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

Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Adult

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Canto 1

Canto 2

Canto 3

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

The Meaning and Importance of the Medieval “Warrior”

A major theme of most medieval epics is knighthood—namely, what does it mean to be chivalrous and why is it important. While this may seem like an obvious medieval cliché, the epic text often reflects and communicates cultural values of its audience, envisioning the ideal knight and warrior in a variety of circumstances. The Cid is no exception; he is often simply referred to as “The Warrior” (33), and he embodies the quintessential characteristics of an ideal knight of the 12th century. The depiction of the protagonist also sets an example of medieval masculinity, demonstrating what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior for men.

The Cid’s actions and motivations throughout the text serve as a model of behavior for loyal servants of the king, often surpassing his own king in terms of valor. His unwavering loyalty to a king who has exiled him at a complicated moment in medieval Spanish history sets an example that is later contrasted with the cowardice and deception of the Carrión nobles. Throughout the text, the Cid’s objectives are to seek justice and to be welcomed back into the Spanish court. Although he wages war to gain wealth and support his armies, he is not primarily driven by greed. Instead, he gives thanks for every challenge, as each is an opportunity for greater wealth to improve his reputation and honor his king.

The Cid shows his strength without cruelty, an important feature of the chivalric knight. While Count Ramón of Barcelona’s impetuous refusal to accept defeat lasts a few days, the Cid is patient with him, coaxing him to accept an alliance rather than punishing him excessively. Likewise, the Cid does not slaughter the Carrión nobles after they harm and abandon his daughters. Instead, the Cid seeks justice without violence, an ironic approach given the narrative has showcased his exceptional ability as a warrior for most of the text. A gentleman and a servant of the king, the Cid negotiates the return of his wealth and the swords before revealing the cowardice of the nobles through his knights as proxies.

This shift from warrior to advocate is important; justice is ultimately rendered within the kingdom through a peaceful and fair judicial process involving the community, displacing violence. While the Cid could have easily sought and had revenge through violence, he instead attains it through peaceful means. In turn, his daughters play a role in the peaceful alliance of Castile and the kingdoms of Navarre and Aragon. Thus, in The Cid, the ideal knight is capable of self-defense and unparalleled victories, however this is tempered by his obedience to the king and a respect for the systems of law and order established within the kingdom. Such an ideal would have discouraged vigilantism, infighting, and rivalries that might have undermined fledgling alliances, both domestic and foreign.

Exile and the Frontier

The problem of exile dominates as a theme of the first two Cantos, presenting as the first major challenge for the Cid to overcome in the narrative. In the middle ages, exile from one’s lands and people would have been a devastating judgment, in which the Cid loses his grounding as an important member of the court and the community. Exile sends him out of the society he knows and into wild, foreign lands.

While these spaces are not “unconquered”—Muslims occupy them—they present a new opportunity for the Cid and his Christian marauders. As is typical of the medieval European narrative, “Eastern” lands, or those occupied by Muslims, are envisioned as immensely wealthy. European armies needed little incentive to attack and loot these communities in the hopes of wealth, new land, and glory. As such, the Cid attracts thousands of volunteers, who are perhaps also interested in creating a new society that is far from the established polities in Castile, tainted by corrupt and craven noblemen.

While there is a downside to being exiled in foreign lands, there is also immense potential in the unknown spaces beyond the border for the Cid to prove himself, accumulate wealth, and model a new society based on loyalty and justice. Valencia becomes this space for him, where it is possible to reestablish a system of justice and order. Unlike in Castile, loyal servants are rewarded and promoted in Valencia. Once the Cid takes Valencia, King Alfonso must also recognize these successes; rather than allow the Cid to become a growing threat to the East, he welcomes him back into the fold.

Wealth Management and the Spoils of War

The momentum of The Cid is sometimes slowed down by the ritualized distribution of wealth after every battle. Often described in detail, the Cid regularly takes time after his victories to settle his debts and recognize those who supported his campaigns. He always includes his sovereign, King Alfonso, in this distribution of spoils, making sure the king receives the best of the new wealth, whether the finest saddled horses, gold and silver, or “gorgeous tents and embroidery-covered tent poles” (125). If the accumulation of wealth and territory is a primary drive for the Cid himself, the honorable distribution of that wealth to the most deserving remains a central theme in the text. The repeated depiction of wealth allocation reinforces proper social hierarchy, with the Cid dutifully honoring those above him (the king) and sustaining those below him (his soldiers).

This theme is reinforced throughout, in part because the Cid has been dishonored by a king he served well. While King Alfonso withholds the honor and land the Cid rightfully deserves, the Cid instead demonstrates open generosity with those who fight for him. Through the reoccurring theme of compensation and gifts, the Cid models a sort of justice under their contemporary societal structure, showing the reader what true leadership looks like.

Concurrently, the Cid acquires this wealth either through raids and direct confrontation, or through the payment of parias—a form of tribute money Muslim cities paid Christian kingdoms to live in peace and under their protection. The system of paying parias keeps this social and political system functioning in Spain, allowing two cultures to live in relative peace. Rather than finding some sort of ideological or religious common ground, the language of money in The Cid simply and efficiently keeps kingdoms living in peace, maintains the Cid’s men’s devotion to the cause, exacts justice at court, and allows King Alfonso to pardon the Cid from his exile.

Conquest in Cross-Cultural Spain

The power and potential of conquest is an ongoing theme in the first two Cantos of The Cid, for it is the only way for the Cid to acquire resources and win back his acceptance at court. The Cid’s main targets are Muslim cities, particularly those that do not pay tribute for protection. Because these cities are Muslim and outside of the kingdom of Castile, they are fair play for the Cid; it is easier to justify his conquest when he can casually argue that Muslims are already in the wrong for their faith and should submit to Christian authority. While this is a convenient argument, it certainly is not the rallying cry for the Cid. He is focused on wealth accumulation, not cultural dominance, and as such he leaves cities in peace once they have been conquered and paid their share.

Medieval Spain saw centuries of struggles between Muslim and Christian kingdoms, while individual communities living within Spain nonetheless conducted business and occupied the same trade routes and city spaces through the centuries. For this reason it is perhaps unsurprising that while the Cid attacks cities under Moroccan control, one of his most trusted friends is the Muslim Abengalbón. The Cid inhabits a moment of multiculturalism in Spain that is less ruled by a crusading convert-and-conquer approach, and is instead more pragmatic about how to acquire territory and rule over it peacefully and justly, without the forced conversions or mass expulsions of later centuries. The brief appearances of the two Jewish merchants, Raguel and Vidas, reinforce this, even if their interactions with the Cid are depicted in a stereotypical light.

The Cid’s world is depicted as a heterogeneous mix of allies, and the only true threat to his success ironically comes from within the Castile court. While the Cid is capable of effortlessly winning each campaign against both Christian and Muslim armies, it is the deceitful Carrión heirs who are the likely cause of the gossip that sent the Cid into exile, and who later threaten to undermine the reputation of his family through the rejection of his daughters. As such, the Cid’s success in multicultural Spain in the first two Cantos, where he can build both allies and resources, prepares him to confront and overcome the larger challenge from the Carrión heirs within his own society.