The Cid

Late one sunny afternoon one and twenty knights were riding along

the highway in the northern part of Spain. As they were passing a

deep mire they heard cries for help, and turning, saw a poor leper

who was sinking in the mud. One of the knights, a handsome young

man, was touched by the cries. He dismounted, rescued the poor

fellow, took him upon his own horse, and thus the two rode to the

inn. The other knights wondered at this.

When they reached the inn where they were to stop for the night,

they wondered still more, for their companion gave the leper a

seat next to himself at the table. After supper the knight shared

his own bed with the leper. If the knight had not done this, the

leper would have been driven out of the town, with nothing to eat

and no place in which to sleep. At midnight, while the young man

was fast asleep, the leper breathed upon his back. This awakened

the knight, who turned quickly in his bed and found that the leper

was gone.

The knight called for a light and searched, but in vain. While he

was wondering about what had happened, a man in shining garments

appeared before him and said, "Rodrigo, art thou asleep or awake?"

The knight answered, "I am awake, but who art thou that bringest

such brightness?" The vision replied, "I am St. Lazarus, the leper

to whom thou wast so kind. Because I have breathed upon thee

thou shalt accomplish whatever thou shalt undertake in peace or in

battle. All shall honor thee. Therefore, go on and evermore do

good."

With that the vision vanished.

The promise of St. Lazarus was fulfilled. In time young Rodrigo

became the great hero of Spain. The Spaniards called him Campeador

(cam-pe-‰-dor'), or Champion. The Saracens called him "The Cid,"

or Lord. His real name was Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, but he is usually

spoken of as "The Cid."

The Goths, after the death of Alaric, had taken Spain away from the

Romans. The Saracens, or, as they were usually called, the Moors,

had crossed the sea from Africa and in turn had taken Spain from

the Goths. In the time of Charles Martel the Goths had lost all

Spain except the small mountain district in the northern part. In

the time of the Cid the Goths, now called Spaniards, had driven the

Moors down to about the middle of Spain. War went on all the time

between the two races, and many men spent their lives in fighting.

The Spanish part of the country then comprised the kingdoms of

Castile, Leon, Aragon and others.

The Cid was a subject of Fernando of Castile. Fernando had a

dispute with the king of Aragon about a city which each claimed.

They agreed to decide the matter by a combat. Each was to choose

a champion. The champions were to fight, and the king whose champion

won was to have the city. Fernando chose the Cid, and though the

other champion was called the bravest knight in Spain, the youthful

warrior vanquished him.

When Alfonzo, a son of Fernando, succeeded to the throne, he

became angry with the Cid without just cause and banished him from

Christian Spain.

The Cid was in need of some money, so he filled two chests with

sand and sent word to two wealthy money lenders that he wished to

borrow six hundred Spanish marks (about $2,000 [as of 1904]), and

would put into their hands his treasures of silver and gold which

were packed in two chests, but the money lenders must solemnly swear

not to open the chests until a full year had passed. To this they

gladly agreed. They took the chests and loaned him six hundred

marks.

The Cid was now ready for his journey. Three hundred of his

knights went into banishment with him. They crossed the mountains

and entered the land of the Moors. Soon they reached the town of

Alcocer, and after a siege captured it and lived in it.

Then the Moorish king of Valencia ordered two chiefs to take three

thousand horsemen, recapture the town and bring the Cid alive to

him.

So the Cid and his men were shut up in Alcocer and besieged. Famine

threatened them and they determined to cut their way through the

army of the Moors. Suddenly and swiftly they poured from the gate

of Alcocer, and a terrible battle was fought. The two Moorish

chiefs were taken prisoners and thirteen hundred of their men were

killed in the battle. The Cid then became a vassal of the Moorish

king of Saragossa.

After a while Alfonzo recalled the Cid from banishment and gave him

seven castles and the lands adjoining them. He needed the Cid's

help in the greatest of all his plans against the Moors. He was

determined to capture Toledo. He attacked it with a large army

in which there were soldiers from many foreign lands. The Cid is

said to have been the commander. After a long siege the city fell

and the victorious army marched across the great bridge built by the

Moors, which you would cross to-day if you went to Toledo. [NOTE

FROM Brett Fishburne: This stunned me, so I researched it briefly

and it turns out that the bridge was washed out completely in 1257,

then rebuilt by Alfonso X. There were numerous other reconstructions

done between then and 2000, the most recent of which I am aware

was in the late 1970s using stone blocks found in situ.]

Valencia was one of the largest and richest cities in Moorish Spain.

It was strongly fortified, but the Cid determined to attack it.

The plain about the city was irrigated by streams that came down

from the neighboring hills. To prevent the Cid's army from coming

near the city the Saracens flooded the plain. But the Cid camped

on high ground above the plain and from that point besieged the

city. Food became very scarce in Valencia. Wheat, barley and

cheese were all so dear that none but the rich could buy them.

People ate horses, dogs, cats and mice, until in the whole city

only three horses and a mule were left alive.

Then on the fifteenth of June, 1094, the governor went to the camp

of the Cid and delivered to him the keys of the city. The Cid

placed his men in all the forts and took the citadel as his own

dwelling. His banner floated from the towers. He called himself

the Prince of Valencia.

When the king of Morocco heard of this he raised an army of fifty

thousand men. They crossed from Africa to Spain and laid siege to

Valencia. But the Cid with his men made a sudden sally and routed

them and pursued them for miles. It is said that fifteen thousand

soldiers were drowned in the river Guadalquivir (Gua-dal-qui-vir')

which they tried to cross.

The Cid was now at the height of his power and lived in great

magnificence. One of the first things he did was to repay the two

friends who had lent him the six hundred marks. He was kind and

just to the Saracens who had become his subjects. They were allowed

to have their mosques and to worship God as they thought right.

In time the Cid's health began to fail. He could lead his men forth

to battle no more. He sent an army against the Moors, but it was

so completely routed that few of his men came back to tell the tale.

It is said by a Moorish writer that "when the runaways reached him

the Cid died of rage" (1099).

There is a legend that shortly before he died he saw a vision

of St. Peter, who told him that he should gain a victory over the

Saracens after his death.

So the Cid gave orders that his body should be embalmed. It was

so well preserved that it seemed alive. It was clothed in a coat

of mail, and the sword that had won so many battles was placed in

the hand. Then it was mounted upon the Cid's favorite horse and

fastened into the saddle, and at midnight was borne out of the gate

of Valencia with a guard of a thousand knights.

All silently they marched to a spot where the Moorish king, with

thirty-six chieftains, lay encamped, and at daylight the knights

of the Cid made a sudden attack. The king awoke. It seemed to him

that there were coming against him full seventy thousand knights,

all dressed in robes as white as snow, and before them rode a knight,

taller than all the rest, holding in his left hand a snow-white

banner and in the other a sword which seemed of fire. So afraid

were the Moorish chief and his men that they fled to the sea, and

twenty thousand of them were drowned as they tried to reach their

ships.

There is a Latin inscription near the tomb of the Cid which may

be translated: *Brave and unconquered, famous in triumphs of war,

Enclosed in this tomb lies Roderick the Great of Bivar.*/

Related Links:

The Middle Ages

People of the Middle Ages

Joan of Arc

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