The received wisdom about the role of women in Spanish epic, specifically in the Poema de mio Cid, has been that they have subordinate, submissive roles. In 1995, María Eugenia Lacarra wrote, ‘[l]a importancia de las mujeres se relaciona directamente con la política matrimonial de los protagonistas, de ahí que su presencia se deba a las relaciones de parentesco que tienen con ellos y que su papel se ciña a su función de madres, hijas o esposas’ (1995: 41). And in more general terms, Gloria Beatriz Chicote wrote in 1996 ‘la épica románica surge en la Edad Media europea como el vehículo de expresión de un mundo de hombres’ (1996: 75); and María Luzdivina Cuesta in 1997, ‘la familia sólo incidía en la narración en cuanto formaba parte de la identidad del protagonista y compartía su honra y honor’ (1997: 94).

Some thirty years ago, Lucy Sponsler, in her book Women in the Medieval Spanish Epic and Lyric Traditions, provided us with perhaps the most typical – and, from modern perspectives, slightly naïve and possibly anachronistic – view of the role of women in the Poema de mio Cid. She wrote,

Again, she wrote, ‘there can be no doubt that the main aim of the poem is the glorification of a masculine hero, and in achieving this, woman, from a modern standpoint, is viewed in a subordinate and submissive role’; or, ‘Jimena can bask in Rodrigo’s reflected honor and glory, and she can inspire him to great heights by being present to buttress his masculine pride; yet these are secondary roles dependent on a man for their fulfilment.