The Epic of the Cid

This chronicle, regarded by some scholars as perhaps older and more representative of the Alphonsine school than the First General Chronicle, has long been noted for its reliance on a version of The Epic of the Cid very similar to the one we know. A number of editors have used it to fill in the gaps represented by The Epic manuscript’s missing folios.

This selection tells of events occurring just before the opening of The Epic as we know it, events possibly referred to in the manuscript’s missing first folio.²²

Concerning how the Cid vanquished King Almudafar of Granada, along with the great lords of Castile who were Almudafar’s allies, when he, the Cid, went to collect tribute payments from the king of Seville.

Four years into the reign of King Alfonso, the king sent Ruy Díaz, the Cid, to collect the tribute monies payable each year by the kings of Cordoba and Seville. Al-Mutamid, king of Seville, was at that time the great enemy of the king of Granada. The two kings hated each other mortally….

… and all these Christian lords, along with their respective followers, joined their forces with those of Almudafar in attacking al-Mutamid of Seville. Ruy Díaz, the Cid, when he learned that they were about to attack the king of Seville, the vassal and tributary of King Alfonso, his lord, was much vexed, considering that they were entirely in the wrong. He sent letters to all of them, entreating them to desist from their attack on the king of Seville, and beseeching them to refrain from laying waste to his lands, out of consideration for their obligations toward King Alfonso. For should they attempt any other action, they should be assured that the king would have no choice but to come to the aid of his tributary.

The king of Granada and his allies the great lords, scornfully disregarding the Cid’s letters, invaded the Sevillan king’s realm with all their forces, ravaging his country as far as the castle of Cabra. When the Cid Ruy Díaz saw what they were doing, he gathered together all the forces he could, both Christian and Moorish, and went against the king of Granada, determined to expel him from the king of Seville’s territory. And when the king of Granada, along with his Christian allies, heard that the Cid was coming against them in this way, he sent to inform the Cid that they were not about to turn back and leave the country on his account.

The Cid Ruy Díaz, when he heard this reply, felt that he had no choice but to attack them immediately. He accordingly set out and went against them on the battlefield. The encounter lasted from the third hour of the day until noon, with a great many fatalities, both Moorish and Christian, on the side of the king of Granada. As the Cid routed them and chased them from the field, he captured Count García Ordóñez, yanking out a tuft of this great lord’s beard. He also captured Lope Sánchez, Diego Pérez, and many other knights, along with countless others, holding them prisoner for three days and afterward releasing them.

While he held them prisoner, he ordered his men to gather up all the captured goods and plunder remaining on the battlefield. After this, the Cid returned, with all his captured loot and all his men, to King al-Mutamid of Seville, handing over to them all the spoils they considered to be rightfully theirs, and even anything of the rest that they might wish to take. From that moment on, both Moors and Christians called Ruy Díaz of Vivar “The Cid Campeador,” which means “The Battler.”

Al-Mutamid then gave him many gifts, along with King Alfonso’s tribute payments for which the Cid had come. The pact between King Alfonso and King al-Mutamid was then reaffirmed, and the Cid returned with all the tribute monies due to his lord, King Alfonso. And the king welcomed him back and was much pleased with him, and very content with all the Cid had accomplished in the south.

For this reason, many there were who begrudged him his success. Seeking to do him any harm they could, they were determined to estrange him from the king.

As the Cid had returned to King Alfonso, the king had already gathered together a great host in order to carry out a raiding expedition into Moorish territory…. the Cid wanted to go with the king but fell gravely ill and could not go with his lord. The king then left the Cid in charge of the country.

King Alfonso led his forces into Moorish country, ravaging much of their territory and causing them considerable damage. As the king was busy there in Al-Andalus, accomplishing what he had set out to do, a great force of Moors came together between where he was and his homeland back in Castile. Entering into his kingdom, they surrounded and laid siege to the castle of Gormaz, attacking it with everything they had, while ravaging the countryside all around.

While all this was going on, the Cid was recovering. When he heard about what the Moors were doing in the country around San Esteban, he gathered together all the forces available and headed into Moorish territory, raiding and laying waste all the country around Toledo, and capturing some seven thousand Moors, both men and women. After that he returned to Castile, a wealthy man crowned with glory and in possession of great plunder.

When King Alfonso heard about this, he was very sore at heart. Seeing the king’s distress, the great lords in his company, exceedingly envious of the Cid’s accomplishments, spoke ill of him and sought to poison the king’s mind against him.

“Lord, the Cid Ruy Díaz, who has broken the peace that you have established and confirmed with the Moors, did what he has done only to make sure that the Moors kill us all.”

The king, full of anger and harboring wrath against the Cid, readily believed them, the more so for the oath the Cid had exacted from him in Burgos, on the matter of his brother King Sancho’s death….

He then sent letters to the Cid, ordering him to be gone from the land. The Cid, as soon as he had read these letters, despite being much distressed at these developments, decided to comply without delay, for he had no more than nine days in which to leave the kingdom….

22. Crónica de veinte reyes (Burgos: Excelentísimo Ayuntamiento de Burgos, 1991).