Stereotypes and the Unpaid Debt in the Episode of Rachel and Vidas in Cantar de Mio Cid

This study addresses the controversial “arcas-de-arena” episode in the Cantar de Mio Cid. The usurious transaction between Mio Cid and the Jewish moneylenders Rachel and Vidas has led critics to interpret this scene in sundry ways. In this article, I provide overlooked textual evidence to argue that neither Mio Cid nor Martín Antolínez intends to honor the promise of repaying the moneylenders. Instead, they perceive the transaction as a deception from which they obtain a profit (“ganancia”). Mio Cid and Martín Antolínez feel entitled to cheat the Jews due to ever-increasing anti-Jewish sentiments prevalent during the time of the Cantar’s composition.