Unbeknownst to the Cid, the Carrión brothers decide to return to Castile with the wealth they have acquired and find better wives. After killing Búcar, the Cid acquires the sword Tizón. In Canto 3, the Carrión heirs are humiliated in Valencia when they hide from a lion that has gotten loose in the palace, and later when they run from a counter-attack from King Búcar that is easily quelled by the Cid’s men. The king sanctions the marriage Doña Sol and Doña Elvira marry the Carrión heirs Fernando and Diego Gonzalez, ending Canto 2. Encouraged by the king, who has now pardoned him, the Cid reluctantly allows the king to decide on the marriage proposal. With the king ready to pardon the Cid, the Carrión nobles ask the king for the Cid’s daughters in marriage. The king is delighted, but the Cid’s enemies-Don García and the Carrión nobles-are not and begin strategizing. After this victory, the Cid sends Minaya to the king with a new gift of horses. Not long after, King Yusef of Morocco attacks the Cid’s forces and loses. Minaya and the Cid’s men, including his ally Abengalbón of Molina, escort the women to Valencia, where their safe arrival is celebrated. He sends gifts back to King Alfonso, who agrees to let the Cid’s wife and daughters travel to join him.

At the tenth month the Moors surrender, and the Cid becomes ruler of the city. Outside of Valencia he confronts the Moorish army, winning the battle and besieging Valencia for nine months.

This guide uses the 2009 Penguin Classics edition, The Song of the Cid: A Dual-Language Edition with Parallel Text, translated by Maria Rosa Menocal.Ĭanto 2 begins as the Cid encroaches on Valencia, taking smaller cities along the way. However, most characters are flat, either devoted to the Cid or against his success. There is some psychological development, from the Cid’s love of his king and family, to the Carrión heir’s desire for revenge after their humiliation in Valencia. Typical of medieval narratives, most characters of The Cid are stock figures or are depicted with little distinguishing physical or personal details. The first cantar addresses the Cid’s banishment and vindication, the second the conquering of Valencia and his pardon by King Alfonso, and the third his conflict with the Carrión nobles and the story’s denouement. Composed of 3730 lines divided unevenly into 152 laisses or stanzas, the overall structure of the epic falls into three cantar. The Cid survives in one manuscript dated to 1207, which was likely composed as early as 1140 and may have circulated orally before being transcribed.

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