Spain and Her Colonies, Compiled from the Best Authorities — John Shaqi
Spain and Her Colonies, Compiled from the Best Authorities
History
Spain and Her Colonies, Compiled from the Best Authorities
Spain -- History
If the Cid was a hero of romance, he did not wield his sword without the
most magnificent remuneration. At this period of his career (1089-92),
in addition to the eighty thousand golden pieces received from Ramon
Berenguer, he is said to have drawn fifty thousand from the son of
Mondhir, one hundred and twenty thousand from Cadir of Valencia, ten
thousand from Albarracin, ten thousand from Alpuente, six thousand from
Murviedro, six thousand from Segorbe, four thousand from Jerica, and
three thousand from Almenara.
With such an amount of personal tribute, the Cid cannot, says Lafuente,
have been greatly inconvenienced by the action of Alfonso VI. in
despoiling him of his estates. Supporting his army of seven thousand
chosen followers on the rich booty acquired in his daily forays upon
Eastern Spain, from Saragossa to Alicante; regardless of Christian
rights, but the special scourge of the Moslems; no longer a Saragossan
general, but a private adventurer, the Cid could afford to quarrel at
once with Mostain and with Alfonso, and to defy the combined forces of
Mondhir and Ramon Berenguer.
The rivalry between the Cid and the Catalan was ever fierce in Eastern
Spain. The opposing armies met at Tebar del Pinar in 1090, and although
the Cid was wounded in the battle, his army was completely successful.
Mondhir fled from the field; and Ramon Berenguer was once more a
prisoner in the hands of Roderic. Nor was the Christian count released
from a confinement more harsh than was generous or necessary until he
had given good security for the payment of the enormous ransom of eighty
thousand marks of gold.
It is not easy, nor would it be fruitful, to follow the various
movements of the Cid at this period of his career. His quarrels and his
intrigues with Alfonso of Castile, with Cadir of Valencia, with the
various parties at the court of Saragossa, with Ramon Berenguer at
Barcelona, and even with the Genoese and Pisans, are neither easy nor
interesting to follow. But his principal objective was the rich city of
Valencia. Alfonso of Leon, ever jealous of his great and most
independent subject, resolved to thwart him in his design; and having
secured the co-operation of the Pisans and Genoese, who had arrived with
a fleet of four hundred vessels to assist the Cid, the king took
advantage of the absence of his rival on some foray to the north of
Saragossa to advance upon Valencia, and to push forward his operations
to the very walls of the city. Ruy Diaz riposted after his fashion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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