Cantar de Mio Cid
The Castilian epic of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the Cid, composed around 1200. The poet is unknown; only the copyist Per Abbat's name survives in the manuscript.
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- Original byline
- Anonymous
- Published
- Date not recorded
- Form
- Poems
- Authorship
- Still unknown
- Reason for anonymity
- Unrecorded
- Copyright
- Public domain
- Reference
- Wikipedia · Wikidata
The authorship story
The Cantar de Mio Cid follows the exiled Castilian noble Rodrigo Diaz as he wins back honor and his king's favor through conquest, culminating in the vindication of his daughters. The single surviving manuscript ends with a note by one Per Abbat, long debated and now generally read as the signature of a copyist, not a poet. Scholarly argument over whether the epic grew from oral tradition or was shaped by a single learned author continues, but no named poet stands in the record. Spain's founding epic is, in the strict sense, anonymous.
Questions readers ask
Who wrote Cantar de Mio Cid?
Nobody knows. No author for Cantar de Mio Cid has been identified in the documented record.
Can I read Cantar de Mio Cid for free?
Yes. Cantar de Mio Cid is in the public domain and the full text is free to read at the Internet Archive.
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