The Spanish epic Refers to a narrative genre that deals with the national history of Spain during the Middle Ages. Heroes, deeds, battles, etc., are narrated with a simple style and loaded with tradition, religiosity and realism.
That realism happens to reflect the gestures and the geography that involve the story, as they are. In fact, there is consensus among the scholars when affirming that the histories inscribed in this movement possess abundant historical content.
Over the years, research on this narrative has revealed a greater fidelity to the historical reality of Spain, of what is found in French history in the epics of France, for example.
This has meant that, not infrequently, more attention is paid to the historical data contained in works of this type, than to its literary qualities.
In the same way it is noticed that the use of the supernatural and the factual exaggeration is avoided.
On the other hand, this type of narrative highlights the human (not supernatural) character of the heroes and the role of women as an active character. In these stories appear the Spanish heroes who participate in the conquest of America.
Context of the Spanish epic
Epic poetry appears in the heroic ages of peoples, that historical moment in which a national identity is forged.
Being a society led by warriors who seek fame with their military prowess, this narrative arises to enliven the warrior and heroic spirit, to exalt the military victories and create an ideal model of behavior.
The epic poems used to be sung before a battle to raise the morale and to animate the fighters. A reminiscence of this tradition can be observed in the slogans that are usually recited in barracks during physical training or before some combat.
The plot that encloses the revenge is a subject that appears in the Spanish epics. Also, the trip is a backdrop for the development of the plot.
Unlike the epic of other latitudes, the Spanish addresses legal or ethical-political conflicts between social groups
Another characteristic to emphasize of this type of narrative is that, generally, the works that compose it are written in verses that are distinguished by its polymetry, although the real octave with consonant rhyme was frequently used.
It could be said that the Spanish epic found in the Latin classics its model to follow and the Italian authors became the obligatory reference.
To locate this narrative in a period of time, one should refer to the Middle Ages and the time of the Spanish Reconquest, a long period (approximately 7 centuries), in which Spain struggles to end the Arab invasion and goes from 718 to 1492.
It was that same time in which the Spanish language was considered to have been born, when it was considered synonymous with Castilian (Spanish spoken in Castile).
In the epic texts underlying some oral feature by the tradition inherited from the Latin classics such as Iliad and the Odyssey Of Homer.
The people who dedicated themselves to telling these acts to the public were called minstrels, and used to refine the language used to facilitate the memorization of the verses and to"polish"the version of the story they related.
Some epic works written in different parts of the world are: Aeneid of Virgilio In Latin; La Chanson de Roland In medieval French, Furious Orlando From Ludovico Ariosto And Gerusalemme liberata By Torquato Tasso in Italian; Cid of mine Cid In Spanish and Paradise Lost By John Milton and Faerie by Edmund Spenser Queene in English.
Other highlights and common to the epic poems would be:
- Some of its lines are preserved by chronicles and ballads from the 13th to the 16th century.
- A group of poems refers to the happening around the counts of Castile and another group on the facts of the Cid.
- There is no proven evidence of poems about events dating back to the middle of the tenth century.
characteristics
Then, listing its most distinctive features, the Spanish epic of the Middle Ages contains or reflects:
- Nationalism.
- Realism.
- Verosimilitude of facts and characters / Historical character.
- Tradition.
- Religious sense.
- Versification.
- Humanization of heroes.
- Vindictive and dominant female characters.
- Actions during a trip.
- Roots in the oral tradition.
Some works
- My Cid
- The Roncesvalles
- The Traitor Countess
- Seven infants from Salas
- The partitions of King Don Fernando
- Cantar de Sancho II
- The Romance of Infante García
To understand a little better what the epic is about, it is convenient to outline two of his most representative works:
The poem Mío Cid
It is the poem that describes the Spanish epic by antonomasia and, although it is known like the poem of the Mio Cid, its original title is a mystery because to the manuscript that reflects it (copy transcribed in 1307), it lacks the first page.
The protagonist of this anonymous story, symbolizes the medieval Christian knight. Most other characters lack hateful or unpleasant features.
Its origin seems to be mozárabe because they are in the poem geographic and costumbristas data of Soria, although it is discovered in the time of the Spanish reconquest.
It was written in Spanish of the beginnings of the language (XIV century) and, although there is no definitive consensus on its metric, some think that it responds to the formula 7 + 7, due to French influence.
The Romance of Infante García
It is one of the poems more faithful to the historical reality, even when it is subordinated to fiction in order to support a plot that encloses in its center to revenge as the engine of forceful actions in history.
Considering this characteristic that alludes to the cult of the monastic tombs, in this poem the burial of the count is murdered in Oña with an epitaph that has inscribed the history of the murder.
References
- Deyermond, Alan. Medieval Spanish epic cycles: observations on their formation and development. Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library Foundation. Recovered from: cervantesvirtual.com.
- Pincerati, Walker (s / f). Castilian language or Spanish language: A movement of production of the homogenizing effect. Recovered from: unicamp.br.
- Yoshida, Atsuhiko (s / f). Epic. Literary genre. Retrieved from: britannica.com.