El Cid

El Cid (1043-1099), Spanish warrior, whom later legend made into a national hero and the embodiment of chivalry and virtue. Called, in full, El Cid Campeador (“The Lord Champion”), he was originally named Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar.

The son of a minor Castilian nobleman, although related to the great landowning nobility on his mother’s side, El Cid was born at Vivar near Burgos. He grew up in the household of the future king, Sancho II of Castile, and in the military campaigns against Aragón for control of Zaragoza he distinguished himself as the king’s premier knight. After Sancho was assassinated in 1072, Rodrigo entered the service of the new king, Alfonso VI. In 1081, however, he ran afoul of Alfonso and was exiled from the kingdom. With his retinue, he then set off for eastern Spain in search of honor, glory, and booty. He subsequently served the Moorish king of Zaragoza and other Muslim rulers. His military career culminated in his capture of Valencia (1094), which he held and ruled in defiance of Almoravid attacks until his death on July 10, 1099.

El Cid’s exploits are recorded in the 12th-century Latin chronicle Historia Roderici and in the most famous Spanish epic, El cantar de mío Cid (The Song of the Cid). Composed about 1200, the epic describes in a realistic, convincing manner the golden age of medieval chivalry, as well as El Cid’s heroic deeds. Illuminating the militaristic frontier culture of medieval Spain, it contrasts worthless nobles of high social rank with such men as El Cid, who are of humbler status but fight for honor and glory and are prudent, brave, generous, and loyal to family, king, and religion and thus superior in virtue. El Cid is also celebrated in some of Spain’s finest ballads and in plays by Spanish dramatist Lope de Vega and French dramatist Pierre Corneille.