Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar is remembered as “El Cid”- “The Lord”. A mix of Spanish and Arabic vernacular, his title reflects the complicated, multicultural age of Spain that he lived in. El Cid is legendary among the Spanish people even almost one thousand years after his death in 1099. He is romanticized as the faithful servant of King Sancho II, a decorated war hero exiled at the hands of King Alfonso VI, an ally of both the Moors and Spanish and ultimately the conqueror of the city of Valencia. In studying him I have been surprised to find that like all legends, much of what we think we know about him is not all based in fact. For this project I wanted to look at the life of El Cid for myself, using original sources and commentary from more recent historians, to understand his life and personhood based on only what we know factually about him and not just on what I’ve been told from folk tales.
Primary sources on El Cid (and indeed on most historical figures at this time) focus hardly at all on details like demeanor, character, personality traits, and physical appearance. We owe a lot of what we “know” about El Cid’s legend to Ramon Menendez Peidal, El Cid’s most popular biographer who published “La Espana del Cid” in 1929. This book like the famous “Cantar de Mio Cid” tends to describe El Cid the legend more than Rodrigo the man and historical figure. We actually don’t know much about Rodrigo other than what can be learned from the historical documents left behind from around the 11th century. The earliest writing that exists on El Cid is the “Carmen Campi Doctoris” a latin poem that was written by an unknown monk. My two main sources were the “Historia Roderici” an early biography written anonymously either by an individual or many bards and poets over time, and Richard Fletcher’s 1989 work, “The Quest for El Cid.” I found Fletcher’s work extremely helpful because sources like the Cantar de Mio Cid can be hard to decipher without a lot of contextual learning. Fletcher does a great job of focusing on the raw facts of El Cid’s life without trying to color in a paragon of virtue between the lines. We of course don’t know that El Cid wasn’t a paragon of virtue but I chose to stick to just what facts I could find for this study.
At the time of Rodrigo’s birth, (roughly 1043) the southern half of Spain was under Moorish control and the Northern half was controlled by the Catholic Spanish kings. Rodrigo was born in Vivar in the vicinity of Burgos to an aristocratic family. The exact date of his birth is unknown but we know that he fought a battle as a young man alongside Prince Sancho II in 1063. If we factor in the likelihood that he would have probably left his family for the service of Sancho in his early teens then it is safe to guess that Rodrigo was born in the mid-1040’s; 1043 is the most popular date among historians. Rodrigo was knighted by Sancho in 1062.
Fletcher feels that it is important to stress that this is not a “rags to riches” story. Rodrigo was one of many warlords of his time and although he did very well for himself he was definitely born into wealth and good connections (both of his grandfathers and his father served in the court of the current ruler of Castilian Spain, Fernando I, at one point or another).
The battle that El Cid fought in the service of Sancho II in 1063 was the first recorded of many battles over his long military career. The mission was to overthrow King Ramiro, Sancho’s uncle who had been moving to take cities in Al-Andalus that would allow him access to the kingdom of Zaragoza ruled by al-Muqtadir. King Fernando saw this as an opportunity to be diplomatic towards al-Muqtadir and sent Prince Sancho to fight against Ramiro. King Ramiro was killed in the battle. Many legends cloud exactly how Ramiro died (one rumor involves a spy sneaking across enemy lines to assassinate him) but the exact cause of death is unsure. The Historia Roderici on the other hand simply says that Rodrigo was present at the battle and fought in Sancho’s army.
In 1065 Fernando moved to take Valencia but became il and died. This would set a chain of events into motion that would have dramatic impact on Rodrigo’s life and career. WIth the death of King Fernando his kingdom was divided among his three male heirs: to Sancho went castile, to the youngest Garcia went Galicia, and to the favorite Alfonso went Leon. This was great for Rodrigo’s career because now his long-time master was a king and Rodrigo became his armiger (armor-bearer or captain of the royal guard, his duties are debatable but either way it was a position of status). Rodrigo continued to serve in Sancho’s court and fight in his campaigns.
Alfonso had a more desirable kingdom in Leon so wars began to erupt between Alfonso and Sancho. In 1071 however Sancho and Alfonso joined forces and defeated their younger brother Garcia king of Galicia, exling him and stripping him of his kingship. For a time Alfonso and Sancho tried to rule Galicia jointly while ruling their own respective kingdoms. This of course didn’t work out and Alfonso was defeated and exiled by Sancho in 1072, exile apparently being the custom of the day rather than outright execution. Then only nine months later while King Sancho was fighting a battle in Zamora he was killed.
It is unclear whether or not Sancho was putting down a rebellion in Zamora or defending it from a southern Moorish invasion but either was we know that El Cid was there fighting in the battle. Sancho’s death instantly spring-boarded Alfonso out of exile and on to the throne. Popular legend of course says that Alfonso was responsible for Sancho’s death but this has not been explicitly proven. Most bibliographic sources agree that there was at least some amount of treachery involved but no historically-sound detail has been able to be provided. The Historia Roderici only tells us that Sancho died at Zamora. One biographer describes El Cid as taking on 15 knights single handedly during this battle, killing two of them and sending the rest running for their lives.
At this point there is a famous legend that Rodrigo made Alfonso sweat on the Bible that he had no part in the death of King Sancho and that Alfonso then accepted Rodrigo into his court begrudgingly but was always jealous of him and looked for ways of killing him. According to Fletcher there is no evidence to support this and it simply makes for a good hero story to have Rodrigo as the lone loyal knight surrounded by evil and treachery. The Historia Roderici puts it in a very different light than the pop legend:
“After the death of his lord King Sancho, who had maintained and loved him well, King Alfonso received him with honour as his vassal and kept him in his entourage with respectful affection.” (Unknown, Historia Roderici)
So it seems to me that although this isn’t quite as exciting as a tale of rivalry, Alfonso accepted him and Rodrigo, professional soldier that he was, kept on serving the king who fed and paid him. We cannot know what Rodrigo’s disposition was towards Sancho or what his feelings were at his death. Because of the many years of companionship between Sancho and Rodrigo one would assume that Rodrigo was probably saddened by the loss, but his career carried on nevertheless.
Over the next few years we stray again from the Hollywood ideal and see that Rodrigo was delegated several legal tasks by Alfonso, helping to judge in court and possibly collect tribute as a representative. When Rodrigo married the mysterious Jimena around 1075 (we know very little of her ancestry) we see by their wedding certificate, the Carta de Arras that two of the guarantors of the document were Alfonso’s trusted men, the count of Zamora and Alfonso’s armiger Garcia Ordonez. In fact, King Alfonso and his two sisters were even witnesses at the marriage (Fletcher, 122). These sorts of documents lead one to believe that Alfonso and Rodrigo had a healthy professional relationship and that there wasn’t as much animosity as most people believe.
From here Rodrigo began to make enemies in Alfonso’s court. There is a shadowy episode in 1079 where Rodrigo is sent by Alfonso to collect tribute from Seville. For some reason he ends up fighting in Cabra and leaves with important political prisoners. His biographers say that this is because another army lead by Abd Allah of Granada was attacking Seville, but given the location of Cabra – likely part of the kingdom of Granada rather than the kingdom of Seville – it is entirely possible that Rodrigo was raiding Cabra.
Rodrigo captured several prominent individuals connected to Alfonso’s court including Garcia Ordonez, Alfonso’s former armiger, guarantor of Rodrigo’s marriage, and much more well-connected noble. I still haven’t been able to figure out exactly what Garcia was doing there and how Rodrigo captured him, but the Historia Roderici is clear that he was among the captives. Capturing Garcia and releasing him for ransom would have been hugely humiliating for him as a political figure and a very un-hero-like thing for El Cid to do. Later on after a series of similarly sketchy events in which it appears that Rodrigo executes several unauthorized raids on surrounding territories, Garcia’s brother becomes Alfonso’s armiger. Not good news for Rodrigo. In the summer of 1081 Rodrigo is exiled, most likely as the result of breaking the law and stepping on the toes of of other nobles rather than because of Alfonso’s “jealousy”.
Rodrigo spends the next five years in the court of al-muqtadir, the ruler of Zaragoza who Sancho II and Rodrigo protected from King Ramiro way back in 1063. Al-muqtadir dies the year following Rodrigo’s arrival in his court and his son, al-Mu’tamin becomes Rodrigo’s new master. It is during this time period that Rodrigo fights and wins several major battles, al-Mu’tamin trusts him to lead campaigns and defend cities and this places Rodrigo in a position to rack up bragging rights and lots of money. Fletcher thinks that it is likely that the Carmen Campi Doctoris was composed slightly after the famous “Almenar Campaign” in which Rodrigo captures the count of Barcelona (Fletcher, 135).
Around 1085 Rodrigo was very famous and very wealthy in the court of Zaragoza. Ironically after just fighting a battle with Alfonso’s army, Rodrigo is reconciled to his original king and returns to his homeland now basically loyal to Alfonso and al-Mu-tamin. Alfonso had just suffered a decisive defeat at the hands of the invading African Almoravide army and needed the skills of someone like Rodrigo behind him once more. This sort of flip-flopping loyalty is possibly one of the reasons why we get a picture in folk-lore of Alfonso as a cowardly and weak king, but it was more likely just the nature of the mercenary politics of the day; El Cid was a professional warlord, and now he was a famous, rich professional warlord.
After his reconciliation to Alfonso in 1085 El Cid spent the remainder of his career defending Spain from the Almoravide army in between his own conquests. El Cid had his sights set on the city of Valencia, the city that King Fernando I had not been able to take for himself. Alfonso was his master and El Cid still fought alongside the Muslims at times but his focus on Valencia showed that he was after territory to call his own.
When the Almoravide army became aggressive again in 1092 El Cid took it as his opportunity to lay siege to Valencia. El Cid rode victorious into Valencia in 1094 after a two year-long siege. The Cid set up Valencia to be his domain, independent of the masters he had been serving. This gave El Cid even more power although he doesn’t seem to have necessarily turned against Alfonso or Mu-tamin.
El Cid ruled in Valencia until his death in 1099. Valencia then fell back into Almoravide hands until 1171. El Cid’s rule in Valencia was short but in the end he did what no warlord before him could do and he died victorious.
*****
“Everyone knows El Cid Campeador.” I was sitting with my Spanish friend Alicia beside a fountain. “We are taught his story from childhood.”
“Would you say that his legend and life have had any effect on yours?” I asked.
Alicia shrugged and nodded.
“We grow up knowing his story, he is a great Spanish hero.”
El Cid’s body rests at the cathedral in Burgos. I had the chance to visit and noticed that the grave is roped off. Crowds of Spanish people and tourists from other countries gathered around it and information about El Cid played over their guided tour headsets.
El Cid the man, Rodrigo, is somewhat lost to time. We have no way of knowing what his character was like, how he talked, if he was kind, if he was the knight that people remember him as. El CID the legend is celebrated as a hero and Spanish icon. El CID the legend was brave and noble and taught the lesson of serving even when it inconveniences you. As Alfonso tried to get rid of El Cid, he kept on serving until his exile.
In the end I am a bit disappointed in my findings in El Cid. I have accomplished my goal and am now familiar with his life’s story but judging by the facts he might not have been the hero I thought he was. In my reading I have only been able to flesh out glimpses of his true character and life, one cannot judge whether he was so simple as to be “good” or “bad” what I do know is that he left an impressive mark on the world by being exceptionally opportunistic; even in exile he was able to make life work to his advantage and he therefore accomplished what even kings before him couldn’t.
To me it is perhaps better to remember El Cid the legend. True or not I can learn from the chivalry and honor that is sung about in “Cantar de Mío Cid”. Rodrigo died and so did much of who he was, but his legend is still teaching by example; be honorable, brave, patient, and shrewd and then Valencia will be yours.
List of Sources:
- Anonymous, Historia Roderici
- Fletcher Richard, The Quest for El Cid
- Hitt Jack, Off the Road
- Pidal Menendez Ramon, La Espana del Cid
- Unknown, Cantar de Mio Cid
- Unknown, Carmen Campi doctoris