The Lay of the Cid Part 1

The Lay of the Cid.

by R. Selden Rose and Leonard Bacon.

INTRODUCTION

The importance of the Cid as Spain's bulwark against the Moors of the eleventh century is exceeded by his importance to his modern countrymen as the epitome of the n.o.ble and vigorous qualities that made Spain great. Menendez y Pelayo has called him the symbol of Spanish nationality in virtue of the fact that in him there were united sobriety of intention and expression, simplicity at once n.o.ble and familiar, ingenuous and easy courtesy, imagination rather solid than brilliant, piety that was more active than contemplative, genuine and soberly restrained affections, deep conjugal devotion, a clear sense of justice, loyalty to his sovereign tempered by the courage to protest against injustice to himself, a strange and appealing confusion of the spirit of chivalry and plebeian rudeness, innate probity rich in vigorous and stern sincerity, and finally a vaguely sensible delicacy of affection that is the inheritance of strong men and clean blood.

[1]

[1] Cf. Menendez y Pelayo, Tratado de los romances viejos, I, 315.

This is the epic Cid who in the last quarter of the eleventh century was banished by Alphonso VI of Castile, fought his way to the Mediterranean, stormed Valencia, married his two daughters to the Heirs of Carrion and defended his fair name in parliament and in battle.

The poet either from ignorance or choice has disregarded the historical significance of the campaigns of the Cid. He fails to mention his defeat of the threatening horde of Almoravides at the very moment when their victory over Alphonso's Castilians at Zalaca had opened to them Spain's richest provinces, and turns the crowning achievement of the great warrior's life into the preliminary to a domestic event which he considered of greater importance. We are grateful to him for his lack of accuracy, for it ill.u.s.trates how men thought about their heroes in that time.

The twelfth century Castilians would have admitted that in battle the Cid was of less avail than their patron James, the son of Zebedee, but they would have added that after all the saint was a Galilean and not a Spaniard.

In order then to make the Cid not merely heroic but a national hero he must become the possessor of attributes of greatness beyond mere courage. The poet therefore, probably a.s.suming that his hearers were well aware of the Cid's prowess in arms, devoted himself to a theme of more intimate appeal. The Cid, an exile from Castile and flouted by his enemies at home, must vindicate himself. The discomfiture of the Moor is not an end in itself but the means of vindication and, be it said, of support. When he is restored to favor, the marriage of his daughters to the Heirs of Carrion under Alphonso's auspices is the royal acknowledgment. The treachery of the heirs is the pretext for the Parliament of Toledo where the Cid shall appear in all the glory of triumphant vindication. The interest in the hecatombs of Moors and even in the fall of Valencia is a secondary one. What really matters is that the Cid's fair name be cleared of all stain of disloyalty and the dona Elvira and dona Sol wed worthy husbands.

This unity of plan is consistently preserved by a rearrangement of the true chronology of events and by the introduction of purely traditional episodes. The s.h.i.+fting of historical values may be due to the fact that when the poem was composed, about 1150, the power of the Moor had really been broken by the conquests of Ferdinand I, Alphonso VI, Alphonso VII and Alphonso VIII of Castile and alphonso I, the Battler, of Aragon. The menace was no longer felt with the keenness of an hundred years before. until the end of the tenth century the Moors had dominated the Peninsula. The growth of the Christian states from the heroic nucleus in northern Asturias was confined to the territory bordering the Bay of Biscay, Asturias, Santander, part of the province of Burgos, Leon, and Galicia. In the East other centers of resistance had sprung up in Navarre, Aragon and the County of Barcelona. At the beginning of the eleventh century the tide turned. The progress of the reconquest was due as much to the disruption of Moorish unity as to the greater aggressiveness and closer cooperation of the Christian kingdoms. The end of the Caliphate of Cordova was the signal for the rise of a great number of mutually independent Moorish states. Sixty years later there were no less than twenty- three of them. By the middle of the following century the enthusiasm that had followed the first successful blows struck against the Moor had waned, and with it the vividness of their historical significance and order.

Let us look at the Cid for a moment as he was seen by a Latin chronicler who confesses that the purpose of his modest narrative was merely to preserve the memory of the Cid of history.

When Ferdinand I of Castile died under the walls of Valencia in 1065 he divided his kingdom among his five children. To Sancho he left Castile, to Alphonso Leon, to Garcia Galicia, to dona Urraca the city and lands of Zamora, and to dona Elvira Toro. Sancho, like his father, soon set about uniting the scattered inheritance.

Ruy Diaz, a native of Bivar near Burgos, was his standard bearer against Alphonso at the battle of Volpejar, aided him in the Galician campaign and was active at the siege of Zamora, where Sancho was treacherously slain. Alphonso, the despoiled lord of Leon, succeeded to the throne of Castile. Ruy Diaz, now called the Campeador (Champion) in honor of his victory over a knight of Navarre, was sent with a force of men to collect the annual taxes from the tributary Moorish kings of Andalusia. Mudafar of Granada, eager to throw off the yoke of Castile, marched against the Campeador and the loyal Motamid of Seville, and was routed at the battle of Cabra. Garcia Ordonez who was fighting in the ranks of Mudafar was taken prisoner. It was here probably that the Cid acquired that tuft of Garcia's beard which he later produced with such convincing effect at Toledo. The Cid returned to Castile laden with booty and honors. The jealousy aroused by this exploit and by an equally successful raid against the region about Toledo caused the banishment of the Cid. From this time until his death he was ceaselessly occupied in warfare against the Moors.

The way to Valencia was beset with more and greater difficulties than those described in the poem. The events of the first years of exile are closely a.s.sociated with the moorish state of Zaragoza.

At the death of its sovereign Almoktadir bitter strife arose between his two sons, Almutamin in Zaragoza and Alf.a.gib in Denia.

The Cid and his followers cast their lot with the former, while Alf.a.gib sought in vain to maintain the balance by allying himself with Sancho of Aragon and Berenguer of Barcelona. After a decisive victory in which Berenguer was taken prisoner Almutamin returned to Zaragoza with his champion, "honoring him above his own son, his realm and all his possessions, so that he seemed almost the lord of the kingdom." There the Cid continued to increase in wealth and fame at the expense of Sancho of Aragon and Alf.a.gib until the death of Almutamin.

For a short time the Cid was restored to the good graces of Alphonso, but a misunderstanding during some joint military expedition brought a second decree of banishment. The Cid's possessions were confiscated and his wife and children cast into prison.

The Cid then went to the support of Alkaadir, king of Valencia. He defeated the threatening Almoravides flushed with their victory over the Castilians at Zalaca. Again he chastised Berenguer of Barcelona. he hastened to answer a second summons from Alphonso, this time to bear aid in operations in the region about Granada.

Suspecting that Alphonso intended treachery, he with drew from the camp toward Valencia. With Zaragoza as his base he laid waste the lands of Sancho and avenged himself upon Alphonso by ravaging Calahorra and Najera.

Finally in 1092 the overthrow of Alkaadir prompted him to interfere definitely in the affairs of Valencia. He besieged the city closely and captured it in 1094. There he ruled, independent, until his death in 1099.

Even the Moorish chroniclers of the twelfth century pay their tribute to the memory of the Cid by the virulence of their hatred.

Aben Ba.s.sam wrote: "The might of this tyrant was ever growing until its weight was felt upon the highest peaks and in the deepest valleys, and filled with terror both n.o.ble and commoner. I have heard men say that when his eagerness was greatest and his ambition highest he uttered these words, 'If one Rodrigo brought ruin upon this Peninsula, another Rodrigo shall reconquer it!' A saying that filled the hearts of the believers with fear and caused them to think that what they anxiously dreaded would speedily come to pa.s.s. This man, who was the lash and scourge of his time, was, because of his love of glory, his steadfastness of character and his heroic valor, one of the miracles of the Lord.

Victory ever followed Rodrigo's banner--may Allay curse him--he triumphed over the princes of the unbelievers . . . and with a handful of men confounded and dispersed their numerous armies.'

[2] One can hardly look for strict neutrality in the verdicts of Moorish historians, but between the one extreme of fanaticism that led Aben Ba.s.sam elsewhere to call the Cid a robber and a Galician dog and the other that four centuries later urged his canonization, the true believer can readily discern the figure of a warrior who was neither saint nor bandit.

[2] Aben Ba.s.sam, Tesoro (1109), cf. Dozy, Recherches sur l'histoire politique et litteraire d'Espagne pendant le Moyen Age.

Leyden, 1849.

The deeds of such a man naturally appealed to popular imagination, and it is not wonderful that there were substantial accretions that less than a hundred years later found their way into the Epic. Within an astonis.h.i.+ngly short time the purely traditional elements of the marriage of the Cid's daughters and the Parliament at Toledo became its central theme. It is probable that such a vital change was not entirely due to conscious art in a poet whose distinguis.h.i.+ng characteristic is his very unconsciousness. From his minute familiarity with the topography of the country about Medina and Gormaz, his affection for St. Stephen's, his utter lack of accuracy in his description of the siege of Valencia and from the disproportionate prominence given to such really insignificant episodes as the sieges of Castejon and Alcocer, Pidal has inferred that the unknown poet was himself a native of this region and that his story of the life of the Cid is the product of local tradition. [3] Moreover there is abundant evidence to prove that before the composition of the poem as it has come down to us, the compelling figure of the Cid had inspired other chants of an heroic if not epic nature.

[3] Cid, 1, 72-73.

From this vigorous plant patriotic fervor and sympathetic imagination caused to spring a perennial growth of popular legends. The "General Chronicle of Alphonso the Wise," begun in 1270, reflects the national affection for the very chattels of the Cid. it relates that Babieca pa.s.sed the evening of his life in ease and luxury and that his seed flourished in the land.

After this constantly increasing biographical material had been developed and expanded through at least six chronicles and later epic treatment it was taken up by the ballads with a wealth of new episodes. Of these one of the most interesting is the Cid's duel with the conde Lozano and his marriage to Ximena. The hounds of Diego Lainez, the Cid's father, have seized a hare belonging to the conde Lozano, who considers that he has been grievously insulted thereby. Accordingly he retaliates with slurs that can removed only ont he field of honor. Diego Lainez, too old to fight, in order to discover which one of his three sons is worthy of clearing the honor of the family, bites the finger of each one successively. The two eldest utter only cries of pain, but Rodrigo with great spirit threatens his father. He is chosen to fight the conde Lozano and slays him. Ximena demands justice for her father's death, and protection. Thereupon by order of King Ferdinand the Cid and Ximena are married. Later we have Ximena's complaints that her husband's activity in the field against the Moors have tried her spirit sorely. There are many ballads that treat of the arming and consecration of the Cid in newly conquered Coimbra, of his victory over five Moorish kings who gave him the name Cid (Master), and became his tributaries, of the testament of Ferdinand in virtue of which the Cid is made the adviser of Sancho and Urraca. The siege of Zamora and the death of Sancho are fertile topics. At the accession of Alphonso the Cid forces him to swear a solemn oath that he was not party to the murder of his brother Sancho. Finally when the Cid is independent master of Valencia, the Sultan of Persia, hearing of his exploits, sends him rich presents and a magic balsam. This the Cid drinks when he is at the point of death. It preserves his dead body with such perfect semblance of life that, mounted on Babieca, he turns the victory of the Moor Bucar into utter rout.

Not the least curious is the legend of the Jew who having feared the living Cid, desired to pluck his sacred beard as he lay in state in St. Peter's at Cardena. "This is the body of the Cid,"

said he, "so praised of all, and men say that while he lived none plucked his beard. I would fain seize it and take it in my hand, for since he lies here dead he shall not prevent this." The Jew stretched forth his hand, but ere he touched that beard the Cid laid his hand upon his sword Tizona and drew it forth from its scabbard a handsbreadth. When the Jew beheld this he was struck with mighty fear, and backward he fell in a swoon for terror. Now this Jew was converted and ended his days in St. Peter's, a man of G.o.d.

The uninitiated reader will doubtless miss in the Epic more than one of his most fondly cherished episodes. If he prefer the Cid of romance and fable, let him turn to the ballads and the Chronicle of the Cid. If he would cling to the punctilious, gallant hidalgo of the early seventeenth century, let him turn to the Cid of Guillem de Castro, or to Corneille's paragon. Don Quixote wisely said: "That there was a Cid there is no doubt, or Bernardo del Carpio either; but that they did the deeds men say they did, there is a doubt a-plenty." In the heroic heart of the Epic Cid one finds the simple n.o.bility that later centuries have obscured with adornment.

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THE LAY OF THE CID

CANTAR I

THE BANISHMENT OF THE CID

I.

He turned and looked upon them, and he wept very sore As he saw the yawning gateway and the hasps wrenched off the door, And the pegs whereon no mantle nor coat of vair there hung.

There perched no moulting goshawk, and there no falcon swung.

My lord the Cid sighed deeply such grief was in his heart And he spake well and wisely: "Oh Thou, in Heaven that art Our Father and our Master, now I give thanks to Thee.

Of their wickedness my foemen have done this thing to me."

II.

Then they shook out the bridle rein further to ride afar.

They had the crow on their right hand as they issued from Bivar; And as they entered Burgos upon their left it sped.

And the Cid shrugged his shoulders, and the Cid shook his head: "Good tidings, Alvar Fanez. We are banished from our weal, But on a day with honor shall we come unto Castile."

III.

Roy Diaz entered Burgos with sixty pennons strong, And forth to look upon him did the men and women throng.

And with their wives the townsmen at the windows stood hard by, And they wept in lamentation, their grief was risen so high.

As with one mouth, together they spake with one accord: "G.o.d, what a n.o.ble va.s.sal, an he had a worthy lord.

IV.

Fain had they made him welcome, but none dared do the thing For fear of Don Alfonso, and the fury of the King.

His mandate unto Burgos came ere the evening fell.

With utmost care they brought it, and it was sealed well 'That no man to Roy Diaz give shelter now, take heed And if one give him shelter, let him know in very deed He shall lose his whole possession, nay! the eyes within his head Nor shall his soul and body be found in better stead.'

Great sorrow had the Christians, and from his face they hid.

Was none dared aught to utter unto my lord the Cid.

Then the Campeador departed unto his lodging straight.

But when he was come thither, they had locked and barred the gate.

In their fear of King Alfonso had they done even so.

An the Cid forced not his entrance, neither for weal nor woe Durst they open it unto him. Loudly his men did call.

Nothing thereto in answer said the folk within the hall.

My lord the Cid spurred onward, to the doorway did he go.

He drew his foot from the stirrup, he smote the door one blow.

Yet the door would not open, for they had barred it fast.

But a maiden of nine summers came unto him at last: