1. Spanish National Hero

2. El Cid Campeador is a nickname that has
lots of symbols. El Cid means “the Lord”, or
“Master”, and Campeador’s meaning is “the
Champion”, an honorable title rarely given
to a man during his lifetime.
His real name is Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar.He was
a Castilian nobleman, military leader, and
diplomat. Some of his the most popular
achievements are the capture of Valencia
and participating in Reconquista.
It’s worth saying that he became a main hero for
many works of literature.

3. The most rich source with the facts of his life
is an epic poem “Cantar de mio Cid” written
by the unknown author. This work has lots of
re-written versions but the content doesn’t
change a lot.
It’s better to add that some specialists
compare “Cantar de mio Cid” with the most
popular Medieval poem “La Chanson de
Roland” (The song about Roland).

4. Modern Spanish translation
(a piece from first song):
De los sos ojos tan fuertemientre llorando
tornava la cabeça e estávalos catando,
vio puertas abiertas e uços sin cañados,
alcándaras vazías, sin pielles e sin mantos
e sin falcones e sin adtores mudados.
Sospiró mio Çid, ca mucho avié grandes cuidados,
fabló mio Çid bien e tan mesurado,
-Grado a ti, Señor, Padre que estás en alto,
esto me an buelto mios enemigos malos.-
Allí piensan de aguijar, allí sueltan las riendas,
a la exida de Bivar ovieron la corneja diestra
e entrando a Burgos oviéronla siniestra.
Meçió mio Çid los ombros e engrameó la tiesta,
-¡Albriçia, Álbar Fáñez, ca echados somos de tierra!-

5. English translation
(a piece from first song):
He turned and looked upon them, and he wept very sore
As he saw the yawning gateway and the hasps wrenched off the door,
And the pegs whereon no mantle nor coat of vair there hung.
There perched no moulting goshawk, and there no falc on swung.
My lord the Cid sighed deeply such grief was in his heart
And he spake well and wisely: "Oh Thou, in Heaven that art
Our Father and our Master, now I give thanks to Thee.
Of their wickedness my foemen have done this thing to me."
Then they shook out the bridle rein further to ride afar.
They had the crow on their right hand as they issued from Bivar;
And as they entered Burgos upon their left it sped.
And the Cid shrugged his shoulders, and the
Cid shook his head:“Good tidings Alvar Fanez
We are banished from our weal,
But on a day with honor shall we come unto Castile."

6. Birthing & his family:
El Cid was born in1043 AD in Vivar, also known as Castillona de Bivar, a
small town about six miles north of Burgos, the capital of Castile. His father,
Diego Laínez, was a courtier, bureaucrat, and cavalryman who had fought in
several battles. Despite the fact that El Cid's mother's family was aristocratic,
in later years the peasants would consider him one of their own. These facts
about relationship between him and lower orders are important because he
became a national hero not only thanks to his victories and courage but also to
his character, kindness, generosity and magnanimity. Court:
Born a member of the minor nobility, Díaz was brought up at the court of
Ferdinand I in the household of the king's eldest son, Sancho. When
Sancho succeeded Ferdinand as King Sancho II in 1065, he appointed El
Cid as commander of the royal troops and standard-bearer. In 1067
Sancho made war on his brother Alfonso, who had inherited Leon, and
the Cid played an important part in the successful campaigns of his king.
King Sancho was murdered in 1072, and his younger brother, Alfonso,
came to the throne. As it was widely suspected that Alfonso was
responsible for Sancho’s death, El Cid became regarded as a natural leader
to those Castilians who weren't particularly happy about being governed
by a king of Leon, because he was loyal to his old friend Sancho. Some
years later Rodrigo was exiled from the king’s court and he left it.But
approximately 300 others knights went with him denying all their titles
and property.

7. Service under Sancho:
As a young man in 1057, Rodrigo fought against the
Moorish stronghold of Zaragoza, making its emir al-
Muqtadir a vassal of Sancho. In the spring of 1063,
Rodrigo fought in the Battle of Graus where he killed
Ramiro I of Aragon (knight who was the leader of
the enemy’s army) in single combat, after which he
received the honorific title Campeador.
Service under Moorishes:
After exile he visited several Spanish cities
proposing service bur all of them refused to take
him. In 1081, El Cid, went on to offer his services to
the Moorish king of the city of Zaragoza, Yusuf al-
Mu'taman ibn Hud, and served both him and his
successor, Al-Mustain II. He was given the title El
Cid (The Master) and served as a leading figure in
a vibrant Moorish force consisting of Muladis,
Berbers, Arabs and Malians.

8. F ight against the compatriots:
El Cid was victorious in battles against the Moorish king of Lérida and his
Christian allies, as well as against a large Christian army under King Sancho
Ramírez of Aragon. Returning from the exile:
In 1086, Alfonso was defeated by Almoravids from North
Africa. As time proved, King Alfonso was simply not capable
of defeating the Muslim general Yusuf. There was only one
man who could defeat him, and that man was the Cid. Alfonso
overcame his antagonism to the Cid long enough to recall him
from exile. El Cid was at court on July 1087; however, what
happened after that is unclear. El Cid returned to Alfonso, but
now he had his own plans. He only stayed a short while and
then returned to Saragossa. El Cid was content to let the
Almoravid armies and the armies of Alfonso fight without his
help, even when there was a chance that the armies of
Almoravid might defeat Alfonso and take over all of Alfonso's
lands. The reason El Cid did not want to fight was because he
was hoping that both armies would become weak. That would
make it easier for him to carry out his own plan which was to
become ruler of the Kingdom of Valencia.

9.  El Cid, with a combined Christian and Moorish army, began
maneuvering in order to create his own fiefdom in the Moorish
Mediterrenean coastal city of Valencia. Several obstacles lay in his
way. First was Berenguer Ramón II, who ruled nearby Barcelona.
In May 1090, El Cid defeated and captured Berenguer in the Battle
of Tébar. Berenguer was later released and his nephew Ramón
Berenguer III married El Cid's youngest daughter Maria to ward
against future conflicts.
 Along the way to Valencia, El Cid also conquered other towns,
many of which were near Valencia, such as Castejón and Alucidia.
 El Cid gradually came to have more influence on Valencia, then
ruled by al-Qadir. In October 1092 an uprising occurred in Valencia
inspired by the city's chief judge Ibn Jahhaf and the Almoravids. El
Cid began a siege of Valencia. A December 1093 attempt to break
the siege failed. By the time the siege ended in May 1094, El Cid
had carved out his own principality on the coast of the
Mediterranean. Officially El Cid ruled in the name of Alfonso; in
reality, El Cid was fully independent. The city was both Christian
and Muslim, and both Moors and Christians served in the army and

10. In 11th century Spain, a famous order of monks, the Carthusians, were known for their horses.
A young boy named Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar was brought up near the Carthusian monastery around
Burgos. His godfather, a monk known as Pedro El Grande because of his large size, looked after the boy
much as a father would and counseled him in matters both religious and practical. When the young
Rodrigo came of age, his godfather granted him the pick of a herd of beautiful Andalusian horses. The
boy could not wait to enter the corral and make his choice. After looking for a while, his eyes fell upon a
white foal who, for some reason, stole his heart. The priest was astonished and disappointed and called
the boy to task for choosing such a frail and poorly formed figure of a horse. Rodrigo defended his choice
and named him Babieca, my stupid one, the name that had been shouted at him for being, in the eyes of
his godfather, such a poor judge of horses.
Babieca became an imposing white standard of the Andalusian
race, obedient and nimble; noble and of generous spirit. He soon
grew into a formidable charger, a frightening machine of war. He
carried his master courageously into all battles for thirty years, each
time towards victory.
After the death of El Cid, Babieca was never mounted again and
died two years later at the incredible age of forty. His master had
asked that his wife and famous steed be buried with him at the
Monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña. But unfortunately their
remains were removed after the Peninsular Wars and taken to the
cathedral in Burgos where they were finally interred and where
they currently rest today.

11.  A hero needed a wife and El Cid was married in
either in 1074 or 1075 to Doña Ximena of Oviedo,
who was Alfonso's kinswoman.
 El Cid and Ximena had three children. Their two
daughters Cristina and María both married high
nobility; Cristina to Ramiro, Lord of Monzón,
grandson of García Sánchez III of Navarre and
María, first to a prince of Aragon and second to
Ramón Berenguer III, count of Barcelona. El Cid’s
son Diego Rodríguez was tragically killed while
fighting against the invading Muslim Almoravids
from North Africa at the Battle of Consuegra in
1097.
 After his death Ximena ruled in his place for three
years until the Almoravids once again besieged the
city. Unable to hold it, she abandoned the city and
organised the evacuation of the Christians. King
Alfonso ordered the city to be destroyed to
prevent it from falling into the hands of the
Almoravids and what was left of Valencia was
captured by Masdali.

12.  The Tizona is a legendary sword of El
Cid that has a rich history.
 Legend says El Cid snatched the
Tizona from King Búcar, a defeated
Moorish opponent during a fight.
Some time after his death it passed on
to the grandfather of Ferdinand II of
Aragon, known as the Catholic, and
the king who finally defeated the
Moors.
 La Tizona is a solid, seventy-five
El Cid also had asword with a black
centimetre long sword called Colada, which wasn’t a
rather pleasant thing but rather a lethal killing weapon. La
handle and has become as important
Tizona was a heritage as King Arthur’s Colada was longer
to Spanish one-handed sword but the
in length and was a two-handed blade.
Excalibur in England.

13. Following in the footsteps of El Cid
Campeador
The Way of El Cid is a journey through locations linked to the legendary
horseman Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, El Cid Campeador's life. The famous 12th-
century Spanish poem “Cantar de mio Cid” will be a guide for this trip.
Following the trail set out in the book, you may head through the lands of
Castile-León, Castile-La Mancha, Aragón and Valencia. The route of El Cid
runs from Vivar del Cid (Burgos), the popular knight's birthplace, to
Orihuela (Alicante), a territory won from the Moors by El Cid.

14. Movie “El Cid”
If you start being
interested in El Cid’s
life you may watch the
film “El Cid”. It was shot
in 1961 by the
American editor
Anthony Mann. The
cast is really great:
Charlton Heston,
Sophia Loren, Raf
Vallone, Geneviève
Page etc… This film

15. Firstly it should be said that after El
Cid’ s death Ximena fled north with his
body to Burgos where he was
originally buried in the monastery of
San Pedro de Cardeña but his body
now lies at the centre of the Burgos
Cathedral.
El Cid had asked that his wife and famous
steed be buried with him at the Monastery of
San Pedro de Cardeña. But unfortunately their
remains were removed after the Peninsular
Wars and taken to the cathedral in Burgos
where they were finally interred and where they
currently rest today.
There also different monuments among the
Spain: in Sevilla, Burgos and some others.

16. Links, where you can find much more
information about El Cid:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Diaz_de_Vivar
 http://www.laits.utexas.edu/cid/main/folio.php?f=01r& v=nor
 http://omacl.org/Cid/cantarI.html
 http://historymedren.about.com/od/elcid/a/bio_el_cid.htm
 http://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/el-cid.html
 http://www.artbycrane.com/thesupremewarhorseofspain.html
 http://anotherbagmoretravel.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/el-cid-and-his-wife-
ximena/
 http://anotherbagmoretravel.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/el-cid-and-la-tizona/
 http://www.spainisculture.com/en/rutas_culturales/grandes-
rutas/camino_del_cid.html

17. Created by:
Khizhniak Veronika
Nicky9688@mail.ru