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.