeat of the Infantes and near the end of the story.

Authorship and composition date

The linguistic analysis allows the reconstruction of a 12th-century previous text, which Ramón Menéndez Pidal dated circa 1140. Date and authorship are still open to debate. Certain aspects of the conserved text belong to a well-informed author, with precise knowledge of the law in effect by the end of the 12th century and beginning of the 13th, who knew the area bordering with Burgos.

Extract

These are the first two known stanzas. The format has been somewhat regularized :

Sample text

The following is a sample from Cantar de Mio Cid, with abbreviations resolved, punctuation, and some modernized letters. Below, the original Old Spanish text in the first column is presented, along with the same sample in modern Spanish in the second column and an English translation in the third column.

Translations into English