Menéndez Pidal, Ramón

Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (rämōn` mānān`dĕth pēthäl`), 1869–1968, Spanish scholar and philologist. Menéndez Pidal was a noted authority on Spanish epic literature and the Spanish language, and was also a major modern historian. He directed the Revista de filología española and wrote Orígenes del español (1926). Among his studies in medieval literature are El romancero español (1910) and Poesía juglaresca y juglares (1924), as well as several works on El Cid. Spaniards in Their History (tr. 1950) is one of his best-known works.

---

Menéndez Pidal, Ramón

(born March 13, 1869, La Coruña, Spain—died Nov. 14, 1968, Madrid) Spanish language scholar. His work on the origins of the Spanish language and his critical editions of literary texts generated a revival of the study of medieval Spanish poetry and chronicles. His writings include Manual of Historical Spanish Grammar (1904), The Cid and His Spain (1929), and The Spaniards in Their History (1947). He was twice president of the Spanish Academy.

---

Menéndez Pidal, Ramón 

Born Mar. 13, 1869, in La Coruña, Spain; died Nov. 14, 1968, in Madrid. Spanish philolo-gist and medievalist. Academician (1902) and president of the Royal Spanish Academy (1925-38; 1947). Professor at Madrid University (1899-1939).

Menéndez Pidal founded the journals Revista de filología española (Journal of Spanish Philology; 1914) and Historia de España (History of Spain; 1940). He studied the history of the Spanish language and the historiography and medieval history of Spain (The Spanish Empire and the Five Kingdoms, 1950; Spain and Its History, 1957). He belonged to the school of cultural history and in his literary criticism devoted primary attention to folklore (The Spanish Romancero: Theory and History, vols. 1-2, 1953). Menéndez Pidal emphasized the popular sources of the heroic epics of Spain and Europe and the democratic tradition of classical Spanish literature. He published critical editions of the most important texts of medieval Spanish literature, including El Cid.

Menéndez Pidal repeatedly denounced the terror tactics of the Franco regime and called for closer cultural ties between Spain and the USSR.

WORKS

Obras completas. Madrid, 1944—.
Manual elemental de gramdtica historica espanola, 2nd ed. Madrid, 1905.
Poesia juglaresca y juglares. Madrid, 1924.
La Espana del Cid, vols. 1-2. Madrid, 1929.
In Russian translation:
Izbr. proizvedeniia: Ispanskaia literatura srednikh vekov i epokhi Vozrozhdeniia. Moscow, 1961.

REFERENCES

Estudios dedicados a Menéndez Pidal, vols. 1-7. Madrid, 1950-57.
Maravall, J. A. Menéndez Pidal y la historia del pensamiento. Madrid, 1960.

R. A. AGEEVA and Z. I. PLAVSKIN