The Epic of the Cid records the deeds of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the Cid of history and legend. A powerful warrior in the Christian reconquest of medieval Spain, a formidable strategist, and a charismatic leader, the Cid deeply impressed his contemporaries, both Christian and Muslim. Already, in his lifetime, songs, stories, and chronicles were devoted to his exploits. In offering both a highly readable, colloquial prose translation of El Cantar de Mio Cid and selections from a wide variety of those contemporary accounts, this volume brings the historical figure back to life for modern readers. Harney's substantial Introduction and annotation provide the historical, military, and literary background necessary for an informed reading of the texts; also included are maps, a compendium of proper names, a bibliography, and an index.

A Literal Translation, by ROSCOE MONGAN. 1896

El "Cantar de Mío Cid", es el manuscrito de la literatura clásica castellana, mas antiguo, del que se tenga noticia. Existen otros códices, que también tratan sobre la vida del Cid Campeador, y son contemporáneos a este, pero fueron escritos en latín, y se consideran más bién, como parte de la literatura hispano-romana. El códice "Carmen Campidoctoris" (poema latino), fue escrito en un latín clásico, y su estilo es más parecido a los poemas greco-latinos. El códice "Incipit Gesta Rodericii Campi Docti", está escrito en un latín más contemporáneo, y trata más bien, sobre aspectos prácticos y hechos históricos, de las crónicas romances de las gestas medievales hispanas. Y por supuesto, como mencioné antes, ambos tratan sobre la vida de Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, El Cid Campeador.

This volume offers a literary and cultural history of the idea of crusading over the last millennium.

In 1928, shortly after his marriage to Ximena Amunátegui, and after meeting Douglas Fairbanks, Huidobro began writing his version of the Cid legend as a novel. The result is a highly readable version of the story, that casts aside the style of romantic 19th-century historical fiction in favour of more modern approaches and cinematic influences.

Rodrigo Díaz, the legendary warrior-knight of eleventh-century Castile known as El Cid, is still honored in Spain as a national hero for liberating the fatherland from the occupying Moors. Yet, as this book reveals, there are many contradictions between eleventh-century reality and the mythology that developed later. By placing El Cid in a fresh, historical context, Fletcher shows us an adventurous soldier of fortune who was of a type, one of a number of "cids," or "bosses," who flourished in eleventh-century Spain. But the El Cid of legend--the national hero -- was unique in stature even in his lifetime. Before his death El Cid was already celebrated in a poem; posthumously he was immortalized in the great epic Poema de Mío Cid. When he died in Valencia in 1099, he was ruler of an independent principality he had carved for himself in Eastern Spain. Rather than the zealous Christian leader many believe him to have been, Rodrigo emerges in Fletcher's study as a mercenary equally at home in the feudal kingdoms of northern Spain and the exotic Moorish lands of the south, selling his martial skills to Christian and Muslim alike. Indeed, his very title derives from the Arabic word sayyid, meaning 'lord' or 'master.' And as there was little if any sense of Spanish nationhood in the eleventh century, he can hardly be credited for uniting a medieval Spanish nation. This ground-breaking inquiry into the life and times of El Cid disentangles fact from myth to create a striking portrait of an extraordinary man, clearly showing how and why legend transformed him into something he was not during his lifetime.--From publisher description.