Commentary on The Poem of the Cid Essay - 1239 Words

Commentary on The Poem of the Cid Poetry played a vital role in the dissemination of information during the Crusade period. It provided a compact, easily memorized way of spreading news in a time bereft of the benefit of mass printing. According to Michael Routledge, who penned a chapter on Crusade songs and poetry in The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades, poetry was not only a way of recording and spreading news of current events, but also served to record and extoll the virtues and values of the ruling Medieval aristocracy. These values included commitment to ones lord, and an acceptance of the feudal duties of auxilium (armed help in time of attack by enemies) and consilium (counsel and rendering of justice)†¦show more content†¦As a free agent, so to speak, the Cid would have been able to claim authority over whatever territory he conquered, and could even wage war against his former lord (Nelson 1). Instead, the Cid continues to carry out his duties as a vassal in absentia. The Cids adventures take him deep into the interior of Moorish Spain and yield a multitude of spoils. Throughout the poem, the Cid sends Alfonso a share of these riches, as a token of his loyalty. On three separate occasions, the Cid sends his loyal vassal, the knight Minaya, to deliver horses taken in battle to Alfonso. The horses, eventually totaling 330, serve as a catalyst for the Cid regaining his lords favor. The first attempt fails, but the second gains the Cid the right to be reunited with his wife and two daughters. The third equine gift, after his conquest of Valencia and subsequent defeat of a Muslim army sent to relieve the city, gains him back his former status. In addition to portraying the Cid as a an exemplar of what a loyal vassal should be, the Poem of the Cid also serves as a guide on how to be a excellent lord. He is generous to his followers and is respectful of their ideas and advice. He trusts the loyal Minaya to act as his intermediary to Alfonso. During the trial to end the Poe m, the Cids vassals offer up a challenge to arms in order to protect his honor (Nelson 1) The University of Kansass Lynn Nelson sees the Cids reconciliation gifts as a test of Alfonsos honor. She says the giftsShow MoreRelatedSanskrit6594 Words   |  27 Pages(around 400 BCE) KÄ tyÄ yana composed VÄ rtikas on PÄ Ã¡ ¹â€¡inian sÃ… ©tras. Pataà ±jali, who lived three centuries after PÄ Ã¡ ¹â€¡ini, wrote the MahÄ bhÄ Ã¡ ¹ £ya, the Great Commentary on the Aá ¹ £Ã¡ ¹ ­Ã„ dhyÄ yÄ « and VÄ rtikas. Because of these three ancient Sanskrit grammarians this grammar is called Trimuni VyÄ karana. To understand the meaning of sutras Jayaditya and VÄ mana wrote the commentary named KÄ sikÄ  600 CE. PÄ Ã¡ ¹â€¡inian grammar is based on 14 Shiva sutras (aphorisms). Here whole MÄ trika (alphabet) is abbreviated. This abbreviationRead MorePast, Present Future Role of Computers in Fisheries13859 Words   |  56 PagesThe name comes from the main character in the Old English epic poem Beowulf. A Beowulf cluster of workstations is a group of usually identical PC computers, configured into a multi-computer architecture, running a Open Source Unix-like operating system, such as BSD (http://www.freebsd.org/, accessed 12 January 2008), Linux (http://www.linux.org/, accessed 12 January 2008) or Solaris (http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/index.jsp?cid=921933, accessed 12 January 2008). They are joined into a small