The cantar de gesta, or epic poem,…

The cantar de gesta, or epic poem, makes its appearance in 1140 in Spain with the first substantial work in this genre, “The Poem of the Cid,“ which realistically portrays Spain's national hero, Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, in a well-grounded historical setting.

Notable for the absence of the fantastic elements found in the epic poems of other countries, the poem relates the unjust exile of El Cid from Castile, his pardon, the marriage and betrayal of his daughters by the arrogant Leónese, and the Cid's revenge.