EL CID

CAMPEADOR

By: Bulaybulay, Losloso and Reyes

 El Cid means Lord or Chief.
 Campeador means Champion.
 El Cid is the life story of a Castilian soldier, Rodrigo
Diaz de Vivar.
 The epic took place in Spain somewhere in Castile.
 Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar was born in the town of Vivar
near Burgos. He was born either in 1040 or 1043.
 His name, “El Cid” was given to him by the Moors
(Arabs)
Overview
El Cid lived in the kingdom of King Fernand I. In
1065 King Fernand I died. He divided his kingdom
among his three sons, Sancho, Alfonso and Garcia, and
his two daughters, Elvira and Urraca.
Sancho being the eldest thought that he should
have inherited all of his father's lands. He battled with
the Kingdom of Aragon which was not under control of
any of his family.
When El Cid was only about 23 years old, he
proved to be such a help in defeating the Kingdom of
Aragon that he was named Commander of the Royal
Armies.
 About 1070, Sancho began his war against his
brothers and sisters. However, Sancho was killed by one
of her sister Urraca’s soldiers right at the city gates.
Upon hearing of his brother's death, Alfonso rushed
to Zamora to claim his brother's lands and most
importantly the throne. He became Alfonso VI.
Alfonso knew that he would need a leader like El
Cid who was a very good soldier. Also the people in
Castile were not happy that they were being led by a
king from Leon. El Cid was from Castile and was liked
by the people.
 Although the Alfonso removed El Cid as
Commander of the Royal Armies, in 1074 he married El
Cid to his niece, Jimena. El Cid was now related to
Alfonso.
Alfonso did not really like El Cid. He was afraid
that El Cid might attempt to take the throne. Alfonso
sent El Cid to the king of Seville to collect
money. When El Cid returned he accused El Cid of
keeping some of the money. He banished El Cid from
his kingdom and from then on El Cid was not able to
live safely in any area ruled by Alfonso.
 El Cid now needed not only money, but also
protection of a king. He offered his services to the
Ruler of Saragossa in northeastern Spain. The Ruler
of Saragossa was the arabic leader, al-Mu'tamin.
In 1086 Alfonso VI came under attack from the
Almoravid armies from North Africa. He suffered a
great defeat at Sagrajas on October
23rd. Realizing that he needed El Cid's help to
save his Kingdom, Alfonso recalled El Cid from
exile.
 El Cid returned to Alfonso, but now he had his
own plans. He only stayed a short while and
returned to Saragossa. El Cid was content to let the
Almoravid armies and the armies of Alfonso fight
without his help. 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.
 The first thing El Cid needed to do was to
remove the influence of the Count of Barcelona. El
Cid became lucky when in October 1092 al-Qadir
was killed by one of his noblemen, Ibn Jahhaf. The
city of Valencia was thrown into confusion. It was at
this time that El Cid decided to attack. He
surrounded the city and began a long siege. In
May, 1094 Ibn Jahhaf surrendered the city.
 Although El Cid was a soldier he understood some
of the politics of being a ruler. Through his service to
Sancho II and then Alfonso VI he learned about Spanish
politics.
El Cid technically ruled Valencia for Alfonso. But,
Alfonso was not about to wage war against El Cid, so
he let him rule with almost no control. El Cid began to
act as a king.
El Cid ruled Valencia until his death. The body of El
Cid was returned to Burgos and buried in a
monastery. Almost immediately he became regarded
as a national hero of Castile.
Why this literature is influential?
 El Cid tells the epic story of a man who fights to restore
his honor after being banished from Spain.
 El Cid’s military achievements had little to do with the
much later Christian reconquest of Spain. The Spanish
Christians did not succeed in driving the Muslims out of
Spain for another 400 years.
 However, El Cid victory over powerful Muslim forces,
made him a symbol of unity and heroism for Spanish
Christians.
 The Christian soldiers who waged the “reconquista” or
wars of reconquest against the Spanish Muslims, saw El
Cid as a symbol of what they were fighting for.