"Sin falcones e sin adtores mudados": La cetrerí­a en el Cantar de Mio Cid

Abstract

The reference to the hunting birds at the beginning of CMC operates as an "anchorage" that anticipates to us that the events of the poem will be exclusively developed in a noble environment. Also the absence of hawks and goshawks also speaks us of a deprivation that affects not only to the Cid as far as its possessions, but, considering the symbolic value of the birds, to his honour in all its aspects. About the absence of hunting scenes in the Cantar, we can venture three concomitant reasons: a) it works as a tacit critic directed against the uses of the court and also would indicate the distance of the Cid respect to this environment; b) it indicates the closing of the class leisure of the Cid and his men; c) it is a sign of the gradual incorporation of monastic practices and restrictions by the noble class, within the framework of the "monastization" of bellatores.