CHRONICLE OF THE CID

Translated from the Spanish

BY ROBERT SOUTHEY



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HENRY MORLEY LL.D.,

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON






INTRODUCTION.


Robert Southey's "Chronicle of the Cid" is all translation from the
Spanish, but is not translation from a single book. Its groundwork is
that part of the _Cronica General de Espana_, the most ancient of the
Prose Chronicles of Spain, in which adventures of the Cid are fully
told. This old Chronicle was compiled in the reign of Alfonso the Wise,
who was learned in the exact science of his time, and also a
troubadour. Alfonso reigned between the years 1252 and 1284, and the
Chronicle was written by the King himself, or under his immediate
direction. It is in four parts. The first part extends from the
Creation of the World to the occupation of Spain by the Visigoths, and