Cantar de mio Cid

The Cantar de mio Cid (Song of My Lord) is an anonymously written poem about the life of the Spanish knight El Cid. The original manuscript is believed to have been written around the year 1200.

It is the oldest Spanish epic poem that is nearly complete; the only missing pages are the first page along with 2 others within the writing. However, other accounts of the work have led historians to produce what is likely to have been in the missing segments. Along with this poem, there exists three other works chronicling the life of El Cid:  Mocedades de Rodrigo (circa 1360), the Cantar de Roncesvalles (circa 1270), and an epitaph, the Epitafio épico del Cid (circa 1400).

The poem has literary significance, and is credited with being the original work of the discipline of the study of Spanish literature: the study has been given credit to historian Ramón Menéndez Pidal (1869-1968), who sparked interest in the work and popularized the study of Spanish literature.

Category:13th-century books