A propósito del "Cantar de Mio Cid": De los traidores infantes de León y señores de Carrión (los Castro) a Carrión de Calatrava y el desastre de la batalla de Alarcos (1195) en los orígenes de la obra

This study identifies the Infantes of Carrión from the Cantar de Mio Cid. They are the Castros, Fernando Rodríguez de Castro and his son Pedro Fernández de Castro, Infantes of León and, in the second case, Lord of Carrión too. Like the literary characters, both were relatives, outraged their wives, were infantes, were closely linked to the lands of Carrión and were characterised by their treachery. The reason for their prominence in the work is related to the fact that Pedro fought on the side of the Almohad troops in the Battle of Alarcos (1195), causing the defeat of the Castilian troops and the near disappearance of the military Order of Calatrava, founded by the probable author of the text, Friar Diego Velázquez. The identification of these two individuals together with that of Raquel [Esrá] and Vidas (Alfonso VIII), of Per Abbat (probably, Per Abbat de Morimond) and also the study of the onomastics of the swords and horse of the Cid and of the cause of the southern route of the Castilian hero in the poem or of the name of the abbot of Cardeña (Sancho, instead of the historical Sisebuto) suggest that it was composed between 1195 and 1196 in the monastery of Gumiel de Izán by this freire, by then retired from his military and clerical duties.