El Cid
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Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (El Cid) | |
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Father | Diego Laínez |
Signature |
Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043 – 10 July 1099) was a Castilian knight and ruler in
Díaz de Vivar became well known for his service in the armies of both Christian and Muslim rulers. After his death, El Cid became Spain's most celebrated national hero and the protagonist of the most significant medieval Spanish epic poem, El Cantar de mio Cid,[1] which presents him as the ideal medieval knight: strong, valiant, loyal, just, and pious.
There are various theories on his family history, which remains uncertain; however, he was the grandfather of García Ramírez de Pamplona, King of Navarre, the first son of his daughter Cristina Rodríguez. To this day, El Cid remains a popular Spanish folk hero and national icon, with his life and deeds remembered in popular culture.[2][3]
Etymology: Cid and Campeador
Rodrigo Díaz was recognized with the honorary title of "Campeador" during his lifetime, as is evidenced by a document that he signed in 1098, which he signed in the Latinized expression, ego Rudericus Campidoctor. The title "Campeador" thus comes from the Latin Campidoctor, literally meaning "Teacher of the Field", but translatable as "Master of the Battlefield". Arabic sources from the late 11th century and early 12th century call him الكنبيطور (al-Kanbīṭūr), القنبيطور (al-Qanbīṭūr), also preceded by Rudrīq or Ludrīq, which are Arabized forms of his name and title.[4]
The epithet of "El Cid" meant "the Lord", probably from the original Arabic (
The combination of "Cid Campeador" is documented from 1195 in Linaje de Rodrigo Díaz (The Lineage of Rodrigo Díaz) in Navarro-Aragonese which form part of the Liber regum written as mio Cit el Campiador; and in El Cantar de mio Cid.[7]
Summary
Born a member of the minor nobility, El Cid was brought up at the court of
El Cid found work fighting for the
El Cid's final years were spent fighting the Almoravid Berbers. He inflicted upon them their first major defeat in 1094, on the plains of Caurte, outside Valencia, and continued opposing them until his death. Although El Cid remained undefeated in Valencia, Diego Rodríguez, his only son and heir, died fighting against the Almoravids in the service of Alfonso in 1097. After El Cid's death in 1099, his wife, Jimena Díaz, succeeded him as ruler of Valencia, but she was eventually forced to surrender the principality to the Almoravids in 1102.[10]
Title
The name El Cid (Spanish: [el ˈθið]) is a modern Spanish denomination composed of the article el meaning "the" and Cid, which derives from the Old Castilian loan word Çid borrowed from the dialectal Arabic word سيد sîdi or sayyid, which means "lord" or "master". The Mozarabs or the Arabs that served in his ranks may have addressed him in this way, which the Christians may have transliterated and adopted. Historians, however, have not yet found contemporary records referring to Rodrigo as Cid. Arab sources use instead Rudriq, Ludriq al-Kanbiyatur or al-Qanbiyatur (Rodrigo el Campeador).[11] The cognomen Campeador derives from Latin campi doctor, which means "battlefield master". He probably gained it during the campaigns of King Sancho II of Castile against his brothers, kings Alfonso VI of León and García II of Galicia. While his contemporaries left no historical sources that would have addressed him as Cid, they left plenty of Christian and Arab records, some even signed documents with his autograph, addressing him as Campeador, which prove that he used the Christian cognomen himself.[12][13][14][15] The whole combination Cid Campeador is first documented c. 1195 in the Navarro-Aragonese Linage de Rodric Díaz included in the Liber Regum under the formula mio Cid el Campeador.[citation needed]
Life and career
Origins
El Cid was born Rodrigo Díaz circa 1043 in
Service under Sancho II
As a young man in 1057, El Cid fought against the Moorish stronghold of Zaragoza, making its emir al-Muqtadir a vassal of Sancho. In the spring of 1063, El Cid fought in the Battle of Graus, where Ferdinand's half-brother, Ramiro I of Aragon, was laying siege to the Moorish town of Graus, which was fought on Zaragozan lands in the valley of the river Cinca. Al-Muqtadir, accompanied by Castilian troops including El Cid, fought against the Aragonese. The party slew Ramiro I, setting the Aragonese army on the run, and emerged victorious. One legend has said that during the conflict, El Cid killed an Aragonese knight in single combat, thereby receiving the honorific title "Campeador".[17]
When Ferdinand died, Sancho continued to enlarge his territory, conquering both Christian strongholds and the
Service under Alfonso VI
Sancho was assassinated in 1072, during a siege of his sister's town of Zamora.
In 1079, El Cid was sent by Alfonso VI to Seville to the court of al-Mutamid to collect the parias owed by that taifa to León–Castile.[20] While he was there Granada, assisted by other Castilian knights, attacked Seville, and El Cid and his forces repulsed the Christian and Grenadine attackers at the Battle of Cabra, in the (probably mistaken) belief that he was defending the king's tributary. During the aftermath of this battle the Muslim troops under El Cid's command would hail him as Sayyidi.[21] Count García Ordóñez and the other Castilian leaders[22] were taken captive and held for three days before being released.[20]
Exile
In the Battle of Cabra (1079), El Cid rallied his troops and turned the battle into a rout of Emir Abdullah of Granada and his ally García Ordóñez. This unauthorized expedition into Granada, however, greatly angered Alfonso and May 8, 1080 was the last time El Cid confirmed a document in King Alfonso's court. The most likely reason was El Cid's incursion into Toledo, which happened to be under the control of Alfonso’s vassal, Yahya Al-Qadir.[23] Alfonso's anger over El Cid's unsanctioned incursion into his vassal's territory would lead him to exile the knight.[24] This is the generally accepted reason for the exile of El Cid, although several others are plausible and indeed may have been contributing factors to the exile: jealous nobles turning Alfonso against El Cid through court intrigue, and Alfonso's own personal animosity towards El Cid. The song of El Cid and subsequent tales state that Alfonso’s and his court’s animosity toward Rodrigo was the primary reason the expulsion of the knights from León,[25] as well as a possible misappropriation of some of the tribute from Seville by El Cid.[citation needed]
At first he went to Barcelona, where Ramon Berenguer II refused his offer of service.[citation needed]
Moorish service
The exile was not the end of El Cid, either physically or as an important figure. After being rejected by
According to Moorish accounts:
Andalusi Knights found El Cid their foe ill, thirsty and exiled from the court of Alfonso, he was presented before the elderly Yusuf al-Mu'taman ibn Hud and accepted command of the forces of the Taifa of Zaragoza as their Master.
In his History of Medieval Spain (Cornell University Press, 1975), Joseph F. O'Callaghan writes:
That kingdom was divided between
Sancho I of Aragón, and Ramon Berenguer II, whom he held captive briefly in 1082.
In 1082, the army of the
In 1086, the
In 1087,
Recall from exile
Terrified after his crushing defeat, Alfonso recalled El Cid, rewarding him lavishly with lands and lordships, such as the fortress of Gormaz. In the year 1087 Alfonso sent him to negotiate with the emboldened Taifa kingdoms.[27]
El Cid returned to Alfonso, but now he had his own plans. He only stayed a short while and then returned to Zaragoza. 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 Almoravids might defeat Alfonso and take over all of Alfonso's lands. El Cid chose not to fight because he was hoping that both armies would weaken themselves. [citation needed]
Conquest of Valencia
Around this time, El Cid, with a combined Christian and Moorish army, began maneuvering in order to create his own fief in the Moorish
Along the way to Valencia, El Cid also conquered other towns, many of which were near Valencia, such as El Puig and Quart de Poblet.[citation needed]
El Cid gradually came to have more influence in Valencia, then ruled by Yahya al-Qadir, of the Hawwara Berber Dhulnunid dynasty. 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 practice, El Cid was fully independent. The city was both Christian and Muslim, and both Moors and Christians served in the army and as administrators. Jerome of Périgord was made bishop.[citation needed]
Death
El Cid and his wife Jimena Díaz lived peacefully in Valencia until the Almoravids besieged the city. But he defeated them and died 5 years later, on July 10, 1099.
Afterward Valencia was captured by
Legend of posthumous victory
After his demise, but still during the siege of Valencia, legend holds that Jimena ordered that the corpse of El Cid be fitted with his armor and set on his horse, Babieca, to bolster the morale of his troops. In several variations of the story, the dead Rodrigo and his knights win a thundering charge against Valencia's besiegers, resulting in a war-is-lost-but-battle-is-won catharsis for generations of Christian Spaniards to follow. It is believed that the legend originated shortly after Jimena entered Burgos, and that it is derived from the manner in which Jimena's procession rode into the city, i.e. alongside her deceased husband.[29]
Warrior and general
Battle tactics
During his campaigns, El Cid often ordered that books by classic Roman and Greek authors on military themes be read aloud to him and his troops, for both entertainment and inspiration before battle. El Cid's army had a novel approach to planning strategy as well, holding what might be called "brainstorming" sessions before each battle to discuss tactics. They frequently used unexpected strategies, engaging in what modern generals would call psychological warfare—waiting for the enemy to be paralyzed with terror and then attacking them suddenly; distracting the enemy with a small group of soldiers, etc. (El Cid used this distraction in capturing the town of Castejón as depicted in Cantar de mio Cid (The Song of my Cid).) El Cid accepted or included suggestions from his troops. In The Song the man who served him as his closest adviser was his vassal and kinsman Álvar Fáñez "Minaya" (meaning "My brother", a compound word of Spanish possessive Mi (My) and Anaia, the basque word for brother), although the historical Álvar Fáñez remained in Castile with Alfonso VI.[citation needed]
Babieca
Babieca, or Bavieca, was El Cid's
Regardless, Babieca became a great warhorse, famous to the Christians, feared by El Cid's enemies, and loved by El Cid, who allegedly requested that Babieca be buried with him in the monastery of
Swords
A weapon traditionally identified as El Cid's sword, Tizona, used to be displayed in the Army Museum (Museo del Ejército) in Toledo. In 1999, a small sample of the blade underwent metallurgical analysis which confirmed that the blade was made in Moorish Córdoba in the eleventh century and contained amounts of Damascus steel.[32]
In 2007, the Autonomous Community of Castile and León bought the sword for €1.6 million,[33] and it is currently on display at the Museum of Burgos.[34]
El Cid also had a sword called Colada.[35]
Wife and children
El Cid married
In literature, music, video games, and film
The figure of El Cid has been the source for many literary works, beginning with the
Herman Melville references El Cid when introducing the character of Samoa in Chapter 21 of Mardi (1849): "He alighted about six paces from where we stood, and balancing his weapon, eyed us bravely as the Cid".[43]
Georges Bizet worked on Don Rodrigue in 1873 that was set aside and never completed. Jules Massenet wrote an opera, Le Cid, in 1885, based on Corneille's play of the same name. Claude Debussy began work in 1890 on an opera, Rodrigue et Chimène, which he abandoned as unsuitable for his temperament; it was orchestrated for performance by Edison Denisov circa 1993.[44]
El Cid is portrayed by American actor Charlton Heston in a 1961 epic film of the same name[45] directed by Anthony Mann, where the character of Doña Ximena is portrayed by Italian actress Sophia Loren.[46][47] In 2020, Amazon Prime Video premiered a Spanish TV series with Jaime Lorente starring as El Cid.[48]
In 1979, Crack, one of the most prominent progressive rock bands from Spain, released their first and only album Si Todo Hiciera Crack including "Marchando una del Cid", a song based on the epic legend of El Cid.[49]
In 1980, Ruy, the Little Cid was an animated series based on El Cid's childhood made by Nippon Animation.[50]
El Cid was described to inspire Ferny about his Spanish heritage in "The Legend of Raloo", episode 16 of season 1 of Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks in 2004.[51]
In the second Age of Empires video game installment, The Conquerors expansion pack, there is a campaign starring El Cid Campeador.[52][53]
In both the first and second Medieval: Total War games, El Cid appears as a powerful independent general in the castle of Valencia.[54]
In 2003, the Spanish animated film El Cid: The Legend was released.[55]
The Ministry of Time, a Spanish science fiction television series, portrayed El Cid in season 2, episode 1.[56]
El Cid is a playable character in the Mobile/PC Game Rise of Kingdoms.
El Cid is a playable character in Crusader Kings II and Crusader Kings III in start dates corresponding to his historical rule over Valencia.
Gallery
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General view of the 1954 Juan Cristóbal González Quesada's statue of El Cid in Burgos
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Statue of El Cid included in the 14th- to 15th-century "Santa María" gateway, Burgos
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1344 medieval miniature showing the decapitation of Count Lozano by El Cid
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Burgalese traditional representation (called "Gigantones") of El Cid that is taken to the streets during the town major festivity. Doña Jimena's representation is behind.
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The terrain known as the "Solar del Cid", where his house was located. The monument was erected in 1784. Photo taken in Burgos, c. 1865–1892.
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El Cid depiction on the book Portraits of illustrious Spaniards (1791)
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In 2008, this El Cid statue made by Ángel Gil Cuevas was placed in Mecerreyes, at the path of the "Camino del Cid".
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Another version of the "Santa Gadea Oath", painted by Armando Menocal in 1889
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El Cid's chest at Burgos Cathedral
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El Cid portrait from The Historians' History of the World
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El Cid medallion (1733–34) at the Plaza Mayor, Salamanca
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1864 Juan Vicens Cots painting "La Primera hazaña de El Cid" depicts a young Rodrigo Díaz showing his father Diego Laínez the severed head of Count Lozano, the father of his future wife Doña Jimena. Count Lozano had previously mocked and slapped elderly Diego Laínez.
See also
References
- OCLC 45486279.
- ^ Ventura Fuentes (1908). "El Cid". In Catholic Encyclopedia. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ Henry Edward Watts (1911). "Cid, The". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 6. (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 361–362.
- ^ gigatos (2022-03-12). "El Cid". Trenfo. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
- OCLC 433366647.
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- ISBN 978-0275984069.
- ^ ISBN 978-0195069556.
- ^ Mikaberidze 2011, p. 91.
- ISBN 84-87876-41-2
- ^ See Ramón Menéndez Pidal, «Autógrafos inéditos del Cid y de Jimena en dos diplomas de 1098 y 1101», Revista de Filología Española, t. 5 (1918), Madrid, Sucesores de Hernando, 1918. Digital copy Valladolid, Junta de Castilla y León. Consejería de Cultura y Turismo. Dirección General de Promociones e Instituciones Culturales, 2009–2010. Original in Archivo de la Catedral de Salamanca, caja 43, legajo 2, n.º 72.
- ISBN 978-84-95486-20-2
- ^ Alberto Montaner Frutos, «Rodrigo el Campeador como princeps en los siglos XI y XII»
- ^ Georges Martin «El primer testimonio cristiano sobre la toma de Valencia (1098)», en el número monográfico «Rodericus Campidoctor» de la revista electrónica e-Spania, n.º 10 (diciembre de 2010). Online since 22 January 2011. Last time visited November 28th 2011. Complete text (Edition of the Latin text) in José Luis Martín Martín & al., Documentos de los Archivos Catedralicio y Diocesano de Salamanca (siglos XII–XIII), Salamanca, Universidad, 1977, doc. 1, pp. 79–81.
- ISBN 978-1-59884-901-1.
- S2CID 165471019, retrieved 2022-11-12
- ^ Catlos, Brian (2015). "The Cid Rides Again". Infidel kings and Unholy Warriors: Faith, power, and violence in the age of crusade and jihad. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 73.
- ^ Russell, Peter Edward (2024-04-18). "El Cid". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
- ^ a b Chaytor, Henry John (1933). "Chapter 3: The Reconquest". A History of Aragon and Catalonia. London: Methuan. pp. 39–40.
- ^ Catlos, Brian (2015). "The Cid Rides Again". Infidel kings and Unholy Warriors: Faith, power, and violence in the age of crusade and jihad. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 74.
- ^ The Historia Roderici says that the other two Castilian leaders were Diego Pérez and Lope Sánchez. de los Rios, José Amador (1863). "Capitulo 3: Primeros Monumentos Escritos de la Poesía Castellana (Chapter 3: First-Written Monuments of Castilian Poetry)". Historia Crítica de la Literatura Española, Tomo III, (II Parte, Subciclo I) (The History and Criticism of Spanish Literature, Volume III (Second Part, subpart I)) (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: J. Rodriguez. p. 104.
- ^ Ángel Ferreiro, Miguel. ""La Conquista De Toledo, Mayo De 1085,"". El Reto Histórico. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ISBN 978-8447207084. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
- ^ Inti Fernandez, Yanes (May 1, 2018). The Cross and the Sword: Political Myth-Making, Hegemony, and Intericonicity in the Christianization of the Iberian Peninsula and Britain. OAKTrust. p. 138. Retrieved 15 December 2022.[permanent dead link]
- JSTOR 2944137.
- ISBN 978-0809058372. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
- ^ Henry Edward Watts (1911). "Cid, The" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 6. (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 361–362.
- ^ Perea Rodríguez, Óscar. "Díaz de Vivar, Rodrigo o El Cid (1043–1099)". Archived from the original on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
- ^ Bergen, Ard van. "Rodrigo 'el Cid' "El Cid" Díaz de Vivar príncipe de Valencia (± 1043–1099) » maximum test » Genealogy Online". Genealogy Online. Retrieved 2022-06-24.
- ^ "Project Gutenberg's "The Lay of the Cid"". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
- ^ Alonso, J. I. Garcia; Martinez, J. A.; Criado, A. J. (1999). "Origin of El Cid's sword revealed by ICP-MS metal analysis". Spectroscopy Europe. 11 (4). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
- ISBN 978-1-78333-651-7.
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- ISBN 978-1526112637. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
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- ISBN 978-0-521-87575-2.
- ^ Cervantes. Don Quixote of La Mancha. 1605.
- ISBN 978-1-4103-5088-6.
- ^ Pérez-Reverte, Arturo (15 September 2019). "'Sidi', un relato de frontera". El País. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ Pérez-Reverte, Arturo (2 September 2019). "Adelanto del primer capítulo de la nueva novela de Pérez-Reverte, 'Sidi'". El Mundo. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ Melville, Herman (1922). The Works of Herman Melville: no. 3. Mardi, and a voyage thither. Constable Limited.
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- ISBN 978-0-19-506955-6.
- ISBN 978-1-4766-0418-3.
- ISBN 978-1-4103-4239-3.
- ^ Silvestre, Juan (1 October 2019). "'El Cid' de Jaime Lorente para Amazon Prime Video completa su reparto". Fotogramas. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-8390-9950-2. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
- ^ Ruy, el pequeño Cid (Animation, Adventure, Drama), BRB Internacional S.A., Nippon Animation Co., Televisión Española (TVE), 1980-10-05, retrieved 2023-01-22
- ^ "Age of Empires II: The Conquerors (Manual)". Archive.org. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
- ^ "texts Age of Empires II: The Conquerors (Manual)". Archive.org. p. 3. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
- ^ Hospodar, Mark (2021-11-09). "Every Age Of Empires Game, Ranked". GameRant.
In 2000, The Conquerors expansion was released, which added new campaigns such as Attila the Hun and El Cid.
- ^ Adams, Dan (2002-01-09). "Medieval: Total War". IGN. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
- ^ Muñoz, Michel (2023-12-08). "Las Miradas Sobre Mío Cid" (in Spanish). El Diadigital. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
- ^ "El Ministerio del Tiempo – Capítulo 9 – T2". RTVE.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2023-01-22.
General and cited sources
Primary
- Kurtz, Barbara E. El Cid. University of Illinois.
- I. Michael. The Poem of El Cid. Manchester: 1975.
- The Song of El Cid. Translated by Burton Raffel. Penguin Classics, 2009.
- Cantar de mío Cid – Spanish (free PDF)
- Poema de Mio Cid, Códice de Per Abbat in the European Library (third item on page)
- R. Selden Rose and Leonard Bacon (trans.) The Lay of El Cid. Semicentennial Publications of the University of California: 1868–1918. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1997.
- Romancero e historia del muy valeroso caballero El Cid Ruy Díaz de Vibar (1828)
- Cronica del muy esforçado cavallero el Cid ruy diaz campeador (1533)
- Carmen Campidoctoris, a Latin poem on El Cid
Secondary (not cited)
- Simon Barton and Richard Fletcher. The world of El Cid, Chronicles of the Spanish reconquest. Manchester: University Press, 2000. ISBN 0-7190-5226-2paperback.
- Gonzalo Martínez Díez, "El Cid Histórico: Un Estudio Exhaustivo Sobre el Verdadero Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar", Editorial Planeta (Spain, June 1999). ISBN 84-08-03161-9
- C. Melville and A. Ubaydli (ed. and trans.), Christians and Moors in Spain, vol. III, Arabic sources (711–1501). (Warminster, 1992).
- Mikaberidze, Alexander, ed. (2011). "Almoravids". Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia. Vol. I. ABC-CLIO.
- Joseph F. O'Callaghan. A History of Medieval Spain. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1975
- Peter Pierson. The History of Spain. Ed. John E. Findling and Frank W. Thacheray. Wesport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1999. 34–36.
- Bernard F. Reilly. The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI, 1065–1109 Princeton, New Jersey: University Press, 1988.
- Steven Thomas. 711–1492: Al-Andalus and the Reconquista.
- M. J. Trow,El Cid The Making of a Legend, Sutton Publishing Limited, 2007.
- Henry Edwards Watts. "The Story of El Cid (1026–1099)" in The Christian Recovery of Spain: The Story of Spain from the Moorish Conquest to the Fall of Granada (711–1492 AD). New York: Putnam, 1894. 71–91.
- T.Y. Henderson. "Conquests Of Valencia"
- J. I. Garcia Alonso, J. A. Martinez, A. J. Criado, "Origin of El Cid's sword revealed by ICP-MS metal analysis", Spectroscopy Europe, 11/4 (1999).
Further reading
- McNair, Alexander J. "El Cid, the Impaler?: Line 1254 of the Poem of the Cid." Essays in Medieval Studies, Volume 26, 2010, pp. 45–68
External links
- Information about The Route of El Cid – English
- Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 361–362. .