The Poem of Mio Cid in the tradition of the Estoria de España: on the so-called Cidian Interpolation

Abstract

This work deals with the analysis of one of the most enigmatic pieces in the tradition of the Estoria de España, known as Cidian Interpolation. This is the text written to cover a textual gap present in the archetype of an important family of texts, which includes the Versión amplificada, the Crónica manuelina and the Crónica de Castilla. This text covers the final part of Cid's biography, from the conquest of Valencia, and presents a very different wording from the alfonsine redaction of the Estoria de España, that is, the Versión crítica. In particular, the story linked to the second part of the Poem of Mio Cid is analyzed here, and we try to demonstrate that it depends on a poem similar to the one transmitted by the Códice de Vivar, probably from the prosification carried out in the historiographical workshop of Alfonso X. Also, the section corresponding to the Cantar de Corpes is studied, which in this case it is very likely that it depends on a rewriting of the preserved poem. We address the problem of the immediate source of this part in the Cidian Interpolation and its insertion within the framework of Cidian literature of the second half of the 13th century.