Of all the petty sovereignties that came into existence on the breaking up of the Ommeyad Caliphate of Cordova, that of Moctadir, the chief of the Ben-i-hud of Saragossa, was the most powerful in Northern or Central Spain; and at the Moslem court of Saragossa, Ruy Diaz, with his fame and his followers, was warmly welcomed (1081) by Moctadir as a Said or Cid--a lord or leader of the Arabs. He had been driven out of Castile by Alfonso. He found a home and honorable command at Saragossa. So long as he could make war upon his neighbors, all countries were alike to Roderic of Bivar. Nor was it long before his prowess brought honor and profit to Moctadir, or, rather, to his son and successor, Motamin. Ramon Berenguer III., count of Barcelona, was engaged, like other Christian princes of his time, in chronic warfare with his Moslem neighbors; and Motamin, with his Castilian Cid, marching against the Catalans, defeated the Christians with great slaughter at Almenara, near Lerida, and brought Ramon Berenguer a prisoner to Saragossa (1081), where the victorious Cid was loaded with presents by the grateful Motamin, and invested with an authority in the kingdom subordinate only to that of the king himself. Two years later (1083) an expedition was undertaken by the Moslems, under Roderic, against their Christian neighbors in Aragon. King Sancho Ramirez was completely defeated by the Castilian champion, who returned once more to Saragossa loaded with booty and renown. In 1084 the Cid seems to have paid a friendly visit to the court of Alfonso VI. But although he was apparently well received, he suspected treachery, and, returning to the court of the Moslem, once more took service under the delighted Motamin. His next campaign, undertaken in the following year, was not against any Christian power, but against the hostile Moslems of northern Valencia, and was crowned with the usual success. Motamin died in 1085, but the Cid remained in the service of his son and successor, Mostain, fighting against Christian and Moslem as occasion offered, partly for the King of Saragossa, but chiefly for the personal advantage of Ruy Diaz of Bivar. A stranger national hero it is hard to imagine! Nor were his subsequent proceedings in any degree less strange.