Doors and Cloaks: Two Image-Patterns in the «Cantar de Mio Cid»

Alan Deyermond

David Hook (coaut.)

The first line of the unique manuscript of the Cantar de Mio Cid -perhaps, as Aristóbulo Pardo has persuasively argued, the first line of the Cantar as the poet composed it¹- shows us the hero's distress as he rides into exile: «De los sos oios tan fuertemientre lorando»². As he rides, he looks back at a scene of desolation:

Vio puertas abiertas & vços sin cañados, Alcandaras uazias sin pielles & sin mantos E sin falcones & sin adtores mudados.

(3-5)

Some of the implications of this description are the subject of a separate article³. Our aim in the present study is to show how both the open doors and the missing cloaks form part of recurrent patterns of imagery in the Cantar⁴.

The open doors here, as in a number of other works, show the defenselessness of the house; they provide visible evidence of calamity. Soon afterwards, the poet confronts us with a visually opposite yet symbolically equivalent image: when the Cid rides into Burgos to seek shelter and provisions, he finds the door of his posada shut against him:

Assi commo lego a la puerta, falola bien çerrada, Por miedo del rrey Alfonsso, que assi lo auien parado Que si non la quebrantas por fuerça, que non gela abriese nadi. Los de myo Çid a altas uozes laman, Los de dentro non les querien tornar palabra. Aguiio myo Çid, a la puerta se legaua, Saco el pie del estribera, una feridal dausa; Non se abre la puerta, ca bien era çerrada.

(32-39)

King Alfonso has unjustly compelled the citizens to deny to the hero aid which was his legal right, and which, as their words plainly show, they wanted to give. This is the lowest point of the Cid's fortunes in the whole of his exile, and he camps disconsolately on the river-bank, treated like a leper in what should have been almost like home⁵. Both the open doors at Vivar and the closed doors in Burgos show the exiled Cid's fall from fortune.

When Rodrigo arrives at the nearby monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña, the contrast is total:

Apriessa cantan los gallos & quieren quebrar albores, Quando lego a San Pero el buen Campeador; El abbat don Sancho, christiano del Criador, Rrezaua los matines abuelta de los albores... Lamauan a la puerta, y sopieron el mandado; Dios' que alegre fue el abbat don Sancho! Con lumbres & con candelas al corral dieron salto. Con tan grant gozo rreçiben al que en buen ora nasco. «Gradescolo a Dios, myo Çid», dixo el abbat don Sancho; «Pues que aqui uos veo, prendet de mi ospedado».

(235-47)

The closed door, the gloomy and embarrassed rejection, the denial of food and shelter, are replaced by the gates flung open, rejoicing, and generous hospitality freely offered. Nor is this the full extent of the contrast between the two scenes: the closed door in Burgos is one through which the Cid had every right to pass, while the monastery had no obligation to open its gates to him. The change, moreover, is not a transient one: before the arrival at Cardeña, door imagery is, as we have seen, a visual manifestation of the Cid's disgrace⁶. From Cardeña onwards, images of doors and gates show the hero's growing success, or the discomfiture of his enemies, a development which is foreshadowed by a Biblical allusion in Ximena's prayer: «Quebranteste las puertas & saqueste los padres santos» (360)⁷.

The Cid's first battle in Moorish territory, the first small victory on the road which will lead to the triumph at Valencia, is at Castejón, and the taking of the town is heralded by dawn -both a naturalistic setting and a symbol of renewal:

Ya quiebran los albores & vinie la mañana, Yxie el sol, Dios, que fermoso apuntaua! En Casteion todos se leuantauan, Abren las puertas, de fuera salto dauan, Por ver sus lauores e todas sus heredades. Todos son exidos, las puertas dexadas an abiertas Con pocas de gentes que en Casteion fincaron. Las yentes de fuera todas son deramadas. El Campeador salio de la çelada... Mio Çid Ruy Diaz por las puertas entraua...

(456-70)

Here the open gates are an indication of the Moors' imprudence, and through them come the Cid and his men. As at Cardeña, so at Castejón: dawn and the throwing open of gates are associated, and they are images of the hero's recovery. Looked at in another way, the open gates of Castejón, like the doors at Vivar, indicate helplessness, but this time the helplessness not of the Cid but of his enemies. There is thus a visual identity, and on the surface an identity of symbolic meaning, but, since the poet's criterion for judgment is always Cid-centered, the real meanings of the two images are diametrically opposed.

At Alcocer, the imprudence of the Moors (compounded on this occasion by greed) again causes them to leave the gates open and the town undefended:

Los grandes & los chicos fuera salto dan, Al sabor del prender de lo al non pienssan nada, Abiertas dexan las puertas que ninguno non las guarda. El buen Campeador la su cara tornaua, Vio que entrellos & el castiello mucho auie grand plaça; Mando tornar la seña, apriessa espoloneauan... Dios, que bueno es el gozo por aquesta mañana!

(591-600)

These open Moorish gates, superficially resembling the doors at Vivar but in reality antithetical to them, are also opposed to the Cid's gates in his conquered territory, gates which are carefully secured. In the first of these, the contrast is specially sharp, because the same gates are involved:

«Todos yscamos fuera, que nadi non raste, Si non dos peones solos por la puerta guardar; Si nos murieremos en campo, en castiello nos entraran, Si vencieremos la batalla, creçremos en rictad...» Al Çid beso la mano, la seña ua tomar. Abrieron las puertas, fuera vn salto dan...

(685-93)

Whereas Moorish Alcocer was left defenseless, the Cid's Alcocer is secure. He has left only two men to guard the gates, but thanks to his tactical skill there is no serious threat. When he has taken Valencia, the same image of secure gates is used:

Mando myo Çid a los que ha en su casa Que guardassen el alcaçar & las otras torres altas E todas las puertas & las exidas & las entradas... A la puerta de Valençia, do fuesse en so saluo, Delante su mugier & de sus fijas querie tener las armas.

(1570-77)

Dexan a las puertas omnes de grant rrecabdo.

(1713)

Las puertas del alcaçar que non se abriessen de dia nin de noch...

(2002)

This is, of course, both a visual and a symbolic antithesis of the defenselessly open doors of Vivar.

The arrival of the Infantes de Carrión at Valencia is described in a passage which includes a mention of a door:

Quando ouieron aquesto fecho, salieron del palaçio, Pora Santa Maria apriessa adelinnando; El obispo don Iheronimo vistios tan priuado, A la puerta de la eclegia sediellos sperando; Dioles bendictiones, la missa a cantado.

(2236-40)

This, however, seems to stand apart from the door images with which we are concerned. If it has symbolic value at all, it belongs with the large number of doors which are associated with love⁸. The main pattern is then resumed; when the Infantes put their own safety above their duty to the Cid, Fernando finds no door that will lead him to a hiding-place:

Ferran Gonçalez non vio alli do s'alçasse, nin camara abierta nin torre; Metios so'l escaño, tanto ouo el pauor.

(2286-87)

While Diego appears to be more successful, the appearance is deceptive. The door leads him to ignominy and ridicule:

Diego Gonçalez por la puerta salio, Diziendo de la boca: «Non vere Carrion!» Tras vna viga lagar metios con grant pauor; El manto & el brial todo suzio lo saco.

(2288-91)

Although the Cid, when he has led the lion back to its cage, quietens his men's laughter at the Infantes' cowardice (2307-08), the ignominy remains. When the Infantes try to assert themselves in the Toledo court scene, this is one of the accusations hurled at them by the Cid's lieutenants, and the door image is repeated:

Martin Antolinez en pie se leuantaua; «Cala, aleuoso, boca sin verdad! Lo del leon non se te deue olbidar; Saliste por la puerta, metistet al coral, Fusted meter tras la viga lagar, Mas non vestid el manto nin el brial».

(3361-66)

One further door remains to be mentioned, that of the Toledo court:

Assi yua myo Çid adobado a lla cort. A la puerta de fuera descaualga a sabor; Cuerdamientra entra myo Çid con todos los sos; El va en medio, e los çiento aderredor. Quando lo vieron entrar al que en buen ora naçio, Leuantos en pie el buen rrey don Alfonsso E el conde don Anrrich & el conde don Remont E desi adelant, sabet, todos los otros: A grant ondra lo rreçiben al que en buen ora naçio.

(3103-11)

This, like the gates of Cardeña, is opened to him in welcome. It is a final confirmation of the message conveyed by the Cardeña gates: a message of prosperity and of restored honor.

The pattern traced in the sequence of door images -initial deprivation and later success- is repeated in the case of clothing, the other image-sequence originating in the first laisse and recurring throughout the poem. At the time of his departure from Vivar, the Cid's penury is expressed by the poet in terms of his lack of the hunting birds and fine clothes which were customary attributes of the medieval noble:

Alcandaras uazias sin pielles & sin mantos E sin falcones & sin adtores mudados.

(4-5)

Subsequent references to cloaks are more hopeful. Thus, when Raquel begs a gift from the Cid, his assessment of the hero's prospects is an optimistic one: the Cid, who at the beginning of the poem had no cloaks of his own, is sure to have enough eventually to give them away:

Ya Canpeador, en buen ora çinxiestes espada! De Castiella uos ydes pora las yentes estranas. Assi es uuestra uentura grandes son uuestras ganançias, Vna piel vermeia morisca & ondrada, Çid, beso uuestra mano en don que la yo aya9.

(175-79)

This forecast is shown to be correct when Ramón Berenguer, upon his release, is given cloaks:

Danle tres palafres muy bien ensellados E buenas vestiduras de peliçones & de mantos.

(1064-65)

Garments of unspecified type but great value occur in the lists of booty taken by the Cid:

Entre tiendas & armas & vestidos preçiados Tanto fallan desto que es cosa sobeiano.

(1774-75)

And they are once again mentioned amongst the gifts showered by the Cid on the guests at the wedding of his daughters:

Myo Çid don Rodrigo, el que en buen ora nasco, Entre palafres & mulas & corredores cauallos, En bestias sines al .C. son mandados; Mantos & pelliçones & otros vestidos largos; Non fueron en cuenta los aueres monedados.

(2253-57)

Indeed, such is the Cid's success that from a position of initial deprivation he is soon able to rival the finery of the royal court. This is indicated by the prelude to the interview with King Alfonso. Here, the preparations on the King's side include a mention of clothing:

¿Quien vio por Castiella tanta mula preçiada, E tanto palafre que bien anda, Cauallos gruessos & coredores sjn falla, Tanto buen pendon meter en buenas astas, Escudos boclados con oro & con plata, Mantos & pielles e buenos çendales d'Adria?

(1966-71)

It is surely significant that the poet chooses to describe the Cid's preparations in terms similar to those previously used to convey the splendor of the royal party:

Tanta gruessa mula & tanto palafre de sazon, Tanta buena arma & tanto buen cauallo coredor, Tanta buena capa & mantos & pelliçones; Chicos & grandes vestidos son de colores10.

(1987-90)

The function of this series of clothing references is simply that of indicating the recovery in the Cid's fortunes, from their lowest ebb at the time of his exile to the point where he can equal his sovereign in finery and dispense clothing along with other largesse¹¹. This tangible image would not have been lost on a medieval audience; it might well have evoked Biblical echoes, for example II Chronicles 28. 15 («and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them and arrayed them and shod them»). The initial scene where the Cid lacks cloaks thanks to the machinations of his enemies recalls Job 24. 10, «they cause him to go naked without clothing». This is not to suggest that these verses were in any way in the poet's mind as a conscious source, but rather to indicate possible associations for a contemporary audience. In any case the striking effectiveness of the imagery is clear.

A second series of clothing references centers upon the Infantes de Carrión. Their fine clothes are noted as they enter the Cid's court:

Caualgan los Yffantes, adelant adelinauan al palaçio, Con buenas vestiduras & fuertemientre adobados.

(2211-12)

The initially favorable impression they create is soon destroyed by the episode of the lion, where they display the greatest cowardice while the mesnada reveal their worth and the Cid demonstrates his superiority to them all. This hierarchy of character is conveyed in part by clothing imagery¹². While the mesnada use their cloaks defensively wrapped round their arms («Enbraçan los mantos los del Campeador», 2284), and the Cid shows his lack of concern for the escaped beast by approaching it with his cloak worn in the normal manner round his neck («El manto trae al cuello», 2297) -in fact constituting an encumbrance-, the cowardice shown by Diego in diving behind a winepress results in a surely symbolic stain on his garments («El manto & el brial todo suzio lo saco», 2291). The importance attached to this is shown by the fact that the unfortunate Diego is reminded of his humiliation by Martín Antolínez during the court scene (3366). Given this, there is a certain irony in the fact that, soon after the lion episode, the Infantes' prosperity, deriving from their association with the Cid, should be expressed partly in terms of clothing:

Los yernos de myo Çid quando este auer tomaron Desta arrancada, que lo tenien en so saluo, Cuydaron que en sus dias nunqua serien minguados. Fueron en Valençia muy bien arreados, Conduchos a sazones, buenas pieles & Buenos mantos.

(2468-72)

Later, they receive more clothes from the Cid as part of the dowry for his daughters:

Daruos e mulas & palafres, muy gruessos de sazon; Cauallos pora en diestro fuertes & Corredores, E muchas vestiduras de paños & de çiclatones.

(2572-74)

The manipulation of contrast and irony in the clothing references associated with the Infantes prepares us for the cluster of these images in the afrenta de Corpes. A reference to the lion episode (2719) is followed immediately by the Infantes' removal of their wives' cloaks:

Alli les tuellen los mantos & los pelliçones, Paranlas en cuerpos & en camisas & en çiclatones.

(2720-21)

The juxtaposition is surely deliberate: the Infantes, in whose case dishonor has been symbolized by the stain on Diego's cloak¹³, now prepare to dishonor the Cid's daughters by removing their cloaks and leaving them in their undergarments preparatory to flogging them. The assault itself involves further clothing imagery:

Con las espuelas agudas, don ellas an mal sabor, Ronpien las camisas & las carnes a ellas amas a dos; Linpia salie la sangre sobre los çiclatones.

(2737-39)

Tanto las maiaron que sin cosimente son; Sangrientas en las camisas & todos los ciclatones.

(2743-44)

Garments and flesh are alike torn and bloody, a detail which finds a suitable revenge in the duels in which the Infantes are later defeated¹⁴.

The assault concludes with a reiteration by the poet of the removal of the girls' cloaks and the spoiling of their other garments:

Leuaronles los mantos & las pieles arminas, Mas dexanlas maridas en briales & en camisas.

(2749-50)

The stripping off of the cloaks symbolizes the removal of the girls' honor, and also the withdrawal of marital protection¹⁵. The Infantes obtain a symbolic revenge upon the Cid for their own humiliation at the time of the lion's escape. However, the Cid has sent as escort Félez Muñoz, and the latter comes upon the girls abandoned and bleeding in the forest. After assisting them to regain consciousness, he wraps them both in his cloak: «Con el so manto a amas las cubrio» (2807). This, as well as on a practical plane serving to protect them from exposure, surely symbolizes the extension of the Cid's protection over them once more, and their nominal return to his household. Let us recall the protective connotations of a noblewoman's cloak as exemplified in the Doña Lambra episode in the Siete infantes de Lara, and the peculiar adoption ritual described in the same poem and known from other sources, whereby the person being adopted was passed through the sleeves of a cloak¹⁶. It is also interesting that the girls' progression to safety from the somewhat imperfect security offered by the lone Félez Muñoz is marked by the provision of further clothing by Diego Téllez:

Priso bestias & vestidos de pro, Hyua rreçebir a don Eluira & a doña Sol.

(2816-17)

The third group of clothing images is associated with the final court scenes. The preparations of the Cid's followers are described thus:

Velmezes vestidos por sufrir las guarnizones, De suso las lorigas tan blancas como el sol; Sobre las lorigas arminos & peliçones, E que non parescan las armas, bien presos los cordones; So los mantos las espadas dulçes & taiadores.

(3073-77)

The finery in which the Cid himself dresses is singled out for especially lengthy and detailed treatment:

Nos detiene por nada el que en buen ora naçio; Calças de buen paño en sus camas metio, Sobrellos vnos çapatos que a grant huebra son; Vistio camisa de rançal tan blanca commo el sol, Con oro & con plata todas las presas son, Al puno bien estan, ca el selo mando; Sobrella vn brial primo de çiclaton, Obrado es con oro, pareçen por o son; Sobresto vna piel vermeia, las bandas doro son, Siempre la viste myo Çid el Campeador; Vna cofia sobre los pelos dun escarin de pro, Con oro es obrada, fecha por rrazon, Que non le contalassen los pelos al buen Çid Canpeador; La barba avie luenga & prisola con el cordon, Por tal lo faze esto que rrecabdar quiere todo lo suyo; De suso cubrio vn manto que es de grant valor, En el abrien que ver quantos que y son.

(3084-3100)

After this depiction of the majestic appearance of the Cid, it is interesting that the court scene should see the Infantes reminded of their own former degradation. Martín Antolínez taunts Diego with his cowardice in terms which recall the staining of his cloak:

Fusted meter tras la viga lagar, Mas non vestid el manto nin el brial.

(3365-66)

This reference brings to mind the complex cloak-symbolism of the lion episode, and provides a sorry contrast between the majestic Cid and his sons-in-law; a contrast which is extended to others of their faction when the arrival of Asur González is described:

Asur Gonçalez entraua por el palaçio, Manto armino & vn brial rrastrando, Vermeio viene, ca era almorzado.

(3373-75)

The untidy manner in which he is dressed clearly indicates his intoxicated condition, but may it not also symbolize his fundamental unworthiness alongside the Cid, given the latter's careful attention to dress? In this vital final stage of the poem, the clothing imagery which has been exploited by the poet at intervals throughout his work is thus associated with the restoration of the Cid's honor and the triumph over his enemies, as it was earlier associated with the improvement of his material fortunes.

It is necessary finally to consider how far the patterns traced here are deliberate, and how far accidental. It could, for instance, be argued that in some cases the mention of doors is inevitable (as in attacks on towns by any army not equipped with a siege train), and that clothing forms a customary part of descriptions of riches, and is conveyed by stock formula. In purely general terms, there is some truth in these statements, but in the specific context of the Cantar de Mio Cid there are clear contrasts and overtones in the case of both doors and clothing which suggest that the poet is making deliberate use of these images. Most notable are the series of elaborate contrasts between the doors of Vivar, Burgos, and Cardeña, and the use of the cloaks in the lion episode; neither of these is seriously open to dispute. The local exploitation of these images is thus clear; we hope that our examination of the wider use of the same devices may have illuminated a further aspect of the poet's technique. The references form coherent patterns, with an acceptable minimum of discrepant occurrences where a purely narrative function is served. The images of doors and clothing which are introduced in the first laisse serve first to show the Cid's downfall, then to foreshadow and next to demonstrate his success; they are associated with the loss of his honor through the Infantes de Carrión and their action against his daughters; and they finally come together again in the splendid court scene which vindicates the Cid's honor and establishes his triumph over his enemies. Their recurrence in key episodes of this type is a further argument for the unity of inspiration, and for the structural and stylistic coherence, of the Cantar de Mio Cid¹⁷.