Cantar de Mío Cid, the legend

The story and legend of a Middle Ages nobleman, first mediaeval text

Mar 17, 2007 Angeles Fernández

Cantar de Mío Cid, combination of legend and historical facts about a Castilian nobleman hero, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar during the Middle Ages at the old kingdom of Castilla

This Spanish epic poem is based on a true story, the story of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (1043 – 1099). He was called “Mío Cid Campeador”. In fact, the word “Cid” has an Arabic origin, from al-Sidi, meaning “Sir” or “Lord”, and “Campeador”, from the verb “campear” (to battle). From a historical point of view, this hero was born in Castilla which, at that time, was a kingdom and doesn’t have to be understood as the Spanish region it is nowadays. Concretely, he was born close to Burgos, in Vivar. That’s why this village’s name is “Vivar del Cid” nowadays.

He was, during Alfonso II kingdom, a knight who fought sometimes with the Christians, other times with the Arabs during the “Reconquista” (reconquest). He conquered Valencia’s kingdom which at that time was a Muslim territory. And here’s where history and legend give us different understandings.

As most of the poems from those dates, some of the facts are real, some others are pure legend. Specifically, el “Cantar de Mío Cid” (or “Poema del Mío Cid”) shows some variations from historical real facts. For example, the poem does not mention his son, but in fact, El Cid had a son, Diego Rodríguez, who died at the battle of Consuegra. Another one: his daughters’ real names where Cristina and María, but the poem names them Elvira and Sol.

But, who wrote this epic poem? The story starts when minstrels began reporting the feats of Mío Cid. This way, his story was transmitted orally. Later, in 1142, Per Abbat transcribed it and this text, written in medieval Spanish, is now located at the Biblioteca Nacional de España en Madrid. The same way, its title “Cantar del Mío Cid” is not the original one, but an invention by the Spanish philologist Don Ramón Menéndez Pidal.

The “Cantar de Mío Cid” has 3700 verses, and it is very realistic, not showing fantastic or magic scenes, as most of the compositions from those days.

The poem is the oldest “cantar de gesta” preserved today and it is divided in three sections:

1. Cantar del Destierro: This first part includes the story from his “destierro” (“exile”) to Valencia’s conquest.
2. Cantar de las Bodas: Narration of his daughters’ weddings with the “Infantes de Carrión”
3. Afrenta de Corpes: This one narrates the vexation to his daughters by the Infantes (their husbands) and how El Cid takes revenge.

From the point of view of the Middle Ages, a hero was a warrior or saint whose life was needed to be mentioned, because of the things he/she made. So, according to this, we could say El Cid Campeador was a hero. There is a Latin panegyric about El Cid, probably written in 1093-1094. This is the first written text talking about Don Rodrigo, (again, in Latin language), and it starts saying the necessity to talk about those days heroes, not about the old ones. Its name is “Carmen Campidoctoris”, which in Spanish means “Canto del Campeador”.

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