The Interface Between Oral and Written Transmission of the Cantar de mio Cid

THE INTERFACE BETWEEN ORAL AND WRITTEN TRANSMISSION OF THE CANTAR DE MIO CID Joseph J. Duggan University of California, Berkeley In die first diird of the elevendi century, and perhaps as early as the last quarter of the tenth century, the cantar de gesta was being performed in die Iberian peninsula (Diego Catalán 2001, 398). The earliest such work to survive -in die prosifications of die Alphonsiiie chronicle tradition- was die Siete Infantes de Salas, which appears to reflect die political relations between Castilla and the Caliphate of Córdoba in the period before Almanzor began to carry out raids on Castilla, diat is to say before 977. This was a century before monks from Cluny began die large-scale introduction of dieir type of clerical culture sondi of die Pyrenees. Literacy was not widespread in diis period. On die contrary, it was largely confined to die clergy, and even many of them did not have extensive literate skills. The Siete Infantes de Salas may have been passed on in oral tradition for many years before being written down, but recorded it finally was, and Alfonso and those working under his direction had access to the transcription or to a copy descended from it, on which diey drew for an account of die tale, presented as a series of historical events. The writing down of die poem would not have affected die continuing oral transmission, but would have opened a new branch of die tradition, one whose means was die written word. A similar process ofperformance and recording is behind die survival of die Cantar de mio Cid in its unique fourteendi-century manuscript, now Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, Va 7-17, which is based on an early thirteenth-century model. How was die transition from oral tradition to script effected? As in the case of die romancero and die chansons de geste, the cantar de gesta La corónica 33.2 (Spring, 2005): 51-63 52JosephJ. DugganLa coránica 33.2, 2005 was sung to a melody. Any recording of such a work would have to have been carried out either by ajuglar who was capable ofwriting or by another person skilled in die clerical arts who would have taken die poem down from sung performance or from dictation. Juglares were on die lowest levels of society, and it appears improbable, although not altogether impossible, that die trouble and expense of teaching them to write would have been borne by the clergy of the period. In medieval illuminations,juglares are seen holding musical instruments, not books or pens. The Cantar de mio Cid itselfcontains lines reflecting the relation of the poet to a live audience -addresses from the poet in the second person plural (v. 3207); mention of señores present at the performance (v. 1178), or simply of vos (v. 2277); verbs in which die narrator speaks in the first person (v. 2764); prayers for die Cid's happiness (w. 2274-75); statements about the progress of the song (vv. 1085, 2276, 3730)- all signs of the pragmatics of performance. Those who posit that these signs are mere imitations ofa performance situation have Ockham's razor to contend widi: it is poor method to assume more steps than are necessary in an argument. That ajuglar would have learned how to write in order to record his song is all the more improbable in that diere was a mediod available that would have allowed the song to be taken down from performance by someone already able to write. This method was die use of wax tablets, a technology that first emerges in remote antiquity.' These tablets were small panels ofwood, most frequently boxwood, or, in the case ofwealthy owners, sometimes ofivory, the center portion ofwhose surfaces were slightly hollowed out, leaving the edges raised. Generally diey were rectangular in shape, aldiough diey could also have a rounded top edge. A layer of colored wax, usually about one millimeter diick, was applied to die cavity. Normally die color of die wax was black, but it could be green, yellow (the natural color of wax), or, rarely, red. Contrast between the color of the wax and that of the underlying surface...