Cantar de Mio Cid (Spanish Edition)

El Cantar de Mio Cid is the oldest preserved Spanish epic poem. Based on a true story, it tells of a Spanish hero El Cid, whose true name was Rodrigo (or Ruy) Díaz de Vivar during reconquest of Spain from the Moors. El Cid married the cousin of King Alfonso VI, Doña Ximena, but for certain reasons, he fell into the disfavor of the king and had to leave his home country Castile. The story tells of the Cid's unjust banishment from the court of King Alfonso, his victorious campaigns in Valencia, and the crowning of his daughters as queens of Aragon and Navarre the high point of his career as a warmonger. An epic that sings of universal human values, this is one of the greatest of all works of Spanish literature.

El Cantar del Mio Cid is a title of modern invention by Ramón Menéndez Pidal; its original title is unknown. Some call it "El Poema del Cid" on the grounds that it is not a "cantar" but a poem made up of three "cantares".