orical truth. The story
of the Cid is supposed to be taken from this work.

From the time of Alfonso the Wise to the accession of Charles V (or
from the thirteenth century to the sixteenth), Spain was flooded by
romantic chronicles. The most celebrated is that of Don Roderick, or an
account of the reign of King Roderick in the eighth century, the
conquest of the country by the Moors, and the efforts to wrest it from
them. On this chronicle Robert Southey has founded most of his poem of
Roderic the Last of the Goths. Whether resting on truth or fable, these
old records struck their roots deep down in the hearts of the people;
and their romance, their chivalry, their antique traditions, and their
varied legends, form a rich deposit from which all the nations of
Europe have drawn material for their own literature. It was not until
the fourteenth century that the romances of chivalry--known in France
two centuries earlier in the stories of Arthur and the Round Table, and
the deeds of Charlemagne--found their way across the Pyrenees.

Spain, so essentially the land of knighthood, welcomed them eagerly,
and speedily produced a number of like romances which were translated
into French and became famous. The most celebrated is Amadis, written
by de Lobeira, a Portuguese. Its sole purpose is to set forth the type
of a perfect knight, sans peur et sans reproche. Amadis is an
imaginative character; but he is the first of a long line of doers of
knightly deeds, culminating in Don Quixote, whose adventures have
charmed and delighted the Spaniards, as well as the men of other
nations.

Provencal literature began to have an influence on the Spanish in 1113,
after the crown of Provence had been transferred from Arles to
Barcelona by the marriage of the then Provencal heiress to Beranger,
Count of Barcelona. This introduction of the Provencal literature into
northeastern Spain had a beneficial result on the two literatures,
fusing them into a more vigorous spirit.

Spain had always maintained the closest relations with the See of Rome,
and numerous Spanish students were educated at the Italian
Universities, hence the Italian literature had some influence on the
Spanish, more lasting as a whole than the effects of Provencal
literature. From 1407 to 1454 King John II tried to form an Italian
school in Spain, gathering around him a poetical court. This Italian
influence extended into the sixteenth century. Diego de Mendoza, during
the