Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 5: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
History
Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 5: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
Biography
Yet, aware of the Cid's value, Alfonso seems to have concealed his
resentment for some time, and even endeavored to win the affection of
his great subject by allying him in marriage with one of the royal
family. Rodrigo's wife was now dead, and he consented to marry the
princess proposed to him, whose name was also Ximena. The marriage took
place in 1074. It had not the effect, however, of uniting the king and
the Cid. After having achieved a brilliant success over the Arabs of
Granada, who were at war with two other Moslem states in alliance with
Castile, and having signalized his humanity by releasing all his
prisoners, the great Campeador was disgraced and banished by his
ungrateful master. At the court of the Emir of Saragossa the exile found
a ready welcome, and was appointed to a high post in the government of
the kingdom. He did not bear arms against his own sovereign, but headed
the Arabs in several battles with the Christians of Aragon and other
states. The invasion of a Moorish host in Spain, under the eminent
Caliph Jusef Ben Taxfin, chief of the Almoravides and conqueror of
Morocco; the rapid subjugation of the independent Emirs, and the defeat
of Alfonso's army at the battle of Zalaka, in 1087, recalled the
Castilians to a sense of Rodrigo's worth. He was invited to return by
Alfonso, and with great generosity consented, bringing with him a large
body of men raised by his own exertion and cost. For two years he made
his name terrible to the Moors, as the great Christian champion.
But even this fame was not sufficient to secure his influence at court,
and about the year 1090 he was once more banished, and his estates were
seized. He appears from this time to have commenced a life of
adventurous and independent warfare with the Moors. He besieged Alcocer,
a strong Moorish fortress on the borders of Aragon, and finally took it.
With a band of determined warriors of his own stamp he ravaged,
consumed, and spoiled all the Moslem territories which he invaded,
making a castle on a rock in Ternel his chief stronghold, and thence
sallying out in forays. The place has been ever since called the Rock of
the Cid.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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