LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

  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 ...