The medieval Castilian epic, or cantar de gesta [song of an individual’s deeds], is a genre of heroic epic poetry composed from the early thirteenth century through to the late fourteenth. Epics are believed to have existed much earlier, although we lack the manuscripts to prove so. Much of the genre is now lost, and we are only left with one extensive but incomplete poem, the Cantar de mio Cid [Song of the Cid] along with a later epic, the Mocedades de Rodrigo [Youthful Deeds of Rodrigo], and a short fragment of the Cantar de Roncesvalles [Song of Roncesvalles].
The medieval Castilian epic, or
cantar de gesta[song of an individual’s deeds], is a genre of heroic epic poetry composed from the early thirteenth century through to the late fourteenth. Epics are…
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Citation: De Souza, Rebecca. "The Spanish Epic". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 February 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19557, accessed 23 November 2024.]
