A RETURN TO LA ESPAÑA DEL CID - THE CID AND HIS SPAIN

 

Ever since my father interviewed Don Ramón Menéndez Pidal for Estudios, the magazine of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, for which he served as correspondent in Spain, I had intended to read his monumental work, La España del Cid (1929), translated into English in 1934 by Harold Sutherland, as The Cid and His Spain. Years later, I met Don Ramón, whom I interviewed at his home in Chamartín, Madrid.

Today, I have managed to download the complete work in PDF format, and I intend to read it over the next few days to enjoy the medieval history of Spain as told by the eminent scholar. Menéndez Pidal, a central figure in twentieth-century Spanish philology and historiography, dismantles Reinhart Dozy’s theory that Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, El Cid Campeador, was a kind of mercenary fighting for the highest bidder. El Cid, in Pidal’s view, was a genuine patriotic leader—very much a man of flesh and blood.

Better late than never: tomorrow I shall begin reading the two volumes.