When the Text was written:
The Cantar del Mio Cid was written in the year 1207 and was a manuscript of an epic poem that was originally known as an oral story. This epic was transcribed by Per Abbat. The time period during which this story was told was a very tumultuous one, occurring during the Islamic conquest of Spain, then known as Hispania, and later the Catholic Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula. Because of the constant warring between Christian and Muslim rulers, Spain went through many different periods of religious acceptance and mistreatment.
During the year 711, the first Muslim ruler came into power in Hispania and took over the entire Iberian Peninsula. Over the course of the following 781 years, power shifted back and forth between rival caliphates and various Christian territories. Because of the influence of the Islamic invaders and the Jews who settled in Hispania, the culture changed drastically and many improvements were made, not only in technology, but also in the arts.
It was not always safe for the different groups to reside together however. The Almohad rulers for example insisted that all Jews and Christians convert or be killed. This led to an exodus from Hispania until 1212, when the Christian territories banded together to defeat the Almohad regime.
The Text:
The Canter del Mio Cid is the story of a man named Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar who is referred to as Cid, meaning ruler or lord. Rodrigo is very loyal to his king which causes many difficulties for him and his family. The story is one of misfortune and loss of honor that is able to be turned around by Rodrigo’s loyalty and the goodness of his king. During the course of the epic poem, there are two great misfortunes that befall the Cid and his family. The first misfortune is that he is accused of theft. As punishment for stealing, his lands and titles are taken away and he is banished.
However, because he continues to support the king and participates in the Conquest of Valencia, all of his lands and titles are restored and he is pardoned. As a reward, his two daughters are married to the infants of Carrion, young men who have a good name, but should not be trusted. The Cid trusts them because the king does and it proves to be a great mistake. After the marriage, Rodrigo’s daughters are found after having been raped and beaten by their husbands and left to die. This is the cause of the second loss of honor for Rodrigo and his family. The Infants of Carrion are then taken to be judged by the king and Rodrigo presents his side of the case. Luckily for Rodrigo, he is as adept at court as he is at war and his daughters are allowed to divorce from their husbands. They are then remarried, but to heirs to the thrones of Aragon and Navarre. This second marriage restores honor to the Cid and his family and also concludes the story.
The Author:
It is unclear exactly who wrote the Cantar de Mio Cid, though the name Per Abbat is associated with the text. There are some who argue that Per Abbat wrote the Cantar, but there are others still who believe he simply copied it from another manuscript. The only thing that is really known about it is that he wrote the known manuscript in the early 13th century, assumed to be in the year 1207.
The Language:
During this point in time, King Alfonso X began standardizing the Spanish language from the Castilian dialect that spread from Northern Hispania during the Reconquista. Castilian wasn’t the only dialect used in the standardization however, Mozarabic, the main dialect of the Islamic invaders, remained and even became the core of some words in modern Spanish. At the time when El Cantar de Mio Cid was being written, the language had just begun the arduous process of standardization and is referred to as Old Spanish.
Reason for choosing the text:
I have decided to work with the Cantar de Mio Cid because it reflects a lot of the history of early Spain which would have also greatly affected how the language changed from Romance to Spanish as we know it today. In addition to this, because the text is an epic poem that was originally shared orally, I think that it will be very interesting to read.