The Magic of SpainBell, Aubrey F. G. (Aubrey Fitz Gerald)
History
The Magic of Spain
Bell, Aubrey F. G. (Aubrey Fitz Gerald)
Spain -- Description and travel; Spanish literature -- History and criticism
To obtain money the Cid fills two chests with sand, and on these
“covered with red leather, and studded with nails well-gilt,” he obtains
six hundred marks from the Jews Rachel and Vidas. They are not to open
the chests for a year. On the wall in the cloister of the Cathedral at
Burgos still hangs an ancient chest known as the _Cofre del Cid_. Thus
furnished, the Cid leaves Castille, and he prays solemnly to God and the
glorious Saint Mary, “for here I leave Castille, since the King is wrath
with me, and I know not if in all my days I shall enter it again.” He
takes leave of his wife and children at the Convent of San Pedro de
Cardeña, and, after early Mass said by the Abbot Don Sancho, departs,
wistfully turning his head to look back. Doña Jimena, his wife, prays
for his safety to the “glorious Lord the Father, who madest Heaven and
Earth, and thirdly, the sea, who madest stars and moon and the sun to
give heat.” Already men were flocking to the Cid’s banner, and his first
exploit is the capture of the town of Castejon. He lies in ambush before
it: “The dawn is breaking, and morning was at hand. The sun went forth,
Heavens! how beautiful it rose. In Castejon all were awaking. They open
the gates, and quickly went forth to see their work in the fields and
their possessions.” When they were all gone forth, the Cid took the
town. The next town, Alcocer, he also captures by a wile. “The news
grieves those of Teca, the men of Teruel it does not please; it pleases
not the men of Calatayud.” A host of Moors besieges the Cid in Alcocer,
and after three weeks, the provisions failing, he goes forth and gains a
great victory. At the sound of the drums of the Moorish host “the earth
was like to crack.” He pursues the enemy to the walls of Calatayud.
_Fata Calatayuth duró el segudar._ He sends Alvar Fáñez to _Castiella la
gentil_ with a present of thirty horses for King Alfonso and money for
Doña Jimena, and for a thousand masses at Santa María de Burgos.
Zaragoza agrees to pay tribute to the Cid. Don Remont Berenger, Count of
Barcelona, goes out against him, and persists in coming to an
engagement, though the Cid sends him a message: “I have nothing of his,
bid him let me go in peace.” The result is a crushing defeat of the
“army of the Franks,” and the Count is taken prisoner. The account of
his captivity is entertaining. The Count refuses all food: “‘I will not
eat a mouthful for all there is in Spain. I will rather die (lit. lose
my body and leave my soul) since such ill-equipped men have beaten me in
battle.’ You will hear what said my Cid Ruy Diaz: ‘Eat, Count, of this
bread and drink this wine; if you do as I say you shall be free, if not
in all your days you shall not see Christian land.’” The Count eats
nothing for three days: “They dividing these great spoils cannot make
him eat a piece of bread.” Then the Cid renews his promise to give him
liberty: “But of what you have lost and I won in the field know that I
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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