Chris Irwin Commentary on Poem of the Cid Poetry played a vital role in the dissemination of information during the Crusade period. It provided a compact, easily memorized way of spreading news in a time bereft of the benefit of mass printing. According to Michael Routledge, who penned a chapter on Crusade songs and poetry in The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades, poetry was not only a way of recording and spreading news of …showed first 75 words of 1701 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1701 total…vassal to King Alfonso, only to be failed by those above him. Bibliography Blackburn, Paul. trans. Poem of the Cid. ed. George Economou. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991). Nelson2 "Some Comments on the Song of the Cid". Lynn H. Nelson. Nelson1 "The Song of El Cid". Lynn H. Nelson. Routledge, Michael. "Songs". The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades. ed. Johnathon Riley Smith. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997). Schneider, Joe P. "El Cid". The Catholic Encyclopedia.