The Poem of the Cid (The Song of the Cid)

The timing of the second canto is longer than the first, spanning approximately five years, including three years of the Cid’s exile as he builds towards his victory in Valencia. This culminates in his pardon from King Alfonso, the marriage of his daughters to the Carrión heirs, and two years of living in Valencia. The Canto works as a narrative bridge, resolving the conflict of the Cid’s exile from Castile, while initiating the rising action of the marriage plot.

As the Cid makes steady progress in the lands beyond Castile, the author establishes the Cid as an exceptional warrior and an honorable man. With every easily won victory, the Cid rewards his men and sends gifts to his king. This ritualized apportionment raises his reputation each time, allowing the Cid to attract more and more followers and earning loyalty from new soldiers and conquered townspeople. The medieval epic reflects the era’s highest societal values—chivalric courage and noble generosity—along with the importance of upholding ritual, following social code, and religious obligation. These practices form the basis of society, so when social codes are broken, as with the Carrión heirs, trouble ensues and threatens the very foundation of society.

Above all, the Cid’s repetitive religious practice, in which he always stops to pray and give thanks to God upon arrival, grounds him as a worthy and deserving protagonist in the eyes of the medieval reader. When the Cid should be worried, he instead gives thanks to God for “the wonderful gift” (117) of the Moorish attack, sure that God is on his side and their wealth will be his. For this adventuresome warrior, each confrontation is an opportunity to acquire more, but likewise, he has the confidence that a Christian god is on his side. In contrast to many medieval epic heroes, the Cid’s mood is often jubilant as he heads into battle.

The Cid conquers “foreign” lands in Canto 2, which bears ample evidence of the multicultural world of Medieval Spain, where beyond the battlefield, Jews, Christians, and Muslims interacted and formed everyday alliances. This is demonstrated in the friendship the Cid has with Abengalbón, a Muslim ruler. Complicating the “clash of cultures” narrative assumed by many modern readers, Abengalbón is one of the Cid’s most trusted friends—so much so that the Cid entrusts him with the care of his wife and daughters as they cross Spain to Valencia. Abengalbón later proves he is worthy of this trust in the Third Canto, driving away the traitorous Carrión heirs when they plot against him, and giving the daughters shelter again when they return home to Valencia.

While considering the framework of cross-cultural encounters in the text, the return of Raguel and Vidas to the narrative in Canto 2 presents a complicated dynamic. The two merchants send a reminder to the Cid to pay the debt he owes them, and Minaya assures them it will be paid, but this is the last the reader hears of them. Whether or not the Cid pays the debt is left ambiguous; however, it is unlikely he ever intended to repay the debt. On one hand, the narrator’s depiction of the two Jewish moneylenders relies heavily on medieval stereotypes of greedy, usurious Jewish moneylenders who prey on those in need. It is meant to satirize them and is not a flattering depiction. This is reinforced by the comical encounter in Canto 2, where the two city-dwelling, bourgeois moneylenders—who have by now likely discovered the sand in the chests, instead of gold—threaten to hunt down the Cid, the greatest warrior in the land, for repayment. While the Cid is consistent in repaying those who help him, it is likely he would make an exception for those he considers unethical moneylenders like Raguel and Vidas. Thus, while Muslims can be considered trusted allies to the Medieval Christian hero, the author of this text relies on anti-Semitic tropes to justify the Cid’s dishonest dealings with the two merchants, implying they deserve to be cheated.

Elsewhere, the introduction of the French bishop Don Jeronimo brings in a violent crusader against Muslims. Don Jeronimo—an explicitly religious figure—is focused on the elimination of Moorish warriors, and he is the only ally of the Cid’s who puts it so directly. His fervor for a more crusading approach to war is contrasted with the Cid, who is not seeking cultural domination but simple financial and territorial gain, leaving the Moorish inhabitants in peace once the battle is won. The Cid has one goal: getting back into his King’s good graces so he can build his own financial wealth. The rhetoric of cultural domination and religious righteousness here is isolated to a man of the Church, yet while Don Jeronimo seems to be an ideological outlier, he is none the less heartily welcomed by the Cid. As with many medieval narratives, the cross-cultural relations, alliances, and enemies formed in the text are ambiguous and reflect a myriad of contemporary cultural values.

Another pivotal relationship in the Second Canto is that of the King and the Cid, from their slow reconciliation to the King’s symbolic assumption of the Cid’s role in the marriages of his daughters. In the First and Second Cantos, the Cid slowly and methodically courts the King’s pardon through victories in his name and gifts of the spoils of war. The King ultimately cannot refuse these gifts, properly given by a man who is clearly his most loyal servant. Now newly reconciled with the King, the Cid must truly prove his loyalty when he is put in an undesirable position. While the Cid does not wish to marry his daughters to the Carrión nobles, he is in no position to refuse his King’s desire.

Rather than create further conflict, the Cid essentially absolves himself of responsibility for the match, deferring to his king while simultaneously demonstrating his trust and loyalty to his regent. The Cid supports these marriages in good faith, trusting his king and hoping they will work out for his daughters. This deferral, as difficult as it may be for the Cid, works in his favor as a protection in the long run; the heirs’ abandonment of the marriage ends up being an insult to the king, rather than to the Cid, who sanctioned the match. As such, it precipitates their ultimate downfall at court and the destruction of their family’s reputation. Thus, when the Cid submits to his king’s authority in the Second Canto, he demonstrates the proper relation of vassal to king, and this submission ultimately protects and elevates his family’s wealth and reputation.

During this narrative bridge, the Cid achieves his greatest military victories in Canto 2. Coupled with his strict adherence to social codes and paying tribute to his king and those who helped him succeed, the Cid is able to comfortably establish himself at Valencia and form regional alliances that fortify him against attacks from Morocco and domestic threats to come in Canto 3. The Second Canto establishes the politics around the marriages of Sol and Elvira, foreshadowing their failure by hinting at the Carrión heirs’ plotting and manipulation at court. The final Canto will open with these inevitable troubles, which carry the narrative through to the end.