Walking Holidays in Andalucia
Books
The World of El Cid: Chronicles of the
Spanish Reconquest (Manchester Medieval Studies) Simon Barton
(Translator), Richard Fletcher (Translator)
“El Cid (Rodrigo, or
Ruy, Diaz, Count of Bivar) - The great popular hero of the
chivalrous age of Spain, born at Burgos 1040 AD and died at
Valencia 1099 AD. He was given the title of seid or cid (lord,
chief) by the Moors and that of campeador (champion) by his
admiring countrymen.
Tradition and legend have cast a deep shadow over the
history of this brave knight, to such an extent that his very
existence has been questioned; there is however, no reason to
doubt his existence. We must, at the same time regard him as a
dual personality, and distinguish between the historical Cid and
the legendary Cid. History paints him as a free booter, an
unprincipled adventurer, who battled with equal vigour against
Christians and Moors; who, to further his own ends, would as soon
destroy a Christian church as a Moslem temple; who plundered and
slew as much for his own gain as from any patriotic motives. It
must be born in mind, however that the facts which discredit him
have reached us through hostile Arab historians, and that to do
him full justice he should be judged according to the standard of
his country in his day. Vastly different indeed is the Cid of
romance, legend, and ballad, wherein he is pictured as the tender,
loving husband and father; the gentle courageous soldier; the
noble, generous conqueror, unswervingly loyal to his country and
his king; the man whose name has been an ever-present inspiration
to Spanish patriotism. But whatever may have been the real
adventures of El Cid Campeador, his name has come down to us in
modern times in connection with a long series of heroic
achievements in which he stands out as the central figure of the
long struggle of Christian Spain against the Moslem hosts.”
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: El Cid |
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This book makes available, for the first
time in English translation, four of the principal narrative
sources for the history of the Spanish kingdom of Leon-Castile
during the 11th and 12th centuries. The four chronicles were all
composed in an unprecedented surge of Spanish historical writing
between 1110 AD and 1150 AD. Three of them focus primarily upon
the activities of the kings of Leon-Castile as leaders of the
Reconquest of Spain from the forces of Islam, and especially upon
Fernando I (1037-65), his son Alfonso VI (1065-1109) and the
latter's grandson Alfonso VII (1126-57). The fourth chronicle is a
biography of the hero Rodrigo Diaz, better remembered as El Cid,
and is the main source of information about his extraordinary
career as a mercenary soldier who fought for Christians and
Muslims alike. |
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Four principal narrative sources for the
history of the Spanish kingdom of Leon-Castile during the 11th and
12th centuries are presented here in English. The four chronicles
were all composed in an unprecedented surge of Spanish historical
writing between 1110 AD and 1150 AD. Three of them focus primarily
upon the activities of the kings of Leon-Castile as leaders of the
Reconquest of Spain from the forces of Islam, and especially upon
Fernando I (1037-65), his son Alfonso VI (1065-1109) and the
latter's grandson Alfonso VII (1126-57). The fourth chronicle is a
biography of the hero Rodrigo Diaz, better remembered as El Cid,
and is the main source of information about his extraordinary
career as a mercenary soldier who fought for Christian and Muslim
alike. A general introduction to the volume sketches the
historical background, and then each text is prefaced by its own
introduction and accompanied by explanatory notes. |
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