Class Conflict and Primitive Rebellion in the Poema de Mio Cid

Abstract

Class Conflict and Primitive Rebellion in the Poema de Mio CidThe Poema de Mio Cid has frequently been characterized as a tale of class conflict within a hierarchically stratified society, with the Cid a representative of the lesser nobility (infanzones) in its struggle against the higher nobility (condes, ricos nombres).In an early study that set the tone for most subsequent treatments of social themes in the poem, Eduardo de Hinojosa enumerated the levels of the 12th-century social hierarchy, from the condes and ricos hombres ("nobles por excelencia"), through potestades and infanzones, down to the level of the ordinary caballero and escudero.Pointing out the poem's emphasis on the opposition between cuendes and infanzones (vv.2072, 2964, 3479), he stressed elements which seem to indicate the presence of centralized political and military authority.The "subordination del soldado al caudillo," he observed, is evident in numerous lines (249, 376, 568, 806, 1853, 2278). 1 In addition, he argued that vasallo is used not in the strictly feudal sense, but rather to indicate "el vínculo de los súbditos con el rey" (vv.1847, 2905, 2948, 2982).

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