THE 
 
 SPANISH BALLADS. 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 J. G. LOG KH ART, LL.B. 
 
 CHRONICLE OF THE CID. 
 
 BY 
 
 ROBERT SOUTHEY. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO..
 
 
 
 
 Press of J. J. Arakelyan, 
 148 &. 150 Pearl St., Boston, Mass.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 LOCKHART'S translations of the Spanish Ballads appeared 
 originally in Black-wood's Magazine, and were published in a 
 separate form in 1822, from which edition this volume has 
 been printed. It contains two or three more Ballads than the 
 later edition. Lockhart appropriately appended some of them, 
 the same year, to his edition of Motteux's " Don Quixote." 
 
 The Publishers, in uniting with them Southey's fine trans- 
 lation of the "Chronicle of the Cid," believe that they are 
 adding to the value and interest of these charming Ballads by 
 presenting at the same time a perfect picture of the Spanish 
 mind at the most striking and interesting period of the na- 
 tional history. 
 
 John Gibson Lockhart, the son of a minister of the Kirk of 
 Scotland, was born 1794, and died 1854. He married the 
 eldest daughter of Sir Walter Scott. From 1826 to 1853 he 
 was the editor of the Quarterly Review. He was the author 
 of several novels and tales, "Valerius," "Reginald Dalton," 
 <zc., and of a very interesting " Life of Sir Walter Scott " ; but 
 he will probably be best known to posterity as the translator 
 of the Spanish Ballads, to which his genius has given the spirit 
 and life of an original work. 
 
 Southey, whose translation is here united with his, was a 
 contemporary poet with him, though some twenty years older, 
 
 2010055
 
 4 PREFACE. 
 
 having been born in 1774. He was a voluminous writer 
 poet, historian, essayist, and biographer, and one of the best 
 read men of the age. He married Caroline Bowles, the poet- 
 ess, as his second wife ; and died, after a life of unwearied 
 literary toil, in 1843. He was Poet Laureate, and Sir Robert 
 Peel offered him a baronetcy, which he declined. 

 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 MGB 
 
 INTRODUCTION g 
 
 HISTORICAL BALLADS. 
 
 THE LAMENTATION OF DON RODERICK 21 
 
 THE PENITENCE OF DON RODERICK 24 
 
 THE MARCH OF BERNARDO DEL CARPIO 38 
 
 THE COMPLAINT OF THE COUNT OF SALDENHA 31 
 
 THE FUNERAL OF THE COUNT OF SALDENHA 33 
 
 BERNARDO AND ALPHONSO 35 
 
 THE MAIDEN TRIBUTE 38 
 
 THE ESCAPE OF COUNT FERNAN GONSALEZ 41 
 
 THE SEVEN HEADS 45 
 
 THE VENGEANCE OF MUDARRA 51 
 
 THE WEDDING OF THE LADY THERESA 53 
 
 THE YOUNG CID : 56 
 
 XlMENA DEMANDS VENGEANCE 58 
 
 THE Cm AND THE FIVE MOORISH KINGS 60 
 
 THE CID'S COURTSHIP 62 
 
 THE CID'S WEDDING 64 
 
 THE CID AND THE LEPER 66 
 
 BAVIECA 69 
 
 THE EXCOMMUNICATION OF THE CID 71 
 
 GARCI PEREZ DE VARGAS 73 
 
 THE POUNDER 77 
 
 THE MURDER OF THE MASTER OF ST. IAGO 79 
 
 THE DEATH OF QUEEN BLANCHE 84 
 
 THE DEATH OF DON PEDRO 87 
 
 THE PROCLAMATION OF KING HENRY 91 
 
 THE LORD OF BUTRAGO 97 
 
 THE KING OF ARRAGON 99 
 
 THE Vow OF THE MOOR REDUAN 101
 
 6 CONTENTS. 
 
 FACE 
 
 THE FLIGHT FROM GRANADA 104 
 
 THE DEATH OF DON ALONZO OF AGUILAR 106 
 
 THE DEPARTURE OF KING SEBASTIAN . . . . 1 10 
 
 MOORISH BALLADS. 
 
 THE BULL-FIGHT OF GAZUL 112 
 
 THE ZEGRI'S BRIDE 116 
 
 THE BRIDAL OF ANDALLA 1 18 
 
 ZARA'S EAR-RINGS 120 
 
 THE LAMENTATION FOR THE DEATH OF CELIN 122 
 
 ROMANTIC BALLADS. 
 
 THE MOOR CALAYNOS 124 
 
 THE ESCAPE OF GAYFEROS 130 
 
 MELISENDRA 133 
 
 LADY ALDA'S DREAM 137 
 
 THE ADMIRAL GUARINOS 139 
 
 THE LADY OF THE TREE 145 
 
 THE FALSE QUEEN 147 
 
 THE AVENGING CHILDE 148 
 
 COUNT ARNALDOS ". 150 
 
 SONG FOR THE MORNING OF THE DAY OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST 152 
 
 JULIANA 155 
 
 THE SONG OF THE GALLEY 156 
 
 THE WANDERING KNIGHT'S SONG 158 
 
 MINGUILLO 159 
 
 SERENADE 160 
 
 MINGUELA'S CHIDING 161 
 
 THE CAPTIVE KNIGHT AND THE BLACKBIRD 164 
 
 VALLADOLID 166 
 
 THE ILL-MARRIED LADY 167 
 
 DRAGUT 169 
 
 COUNT ALARCOS AND THE INFANTA SOLISA 171
 
 ANCIENT SPANISH BALLADS.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE intention of this Publication is to furnish the English reader 
 with some notion of that old Spanish minstrelsy, which has been 
 preserved in the different Cancioneros and Romanceros of the six- 
 teenth century. 
 
 That great mass of popular poetry has never yet received in its 
 own country the attention to which it is entitled. While hundreds 
 of volumes have been written about authors who were, at the best, 
 ingenious imitators of classical or Italian models, not one, of the 
 least critical merit, has been bestowed upon those older and simpler 
 poets who were contented with the native inspirations of Castilian 
 pride. No Spanish Percy, or Ellis, or Ritson, has arisen to perform 
 what no one but a Spaniard can entertain the smallest hope of 
 achieving. 
 
 Mr. Bouterwek, in his excellent History of Spanish Literature, 
 complained that no attempt had ever been made even to arrange 
 the old Spanish ballads in anything like chronological order. An 
 ingenious countryman of his own, Mr. Depping. has since, in some 
 measure, supplied this defect. He has arranged the historical bal- 
 lads according to the chronology of the persons and events which 
 they celebrate for even this obvious matter had not been attended 
 to by the original Spanish collectors but he has modestly and 
 judiciously refrained from attempting the chronological arrangement 
 of them as compositions ; feeling, of course, that no person can ever 
 acquire such a delicate knowledge of a language not his own, as 
 might enable him to distinguish, with accuracy, between the differ- 
 ent shades of antiquity or even perhaps to draw, with certainty 
 and precision, the broader line between that which is of genuine 
 antiquity, and that which is mere modern imitation. By far the 
 greater part of the following translations is from pieces which the 
 reader may find in Mr. Depping's Collection, published at Leipzig 
 in 1817. 
 
 It is therefore, in the present state of things, quite impossible to 
 determine to what period the composition of the oldest Spanish
 
 10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ballads now extant ought to be referred. The first Cancionero, 
 that of Ferdinand de Castillo, was published so early as 1510. In 
 it a considerable number of the historical and of the romantic class 
 of ballads are included ; and as the title of the book itself bears 
 " Obras de todos o de los mas principales Trobadores de Espana, 
 assi antiguos como modernos" it is clear that at least a certain num- 
 ber of these pieces were considered as entitled to the appellation 
 of "ancient" in the year 1510. 
 
 The Cancionero de Romances, published at Antwerp in 1555, and 
 afterwards often reprinted under the name of Romancero, was the 
 earliest collection that admitted nothing but ballads. The Roman- 
 cero Historiado of Lucas Rodriguez, appeared at Alcala in 15 79 : 
 the Collection of Lorenzo de Sepulveda, at Antwerp, in 1566. The 
 ballads of the Cid were first published in a collected form in 1615, 
 by Escobar. 
 
 But there are not wanting circumstances which would seem to 
 establish, for many of the Spanish ballads, a claim to antiquity much 
 higher than is to be inferred from any of these dates. In the oldest 
 edition of the Cancionero General, for example, there are several 
 pieces which bear the name of Don Juan Manuel. If they were 
 composed by the celebrated author of Count Lucanor (and it 
 appears very unlikely that any person of less distinguished rank 
 should have assumed that style without some addition or distinc- 
 tion), we must carry them back at least as far as the year 1362, 
 when the Prince Don Juan Manuel died. But this is not all. The 
 ballads bearing the name of that illustrious author, are so far from 
 appearing to be among the most ancient in the Cancionero that 
 even a very slight examination must be sufficient to establish exactly 
 the reverse. The regularity and completeness of their rhymes alone 
 are in fact quite enough to satisfy any one who is acquainted with 
 the usual style of the redondillas, that the ballads of Don Juan 
 Manuel are among the most modern in the whole collection. 1 
 
 But indeed, whatever may be the age of the ballads now extant, 
 that the Spaniards had ballads of the same general character, and 
 on the same subjects, at a very early period of their national his- 
 
 1 A single stanza of one of them will be enough : 
 
 Gritando va el caballero publicando su gran mal, 
 Vestidas ropas de luto, aforradas en sayal ; 
 Por las monies sin caminp con dolor y suspirar, 
 Llorando a pie descalc,o, jurando de no tornar, &c. 
 
 Compare this with such a ballad as 
 
 No te espantes, caballero, ni tengas tamana grima 
 Hija soy del buen Rey y de la Reyna de Castilla, &c.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 tory, is quite certain. In the General Chronicle of Spain, which 
 was compiled in the thirteenth century, at the command of Alphonso 
 the Wise, allusions are perpetually made to the popular songs of the 
 minstrels, or Joglares. Now, it is evident that the phraseology of 
 compositions handed down orally from one generation to another, 
 must have undergone, in the course of time, a great many altera- 
 tions ; yet, in point of fact, the language of by far the greater part 
 of the Historical Ballads in the Romancero, does appear to carry 
 the stamp of an antiquity quite as remote as that used by the com- 
 pilers of the General Chronicle themselves. Nay, some of those 
 very expressions from which Mr. Southey would seem to infer that 
 the CHRONICLE OF THE Cm is a more ancient composition than 
 the GENERAL CHRONICLE OF SPAIN (which last was written before 
 1384), are quite of common occurrence in these same ballads, 
 which Mr. Southey considers as of comparatively modern origin. 
 
 All this, however, is a controversy in which few English readers 
 can be expected to take much interest. And, besides, even grant- 
 ing that the Spanish ballads were composed but a short time before 
 the first Cancioneros were published, it would still be certain that 
 they form by far the oldest, as well as largest, collection of popular 
 poetry, properly so called, that is to be found in the literature of 
 any European nation whatever. Had there been published in Lon- 
 don in the reign of our Henry VIII., a vast collection of English 
 ballads about the wars of the Plantagenets, what illustration and 
 annotation would not that collection have received long ere now ! 
 
 How the old Spaniards should have come to be so much more 
 wealthy in this sort of possession than any of their neighbours, it is 
 not very easy to say. They had their taste for warlike song in 
 common with all the other members of the great Gothic family, 
 and they had a fine climate, affording, of course, more leisure for 
 amusement than could have been enjoyed beneath the rougher sky 
 of the north. The flexibility of their beautiful language, and the 
 extreme simplicity of the versification adopted in their ballads, 
 must, no doubt, have lightened the labour, and may have conse- 
 quently increased the number of their professional minstrels. 
 
 To tell some well-known story of love or heroism, in stanzas of 
 four octosyllabic lines, the second and the fourth terminating in 
 the same rhyme, or in what the musical accompaniment could 
 make to have some appearance of being the same this was all that 
 the art of the Spanish coplero, in its most perfect state, ever aspired 
 to : but a line of seven or of six syllables, was admitted whenever 
 that suited the maker better than one of eight ; the stanza itself
 
 It INTRODUCTION. 
 
 varied from four to six lines, with equal ease ; and, as for the mat- 
 ter of rhyme, it was quite sufficient that the two corresponding 
 syllables contained the same vowel. 1 In a language less abundant 
 in harmonious vocables, such laxity could scarcely have satisfied 
 the ear. But the Spanish is, like the sister Italian, music in itself, 
 though music of a bolder character. 
 
 I have spoken of the structure of the rcdondillas, as Spanish 
 writers generally speak of it, when I have said that the stanzas con- 
 sist of four lines. But the distinguished German antiquarian, Mr. 
 Grimm, who has published a little sylva of Spanish ballads, ex- 
 presses his opinion that the stanza was composed in reality of two 
 long lines, and that these had subsequently been cut into four, ex- 
 actly as we know to have been the case in regard to our own old 
 English ballad-stanza. Mr. Grimm, in his small, but very elegant 
 collection, prints the Spanish verses in what he thus supposes to 
 have been their original shape ; and I have followed his example 
 in the form of the stanza which I have for the most part used in 
 my translations, as well as in quoting occasionally from the originals. 
 
 So far as I have been able, I have followed Mr. Depping in the 
 classification of the specimens which follow. 
 
 The reader will find placed together at the beginning those bal- 
 lads which treat of persons and events known in the authentic his- 
 tory of Spain. A few concerning the unfortunate Don Roderick, 
 and the Moorish conquest of the eighth century, form the com- 
 mencement ; and the series is carried down, though of course with 
 wide gaps and intervals, yet so as to furnish something like a con- 
 nected sketch of the gradual progress of the Christian arms, until 
 the surrender of Granada, in the year 1492, and the consequent 
 flight of the last Moorish Sovereign from the Peninsula. 
 
 Throughout that very extensive body of historical ballads from 
 which these specimens have been selected, there prevails an uni- 
 formly high tone of sentiment such as might have been expected 
 to distinguish the popular poetry of a nation proud, haughty, free, 
 
 1 For example: 
 
 Y arrastrando luengos lutos 
 Entraron McyMafidalgos 
 Escuderos de Ximena 
 Hija del conde Lor t ano. 
 
 Or. 
 
 A Don Alvaro de Luna 
 Condestable de Casiilla 
 El rey Don Juan el Segundo 
 Con ma) semblante lo mira, ftc. 
 
 But indeed even this might be dispensed with.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 and engaged in continual warfare against enemies of different faith 
 and manners, but not less proud and not less warlike than them- 
 selves. Those petty disputes and dissensions which so long divided 
 the Christian princes, and consequently favoured and maintained 
 the power of the formidable enemy whom they all equally hated 
 those struggles between prince and nobility, which were productive 
 of similar effects after the crowns of Leon and Castile had been 
 united those domestic tragedies which so often stained the 
 character and weakened the arms of the Spanish kings in a word, 
 all the principal features of the old Spanish history may be found, 
 more or less distinctly shadowed forth, among the productions of 
 these faithful and unflattering minstrels. 
 
 Of the language of Spain, as it existed under the reign of the 
 Visigoth kings, we possess no monuments. The laws and the 
 chronicles of the period were equally written in Latin and 
 although both, in all probability, must have been frequently ren- 
 dered into more vulgar dialects, for the use of those whose business 
 it was to understand them, no traces of any such versions have 
 survived the many storms and struggles of religious and political 
 dissension, of which this interesting region has since been made 
 the scene. To what precise extent, therefore, the language and 
 literature of the Peninsula felt the influence of that great revolution 
 which subjected the far greater part of her territory to the sway of 
 a Mussulman sceptre and how much or how little of what we at 
 this hour admire or condemn in the poetry of Portugal, Arragon, 
 Castile, is really not of Spanish but of Moorish origin these are 
 matters which have divided all the great writers of literary history, 
 and which we, in truth, have little chance of ever seeing accurately 
 or completely decided. No one, however, who considers of what 
 elements the Christian population of Spain was originally com- 
 posed, and in what shapes the mind of nations, every way kindred 
 to that population, was expressed during the middle ages, can 
 have any doubt that great and remarkable influence was exerted 
 over Spanish thought and feeling and, therefore, over Spanish 
 language and poetry by the influx of those Oriental tribes that 
 occupied, for seven long centuries, the fairest provinces of the 
 Peninsula. 
 
 Spain, although of all the provinces which owned the authority 
 of the Caliphs she was the most remote from the seat of their 
 empire, appears to have been the very first in point of cultivation ; 
 her governors having, for at least two centuries, emulated one 
 another in affording every species of encouragement and protection
 
 14 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 to all those liberal arts and sciences which first flourished at Bag- 
 dad under the sway of Haroon Al-Raschid, and his less celebrated, 
 but, perhaps, still more enlightened son Al-Mamoun. Beneath 
 the wise and munificent patronage of these rulers, the cities of 
 Spain, within three hundred years after the defeat of King Rod- 
 erick, had been everywhere penetrated with a spirit of elegance, 
 tastefulness, and philosophy, which afforded the strongest of all 
 possible contrasts to the contemporary condition of the other king- 
 doms of Europe. At Cordova, Granada, Seville, and many now 
 less considerable towns, colleges and libraries had been founded 
 and endowed in the most splendid manner where the most 
 exact and the most elegant of sciences were cultivated together 
 with equal zeal. Averroes translated and expounded Aristotle at 
 Cordova; Ben-Zaid and Aboul-Mander wrote histories of their 
 nation at Valencia ; Abdel-Maluk set the first example of that 
 most interesting and useful species of writing, by which Moreri 1 
 and others have since rendered services so important to ourselves ; 
 and even an Arabian Encyclopaedia was compiled under the direc- 
 tion of Mohammed-Aba-Abdallah at Granada. Ibn-el-Beither 
 went forth from Malaga to search through all the mountains and 
 plains of Europe for everything that might enable him to perfect 
 his favourite sciences of botany and lithology, and his works still 
 remain to excite the admiration of all that are in a condition to 
 comprehend their value. The Jew of Tudela was the worthy suc- 
 cessor of Galen and Hippocrates : while chemistry, and other 
 branches of medical science, almost unknown to the ancients, 
 received their first astonishing developments from Al-Rasi and 
 Avicenna. Rhetoric and poetry were not less diligently studied ; 
 and, in a word, it would be difficult to point out, in the whole his- 
 tory of the world, a time or a country where the activity of the 
 human intellect was more extensively, or usefully, or gracefully 
 exerted, than in Spain, while the Mussulman sceptre yet retained 
 any portion of that vigour which it had originally received from 
 the conduct and heroism of Tarifa. 
 
 Although the difference of religion prevented the Moors and 
 their Spanish subjects from ever being completely melted into one 
 people, yet it appears that nothing could, on the whole, be more 
 mild than the conduct of the Moorish government towards the 
 Christian population of the country, during this their splendid 
 
 1 Louis Moreri, a French Priest, born 1643, published the great Historical 
 Dictionary which bears his name, and which was, we are here told, preceded 
 by ft similar kind of work by this learned Moor. [Editor's note.]
 
 INTR OD UC TION. IS 
 
 period of undisturbed dominion. Their learning and their arts 
 they liberally communicated to all who desired such participation, 
 and the Christian youth studied freely and honourably at the feet 
 of Jewish physicians and Mahommedan philosophers. Commu- 
 nication of studies and acquirements, continued through such a 
 space of years, could not have failed to break down, on both sides, 
 many of the barriers of religious prejudice, and to nourish a spirit 
 of kindliness and charity among the more cultivated portions of 
 either people. The intellect of the Christian Spaniards could not 
 be ungrateful for the rich gifts it was every day receiving from their 
 misbelieving masters ; while the benevolence with which instruc- 
 tors ever regard willing disciples, must have tempered in the minds 
 of the Arabs the sentiments of haughty superiority natural to the 
 breasts of conquerors. 
 
 By degrees, however, the scattered remnants of unsubdued 
 Visigoths, who had sought and found refuge among the mountains 
 of Asturias and Gallicia, began to gather the strength of numbers 
 and of combination, and the Mussulmans saw different portions 
 of their empire successively wrested from their hands by leaders 
 whose descendants assumed the title of KINGS in Oviedo and 
 Navarre and of COUNTS in Castile Soprarbia Arragon 
 and Barcelona. From the time when these governments were 
 established, till all their strength was united in the persons of 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, a perpetual war may be said to have 
 subsisted between the professors of the two religions ; and the 
 natural jealousy of Moorish governors must have gradually, but 
 effectually, diminished the comfort of the Christians who yet 
 lived under their authority. Were we to seek our ideas of the 
 period only from the events recorded in its chronicles, we should 
 be led to believe that nothing could be more deep and fervid 
 than the spirit of mutual hostility which prevailed among all 
 the adherents of the opposite faiths : but external events are 
 sometimes not the surest guides to the spirit whether of peoples 
 or of ages, and the ancient popular poetry of Spain may be 
 referred to for proofs, which cannot be considered as either of 
 dubious or of trivial value, that the rage of hostility had not sunk 
 quite so far as might have been imagined into the minds and 
 hearts of very many that were engaged in the conflict. 
 
 There is, indeed, nothing more natural, at first sight, than to 
 reason in some measure from a nation as it is in our own day, 
 back to what it was a few centuries ago : but nothing could 
 tend to the production of greater mistakes than such a mode of
 
 15 INTR OD UC TION. 
 
 judging applied to the case of Spain. In the erect and high- 
 spirited peasantry of that country, we still see the genuine and 
 uncorrupted descendants of their manly forefathers but in 
 every other part of the population, the progress of corruption 
 appears to have been not less powerful than rapid, and the 
 higher we ascend in the scale of society, the more distinct and 
 mortifying is the spectacle of moral not less than of physical 
 deterioration. This universal falling off of men, may be traced 
 very easily to an universal falling off in regard to every point 
 of faith and feeling most essential to the formation and preser- 
 vation of a national character. We have been accustomed to 
 consider the modern Spaniards as the most bigoted and enslaved 
 and ignorant of Europeans ; but we must not forget, that the 
 Spaniards of three centuries back were, in all respects, a very 
 different set of beings. Castile, in the first regulation of her 
 constitution, was as free as any nation needs to be, for all 
 the purposes of social security and individual happiness. Her 
 kings were her captains and her judges the chiefs and the 
 models of a gallant nobility, and the protectors of a manly and 
 independent peasantry : but the authority with which they were 
 invested, was guarded by the most accurate limitations, nay 
 in case they should exceed the boundary of their legal power 
 the statute-book of the realm itself contained exact rules for the 
 conduct of a constitutional insurrection to recall them to their 
 duty, or to punish them for its desertion. Every order of society 
 had, more or less directly, its representatives in the national coun- 
 cil, and every Spaniard, of whatever degree, was penetrated with 
 a sense of his own dignity as a freeman his own nobility as a 
 descendant of the Visigoths. And it is well remarked by an ele- 
 gant historian, 1 that, even to this hour, the influence of this happy 
 order of things still continues to be felt in Spain where manners, 
 and language, and literature, have all received indelibly a stamp 
 of courts, and aristocracy, and proud feeling which affords a 
 striking contrast to what may be observed in modern Italy, where 
 the only freedom that ever existed had its origin and residence 
 among citizens and merchants. 
 
 The civil liberty of the old Spaniards could scarcely have existed 
 so long as it did, in the presence of any feeling so black and 
 noisome as the bigotry of modern Spain ; but this was never tried, 
 for down to the time of Charles V. no man has any right to say 
 
 1 Sismondi's Literature du Midi.
 
 INTROD UCTION. ] 7 
 
 that the Spaniards were a bigoted people. One of the worst feat- 
 ures of their modern bigotry their extreme and servile subjection 
 to the authority of the Pope, is entirely a-wanting in the picture 
 of their ancient spirit. In the 1 2th century, the Kings of Arragon 
 were the protectors of the Albigenses ; and their Pedro II. himself 
 died in 1213, fighting bravely against the Red Cross, for the cause 
 of tolerance. In 1268, two brothers of the King of Castile left the 
 banners of the Infidels beneath which they were serving at Tunis, 
 with 800 Castilian gentlemen, for the purpose of coming to Italy 
 and assisting the Neapolitans in their resistance to the tyranny of 
 the Pope and Charles of Anjou. In the great schism of the West, 
 as it is called (1378), Pedro IV. embraced the party which the 
 Catholic Church regards as schismatic. That feud was not allayed 
 for more than a hundred years, and Alphonso V. was well paid for 
 consenting to lay it aside ; while down to the time of Charles V., 
 the whole of the Neapolitan Princes of the House of Arragon may 
 be said to have lived in a state of open enmity against the Papal 
 See sometimes excommunicated for generations together sel- 
 dom apparently never cordially reconciled. When Ferdinand 
 the Catholic finally made his first attempt to introduce the Inquisi- 
 tion into his kingdom, almost the whole nation took up arms to 
 resist him. The Grand Inquisitor was killed, and every one of his 
 creatures was compelled to leave, for a season, the yet free soil of 
 Arragon. 
 
 But the strongest and best proof of the comparative liberality of 
 the old Spaniards is, as I have already said, to be found in their 
 Ballads. Throughout the far greater part of those compositions 
 there breathes a certain spirit of charity and humanity towards 
 those Moorish enemies with whom the combats of the national 
 heroes are represented. The Spaniards and the Moors lived to- 
 gether in their villages beneath the calmest of skies, and surrounded 
 with the most beautiful of landscapes. In spite of their adverse 
 faiths in spite of their adverse interests they had much in 
 common. Loves, and sports, and recreations nay, sometimes 
 their haughtiest recollections were in common, and even their 
 heroes were the same. Bernardo del Carpio, Fernan Gonsalez, 
 the Cid himself almost every one of the favourite heroes of the 
 Spanish nation, had, at some period or other of his life, fought 
 beneath the standard of the Crescent, and the minstrels of either 
 nation might, therefore, in regard to some instances at least, have 
 equal pride in the celebration of their prowess. The praises which 
 the Arab poets granted to them in their Mouw ache hah, or girdle
 
 18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 verses, were repaid by liberal encomiums on Moorish valour and 
 generosity in Castilian and Arragonese Redondilleras. Even in 
 the ballads most exclusively devoted to the celebration of feats of 
 Spanish heroism, it is quite common to find some redeeming com- 
 pliment to the Moors mixed with the strain of exultation. Nay, 
 even in the more remote and ideal chivalries celebrated in the 
 Castilian Ballads, the parts of glory and greatness are almost as 
 frequently attributed to Moors as to Christians ; Calaynos was a 
 name as familiar as Gayferos. At somewhat a later period, when 
 the conquest of Granada had mingled the Spaniards still more 
 effectually with the persons and manners of the Moors, we find the 
 Spanish poets still fonder of celebrating the heroic achievements 
 of their old Saracen rivals ; and, without doubt, this their liberality 
 towards the " Knights of Granada, Gentlemen, albeit Moors," 
 
 Caballeros Granadinos 
 Aunque Moros hijos d'algo, 
 
 must have been very gratifying to the former subjects of " The 
 Baby King." It must have counteracted the bigotry of Confessors 
 and Mollahs, and tended to inspire both nations with sentiments 
 of kindness and mutual esteem. 
 
 Bernard del Carpio, above all the rest, was the common prop- 
 erty and pride of both people. Of his all romantic life, the most 
 romantic incidents belonged equally to both. It was with Moors 
 that he allied himself when he rose up to demand vengeance from 
 King Alphonso for the murder of his father. It was with Moorish 
 brethren in arms that he marched to fight against the Prankish 
 army for the independence of the Spanish soil. It was in front of 
 a half-Leonese, half- Moorish host, that Bernard couched his lance, 
 victorious alike over valour and magic, 
 
 When Rowland brave and Olivier, 
 And every Paladin and Peer 
 On Roncesvalles died. 
 
 A few ballads, unquestionably of Moorish origin, and apparently 
 rather of the romantic than of the historical class, are given in a 
 section by themselves. The originals are valuable, as monuments 
 of the manners and customs of a most singular race. 
 
 Composed originally by a Moor or a Spaniard (it is often very 
 difficult to determine by which of the two), they were sung in the 
 village greens of Andalusia in either language, but to the same 
 tunes, and listened to with equal pleasure by man, woman, and
 
 INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 child Mussulman and Christian. In these strains, whatever other 
 merits or demerits they may possess, we are, at least, presented 
 with a lively picture of the life of the Arabian Spaniard. We see 
 him as he was in reality, " like steel among weapons, like wax among 
 women," 
 
 Fuerte qual azero entre armas, 
 
 Y qual cera entre las clamas. 
 
 There came, indeed, a time, when the fondness of the Spaniards 
 for their Moorish Ballads was made matter of reproach but 
 this was not till long after the period when Spanish bravery had 
 won back the last fragments of the Peninsula from Moorish hands. 
 It was thus that a Spanish poet of the after day expressed himself : 
 
 Vayase con Dios Gazul ! l 
 Lleve el diablo a Celindaxa? 
 Y buelvan estas marlotas 
 A quien se las dio presladas. 
 
 Que quiere Dofia Maria 
 Ver baylar a Dofia Juana, 
 Una gallarda espanola, 
 Que no ay danca mas gallarda : 
 
 Y Don Pedro y Don Rodrigo 
 Vestir otras mas galanas 
 Ver quien son estos danzantes 
 Y conocer estas damas. 
 
 Y el sefior Alcayde quiere 
 Saber quien es Abenamar. 
 Estos Zegris y Aliatares 
 Adulces, Zaydes, y Andallas 
 
 Y de que repartimiento 
 Son Celinda y Guadalara, 
 Estos Moros y Estas Moras 
 Que en todas las bodas danzan. 
 
 Y por hablarlo mas claro 
 Assi tenguan buena pascua, 
 Ha venido a su noticia 
 Que ay Christianos en Espafia. 
 
 But these sarcasms were not without their answer; for, says 
 another poem in the Romancero General, 
 
 1 In the original edition this name was printed Ganzul. We have changed 
 it to Gazul, as a needful correction.
 
 20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Si es espafiol Don Rodrigo 
 EspaGol fue el fuerte Andalla. 
 Y sepa el sefior Alcayde 
 Que tambien lo es Guadalara. 
 
 But the best argument follows : 
 
 No es culpa si de los Moros 
 Les valientes hechos cantan, 
 Pues tanto mas resplendecen 
 Neustras celebras hazafias. 
 
 The greater part of the Moorish Ballads refer to the period im- 
 mediately preceding the downfall of the throne of Granada the 
 amours of that splendid Court the bull-feasts and other spectacles 
 in which its Lords and Ladies delighted no less than those of the 
 Christian Courts of Spain the bloody feuds of the two great 
 families of the Zegris and the Abencerrages, which contributed so 
 largely to the ruin of the Moorish cause and the incidents of 
 that last war itself, in which the power of the Mussulman was en- 
 tirely overthrown by the arms of Ferdinand and Isabella. To some 
 readers it may, perhaps, occur, that the part ascribed to Moorish 
 females in these Ballads is not always exactly in the Oriental taste ; 
 but the pictures still extant on the walls of the Alhambra contain 
 abundant proofs how unfair it would be to judge from the manners 
 of any Mussulman nation of our day, of those of the refined and 
 elegant Spanish Moors. As a single example of what is meant 
 in one of those pictures, engraved in the " Arabian Antiquities of 
 Spain," by Mr. Murphy, a Moorish Lady is represented, unveiled, 
 bestowing the prize, after a tourney, on a kneeling Moorish Knight. 
 ********** 
 
 The specimens of which the third and largest section consists, 
 are taken from amongst the vast multitude of miscellaneous and 
 romantic ballads in the old Canrioneros. The subjects of a num- 
 ber of these are derived from the fabulous Chronicle of Turpin ; 
 and the Knights of Charlemagne's Round-Table appear in all their 
 gigantic lineaments. But the greater part is formed precisely of 
 the same sort of materials which supplied our own ancient ballad- 
 makers, both the English and the Scottish. 
 
 In the original Spanish collections, songs, both of the serious and 
 of the comic kind, are mingled without scruple among their roman- 
 tic ballads ; and one or two specimens of these also have been at- 
 tempted towards the conclusion of the following pages. 
 
 EDINBURGH, January 3,
 
 HISTORICAL BALLADS. 
 
 THE 
 
 LAMENTATION OF DON RODERICK. 
 
 THE treason of Count Julian, and, indeed, the whole history of 
 King Roderick, and the downfall of the Gothic Monarchy in Spain, 
 have been so effectually made known to the English reader by Mr. 
 Southey and Sir Walter Scott, that it would be impertinent to say 
 anything of these matters here. The ballad, a version of which 
 follows, appears to be one of the oldest, among the great number 
 relating to the Moorish conquest of Spain. One verse of it is 
 quoted, and several parodied, in the Second Part of Don Quixote, 
 in the inimitable chapter of the Puppet-show. 
 
 " ' Hold, hold, sir,' cried the puppet-player, ' hold for pity's sake ! 
 What do you mean, sir ? These are no real Moors that you cut and 
 hack so, but poor harmless puppets made of pasteboard. Think of 
 what you do, you ruin me for ever. Oh that ever I was born ! you 
 have broke me quite.' But Don Quixote, without minding his words, 
 doubled and redoubled his blows so thick, and laid about him so 
 outrageously, that in less than two credos he had cut all the strings 
 and wires, mangled the puppets, and spoiled and demolished the 
 whole motion. King Marsilius was in a grievous condition. The 
 Emperor Charlemagne's head and crown were cleft in two. The 
 whole audience was in a sad consternation. The ape scampered 
 off to the top of the house. The scholar was frightened out of his 
 wits ; the page was very uneasy, and Sancho himself was in a terrible 
 fright ; for, as he swore after the hurricane was over, he had never 
 seen his master in such a rage before. 
 
 " The general rout of the puppets being over, Don Quixote's fury 
 began to abate ; and with a more pacified countenance turning to 
 the company, ' Now,' said he, ' I could wish all those incredulous 
 persons here who slight knight-errantry might receive conviction
 
 22 LAMENTATION OF DON RODERICK. 
 
 of their error, and behold undeniable proofs of the benefit of that 
 function ; for how miserable had been the condition of poor Don 
 Gayferos and the fair Melisendra by this time, had I not been here 
 and stood up in their defence ! I make no question but those infi- 
 dels would have apprehended them, and used them barbarously. 
 Well, when all is done, long live knight-errantry ; long let it live, I 
 say, above all things whatsoever in this world ! ' l Ay, ay,' said 
 Master Peter in a doleful tone, ' let it live long for me, so I may die ; 
 for why should I live so unhappy as to say with King Roderigo, 
 " Yesterday I was lord of Spain, to-day have not a foot of land I 
 can call mine?" It is not half an hour, nay scarce a moment, 
 since I had kings and emperors at command. I had horses in 
 abundance, and chests and bags full of fine things ; but now you 
 see me a poor sorry undone man, quite and clean broke and cast 
 down, and in short a mere beggar. What is worst of all, I have 
 lost my ape too, who I am sure will make me sweat ere I catch 
 him again.' " 
 
 THE hosts of Don Rodrigo were scattered in dismay, 
 When lost was the eighth battle, nor heart nor hope had they ; 
 He, when he saw that field was lost, and all his hope was flown, 
 He turned him from his flying host, and took his way alone. 
 
 ii. 
 
 His horse was bleeding, blind, and lame he could no farther go ; 
 Dismounted, without path or aim, the King stepped to and fro ; 
 It was a sight of pity to look on Roderick, 
 For, sore athirst and hungry, he staggered faint and sick. 
 
 HI. 
 
 All stained and strewed with dust and blood, like to some smoul- 
 dering brand 
 
 Plucked from the flame Rodrigo shewed : his sword was in his 
 hand, 
 
 But it was hacked into a saw of dark and purple tint ; 
 
 His jewelled mail had many a flaw, his helmet many a dint.
 
 LAMENTATION OF DON RODERICK. 23 
 
 IV. 
 
 He climbed unto a hill top, the highest he could see, 
 Thence all about of that wide route his last long look took he ; 
 He saw his royal banners, where they lay drenched and torn, 
 He heard the cry of victory, the Arab's shout of scorn. 
 
 v. 
 
 He looked for the brave captains that had led the hosts of Spain, 
 But all were fled except the dead, and who could count the slain ! 
 Where'er his eye could wander, all bloody was the plain, 
 And while thus he said, the tears he shed run down his cheeks like 
 rain : 
 
 VI. 
 
 " Last night I was the King of Spain to-day no king am I ; 
 Last night fair castles held my train, to-night where shall I lie ? 
 Last night a hundred pages did serve me on the knee ; 
 To-night not one I call mine own : not one pertains to me. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " O luckless, luckless was the hour, and cursed was the day, 
 When I was born to have the power of this great signiory ! 
 Unhappy me, that I should see the sun go down to-night ! 
 O Death, why now so slow art thou, why fearest thou to smite ? "
 
 24 THE PENITENCE OF DON RODERICK, 
 
 THE 
 
 PENITENCE OF DON RODERICK. 
 
 THIS Ballad also is quoted in Don Quixote. " ' And let me tell 
 you again,' quoth Sancho Panza to the Duchess, ' if you don't think 
 fit to give me an island because I am a fool, I will be so wise as not 
 to care whether you do or no. It is an old saying, The Devil lurks 
 behind the cross. All is not gold that glisters. From the tail of the 
 plough, Bamba was made King of Spain ; and from his silks and 
 riches, was Roderigo cast to be devoured by the snakes, if the old 
 ballads say true, and sure they are too old to tell a lie.' ' That 
 they are indeed,' said Donna Rodriguez, the old waiting-woman, 
 who listened among the rest, ' for I remember one of the ballads 
 tells us, how Don Rodrigo was shut up alive in a tomb full of toads, 
 snakes, and lizards ; and how, after two days, he was heard to cry 
 out of the tomb in a low and doleful voice, " Now they eat me, now 
 they gnaw me, in the part where I sinned most." And according 
 to this the gentleman is in the right in saying he had rather be a 
 poor labourer than a king, to be gnawed to death by vermin.' " 
 
 Cervantes would scarcely have made this absurd story the subject 
 of conversation between any more intelligent personages, than San- 
 cho Panza and the venerable Donna Rodriguez. Nevertheless, 
 there is something very peculiar in the old ballad to which these in- 
 terlocutors allude enough, perhaps, to make it worth the trouble 
 of translation. There is a little difference between the ballad, as it 
 stands in the Cancionero, and the copy which Donna Rodriguez 
 quotes ; but I think the effect is better when there is only one 
 snake, than when the tomb is full of them.
 
 THE PENITENCE OF DON RODERICK. 25 
 
 I. 
 
 IT was when the King Rodrigo had lost his realm of Spain, 
 In doleful plight he held his flight o'er Guadalete's plain ; 
 Afar from the fierce Moslem he fain would hide his wo, 
 And up among the wilderness of mountains he would go. 
 
 n. 
 
 There lay a shepherd by the rill, with all his flock beside him ; 
 He asked him where upon his hill a weary man might hide him. 
 " Not far," quoth he, " within the wood dwells our old Eremite ; 
 He in his holy solitude will hide ye all the night." 
 
 m. 
 
 "Good friend," quoth he, " I hunger." "Alas !" the shepherd 
 
 said, 
 
 " My scrip no more containeth but one little loaf of bread." 
 The weary King was thankful, the poor man's loaf he took, 
 He by him sate, and while he ate, his tears fell in the brook. 
 
 IV. 
 
 From underneath his garment the King unlocked his chain, 
 A golden chain with many a link, and the royal ring of Spain ; 
 He gave them to the wondering man, and with heavy steps and 
 
 slow 
 He up the wild his way began, to the hermitage to go. 
 
 v. 
 
 The sun had just descended into the western sea, 
 And the holy man was sitting in the breeze beneath his tree ; 
 " I come, I come, good father, to beg a boon from thee : 
 This night within thy hermitage give shelter unto me." 
 
 VI. 
 
 The old man looked upon the King, he scanned him o'er and o'er ; 
 He looked with looks of wondering, he marvelled more and more ; 
 With blood and dust distained was the garment that he wore, 
 And yet in utmost misery a kingly look he bore.
 
 26 THE PENITENCE OF DON RODERICK. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " Who art thou, weary stranger? This path why hast thou ta'en ? " 
 " I am Rodrigo ; yesterday men called me King of Spain ; 
 I come to make my penitence within this lonely place ; 
 Good father, take thou no offence, for God and Mary's grace." 
 
 vm. 
 
 The hermit looked with fearful eye upon Rodrigo's face, 
 
 " Son, mercy dwells with the Most High not hopeless is thy case 
 
 Thus far thou well hast chosen, I to the Lord will pray, 
 
 He will reveal what penance may wash thy sin away." 
 
 DC. 
 
 Now, God us shield ! it was revealed that he his bed must make 
 Within a tomb, and share its gloom with a black and living snake. 
 Rodrigo bowed his humbled head when God's command he heard, 
 And with the snake prepared his bed, according to the word. 
 
 x. 
 
 The holy Hermit waited till the third day was gone, 
 
 Then knocked he with his finger upon the cold tombstone. 
 
 " Good king, good king," the Hermit said, " now an answer give 
 
 to me, 
 How fares it with thy darksome bed and dismal company ? " 
 
 XI. 
 
 " Good father," said Rodrigo, " the snake hath touched me not, 
 Pray for me, holy Hermit, I need thy prayers, God wot ; 
 Because the Lord his anger keeps, I lie unharmed here ; 
 The sting of earthly vengeance sleeps ; a worser pain I fear." 
 
 xn. 
 
 The Eremite his breast did smite when thus he heard him say, 
 He turned him to his cell ; that night he loud and long did pray ; 
 At morning hour he came again, then doleful moans heard he, 
 From out the tomb the cry did come of gnawing misery.
 
 THE PENITENCE OF DON RODERICK. 
 
 27 
 
 XIII. 
 
 He spake, and heard Rodrigo's voice ; " O Father Eremite, 
 He eats me now, he eats me now, I feel the adder's bite ; 
 The part that was most sinning my bed-fellow doth rend, 
 There had my curse beginning, God grant it there may end 1 " 
 
 xrv. 
 
 The holy man made answer in words of hopeful strain, 
 He bade him trust the body's pang would save the spirit's pain. 
 Thus died the good Rodrigo, thus died the King of Spain ; 
 Washed from offence his spirit hence to God its flight hath ta'en.
 
 28 MARCH OF BERNARDO DEL CARPIO. 
 
 THE 
 
 MARCH OF BERNARDO DEL CARPIO. 
 
 OF Bernardo del Carpio, we find little or nothing in the French 
 romances of Charlemagne. He belongs exclusively to Spanish 
 History, or rather perhaps to Spanish Romance ; in which the 
 honour is claimed for him of slaying the famous Orlando, or Roland, 
 the nephew of Charlemagne, in the fatal field of Roncesvalles. 
 
 The continence which procured for Alonzo, who succeeded to 
 the precarious throne of the Christians, in the Asturias, about 795, 
 the epithet of the Chaste, was not universal in his family. By an 
 intrigue with Sancho Dias, Count of Saldana, or Saldenha, Donna 
 Ximena, sister of this virtuous prince, bore a son. Some historians 
 attempt to gloss over this incident, by alleging that a private mar- 
 riage had taken place between the lovers : but King Alphonso, 
 who was well nigh sainted for living only in platonic union with 
 his wife Bertha, took the scandal greatly to heart. He shut up 
 the peccant princess in a cloister, and imprisoned her gallant in 
 the castle of Luna, where he caused him to be deprived of sight. 
 Fortunately, his wrath did not extend to the offspring of their 
 stolen affections, the famous Bernardo del Carpio. When the 
 youth had grown up to manhood, Alphonso, according to the 
 Spanish chroniclers, invited the Emperor Charlemagne into Spain, 
 and having neglected to raise up heirs for the kingdom of the 
 Goths in the ordinary manner, he proposed the inheritance of his 
 throne as the price of the alliance of Charles. But the nobility, 
 headed by Bernardo del Carpio, remonstrated against the king's 
 choice of a successor, and would on no account consent to receive 
 a Frenchman as heir of their crown. Alphonso himself repented 
 of the invitation he had given Charlemagne, and when that champion 
 of Christendom came to expel the Moors from Spain, he found the 
 conscientious and chaste Alphonso had united with the infidels 
 against him. An engagement took place in the renowned pass of 
 Roncesvalles, in which the French were defeated, and the cele-
 
 MARCH OF BERNARDO DEL CARPIO. 29 
 
 brated Roland, or Orlando, was slain. The victory was ascribed 
 chiefly to the prowess of Bernardo del Carpio. 
 
 The following Ballad describes the enthusiasm excited among 
 the Leonese, when Bernard first raised his standard to oppose the 
 progress of Charlemagne's army. 
 
 WITH three thousand men of Leon, from the city Bernard goes, 
 To protect the soil Hispanian from the spear of Prankish foes ; 
 From the city which is planted in the midst between the seas, 
 To preserve the name and glory of old Pelayo's victories. 
 
 n. 
 
 The peasant hears upon his field the trumpet of the knight, 
 He quits his team for spear and shield, and garniture of might ; 
 The shepherd hears it 'mid the mist he flingeth down his crook, 
 And rushes from the mountain like a tempest-troubled brook. 
 
 in. 
 
 The youth who shews a maiden's chin, whose brows have ne'er 
 
 been bound 
 
 The helmet's heavy ring within, gains manhood from the sound ; 
 The hoary sire beside the fire forgets his feebleness, 
 Once more to feel the cap of steel a warrior's ringlets press. 
 
 IV. 
 
 As through the glen his spears did gleam, these soldiers from the 
 
 hills, 
 
 They swelled his host, as mountain-stream receives the roaring rills ; 
 They round his banner flocked, in scorn of haughty Charlemagne, 
 And thus upon their swords are sworn the faithful sons of Spain. 
 
 v. 
 
 " Free were we born," 'tis thus they cry, " though to our King we 
 
 owe 
 
 The homage and the fealty behind his crest to go ; 
 By God's behest our aid he shares, but God did ne'er command 
 That we should leave our children heirs of an enslaved land.
 
 30 
 
 MARCH OF BERNARDO DEL CARPIO. 
 
 VI. 
 
 " Our breasts are not so timorous, nor are our arms so weak, 
 Nor are our veins so bloodless, that we our vow should break, 
 To sell our freedom for the fear of Prince or Paladin, 
 At least we'll sell our birthright dear, no bloodless prize they'll win. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " At least King Charles, if God decrees he must be lord of Spain, 
 Shall witness that the Leonese were not aroused in vain ; 
 He shall bear witness that we died, as lived our sires of old, 
 Nor only of Numantium's pride shall minstrel tales be told. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " The LION l that hath bathed his paws in seas of Libyan gore, 
 Shall he not battle for the laws and liberties of yore ? 
 Anointed cravens may give gold to whom it likes them well, 
 But steadfast heart and spirit bold Alphonso ne'er shall sell." 
 
 1 The arms of Leon.
 
 COMPLAINT OF THE COUNT OF SALDENHA. 31 
 
 THE 
 
 COMPLAINT OF THE COUNT OF SALDENHA. 
 
 [This Ballad is intended to represent the feelings of Don Sancho, Count of 
 Saldenha, or Saldafia, while imprisoned by King Alphonso, and, as he sup- 
 posed, neglected and forgotten, both by his wife, or rather mistress, Donna 
 Ximena, and by his son, the famous Bernardo del Carpio.] 
 
 THE Count Don Sancho Diaz, the Signior of Saldane, 
 Lies weeping in his prison, for he cannot refrain : 
 King Alphonso and his sister, of both doth he complain, 
 But most of bold Bernardo, the champion of Spain. 
 
 n. 
 
 " The weary years I durance brook, how many they have been, 
 When on these hoary hairs I look,' may easily be seen ; 
 When they brought me to this castle, my curls were black, I ween, 
 Wo worth the day ! they have grown grey these rueful walls between. 
 
 in. 
 
 " They tell me my Bernardo is the doughtiest lance in Spain, 
 But if he were my loyal heir, there's blood in every vein 
 Whereof the voice his heart would hear his hand would not gain- 
 say; 
 
 Though the blood of kings be mixed with mine, it would not have 
 all the sway. 
 
 rv. 
 
 " Now all the three have scorn ot me unhappy man am I ! 
 
 They leave me without pity they leave me here to die. 
 
 A stranger's feud, albeit rude, were little dole or care, 
 
 But he's my own, both flesh and bone ; his scorn is ill to bear.
 
 32 COMPLAINT OF THE COUNT OF SALDENHA. 
 
 V. 
 
 " From Jailer and from Castellain I hear of hardiment 
 And chivalry in listed plain on joust and tourney spent ; 
 I hear of many a battle, in which thy spear is red, 
 But help from thee comes none to me where I am ill bested. 
 
 VI. 
 
 " Some villain spot is in thy blood to mar its gentle strain, 
 Else would it shew forth hardihood for him from whom 'twas ta'en ; 
 Thy hope is young, thy heart is strong, but yet a day may be, 
 When thou shalt weep in dungeon deep, and none thy weeping see."
 
 FUNERAL OF THE COUNT OF SALDEX11A. 33 
 
 THE 
 
 FUNERAL OF THE COUNT OF SALDENHA. 
 
 THE ballads concerning Bernardo del Carpio are, upon the whole, 
 in accordance with his history as given in the Coronica General. 
 According to the chronicle, Bernardo being at last wearied out of 
 all patience by the cruelty of which his father was the victim, de- 
 termined to quit the court of his King, and seek an alliance among 
 the Moors. Having fortified himself in the Castle of Carpio, he 
 made continual incursions into the territory of Leon, pillaging and 
 plundering wherever he came. The King at length besieged him in 
 his stronghold, but the defence was so gallant, that there appeared no 
 prospect of success ; whereupon many of the gentlemen in Alphonso's 
 camp entreated the King to offer Bernardo immediate possession of 
 his father's person, if he would surrender his castle. 
 
 Bernardo at once consented ; but the King gave orders to have 
 Count Sancho Diaz taken off instantly in his prison. "When he 
 was dead they clothed him in splendid attire, mounted him on horse- 
 back, and so led him towards Salamanca, where his son was expect- 
 ing his arrival. As they drew nigh the city, the King and Bernardo 
 rode out to meet them ; and when Bernardo saw his father approach- 
 ing, he exclaimed, 'O, God ! is the Count of Saldana indeed com- 
 ing? ' ' Look where he is,' replied the cruel King ; ' and now go 
 and greet him whom you have so long desired to see.' Bernardo 
 .vent forward and took his father's hand to kiss it ; but when he 
 felt the dead weight of the hand, and saw the livid face of the 
 corpse, he cried aloud, and said, ' Ah, Don Sandiaz, in an evil 
 hour didst thou beget me ! Thou art dead, and I have given my 
 stronghold for thee, and now I have lost all.' " 
 
 ALL in the centre of the choir Bernardo's knees are bent, 
 Before him for his murdered sire yawns the old monument.
 
 34 FUNERAL OF THE COUNT OF SALDENHA. 
 
 II. 
 
 His kinsmen of the Carpio blood are kneeling at his back, 
 
 With knightly friends and vassals good, all garbed in weeds of black. 
 
 in. 
 
 He comes to make the obsequies of a basely slaughtered man, 
 And tears are running down from eyes whence ne'er before they ran. 
 
 IV. 
 
 His head is bowed upon the stone ; his heart, albeit full sore, 
 
 Is strong as when in days by-gone he rode o'er Frank and Moor ; 
 
 v. 
 
 And now between his teeth he mutters, that none his words can 
 
 hear ; 
 And now the voice of wrath he utters, in curses loud and clear. 
 
 VI. 
 
 He stoops him o'er his father's shroud, his lips salute the bier ; 
 He communes with the corse aloud, as if none else were near. 
 
 VII. 
 
 
 
 His right hand doth his sword unsheath, his left doth pluck his 
 
 beard ; 
 And while his liegemen held their breath, these were the words 
 
 they heard : 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " Go up, go up, thou blessed ghost, into the arms of God ; 
 
 Go, fear not lest revenge be lost, when Carpio's blood hath flowed ; 
 
 IX. 
 
 " The steel that drank the blood of France, the arm thy foe that 
 
 shielded, 
 Still, Father, thirsts that burning lance, and still thy son can wield 
 
 it."
 
 BERNARDO AND ALPHONSO. 35 
 
 BERNARDO AND ALPHONSO. 
 
 [The incident recorded in this ballad may be supposed to have occurred 
 immediately after the funeral of the Count of Saldenha. As to what was the 
 end of the knight's history, we are left almost entirely in tke dark, both by 
 the Chronicle and by the Romancero. It appears to be intimated, that after 
 his father's death, he once more " took service " among the Moors, who are 
 represented in several of the ballads as accustomed to exchange offices of 
 courtesy with Bernardo.] 
 
 WITH some good ten of his chosen men, Bernardo hath appeared 
 Before them all in the palace hall, the lying King to beard ; 
 With cap in hand and eye on ground, he came in reverend guise, 
 But ever and anon he frowned, and flame broke from his eyes. 
 
 n. 
 
 "A curse upon thee," cries the King, "who comest unbid to me; 
 But what from traitor's blood should spring, save traitors like to 
 
 thee? 
 His sire, Lords, had a traitor's heart : perchance our Champion 
 
 brave 
 Make think it were a pious part to share Don Sancho's grave." 
 
 in. 
 
 " Whoever told this tale the King hath rashness to repeat," 
 Cries Bernard, " here my gage I fling before THE LIAR'S feet ! 
 No treason was in Sancho's blood, no stain in mine doth lie 
 Below the throne what knight will own the coward calumny? 
 
 IV. 
 
 " The blood that I like water shed, when Roland did advance, 
 By secret traitors hired and led, to make us slaves of France ;
 
 36 BERNARDO AND ALrilONSO. 
 
 The life of King Alphonso I saved at Roncesval, 
 
 Your words, Lord King, are recompence abundant for it all. 
 
 v. 
 
 " Your horse was down your hope was flown I saw the falchion 
 
 shine, 
 
 That soon had drunk your royal blood, had I not ventured mine ; 
 But memory soon of service done deserteth the ingrate, 
 And ye've thanked the son for life and crown by the father's 
 
 bloody fate. 
 
 VI. 
 
 " Ye swore upon your kingly faith, to set Don Sancho free, 
 But curse upon your paltering breath, the light he ne'er did see ; 
 He died in dungeon cold and dim, by Alphonso's base decree, 
 And visage blind, and stiffened limb, were all they gave to me. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " The King that swerveth from his word hath stained his purple 
 
 black, 
 
 No Spanish Lord will draw the sword behind a Liar's back ; 
 But noble vengeance shall be mine, an open hate I'll shew 
 The King hath injured Carpio's line, and Bernard is his foe." - 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " Seize seize him ! " loud the King doth scream " There are 
 
 a thousand here 
 
 Let his foul blood this instant stream What ! Caitiffs, do ye fear? 
 Seize seize the traitor ! " But not one to move a finger dareth, 
 Bernardo standeth by the throne, and calm his sword he bareth. 
 
 IX. 
 
 He drew the falchion from the sheath, and held it up on high, 
 And all the hall was still as death : cries Bernard, " Here am I, 
 And here is the sword that owns no lord, excepting heaven and me ; 
 Fain would I know who dares his point King, Conde, or Gran- 
 dee."
 
 BERNARDO AND ALPHONSO, 
 
 37 
 
 x. 
 
 Then to his mouth the horn he drew (it hung below his cloak) 
 His ten true men the signal knew, and through the ring they broke ; 
 With helm on head, and blade in hand, the knights the circle brake, 
 And back the lordlings 'gan to stand, and the false king to quake. 
 
 XI. 
 
 "Ha ! Bernard," quoth Alphonso, "what means this warlike guise? 
 Ye know full well I jested ye know your worth I prize." 
 But Bernard turned upon his heel, and smiling passed away 
 Long rued Alphonso and his realm the jesting of that day.
 
 38 THE MAIDEN TRIBUTE. 
 
 THE MAIDEN TRIBUTE. 
 
 THE reign of King Ramiro was short, but glorious. He had not 
 been many months seated on the throne, when Abderahman, the 
 second of that name, sent a formal embassy to demand payment 
 of an odious and ignominious tribute, which had been agreed to 
 in the days of former and weaker princes, but which, it should 
 seem, had not been exacted by the Moors while such men as 
 Bernardo del Carpio, and Alphonso the Great, headed the forces 
 of the Christians. This tribute was a Jut nd red virgins per annum. 
 King Ramiro refused compliance, and marched to meet the army 
 of Abderahman. The battle was fought near Albayda (or Alveida), 
 and lasted for two entire days. On the first day, the superior 
 discipline of the Saracen chivalry had nearly accomplished a 
 complete victory, when the approach of night separated the com- 
 batants. During the night, Saint lago stood in a vision before the 
 King, and promised to be with him next morning in the field. 
 Accordingly the warlike apostle made his appearance, mounted on 
 a milk-white charger, and armed cap-a-pee in radiant mail, like a 
 true knight. The Moors sustained a signal defeat, and the Maiden 
 Tribute was never afterwards paid, although often enough de- 
 manded. Such is, in substance, the story, as narrated by Mariana 
 (see Book vii. chap. 13), who fixes the date of the battle of 
 Alveida in the year eight hundred and forty-four, being the second 
 year after the accession of King Ramiro. 
 
 Mr. Southey says, that there is no mention of this battle of 
 Alveida in the three authors who lived nearest the time ; but adds, 
 that the story of Santiago's making his first appearance in a field 
 of battle on the Christian side, is related at length by King Ramiro 
 himself, in a charter granting a perpetual tribute of wine, corn, 
 etc., to the Church of Compostella. Mr. Southey says, that the 
 only old ballad he has seen in the Portuguese language, is founded 
 upon a story of a Maiden Tribute. See Chronicle of ike Cid.
 
 THE MAIDEN TRIBUTE. 39 
 
 THE noble King Ramiro within the chamber sate, 
 One day, with all his barons, in council and debate, 
 When, without leave or guidance of usher or of groom, 
 There came a comely maiden into the council-room. 
 
 ii. 
 
 She was a comely maiden she was surpassing fair, 
 All loose upon her shoulders hung down her golden hair ; 
 From head to foot her garments were white as white may be ; 
 And while they gazed in silence, thus in the midst spake she. 
 
 in. 
 
 " Sir King, I crave your pardon, if I have done amiss 
 In venturing before ye, at such an hour as this ; 
 But I will tell my story, and when my words ye hear, 
 I look for praise and honour, and no rebuke I fear. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " I know not if I'm bounden to call thee by the name 
 Of Christian, King Ramiro ; for though thou dost not claim 
 A heathen realm's allegiance, a heathen sure thou art, 
 Beneath a Spaniard's mantle thou hidest a Moorish heart. 
 
 v. 
 
 " For he who gives the Moor- King a hundred maids of Spain, 
 Each year when in its season the day comes round again ; 
 If he be not a heathen, he swells the heathen's train 
 Twere better burn a kingdom than suffer such disdain. 
 
 VI. 
 
 " If the Moslem must have tribute, make men your tribute-money, 
 Send idle drones to teaze them within their hives of honey ; 
 For when 'tis paid with maidens, from every maid there spring 
 Some five or six strong soldiers, to serve the Moorish King.
 
 THE MAIDEN TRIBUTE. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " It is but little wisdom to keep our men at home, 
 They serve but to get damsels, who, when their day is come, 
 Must go, like all the others, the proud Moor's bed to sleep in 
 In all the rest they're useless, and nowise worth the keeping. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " And if 'tis fear of battle that makes ye bow so low, 
 And suffer such dishonour from God our Saviour's foe, 
 I pray you, sirs, take warning, ye'll have as good a fright, 
 If e'er the Spanish damsels arise themselves to right. 
 
 IX. 
 
 " 'Tis we have manly courage, within the breasts of women, 
 But ye are all hare-hearted, both gentlemen and yeomen." 
 Thus spake that fearless maiden ; I wot when she was done, 
 Uprose the King Ramiro and his nobles every one. 
 
 x. 
 
 The King call'd God to witness, that, come there weal or woe, 
 Thenceforth no maiden-tribute from out Castile should go ; 
 " At least I will do battle on God our Saviour's foe, 
 And die beneath my banner before I see it so." 
 
 XI. 
 
 A cry went through the mountains when the proud Moor drew near, 
 And trooping to Ramiro came every Christian spear ; 
 The blessed Saint lago, they called upon his name ; 
 That day began our freedom, and wiped away our shame.
 
 ESCAPE OF COUNT PER NAN GONSALEZ. 41 
 
 THE 
 
 ESCAPE OF COUNT EERNAN GONSALEZ. 
 
 THK story of Fernan Gonsalez is detailed in the Chronica Antiqua 
 de Espana, with so many romantic circumstances, that certain 
 modern critics have been inclined to consider it as entirely fabu- 
 lous. Of the main facts recorded, there seems, however, to be no 
 good reason to doubt ; and it is quite certain, that from the earli- 
 est times, the name of Fernan Gonsalez has been held in the high- 
 est honour by the Spaniards themselves, of every degree. He lived 
 at the beginning of the loth century. It was under his rule, ac- 
 cording to the chronicles, that Castile first became an independent 
 Christian state, and it was by his exertions that the first foundations 
 were laid of that system of warfare, by which the Moorish power in 
 Spain was at last overthrown. 
 
 He was so fortunate as to have a wife as heroic as himself, and 
 both in the chronicles, and in the, ballads, abundant justice is done 
 to her merits. 
 
 She twice rescued Fernan Gonsalez from confinement, at the risk 
 of her own life. He had asked her hand in marriage of her father, 
 Garcias, King of Navarre, and had proceeded so far on his way to 
 that prince's court, when he was seized and cast into a dungeon, 
 in consequence of the machinations of his enemy, the Queen of 
 Leon, sister to the King of Navarre. Sancha, the young princess, 
 whose alliance he had solicited, being informed of the cause of his 
 journey, and of the sufferings to which it had exposed him, deter- 
 mined, at all hazards, to effect his liberation ; and having done so 
 by bribing his jailer, she accompanied his flight to Castile. 
 
 Many years after, he fell into an ambush prepared for him by the 
 same implacable enemy, and was again a fast prisoner in Leon. 
 His Countess feigning a pilgrimage to St. James of Compostella, 
 obtained leave, in the first place, to pass through the hostile terri- 
 tory, and afterwards, in the course of her progress, permission to 
 pass one night in the castle where her husband was confined. She
 
 42 ESCAPE OF COUNT FEKNA.\' GOXSALEZ. 
 
 exchanged clothes with him; and he was so fortunate as to pass in 
 his disguise through the guards who attended on him his cour- 
 ageous wife remaining in his place exactly in the same manner 
 in which the Countess of Nithsdale effected the escape of her lord 
 from the Tower of London, on the 23d of February, 1715. 
 
 There is, as might be supposed, a whole body of old ballads, con- 
 cerning the adventures of Fernan Gonsalez. I shall, as a specimen, 
 translate one of the shortest of these, that in which the first of 
 his romantic escapes is described. 
 
 THEY have carried afar into Navarre the great Count of Castile, 
 And they have bound him sorely, they have bound him hand and 
 
 heel; 
 
 The tidings up the mountains go, and down among the valleys, 
 " To the rescue ! to the rescue, ho ! they have ta'en Fernan Gon- 
 salez." 
 
 A noble knight of Normandy was riding through Navarre, 
 For Christ his hope he came to cope with the Moorish scymitar ; 
 To the Alcayde of the Tower, in secret thus said he, 
 " These bezaunts fair with thee I'll share, so I this lord may 
 see." 
 
 The Alcayde' was full joyful, he took the gold full soon, 
 
 And he brought him to the dungeon, ere the rising of the moon ; 
 
 He let him out at morning, at the grey light of the prime, 
 
 But many words between these lords had passed within that time. 
 
 The Norman knight rides swiftly, for he hath made him bowne 
 To a king that is full joyous, and to a feastful town ; 
 For there is joy and feasting, because that lord is ta'en, 
 King Garci in his dungeon holds the doughtiest lord in Spain. 
 
 The Norman feasts among the guests, but at the evening tide 
 He speaks to Garci's daughter, within her bower aside ; 
 " Now God forgive us, lady, and God his mother dear, 
 For on a day of sorrow we have been blythe of cheer.
 
 ESCAPE OF COUNT FEKNAN GONZALEZ. 43 
 
 " The Moors may well be joyful, but great should be our grief, 
 For Spain has lost her guardian, when Castile has lost her chief ; 
 The Moorish host is pouring like a river o'er the land, 
 Curse on the Christian fetters that bind Gonsalez' hand ! 
 
 " Gonsalez loves thee, lady, he loved thee long ago, 
 
 But little is the kindness that for his love you show ; 
 
 The curse that lies on Caba's l head, it may be shared by thee 
 
 Arise, let love with love be paid, and set Gonsalez free." 
 
 The lady answered little, but at the mirk of night, 
 When all her maids are sleeping, she hath risen and ta'en her flight ; 
 She hath tempted the Alcayde" with her jewels and her gold, 
 And unto her his prisoner that jailer false hath sold. 
 
 She took Gonsalez by the hand at the dawning of the day, 
 She said, " Upon the heath you stand, before you lies your way ; 
 But if I to my father go, alas ! what must I do ? 
 My father will be angry I fain would go with you." 
 
 He hath kissed the Infanta, he hath kissed her, brow and cheek, 
 
 And lovingly together the forest path they seek ; 
 
 Till in the greenwood hunting they met a lordly priest, 
 
 With his bugle at his girdle, and his hawk upon his wrist. 
 
 " Now stop ! now stop ! " the priest he said (he knew them both 
 
 right well), 
 
 ' Now stop, and pay your ransom, or I your flight will tell ; 
 Now stop, thou fair Infanta, for if my words you scorn, 
 I'll give warning to the foresters with the blowing of my horn." 
 
 The base priest's word Gonsalez heard, " Now, by the rood ! " 
 
 quoth he, 
 
 " A hundred deaths I'll suffer, or ere this thing shall be." 
 But in his ear she whispered, she whispered soft and slow, 
 And to the priest she beckoned within the wood to go. 
 
 1 Caba, or Cava, the unfortunate daughter of Count Julian. No child in 
 Spain was ever christened by that ominous name after the downfall of the 
 Gothic kingdom-
 
 44 ESCAPE OF COUNT FERNAN GONSALEZ. 
 
 It was ill with Count Gonsalez, the fetters pressed his knees, 
 Yet as he could he followed within the shady trees 
 " For help, for help, Gonsalez ! for help," he hears her cry, 
 " God aiding, fast I'll hold thee, until my lord come nigh." 
 
 He has come within the thicket, there lay they on the green, 
 And he has plucked from off the grass the false priest's javelin ; 
 Firm by the throat she held him bound, down went the weapon 
 
 sheer, 
 Down through his body to the ground, even as the boar ye spear. 
 
 They wrapped him in his mantle, and left him there to bleed, 
 And all that day they held their way ; his palfrey served their 
 
 need; 
 Till to their ears a sound did come, might fill their hearts with 
 
 dread, 
 A steady whisper on the breeze, and horsemen's heavy tread. 
 
 The Infanta trembled in the wood, but forth the Count did go, 
 And, gazing wide, a troop descried upon the bridge below ; 
 " Gramercy ! " quoth Gonsalez " or else my sight is gone, 
 Methinks I know the pennon yon sun is shining on. 
 
 " Come forth, come forth, Infanta, mine own true men they be, 
 Come forth, and see my banner, and cry Castile ! with me : 
 My merry men draw near me, I see my pennon shine, 
 Their swords shine bright, Infanta, and every blade is thine."
 
 THE SEVEN HEADS. 45 
 
 THE SEVEN HEADS. 
 
 " IT was in the following year (nine hundred and eighty-six), 
 that the seven most noble brothers, commonly called the INFANTS 
 OF LARA, were slain by the treachery of Ruy Velasquez, who was 
 their uncle, for they were the sons of his sister, Donna Sancha. 
 By the father's side, they were sprung from the Counts of Castile, 
 through the Count Don Diego Porcellos. From whose daughter, 
 as has been narrated above, and Nuiio Pelchides, there came two 
 sons, namely, Nuno Rasura, great-grandfather of the Count Garci 
 Fernandez, and Gustio Gonzalez. The last-named gentleman was 
 father of GONZALO GUSTIO, Lord of Salas of Lara; and his sons 
 were those seven brothers famous in the history of Spain, not 
 more by reason of their deeds of prowess, than of the disastrous 
 death which was their fortune. They were all knighted in the 
 same day by the Count Don Garcia, according to the fashion 
 which prevailed in those days, and- more especially in Spain. 
 
 " Now it happened that Ruy Velasquez, Lord of Villaren, cele- 
 brated his nuptials in Burgos with Donna Lambra, a lady of very 
 high birth, from the country of Briviesca, and indeed a cousin- 
 german to the Count Garci Fernandez himself. The feast was 
 splendid, and great was the concourse of principal gentry ; and 
 among others were present the Count Garci Fernandez, and those 
 seven brothers, with Gonzalo Gustio, their father. 
 
 " From some trivial occasion, there arose a quarrel between 
 Gonzalez, the youngest of the seven brothers, on the one hand, 
 and a relation of Donna Lambra, by name Alvar Sanchez, on the 
 other, without, however, any very serious consequences at the 
 time. But Donna Lambra conceived herself to have been in- 
 sulted by the quarrel, and in order to revenge herself, when the 
 seven brothers were come as far as Barvadiello, riding in her train, 
 the more to do her honour, she ordered one of her slaves to throw 
 at Gonzalez a wild cucumber soaked in blood, a heavy insult and 
 outrage, according to the then existing customs and opinions in
 
 46 THE SEVEN HEADS. 
 
 Spain. The slave, having done as he was bid, fled for protection 
 to his lady, Donna Lambra ; but that availed him nothing, for they 
 slew him within the very folds of her garment. 
 
 " RUY VELASQUEZ, who did not witness these things with his 
 own eyes, no sooner returned, than, filled with wrath on account 
 of this slaughter, and of the insult to his bride, he began to devise 
 how he might avenge himself of the seven brothers. 
 
 "With semblances of peace and friendship, he concealed his 
 mortal hatred ; and, after a time, Gonzalo Gustio, the father, was 
 sent by him, suspecting nothing, to Cordova. The pretence was 
 to bring certain monies which had been promised to Ruy Velas- 
 quez by the barbarian king, but the true purpose, that he might be 
 put to death at a distance from his own country ; for Ruy Velas- 
 quez asked the Moor to do this in letters written in the Arabic 
 tongue, of which Gonzalo was made the bearer. The Moor, how- 
 ever, whether moved to have compassion on the grey hairs of so 
 principal a gentleman, or desirous of at least making a shew of 
 humanity, did not slay Gonzalo, but contented himself with im- 
 prisoning him. Nor was his durance of the strictest, for a certain 
 sister of the Moorish King found ingress, and held communication 
 with him there ; and from that conversation, it is said, sprung 
 MUDARRA GONZALEZ, author and founder of that most noble Span- 
 ish lineage of the MANRIQUES. 
 
 " But the fierce spirit of Ruy Velasquez was not satisfied with 
 the tribulations of Gonzalo Gustio ; he carried his rage still farther. 
 Pretending to make an incursion into the Moorish country, he led 
 into an ambuscade the seven brothers, who had as yet conceived 
 no thought of his treacherous intentions. It is true that Nuno 
 Sallido, their grandfather, had cautioned them with many warn- 
 ings, for he indeed suspected the deceit ; but it was in vain, for so 
 God willed or permitted. They had some two hundred horsemen 
 with them, of their vassals, but these were nothing against the 
 great host of Moors that set upon them from the ambuscade ; and 
 although when they found how it was, they acquitted themselves 
 like good gentlemen, and slew many, they could accomplish noth- 
 ing except making the victory dear to their enemies. They were 
 resolved to avoid the shame of captivity, and were all slain, to- 
 gether with their grandfather Sallido. Their heads were sent to 
 Cordova, an agreeable present to that king, but a sight of misery 
 to their aged father, who, being brought into the place where they 
 were, recognised them in spite of the dust and blood with which 
 they were disfigured. It is true, nevertheless, that he derived
 
 THE SEVEN HEADS. 47 
 
 some benefit therefrom ; for the king, out of the compassion which 
 he felt, set him at liberty to depart to his own country. 
 
 " Mudarra, the son born to Gonzalo (out of wedlock) by the 
 sister of the Moor, when he had attained to the age of fourteen 
 years, was prevailed on by his mother to go in search of his father ; 
 and he it was that avenged the death of his seven brothers, by 
 slaying with his own hand Ruy Velasquez, the author of that ca- 
 lamity. Donna .Lambra likewise, who had been the original cause 
 of all those evils, was stoned to death by him and burnt. 
 
 " By this vengeance which he took for the murder of his seven 
 brothers, he so won to himself the good-liking of his step-mother 
 Donna Sancha, and of all the kindred, that he was received and 
 acknowledged as heir to the Signiories of his father. Donna 
 Sancha herself adopted him as her son, and the manner of the 
 adoption was thus, not less memorable than rude : The same 
 day that he was baptized and stricken knight by Garci Fernandez, 
 Count of Castile, his father's wife being resolved to adopt him, 
 made use of this ceremony, she drew him within a very wide 
 smock by the sleeve, and thrust his head forth at the neck-band, 
 and then kissing him on the face, delivered him to the family as 
 her own child. * * * * 
 
 " In the cloister of the Monastery of Saint Peter of Arlanza, they 
 show the sepulchre of Mudarra. But concerning the place where 
 his seven brothers were buried, there is a dispute between the 
 members of that house and those of the Monastery of Saint Millan 
 at Cogolla." - MARIANA, Book VIII. chap. 9. 
 
 Such is Mariana's edition of the famous story of the Infants of 
 Lara, a story which, next to the legends of the Cid, and of Ber- 
 nardo del Carpio, appears to have furnished the most favourite sub- 
 jects of the old Spanish minstrels. 
 
 The ballad, a translation of which follows, relates to a part of 
 the history briefly alluded to by Mariana. In the Chronicle we 
 are informed more minutely, that after the seven infants were slain, 
 Almanzor, King of Cordova, invited his prisoner, Gonzalo Gustio, 
 to feast with him in his palace ; but when the Baron of Lara came, 
 in obedience to the royal invitation, he found the heads of his sons 
 set forth in chargers on the table. The old man reproached the 
 Moorish King bitterly for the cruelty and baseness of this pro- 
 ceeding, and suddenly snatching a sword from the side of one of the 
 royal attendants, sacrificed to his wrath, ere he could be disarmed 
 and fettered, thirteen of the Moors who surrounded the person of 
 Almanzor. The whole of the far more copious account of the
 
 48 THE SEVEN HEAD*. 
 
 Infants of Lara, which occurs in the Coronica General de 
 has been translated by Mr. Southey. 
 
 "Wno, bears such heart of baseness, a king I'll never call 
 
 Thus spake Gonzalo Gustos within Almanzor's hall ; 
 
 To the proud Moor Almanzor, within his kingly hall, 
 
 The grey-haired knight of Lara thus spake before them all : 
 
 ii. 
 
 " In courteous guise, Almanzor, your messenger was sent, 
 
 And courteous was the answer with which from me he went ; 
 
 For why? I thought the word he brought of a knight and of :i 
 
 king, - 
 But false Moor henceforth "never me to his feast shall bring. 
 
 in. 
 
 " Ye bade me to your banquet, and I at your bidding came. 
 
 And accursed be the villany, and eternal be the shame 
 
 For ye have brought an old man forth, that he your sport initrht 
 
 be: 
 Thank God I cheat you of your joy Thank God, no tear you 
 
 see. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " My gallant boys," quoth Lara, " it is a heavy sight, 
 These dogs have brought your father to look upon this night ; 
 Seven gentler boys, nor braver, were never nursed in Spain, 
 And blood of Moors, God rest your souls, ye shed on her like 
 rain. 
 
 v. 
 
 "Some currish plot, some trick (God wot), hath laid you all so 
 
 low, 
 
 Ye died not all together in one fair battle so ; 
 Not all the misbelievers ever prick'd upon yon plain 
 The seven brave boys of Lara in open field had slain.
 
 77/7: SEl'E.V HEADS. 49 
 
 VI. 
 
 " The youngest and the weakest, Gonzalez dear, wert thou, 
 Yet well this false Almanzor remembers thee, I trow ; 
 Oh, well doth he remember how on his helmet rung 
 Thy fiery mace, Gonzalez, although thou wert so young. 
 
 VII. 
 
 "Thy gallant horse had fallen, and thou hadst mounted thee 
 Upon a stray one in the field his own true barb had he ; 
 Oh, hadst thou not pursued his flight upon that runaway, 
 Ne'er had the caitiff 'scaped that night, to mock thy sire to-day ! 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " False Moor, I am thy captive thrall ; but when thou badest me 
 
 forth, 
 
 To share the banquet in thy hall, I trusted in the worth 
 Of kingly promise. Think'st thou not my God will hear my 
 
 prayer ? 
 Lord ! branchless be (like mine) his tree, yea, branchless, Lord, 
 
 and bare ! " 
 
 IX. 
 
 So prayed the Baron in his ire, but, when he looked again, 
 Then burst the sorrow of the sire, and tears ran down like rain ; 
 Wrath no more could check the sorrow of the old and childless man, 
 And like waters in a furrow, down his cheeks the salt tears ran. 
 
 x. 
 
 He took their heads up one by one he kiss'd them o'er and o'er, 
 And aye ye saw the tears run down I wot that grief was sore. 
 He closed the lids on their dead eyes all with his fingers frail, 
 And handled all their bloody curls, and kissed their lips so pale. 
 
 XI. 
 
 " O had ye died all by my side upon some famous day, 
 
 My fair young men, no weak tears then had wash'd your blood 
 
 away ! 
 
 The trumpet of Castile had drowned the misbeliever's horn, 
 And the last of all the Lara's line a Gothic spear had borne."
 
 50 
 
 XII. 
 
 With that it chanced a Moor drew near, to lead him from the place, 
 Old Lara stooped him down once more, and kiss'd Gonzalez' face ; 
 But ere the man observed him, or could his gesture bar, 
 Sudden he from his side had grasped that Moslem's scymitar. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Oh ! swiftly from its scabbard the crooked blade he drew, 
 And, like some frantic creature, among them all he flew 
 Where, where is false Almanzor? back bastards of Mahoun ! " 
 And here, and there, in his despair, the old man hewed them down. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 A hundred hands, a hundred brands, are ready in the hall, 
 But ere they mastered Lara, thirteen of them did fall ; 
 He has sent, I ween, a good thirteen of dogs that spurned his God, 
 To keep his children company, beneath the Moorish sod.
 
 THE VENGEANCE OF MUDARRA. 51 
 
 THE VENGEANCE OF MUDARRA. 
 
 [This is another of the many ballads concerning the Infants of Lara. One 
 verse of it, 
 
 El espera que tu diste a los Infantes de Lara ! 
 Aqui moriras traydor enemigo de Donna Sancha, 
 
 is quoted by Sancho Panza, in one of the last chapters of Don Quixote.~\ 
 
 To the chase goes Rodrigo, with hound and with hawk ; 
 But what game he desires is revealed in his talk, 
 " O, in vain have I slaughtered the Infants of Lara : 
 There's an heir in his halls, there's the bastard Mudarra. 
 There's the son of the renegade spawn of Mahoun 
 If I meet with Mudarra, my spear brings him down." 
 
 While Rodrigo rides on in the heat of his wrath, 
 
 A stripling, armed cap-a-pee, crosses his path 
 
 " Good morrow, young esquire." " Good morrow, old knight. 
 
 "Will you ride with our party, and share our delight?" 
 
 " Speak your name, courteous stranger," the stripling replied ; 
 
 " Speak your name and your lineage, ere with you I ride." 
 
 in. 
 
 " My name is Rodrigo," thus answered the knight ; 
 " Of the line of old Lara, though barred from my right, 
 For the kinsman of Salas proclaims for the heir 
 Of our ancestor's castles and forestries fair, 
 A bastard, a renegade's offspring Mudarra, 
 Whom I'll send, if I can, to the Infants of Lara."-
 
 52 
 
 THE VENGEANCE OF .MUDARRA. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " I behold thee, disgrace to thy lineage ! with joy 
 I behold thee, thou murderer ! " answered the boy. 
 " The bastard you curse, you behold him in me ; 
 But his brothers' avenger that bastard shall be ; 
 Draw ! for I am the renegade's offspring, Mudarra ; 
 We shall see who inherits the life-blood of Lara ! " 
 
 v. 
 
 " I am armed for the forest-chase not for the fight 
 
 Let me go for my shield and my sword," cries the knight 
 
 " Now the mercy you dealt to my brothers of old, 
 
 Be the hope of that mercy the comfort you hold ; 
 
 Die, foeman to Sancha die, traitor to- Lara !" 
 
 As he spake, there was blood on the spear of Mudarra.
 
 THE WEDDING OF THE LAD Y THERESA. 53 
 
 THE WEDDING OF THE LADY THERESA. 
 
 THK following passage occurs in Mariana's History, Book VIII. 
 chap. 5 : " There are who affirm that this Moor's name was 
 Abdalla, and that he had to wife Donna Theresa, sister to Alphonso, 
 King of Leon, with consent of that prince. Great and flagrant 
 dishonour ! The purpose was to gain new strength to his kingdom 
 by this Moorish alliance ; but some pretences were set forth that 
 Abdalla had exhibited certain signs of desiring to be a Christian, 
 that in a short time he was to be baptized, and the like. 
 
 " The Lady Theresa, deceived with these representations, was 
 conducted to Toledo, where the nuptials were celebrated in great 
 splendour with games and sports, and a banquet, which lasted until 
 night. The company having left the tables, the bride was then 
 carried to bed ; but when the amorous Moor drew near to her, 
 'Away,' said she; 'let such heavy calamity, such baseness be far 
 from me ! One of two things must be either be baptized, thou 
 with thy people, and then come to' my arms, or, refusing to do so, 
 keep away from me for ever. If otherwise, fear the vengeance of 
 men, who will not overlook my insult and suffering, and the wrath 
 of God, above all, which will follow the violation of a Christian 
 lady's chastity. Take good heed, and let not luxury, that smooth 
 pest, be thy ruin.' But the Moor took no heed of her words, and 
 lay with her against her will. The Divine vengeance followed 
 swiftly, for there fell on him a severe malady, and he well knew 
 within himself from what cause it arose. Immediately he sent 
 back Donna Theresa to her brother's house, with great gifts which 
 he had bestowed on her ; but she made herself a nun in the Monas- 
 tery of Saint Pelagius, in Leon, and there passed the remainder of 
 her days in pious labours and devotions, in which she found her 
 consolation for the outrage that had been committed on her." 
 
 The ballad, of which a translation follows, tells the same story : 
 
 En los reynos de Leon el quinto Alfonso reynava, &c,
 
 54 THE WEDDING OF THE LADY THERESA. 
 
 'TWAS when the fifth Alphonso in Leon held his sway, 
 King Abdalla of Toledo an embassy did send ; 
 He asked his sister for a wife, and in an evil day 
 Alphonso sent her, for he feared Abdalla to offend ; 
 He feared to move his anger, for many times before 
 He had received in danger much succour from that Moor. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Sad heart had fair Theresa when she their paction knew. 
 
 With streaming tears she heard them tell she 'mong the Moors 
 
 must go, 
 
 That she, a Christian damosell, a Christian firm and true, 
 Must wed a Moorish husband, it well might cause her wo ; 
 But all her tears and all her prayers they are of small avail ; 
 At length she for her fate prepares, a victim sad and pale. 
 
 in. 
 
 The King hath sent his sister to fair Toledo town, 
 
 Where then the Moor Abdalla his royal state did keep ; 
 
 When she drew near, the Moslem, from his golden throne, came 
 
 down 
 
 And courteously received her, and bade her cease to weep ; 
 With loving words he pressed her, to come his bower within, 
 With kisses he caressed her, but still she feared the sin. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Sir King, Sir King, I pray thee," 'twas thus Theresa spake, 
 
 " I pray thee have compassion, and do to me no wrong ; 
 
 For sleep with thee I may not, unless the vows I break 
 
 \\ hereby I to the holy Church of Christ my Lord belong ; 
 
 But thou hast sworn to serve Mahoun, and if this thing should be, 
 
 The curse of God it must bring down upon thy realm and thee. 
 
 v. 
 
 " The angel of Christ Jesu, to whom my heavenly Lord 
 
 Hath given my soul in keeping, is ever by my side ; 
 
 If thou dost me dishonour, he will unsheath his sword, 
 
 And smite thy body fiercely, at the crying of thy bride. 
 
 Invisible he standeth ; his sword, like fiery flame. 
 
 Will penetrate thy bosom, the hour that sees my shame."
 
 THE WEDDING OF THE LADY THERESA. 55 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Moslem heard her with a smile ; the earnest words she said, 
 He took for bashful maiden's wile, and drew her to his bower. 
 In vain Theresa prayed and strove she pressed Abdalla's bed, 
 Perforce received his kiss of love, and lost her maiden flower. 
 A woeful Woman l there she lay, a loving lord beside, 
 And earnestly to God did pray her succour to provide. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The Angel of Christ Jesu her sore complaint did hear, 
 And plucked his heavenly weapon from out its sheath unseen, 
 He waved the brand in his right hand, and to the King came near, 
 And drew the point o'er limb and joint, beside the weeping Queen. 
 A mortal weakness from the stroke upon the King did fall, 
 He could not stand when daylight broke, but on his knees must 
 crawl. 
 
 Abdalla shuddered inly, when he this sickness felt, 
 
 And called upon his Barons, his pillow to come nigh ; 
 
 ' Rise up," he said, " my liegemen," as round his bed they knelt, 
 
 " And take this Christian lady, else certainly I die ; 
 
 Let gold be in your girdles, and precious stones beside, 
 
 And swiftly ride to Leon, and render up my bride." 
 
 IX. 
 
 When they were come to Leon, Theresa would not go 
 
 Into her brother's dwelling, where her maiden years were spent ; 
 
 But o'er her downcast visage a white veil she did throw, 
 
 And to the ancient nunnery of Saint Pelagius went. 
 
 There long, from worldly eyes retired, a holy life she led ; 
 
 There she, an aged saint, expired there sleeps she with the dead. 
 
 1 Duena El Moro la tornava.
 
 56 THE YOUNG CW. 
 
 THE YOUNG CID. 
 
 [The Ballads in the Collection of Escobar, entitled " Romancero e Historia 
 del inuy valeroso Cavallero El Cid Ruy Diaz de Bivar," are said by Mr. Southey 
 to be in general possessed of but little merit. Notwithstanding the opinion of 
 that great scholar and poet, I have had much pleasure in reading them; and 
 have translated a very few, which may serve, perhaps, as a sufficient specimen. 
 
 The following is a version of that which stands fifth in Escobar : 
 
 Cavalga Diego Laynez al buen Key besar la mano, &c.] 
 
 Now rides Uiego Laynez, to kiss the good King's hand, 
 Three hundred men of gentry go with him from his land, 
 Among them, young Rodrigo, the proud Knight of Bivar ; 
 The rest on mules are mounted, he on his horse of war. 
 
 n. 
 
 They ride in glittering gowns of soye He harnessed like a lord ; 
 There is no gold about the boy, but the crosslet of his sword ; 
 The rest have gloves of sweet perfume, He gauntlets strong of 
 
 mail ; 
 They broidered cap and flaunting plume, He crest untaught to 
 
 quail. 
 
 in. 
 
 All talking with each other thus along their way they passed, 
 But now they've come to Burgos, and met the King at last ; 
 When they came near his nobles, a whisper through them ran, 
 " He rides amidst the gentry that slew the Count Lozan." - 
 
 IV. 
 
 With very haughty gesture Rodrigo reined his horse, 
 
 Right scornfully he shouted, when he heard them so discourse, 
 
 " If any of his kinsmen or vassals dare appear, 
 
 The man to give them answer, on horse or foot, is here."
 
 THE YOUNG CID. 57 
 
 V. 
 
 " The devil ask the question !" thus muttered all the band ; 
 With that they all alighted, to kiss the good King's hand, 
 All but the proud Rodrigo, he in his saddle stayed, 
 Then turned to him his father (you may hear the words he said). 
 
 VI. 
 
 " Now, light, my son, I pray thee, and kiss the good King's hand, 
 He is our lord, Rodrigo ; we hold of him our land." 
 Hut when Rodrigo heard him, he looked in sulky sort, 
 I wot the words he answered they were both cold and short. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " Had any other said it, his pains had well been paid, 
 But thou, sir, art my father, thy word must be obeyed." 
 \Vith that he sprung down lightly, before the King to kneel, 
 But as the knee was bending, out leapt his blade of steel. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The King drew back in terror, when he saw. the sword was bare ; 
 " Stand back, stand back, Rodrigo, in the devil's name beware ; 
 Your looks bespeak a creature or father Adam's mould, 
 But in your wild behaviour you're like some lion bold." 
 
 When Rodrigo heard him say so, he leapt into his seat, 
 
 And thence he made his answer, with visage nothing sweet, 
 
 " I'd think it little honour to kiss a kingly palm, 
 
 And if my fathers kissed it, thereof ashamed I am." 
 
 x. 
 
 When he these words had uttered, he turned him from the gate. 
 His true three hundred gentles behind him followed straight ; 
 I f with good gowns they came that day, with better arms they went 
 And if their mules behind did stay, with horses they're content.
 
 58 A7J/A:-y DEMANDS VENGEANCE. 
 
 XIMENA DEMANDS VENGEANCE. 
 
 [This liallad, the sixth in Escobar, represents Ximena dome/, as, in ]>ersnii, 
 demanding of the King vengeance for the death of her father, whom the 
 young Rodrigo de Bivar had fought and slain.] 
 
 WITHIN the court at Burgos a clamour cloth arise. 
 
 Of arms on armour clashing, and screams, and snouts, and cries : 
 
 The good men of the King, that sit his hall around, 
 
 All suddenly upspring, astonished at the sound. 
 
 ii. 
 
 The King leans from his chamber, from the balcony on high 
 "What means this furious clamour my palace-porch so nigh?" 
 But when he looked below him, there were horsemen at the gate, 
 And the fair Ximena Gomez, kneeling in woeful state. 
 
 Upon her neck, disordered, hung down the lady's hair, 
 And floods of tears were streaming upon her bosom fair. 
 Sore wept she for her father, the Count that had been slain ; 
 Loud cursed she Rodrigo, whose sword his blood did stain. 
 
 IV. 
 
 They turned to bold Rodrigo, I wot his cheek was red ; 
 With haughty wrath he listened to the words Ximena said 
 " Good King, I cry for justice. Now, as my voice thoti hearest. 
 So God befriend the children, that in thy land thoti rearest. 
 
 " The King that doth not justice hath forfeited his claim, 
 Both to his kingly station, and to his kingly name ;
 
 XIMENA DEMANDS VENGEANCE. 59 
 
 He should not sit at banquet, clad in the royal pall, 
 Nor should the nobles serve him on knee within the hall. 
 
 VI. 
 
 " Good King, I am descended from barons bright of old, 
 That with Castilian pennons, Pelayo did uphold : 
 But if my strain were lowly, as it is high and clear, 
 Thou still shouldst prop the feeble, and the afflicted hear. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " For thee, fierce homicide, draw, draw thy sword once more, 
 And pierce the breast which wide I spread thy stroke before ; 
 Because I am a woman, my life thou needst not spare, 
 I am Ximena Gomez, my slaughtered father's heir. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " Since thou hast slain the Knight that did our faith defend, 
 
 And still to shameful flight all the Almanzors send. 
 
 'Tis but a little matter that I confront thee so, 
 
 Come, champion, slay his daughter, she needs must be thy foe." 
 
 IX. 
 
 Ximena gazed upon him, but no reply could meet ; 
 
 His fingers held the bridle, he vaulted to his seat. 
 
 She turned her to the nobles, I wot her cry was loud, 
 
 But not a man durst follow ; slow rode he through the crowd.
 
 60 THE CID A\D THE FIVE MOORISH KINGS. 
 
 THE 
 
 CID AND THE FIVE MOORISH KINGS. 
 
 [The reader will find the story of this Ballad in Mr. Southey's " Chronicle 
 of the Cid." " And the Moors entered Castile in great power, for there came 
 with them five Kings," &C. Book I. Sect. 4.] 
 
 WITH fire and desolation the Moors are in Castile. 
 
 Five Moorish kings together, and all their vassals leal ; 
 
 They've passed in front of Burgos, through the Oca- Hills they've 
 
 run, 
 They've plundered Belforado, San Domingo's harm is done. 
 
 n. 
 
 In Najara and Lograno there's waste and disarray : 
 And now with Christian captives, a very heavy prey, 
 With many men and women, and boys and girls beside, 
 In joy and exultation to their own realms they ride. 
 
 For neither king nor noble would dare their path to cross, 
 Until the good Rodrigo heard of this skaith and loss ; 
 In old Bivar the castle he heard the tidings told, 
 ( He was as yet a stripling, not twenty summers old) . 
 
 IV. 
 
 He mounted Bavieca, his friends he with him took, 
 
 He raised the country round him, no more such scorn to brook ; 
 
 He rode to the hills of Oca, where then the Moormen lay, 
 
 He conquered all the Moormen, and took from them their prey.
 
 THE CfD AND THE FIVE MOORISH KINGS. 
 
 V. 
 
 To every man had mounted he gave his part of gain, 
 Dispersing the much treasure the Saracens had ta'en ; 
 The Kings were all the booty himself had from the war, 
 Them led he to the castle, his stronghold of Bivar. 
 
 VI. 
 
 He brought them to his mother, proud dame that day was she 
 They owned him for their Signior, and then he set them free : 
 Home went they, much commending Rodrigo of Bivar, 
 And sent him lordly tribute, from their Moorish realms afar.
 
 62 THE CW'S COUR'I'SFfir. 
 
 THE CID'S COURTSHIP. 
 
 [See Mr. Southey's " Chronicle of the Cicl " (Book I. Sect. 5), for this part 
 the Cid's story, as jjiven in the General Chronicle of Spain.] 
 
 of the 
 
 Now, of Rodrigo tie Bivar great was the fame that run, 
 How he five Kings had vanquished, proud Moormen e\ :ry one 
 And how, when they consented to hold of him their ground. 
 He freed them from the prison wherein they had been bound. 
 
 ii. 
 
 To the good King Fernando, in Burgos where he lay, 
 Came then Ximena Gomez, and thus to him did say : 
 " I am Don Gomez' daughter, in Gormaz Count was he ; 
 Him slew Rodrigo of Bivar in battle valiantly. 
 
 in. 
 
 " Now am I come before you, this day a boon to crave, 
 And it is that 1 to husband may this Rodrigo have ; 
 Grant this, and I shall hold me a happy damosell, 
 Much honoured shall I hold me, I shall be married well. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " I know he's born for thriving, none like him in the land : 
 I know that none in battle against his spear may stand ; 
 Forgiveness is well pleasing in God our Saviour's view, 
 And I forgive him freely, for that my sire he slew." 
 
 v. 
 
 Right pleasing to Fernando was the thing she did propose' . 
 He writes his letter swiftly, and forth his foot-page goes ; 
 I wot, when young Rodrigo saw how the King did write, 
 He leapt on Bavieca I wot his leap was light.
 
 THE C/D'S COURTSHIP. 63 
 
 VI. 
 
 With his own troop of true men forthwith he took the way, 
 Three hundred friends and kinsmen, all gently born were they ; 
 All in one colour mantled, in armour gleaming gay, 
 New were both scarf and scabbard, when they went forth that day. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The King came out to meet him, with words of hearty cheer ; 
 Quoth he, " My good Rodrigo, you are right welcome here ; 
 This girl Ximena Gomez would have ye for her lord, 
 Already for the slaughter her grace she doth accord. 
 
 vm. 
 
 " I pray you be consenting, my gladness will be great ; 
 You shall have lands in plenty, to strengthen your estate." 
 " Lord King," Rodrigo answers, " in this and all beside, 
 Command, and I'll obey you. The girl shall be my bride." 
 
 IX. 
 
 But when the fair Ximena came forth to plight her hand, 
 Rodrigo, gazing on her, his face could not command : 
 He stood and blushed before her; thus at the last said he 
 ' I slew thy sire, Ximena, but not in villany : 
 
 x. 
 
 " In no disguise I slew him, man against man I stood ; 
 
 There was some wrong between us, 1 and I did shed his blood. 
 
 I slew a man, I owe a man ; fair lady, by God's grace, 
 
 An honoured husband thou shall have in thy dead father's place." 
 
 1 The wrong was all on the side of Ximena's father. The cause of quarrel 
 was a blow on the face given by Don Gomez, Count of Gormaz, to the Ciil's 
 father, Don Diego Laynez, an old and feeble man. whose injured honour the 
 son was called on to avenge. The chivalrous delicacy of the reply to Ximena 
 will strike the reader. fFdit.]
 
 64 THE CID'S WEDDIXG. 
 
 THE CID'S WEDDING. 
 
 [The following ballad, which contains some curious traits of rough and 
 
 antique manners, is not included in Escobar's collection. There is one there 
 
 descriptive of the same event, but apparently executed by a much more mod- 
 ern hand.] 
 
 WITHIN his hall of Burgos the King prepares the feast ; 
 He makes his preparation for many a noble guest. 
 It is a joyful city, it is a gallant day, 
 Tis the Campeador's wedding, and who will bide away? 
 
 ii. 
 
 I^ayn Calvo, the Lord Bishop, he first comes forth the gate, 
 Behind him comes Ruy Diaz, in all his bridal state ; 
 The crowd makes way before them as up the street they go ; 
 For the multitude of people their steps must needs be slow. 
 
 in. 
 
 The King had taken order that they should rear an arch, 
 From house to house all over, in the way where they must march ; 
 They have hung it all with lances, and shields, and glittering helms. 
 Brought by the Campeador from out the Moorish realms. 
 
 rv. 
 
 They have scattered olive branches and rushes on the street. 
 And the ladies fling down garlands at the Campeador's feet : 
 With tapestry and broidery their balconies between, 
 To do his bridal honour, their walls the burghers screen.
 
 THE CWS WEDDING. t>5 
 
 V. 
 
 They lead the bulls before them all covered o'er with trappings ; 
 The little boys pursue them with hootings and with clappings^ 
 The fool, with cap and bladder, upon his ass goes prancing, 
 Amidst troops of captive maidens with bells and cymbals dancii\ 
 
 VI. 
 
 With antics and with fooleries, with shouting and with laughter, 
 They fill the streets of Burgos and The Devil he comes after ; 
 For the King has hired the horned fiend for sixteen maravedis, 
 And there he goes, with hoofs for toes, to terrify the ladies. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Then comes the bride Ximena the King he holds her hand; 
 And the Queen, and, all in fur and pall, the nobles of the land ; 
 All down the street the ears of wheat are round Ximena flying, 
 But the King lifts off her bosom sweet whatever there is lying. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Quoth Suero, when he saw it (his thought you understand), 
 
 " Tis a fine thing to be a King ; but Heaven make me a Hand !" 
 
 The King was very merry, when lie was told of this, 
 
 And swore the bride ere eventide, must give the boy a kiss. 
 
 IX. 
 
 The King went always talking, but she held down her head, 
 And seldom gave an answer to any thing he said ; 
 It was better to be silent, among such a crowd of folk, 
 Than utter words so meaningless as she did when she spoke.
 
 66 THE C1D AND THE LEPER. 
 
 THE CID AND THE LEPER. 
 
 [Like our own Robert the Bruce, the great Spanish hero is represented as 
 exhibiting, on many occasions, great gentleness of disposition and compassion. 
 But while old Barlumr is contented with such simple anecdotes as that of a 
 poor laundress being suddenly taken ill with the pains of childbirth, and the 
 king stopping the march of his army rather than leave her unprotected, the 
 minstrels of Spain, never losing an opportunity of gratifying the superstition 
 propensities of their audience, are sure to let no similar incident in their 
 champion's history pass without a miracle.] 
 
 HE has ta'en some twenty gentlemen, along with him to go, 
 For he will pay that ancient vow he to Saint James doth owe ; 
 To Compostella, where the shrine doth by the altar stand, 
 The good Rodrigo de Bivar is riding through the land. 
 
 n. 
 
 Where'er he goes, much alms he throws, to feeble folk and poor ; 
 Beside the way for him they pray, him blessings to procure ; 
 For, God and Mary Mother, their heavenly grace to win, 
 His hand was ever bountiful : great was his joy therein. 
 
 in. 
 
 And there, in middle of the path, a leper did appear ; 
 In a deep slough the leper lay, none would to help come near. 
 With a loud voice he thence did cry, "For God our Saviour's sake, 
 From out this fearful jeopardy a Christian brother take." - 
 
 IV. 
 
 When Roderick heard that piteous word, he from his horse came 
 
 down ; 
 
 For all they said, no stay he made, that noble champion ; 
 He reached his hand to pluck him forth, of fear was no account, 
 Then mounted on his steed of worth, and made the leper mount.
 
 THE CID AND THE I.EPER, 67 
 
 v. 
 
 Behind him rode the leprous man ; when to their hostelrie 
 They came, he made him eat with him at table cheerfully ; 
 ^Yhiie all the rest from that poor guest with loathing shrunk away, 
 To his own bed the wretch he led, beside him there he lay. 
 
 VI. 
 
 All at the mid-hour of the night, while good Rodrigo slept, 
 
 A breath came from the leprous man, it through his shoulders crept ; 
 
 Right through the body, at the breast, passed forth that breathing 
 
 cold; 
 I wot he leaped up with a start, in terrors manifold. 
 
 VII. 
 
 He groped for him in the bed, but him he could not find, 
 Through the dark chamber groped he, with very anxious mind ; 
 Loudly he lifted up his voice, with speed a lamp was brought, 
 Yet nowhere was the leper seen, though far and near they sought. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 He turned him to his chamber, God wot, perplexed sore 
 
 With that which had befallen when lo ! his face before, 
 
 There stood a man, all clothed in vesture shining white : 
 
 Thus said the vision, " Sleepest thou, or wakest thou, Sir Knight?" 
 
 IX. 
 
 " I sleep not," quoth Rodrigo ; " but tell me who art thou, 
 For, in the midst of darkness, much light is on thy brow?" 
 '* I am the holy Lazarus, I come to speak with thee ; 
 I am the same poor leper thou savedst for charity. 
 
 x. 
 
 " Not vain the trial, nor in vain thy victory hath been ; 
 God favours thee, for that my pain thou didst relieve yestreen. 
 There shall be honour with thee, in battle and in peace, 
 Success in all thy doings, and plentiful increase.
 
 68 
 
 THE CID AND THE LEPER. 
 
 XI. 
 
 " Strong enemies shall not prevail, thy greatness to undo ; 
 
 Thy name shall make men's cheeks full pale Christians and 
 
 Moslem too ; 
 
 A death of honour shall thou die, such grace to thee is given, 
 Thy soul shall part victoriously, and be received in heaven." - 
 
 XII. 
 
 When he these gracious words had said, the spirit vanished quite, 
 Rodrigo rose and knelt him down he knelt till morning light ; 
 Unto the Heavenly Father, and Mary Mother dear, 
 He made his prayer right humbly, till dawned the morning clear.
 
 BA VIECA. 
 
 BAVIECA. 
 
 MONTAIGNE, in his curious Essay, entitled " Des Destriers," says 
 that all the world knows everything about Bucephalus. The name 
 of the favourite charger of the Cid Ruy Diaz, is scarcely less cele- 
 brated. Notice is taken of him in almost every one of the hundred 
 ballads concerning the history of his master, and there are two 
 or three of these, of which the horse is more truly the hero than 
 his rider. In one of these ballads, the Cid is giving directions 
 about his funeral; he desires that they shall place his body "in 
 full armour upon Bavieca," and so conduct him to the church of 
 San Pedro de Cardena. This was done accordingly ; and, says 
 another ballad 
 
 Truxeron pues a Babieca; 
 V en mirandole se puso 
 Tan triste como si fuera 
 Mas rasonable que bruto. 
 
 In the Cid's last will, mention is also made of this noble charger. 
 " When ye bury Bavieca, dig deep," says Ruy Diaz ; " for shame- 
 ful thing were it, that he should be eat by curs, who hath trampled 
 down so much currish flesh of Moors." 
 
 THE King looked on him kindly, as on a vassal true ; 
 Then to the King Ruy Diaz spake after reverence due, 
 " O King, the thing is shameful, that any man beside 
 The liege lord of Castile himself should Bavieca ride : 
 
 ii. 
 
 " For neither Spain or Araby could another charger bring 
 
 So good as he, and certes, the best befits my King. 
 
 But that you may behold him, and know him to the core, 
 
 I'll make him go as he was wont when his nostrils smelt the Moor."-
 
 70 BA VI EC A. 
 
 III. 
 
 With that, the Cid, clad as he was in mantle furred and wide, 
 On Bavieca vaulting, put the rowel in his side ; 
 And up and down, and round and round, so fierce was his career, 
 Streamed like a pennon on the wind Ruy Diaz' minivere. 
 
 IV. 
 
 And all that saw them praised them they lauded man and horse, 
 As matched well, and rivalless for gallantry and force ; 
 Ne'er had they looked on horseman might to this knight come near, 
 Nor on other charger worthy of such a cavalier. 
 
 v. 
 
 Thus, to and fro a-rushing, the fierce and furious steed, 
 
 He snapt in twain his hither rein : " God pity now the Cid." 
 
 " God pity Diaz," cried the Lords, but when they looked again, 
 
 They saw Ruy Diaz ruling him, with the fragment of his rein ; 
 
 They saw him proudly ruling with gesture firm and calm, 
 
 Like a true lord commanding and obeyed as by a lamb. 
 
 VI. 
 
 And so he led him foaming and panting to the King, 
 But " No," said Don Alphonso, " it were a shameful thing 
 That peerless Bavieca should ever be bestrid 
 By any mortal but Bivar Mount, mount again, my Cid."
 
 THE EXCOMMUNICATION OF THE CID. 71 
 
 THE 
 
 EXCOMMUNICATION OF THE CID. 
 
 THE last specimen I shall give of the Cid-ballads, is one the 
 subject of which is evidently of the most apocryphal cast. It is, 
 however, so far as I recollect, the only one of all that immense 
 collection that is quoted or alluded to in Don Quixote. "Sancho," 
 cried Don Quixote, " I am afraid of being excommunicated for 
 having laid violent hands upon a man in holy orders, Juxta Hind ; 
 si quis suadente diabolo, &c. But yet, now I think on it, I never 
 touched him with my hands, but only with my lance ; besides, I 
 did not in the least suspect I had to do with priests, whom I honour 
 and revere as every good Catholic and faithful Christian ought to 
 do, but rather took them to be evil spirits. Well, let the worst 
 come to the worst, I remember what befell the Cid Ruy Diaz, when 
 he broke to pieces the chair of a king's ambassador in the Pope's 
 presence, for which he was excommunicated ; which did not hinder 
 the worthy Rodrigo de Bivar from behaving himself that day like 
 a valorous knight, and a man of -honour." 
 
 IT Was when from Spain across the main the Cid had come to Rome, 
 He chanced to see chairs four and three beneath Saint Peter's dome. 
 "Now tell, I pray, what chairs be they;" "Seven kings do sit 
 
 thereon, 
 As well doth suit, all at the foot of the holy Father's throne. 
 
 n. 
 
 " The Pope he sitteth above them all, that they may kiss his toe, 
 Below the keys the Flower-de-lys doth make a gallant show : 
 For his great puissance, the King of France next to the Pope may sit, 
 The rest more low, all in a row, as doth their station fit."
 
 72 THE EXCOMMUNICATION OF THE CW. 
 
 III. 
 
 " Ha ! " quoth the Cid, " now God forbid I it is a shame, I wiss, 
 
 To see the Castle 1 planted beneath the Flower-de-lys. 2 
 
 Xo harm, I hope, good Father Pope although I move thy chair." 
 
 In pieces small he kicked it all ('twas of the ivory fair). 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Pope's own seat he from his feet did kick it far away, 
 And the Spanish chair he planted upon its place that day ; 
 Above them all he planted it, and laughed right bitterly ; 
 Looks sour and bad I trow he had, as grim as grim might be. 
 
 v. 
 
 Now when the Pope was aware of this, he was an angry man, 
 His lips that night, with solemn rite, pronounced the awful ban ; 
 The curse of God, who died on rood, was on that sinner's head 
 To hell and woe man's soul must go if once that curse be said. 
 
 VI. 
 
 I wot, when the Cid was aware of this, a woful man was he, 
 At dawn of day he came to pray at the blessed Father's knee : 
 " Absolve me, blessed Father, have pity upon me, 
 Absolve my soul, and penance I for my sin will dre^." 
 
 VII. 
 
 " Who is this sinner," quoth the Pope, " that at my foot doth kneel ? " 
 
 " I am Rodrigo Diaz a poor Baron of Castile. "- 
 
 Much marvelled all were in the hall, when that name they heard 
 him say, 
 
 "Rise up, rise up," the Pope he said, " I do thy guilt away ; 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " I do thy guilt away," he said "and my curse I blot it out 
 God save Rodrigo Diaz, my Christian champion stout; 
 I trow, if I had known thee, my grief it had been sore, 
 To curse Ruy Diaz de Bivar, God's scourge upon the Moor." 
 
 1 The arms of Castile. 2 'Die arms of France.
 
 GARC1 PEREZ DE VARGAS. 
 
 GARCI PEREZ DE VARGAS. 
 
 THE crowns of Castile and Leon being at length joined in the 
 person of King Ferdinand, surnamed El Santo, the authority of 
 the Moors in Spain was destined to receive many severe blows from 
 the united efforts of two Christian states, which had in former 
 times too often exerted their vigour against each other. The most 
 important event of King Ferdinand's reign was the conquest of 
 Seville, which great city yielded to his arms in the year 1248, after 
 sustaining a long and arduous siege of sixteen months. 
 
 Don Garci Perez de Vargas was one of the most distinguished 
 warriors who on this great occasion fought under the banners of 
 Ferdinand ; and accordingly there are many ballads of which he is 
 the hero. The incident celebrated in that which follows, is thus 
 told, with a few variations, in the seventh chapter of the thirteenth 
 book of MARIANA : 
 
 "Above all others, there signalized himself in these affairs that 
 Garci Perez de Vargas, a native ,of Toledo, of whose valour so 
 many marvellous, and almost incredible achievements, are related. 
 One day about the beginning of the siege, this Garci Perez, and 
 another with him, were riding by the side of the river, at some dis- 
 tance from the outposts, when, of a sudden, there came upon them 
 a party of seven Moors on horseback. The companion of Perez 
 was for returning immediately, but he replied, that ' never, even 
 though he should lose his life for it, would he consent to the base- 
 ness of flight.' With that, his companion riding off, Perez armed 
 himself, closed his visor, and put his lance in the rest. But the 
 enemies, when they knew who it was, declined the combat. 
 
 " He had therefore pursued his way by himself for some space, 
 when he perceived, that in lacing the head-piece and shutting the 
 visor, he had, by inadvertence, dropt his scarf. He immediately 
 returned upon his steps that he might seek for it. The King, as it 
 happened, had his eyes upon Perez all this time, for the royal tent 
 looked towards the place where he was riding, and he never 
 doubted that the knight had turned back for the purpose of pro-
 
 74 GARCI PEREZ DE VARGAS. 
 
 yoking the Moors to the combat. But they avoided him as before, 
 and he, having regained his scarf, came in safety to the camp. 
 
 " The honour of the action was much increased by this circum- 
 stance, that although frequently pressed to disclose the name of 
 the gentleman who had deserted him in that moment of danger, 
 ( Jurci Perez would never consent to do so, for his modesty was 
 equal to his bravery." 
 
 A little farther on Mariana relates, that Garci Perez had a dis- 
 pute with another gentleman, who thought proper to assert that 
 Garci had no right to assume the coat-of-arms which he wore. 
 " A sally having been made by the Moors, that gentleman, among 
 many more, made his escape, but Garci stood firm to his post, 
 and never came back to the camp until the Moors were driven 
 again into the city. He came with his shield all bruised and bat- 
 tered to the place where the gentleman was standing, and point- 
 ing to the effaced bearing which was on it, said, ' Indeed, sir, it 
 must be confessed that you show more respect than I do to this 
 same coat-of-arms, for you keep yours bright and unsullied, while 
 mine is sadly discoloured.' The gentleman was sorely ashamed, 
 and thenceforth Garci Perez bore his achievement without gain- 
 saying or dispute." 
 
 KING Ferdinand alone did stand one day upon the hill, 
 Surveying all his leaguer, and the ramparts of Seville ; 
 The sight was grand, when Ferdinand by proud Seville was lying, 
 O'er tower and tree far off to see the Christian banners flying. 
 
 n. 
 
 Down chanced the King his eye to fling, where far the camp below 
 Two gentlemen along the glen were riding soft and slow ; 
 As void of fear each cavalier seemed to be riding there, 
 As some strong hound may pace around the roebuck's thickest 
 lair. 
 
 m. 
 
 It was Don Garci Perez, and he would breathe the air, 
 
 And he had ta'en a knight with him, that as lief had been else 
 
 where ; 
 
 For soon this knight to Garci said, " Ride, ride we, or we're lost ! 
 I see the glance of helm and lance it is the Moorish Host."
 
 GARCI PEREZ DE VARGAS. 75 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Baron of Vargas turned him round, his trusty squire was near, 
 The helmet on his brow lie bound, his gauntlet grasped his spear ; 
 With that upon his saddle-tree he planted him right steady, 
 " Now come," quoth he, "whoe'er they be, I trow they'll find us 
 ready." 
 
 v. 
 
 By this the knight who rode with him had turned his horse's head, 
 And up the glen in fearful trim unto the camp had fled. 
 " Ha ! gone ? " quoth ( iarci Perez ; he smiled, and said no more, 
 But slowly with his esquire rode as he rode before. 
 
 VI. 
 
 It was the Count Lorenzo, just then it happened so, 
 
 He took his stand by Ferdinand, and with him gazed below ; 
 
 " My liege," quoth he, " seven Moors I see a-coming from the wood, 
 
 Now bring they all the blows they may, I trow they'll find as good ; 
 
 But it is Don Garci Perez, if his cognizance they know, 
 
 I guess it will be little pain to give them blow for blow." 
 
 VII. 
 
 The Moors from forth the greenwood came riding one by one, 
 A gallant troop with armour resplendent in the sun ; 
 Full haughty was their bearing, as o'er the sward they came, 
 While the calm Lord of Vargas his march was still the same. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 They stood drawn up in order, while past them all rode he, 
 For when upon his shield they saw the Red Cross and the Tree, 
 And the wings of the Black Eagle, that o'er his crest were spread, 
 They knew it was Card Perez, and never a word they said. 
 
 IX. 
 
 He took the casque from off his head, and gave it to the squire, 
 " My friend," quoth he, " no need I see why I my brows should 
 tire."
 
 76 GARCI PEREZ DE VARGAS. 
 
 But as he doffed the helmet, he saw his scarf was gone, 
 
 " I've dropt it sure," quoth Garci, " when I put my helmet on." 
 
 x. 
 
 He looked around and saw the scarf, for still the Moors were near, 
 And they had picked it from the sward, and looped it on a spear ; 
 " These Moors," quoth Garci Perez, " uncourteous Moors they be 
 Now, by my soul, the scarf they stole, yet durst not question me ! 
 
 XI. 
 
 " Now, reach once more my helmet." The esquire said him nay, 
 "For a silken string why should ye fling perchance your life 
 
 away? " 
 
 " I had it from my lady," quoth Garci, " long ago, 
 And never Moor that scarf, be sure, in proud Seville shall show." - 
 
 XII. 
 
 But when the Moslem saw him, they stood in firm array, 
 
 He rode among their armed throng, he rode right furiously ; 
 
 " Stand, stand, ye thieves and robbers, lay down my lady's 
 
 pledge ! " 
 He cried, and ever as he cried they felt his falchion's edge. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 That day when the Lord of Vargas came to the camp alone, 
 The scarf, his lady's largess, around his breast was thrown ; 
 Bare was his head, his sword was red, and from his pommel strung, 
 Seven turbans green, sore hacked I ween, before Garci Perez hung.
 
 THE POUNDER. 77 
 
 THE POUNDER. 
 
 A BALLAD concerning another doughty knight of the same fam- 
 ily and most probably, considering the date, a brother of Garci 
 Perez de Vargas. Its story is thus alluded to in Don Quixote, in 
 the chapter of The Windmills : 
 
 " However, the loss of his lance was no small affliction to him ; 
 and as he was making his complaint about it to his squire, ' I have 
 read,' said he, ' friend Sancho, that a certain Spanish knight, whose 
 name was Diego Perez de Vargas, having broken his sword in the 
 heat of an engagement, pulled up by the roots a huge oak-tree, or 
 at least tore down a massy branch, and did such wonderful execu- 
 tion, crushing and grinding so many Moors with it that day, that 
 he won himself and his posterity the sirname of The Pounder or 
 Bruiser. 1 I tell this, because I intend to tear up the next oak, or 
 holm-tree, we meet ; with the trunk whereof I hope to perform 
 such wondrous deeds, that thou wilt esteem thyself particularly 
 happy in having had the honour to behold them, and been the 
 ocular witness of achievements which posterity will scarce be able 
 to believe.' ' Heaven grant you may,' cried Sancho : ' I believe 
 it all, because your worship says it.' " 
 
 THE Christians have beleaguered the famous walls of Xeres, 
 Among them are Don Alvar and Don Diego Perez, 
 And many other gentlemen, who, day succeeding day, 
 Give challenge to the Saracen and all his chivalry. 
 
 H. 
 
 When rages the hot battle before the gates of Xeres, 
 
 By trace of gore ye may explore the dauntless path of Perez. 
 
 1 Machuca, from Machucar, to pound as in a mortar.
 
 78 THE POUNDER. 
 
 No knight like Don Diego no sword like his is found 
 In all the host, to hew the boast of Paynims to the ground. 
 
 m. 
 
 It fell one day when furiously they battled on the plain, 
 Diego shivered both his lance and trusty blade in twain ; 
 The Moors that saw it shouted, for esquire none was near, 
 To serve Diego at his need with falchion, mace, or spear. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Loud, loud he blew his bugle, sore troubled was his eye, 
 But by God's grace before his face there stood a tree full nigh, 
 A comely tree with branches strong, close by the walls of Xeres 
 "Yon goodly bough will serve I trow," quoth Don Diego Perez. 
 
 v. 
 
 A gnarled branch he soon did wrench down from that olive strong, 
 Which o'er his head-piece brandishing, he spurs among the throng. 
 God wot ! full many a Pagan must in his saddle reel ! 
 What leech shall cure, what priest shall shrive, if once that weight 
 ye feel? 
 
 VI. 
 
 But when Don Alvar saw him thus bruising down the foe, 
 Quoth he, " I've seen some flail-armed man belabour barley so ! 
 Sure mortal mould did ne'er enfold such mastery of power ; 
 Let's call Diego Perez THE POUNDER ' from this hour. 
 
 1 MACHUCA.
 
 THE MURDER OF THE MASTER OF ST. IAGO. 79 
 THE 
 
 MURDER OF THE MASTER OF ST. IAGO. 
 
 THE next four ballads relate to the history of DON PEDRO, King 
 of Castile, called THE CRUEL. 
 
 An ingenious person not long ago published a work, the avowed 
 purpose of which was to prove that Tiberius was a humane and 
 contemplative prince, who retired to the Island of Capreae only 
 that he might the better indulge in the harmless luxury of philo- 
 sophic meditation : and, in like manner, Pedro The Cruel has 
 found, in these latter times, his defenders and apologists ; above 
 all, Voltaire. 
 
 There may be found, without doubt, in the circumstances which 
 attended his accession, something to palliate the atrocity of several 
 of his bloody acts. His father had treated his mother with con- 
 tempt : he had not only entertained, as his mistress, in her life- 
 time, a lady of the powerful family of Guzman, but actually 
 proclaimed that lady his queen, and brought up her sons as princes 
 in his palace ; nay, he had even betrayed some intentions of violat- 
 ing, in their favour, the order of succession, and the rights of Pedro. 
 And, accordingly, no sooner was Alphonso dead, and Pedro 
 acknowledged by the nobility, than Donna Leonora de Guzman, 
 and her sons, whether from consciousness of guilt, or from fear of 
 violence, or from both of these causes, betook themselves to various 
 places of strength, where they endeavoured to defend themselves 
 against the authority of the new King. After a little time, matters 
 were so far accommodated by the interference of friends, that 
 Donna Leonora took up her residence at Seville ; but Pedro was 
 suddenly, while in that city, seized with a distemper which his 
 physicians said must, in all probability, have a mortal termination ; 
 and during his confinement (which lasted for several weeks) , many 
 intrigues were set a-foot, and the pretensions of various candidates 
 for the throne openly canvassed among the nobility of Castile. 
 
 Whether the King had, on his recovery, discovered anything 
 indicative of treasonous intentions in the recent conduct of Leonora
 
 80 THE MUhDER OF T1U MASTER OF ST. I AGO. 
 
 and her family (which, all things considered, seems not improbable), 
 or whether he merely suffered himself, as was said at the time, to 
 be over-persuaded by the vindictive arguments of his own mother, 
 the queen-dowager, the fact is certain, that in the course of a few 
 days, Donna Leonora was arrested, and put to death by Pedro's 
 command, in the Castle of Talaveyra. Don Fadrique (or Fred- 
 erick), one of her sons, who had obtained the dignity of Master of 
 the order of St. lago, fled upon this into Portugal, and foitified 
 himself in the city of Coimbra ; while another of them, Don l-'n- 
 rique, or Henry, Lord of Trastamara, took refuge at the Court of 
 Arragon, openly renouncing his allegiance to the crown of Castile, 
 and professing himself henceforth, in all things, the subject and 
 vassal of the prince who gave him protection. 
 
 Henry of Trastamara was, from this time, the declared and active 
 enemy of his brother ; and. in consequence of his influence, and 
 that of his mother's kindred, but most of all, in consequent c of 
 Don Pedro's own atrocious proceedings, Castile itself was filled 
 with continual tumults and insurrections. 
 
 Don Fadrique, however, made his peace with Pedro. After a lapse 
 of many months, he was invited to come to the court at Sc ville, 
 and take his share in the amusements of an approaching tourna- 
 ment. He accepted the invitation, but was received with terrible 
 coldness, and immediately executed within the palace. The friends 
 of Pedro asserted that the King had that very day detected Ton 
 Fadrique in a correspondence with his brother, Henry of Trastamara, 
 and the Arragonese ; while popular belief attributed the slaughter 
 of the Master to the unhappy influence which the too celebrated 
 Maria de Padilla had long ere this begun to exercise over Pedro's 
 mind. 
 
 Maria was often, in consequence of her close intimacy with 
 Jews, called by the name of their hated race ; but she was in reality 
 not only of Christian, but of noble descent in Spain. However 
 that might be, Pedro found her in the family of his minister, Allni 
 querque, where she had been brought up, loved her with all the 
 violence of his temper, and made her his wife in all things but the 
 name. Although political motives induced him, not long after- 
 wards, to contract an alliance with a princess of the French blood 
 royal, the unfortunate Blanche of Bourbon, he lived with his 
 young queen but a few days, and then deserted her for ever, for 
 the sake of this beautiful, jealous and imperious mistress. 
 
 The reader will observe, that there is a strange peculiarity in the 
 structure of the ballad which narrates the Murder of the Master
 
 THE MURDER Ol- Tilt:. MASTER OF ST. /AGO. 81 
 
 ot St. lago. The unfortunate Fadrique is introduced in the 
 beginning of it as telling his own story, and so he carries it on, in 
 the first person, until the order for his execution is pronounced 
 by Pedro. The sequel is given as if by another voice. I can suj 
 pose this singularity to have had a musical origin. 
 The Master was slain in the year 1358. 
 
 " I SAT alone in Coimbra the town myself had ta'en, 
 When came into my chamber, a messenger from Spain ; 
 There was no treason in his look, an honest look he wore ; 
 I from his hand the letter took, my brother's seal it bore. 
 
 n. 
 
 " ' Come, brother dear, the day draws near ' ('twas thus bespoke 
 
 the King), 
 
 ' For plenar court and knightly sport, within the listed ring.' - 
 Alas ! unhappy Master, I easy credence lent ; 
 Alas ! for fast and faster I at his bidding went. 
 
 in. 
 
 " When I set off from Coimbra, and passed the bound of Spain, 
 I had a goodly company of spearmen in my train ; 
 A gallant force, a score of horse, and sturdy mules thirteen : 
 With joyful heart I held my course my years were young and 
 green. 
 
 rv. 
 
 A journey of good fifteen days within the week was done, 
 I halted not, though signs I got, dark tokens many a one ; 
 A strong stream mastered horse and mule, I lost my poniard fine 
 And left a page within the pool, a faithful page of mine. 
 
 v. 
 
 Vet on to proud Seville I rode ; when to the gate I came, 
 Before me stood a man of God, to warn me from the same ; 
 Tne words he spake I would not hear, his grief I would not see, 
 I seek, said I, my brother dear I will not stop for thee.
 
 S2 THE MURDER OF Till-'. MASTER OF ST. /AGO. 
 
 VI. 
 
 " No lists were closed upon the sand, for royal tourney dight ; 
 No pawing horse was seen to stand, I saw no armed knight ; 
 Yet aye I gave my mule the spur, and hastened through the town, 
 I stopt before his palace-door, then gaily leapt I down. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " They shut the door, my trusty score of friends were left behind ; 
 I would not hear their whispered fear, no harm was in my mind ; 
 I greeted Pedro, but he turned I wot his look was cold ; 
 His brother from his knees he spurned ' Stand off, thou Master 
 bold 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " ' Stand off, stand off, thou traitor strong,' 'twas thus he said to 
 
 me, 
 'Thy time on earth shall not be long what brings thee to my 
 
 knee? 
 
 My Lady craves a New-year's gift, and I will keep my word ; 
 Thy head methinks may serve the shift Good yeoman, draw 
 
 thy sword.' " 
 
 IX. 
 
 The Master lay upon the floor ere well that word was said, 
 Then in a charger off they bore his pale and bloody head ; 
 They brought it to Padilla's chair, they bowed them on the knee, 
 " King Pedro greets thee, Lady fair, his gift he sends to thee."- 
 
 x. 
 
 She gazed upon the Master's head, her scorn it could not scare, 
 And cruel were the words she said, and proud her glances were ; 
 ' Thou now shalt pay, thou traitor base, the debt of many a year, 
 My dog shall lick that haughty face ; no more that lip shall 
 sneer." 
 
 XI. 
 
 She seized it by the clotted hair, and o'er the window flung ; 
 The mastiff smelt it in his lair, forth at her cry he sprung ; 
 The mastiff that had crouched so low to lick the Master's hand, 
 He tossed the morsel to and fro, and licked it on the sand.
 
 THE Ml'RDER OF THE MASTER OF ST. IAGO. 83 
 
 XII. 
 
 And ever as the mastiff tore, his bloody teeth were shown, 
 With growl and snort he made his sport, and picked it to the bone. 
 The baying of the beast was loud, and swiftly on the street 
 1 here gathered round a gaping crowd, to see the mastiff eat. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Then out and spake King Pedro, "What governance is this? 
 The rabble rout, my gate without, torment my dogs, I wiss." 
 Then out and spake King Pedro's page, " It is the Master's head, 
 The mastiff tears it in his rage, therewith they him have fed." 
 
 xrv. 
 
 Then out and spake the ancient Nurse, that nursed the brothers 
 
 twain, 
 
 ' : ( )n thee, King Pedro, lies the curse, thy brother thou hast slain ; 
 A thousand harlots there may be within the realm of Spain, 
 But where is she can give to thee thy brother back again? " 
 
 xv. 
 
 Came darkness o'er King Pedro's brow, when thus he heard her 
 
 say; 
 
 He sorely rued the accursed vow he had fulfilled that day ; 
 He passed unto his paramour, where on her couch she lay, 
 Leaning from out her painted bower, to see the mastiffs play. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 He drew her to a dungeon dark, a dungeon strong and deep ; 
 ! My father's son lies stiff and stark, and there are few to weep. 
 Fadrique's blood for vengeance calls, his cry is in mine ear ; 
 Thou art the cause, thou harlot false, in darkness lie thou here."
 
 84 THE DEATH OF QUEEN BLANCHE. 
 
 THE 
 
 DEATH OF QUEEN BLANCHE. 
 
 THAT Pedro was accessory to the violent death of this young 
 and innocent Princess whom he had married, and immediately 
 afterwards deserted for ever, there can be no doubt. This atro- 
 cious deed was avenged abundantly; for it certainly led, in the 
 issue, to the downfall and death of Pedro himself. 
 
 Mariana says, very briefly, that the injuries sustained by Queen 
 Blanche had so much offended many of Pedro's own nobility, that 
 they drew up a formal remonstrance, and presented it to him in a 
 style sufficiently formidable ; and that he, his proud and fierce 
 temper being stung to madness by what he considered an unjusti- 
 fiable interference with his domestic concerns, immediately gave 
 orders for the poisoning of Blanche in her prison. 
 
 In the old French Memoirs of Du Guesclin, a much more im- 
 probable story is told at great length. The Queen Blanche, accord- 
 ing to this account, had been banished to Medina, the adjoining 
 territory being assigned to her for her maintenance. One of her 
 vassals, a Jew, presumed to do his homage in the usual fashion, 
 that is by kissing Blanche on the cheek, ere his true character was 
 suspected either by her or her attendants. No sooner was the man 
 known to be a Jew, than he was driven from the presence of the 
 Queen with every mark of insult ; and this sunk so deeply into his 
 mind, that he determined to revenge himself, if possible, by the 
 death of Blanche. He told his story to Maria de Padilla, who pre- 
 vailed on the King to suffer him to take his own measures ; and he 
 accordingly surprised the Castle of Medina by night, at the head of 
 a troop of his own countrymen, and butchered the unhappy lady. 
 
 The ballad itself is. in all likelihood. ;is trustworthy as any other 
 authority ; but the true particulars of such a crime were pretty sure 
 to be kept concealed.
 
 THE DEATH OF QUEEN BLAiJCllE. 85 
 
 " MARIA DE PADILLA, be not thus of dismal mood, 
 
 For if I twice have wedded me, it all was for thy good ; * 
 
 " But if upon Queen Blanche ye will that I some scorn should show, 
 For a banner to Medina my messenger shall go ; 
 
 "The work shall be of Blanche's tears, of Blanche's blood the 
 
 ground ; 
 Such pennon shall they weave for thee, such sacrifice be found." 
 
 Then to the Lord of Ortis, that excellent baron, 
 
 He said, " Now hear me, Ynigo, forthwith for this begone." 
 
 Then answer made Don Ynigo, " Such gift I ne'er will bring, 
 For he that harmeth Lady Blanche doth harm my lord the king." 
 
 Then Pedro to his chamber went, his cheek was burning red, 
 And to a bowman of his guard the dark command he said. 
 
 The bowman to Medina passed ; when the Queen beheld him near, 
 " Alas ! " she said, " my maidens, he brings my death, I fear." 
 
 Then said the archer, bending low, " The King's commandment take, 
 And see thy soul be ordered well with God that did it make. 
 
 " For lo ! thine hour is come, therefrom no refuge may there be." 
 Then gently spake the Lady Blanche, " My friend, I pardon thee ; 
 
 " Do what thou wilt, so be the King hath his commandment given, 
 Deny me not confession if so, forgive ye Heaven." 
 
 Much grieved the bowman for her tears, and for her beauty's sake, 
 While thus Queen Blanche of Bourbon her last complaint did 
 make ; 
 
 1 According to Mariana, Pedro had not declared himself married to Maria 
 dc Padilla, at the period of Queen Blanche's death.
 
 86 THE DEATH OF QUEEN BLANCHE. 
 
 " Oh France ! my noble country oh blood of high Bourbon, 
 Not eighteen years have I seen out before my life is gone. 
 
 " The King hath never known me. A virgin true I die. 
 Whate'er I've done, to proud Castile no treason e'er did I. 
 
 "The crown they put upon my head was a crown of blood and sighs. 
 God grant me soon another crown more precious in the skies. "- 
 
 These words she spake, then down she knelt, and took the bow- 
 man's blow 
 Her tender neck was cut in twain, and out her blood did flow.
 
 THE DEATH OF DON PEDRO. 87 
 
 THE DEATH OF DON PEDRO. 
 
 THE reader may remember, that when Don Pedro had, by his 
 excessive cruelties, quite alienated from himself the hearts of the 
 great majority of his people, Don Henry of Trastamara, Ms natural 
 brother, who had spent many years in exile, returned suddenly into 
 Spain with a formidable band of French auxiliaries, by whose aid 
 lie drove Pedro out of his kingdom. The voice of the nation was 
 on Henry's side, and he took possession of the throne without fur- 
 ther opposition. 
 
 Pedro, after his treatment of Queen Blanche, could have noth- 
 ing to hope from the crown of France, so he immediately threw 
 himself into the arms of England. And our Edward, the Black 
 Prince, who then commanded in Gascony, had more than one 
 obvious reason for taking up his cause. 
 
 The Prince of Wales marched with Don Pedro into Spain, at the 
 head of an army of English and Gascon veterans, whose disciplined 
 valour Mariana very frankly confesses, gave them a decided supe- 
 riority over the Spanish soldiery of the time. Henry was so unwise 
 as to set his stake upon a battle, and was totally defeated in the 
 field of Najara. Unable to rally his flying troops, he was com- 
 pelled to make his escape beyond the Pyrenees ; and Don Pedro 
 once more established himself in his kingdom. The battle of 
 Xajara took place in 1366. 
 
 But, in 1368, when the Black Prince had retired again into Gas- 
 cony, Henry, in his turn, came back from exile with a small but 
 gallant army, most of whom were French, commanded by the cele- 
 brated Bertram I)u Gleasquin, or, as he is more commonly called, 
 Du Guesclin and animated, as was natural, by strong thirst of 
 vengeance for the insults, which, in the person of Blanche, Pedro 
 had heaped upon the royal line of their country, and the bio >d of 
 St. Louis. 
 
 Henry of Trastamara advanced into the heart of La Mam ha, 
 and there encountered Don Pedro, at the head of an army six 
 times more numerous than that which he commanded, but com-
 
 88 THE DEATH OF DOX PEDRO. 
 
 posed in a great measure of Jews, Saracens, and Portuguese, 
 miscellaneous auxiliaries, who gave way before the ardour of the 
 French chivalry, so that Henry remained victorious, and Pedro was 
 compelled to take refuge in the neighbouring castle of Montiel. 
 That fortress was so strictly blockaded by the successful enemy, 
 that the king was compelled to attempt his escape by night, with 
 only twelve persons in his retinue, Ferdinand de Castro being 
 the person of most note among them. 
 
 As they wandered in the dark, they were encountered by a body 
 of French cavalry making the rounds, commanded by an adven- 
 turous knight, called Le Begue de Villaines. Compelled to sur- 
 render, Don Pedro put himself under the safeguard of this officer, 
 promising him a rich ransom, if he would conceal him from the 
 knowledge of his brother Henry. The knight, according to Frois- 
 sart, promised him concealment, and conveved him to his own 
 quarters. 
 
 I Jut in the course of an hour, Henry was apprized that he was 
 taken, and came with some of his followers to the tent of Allan de 
 la Houssaye, where his unfortunate brother had been placed. On 
 entering the chamber, he exclaimed, " Where is that whore-son 
 and Jew, who calls himself King of Castile?"- Pedro, as proud 
 and fearless as he was cruel, stepped instantly forward and replied, 
 " Here I stand, the lawful son and heir of Don Alphonso, and it is 
 thou that art but a false bastard." The rival brethren instantly 
 grappled like lions, the French knights and I Hi Guesclin himself 
 looking on. Henry drew his poniard and wounded Pedro in the 
 face, but his body was defended by a coat-of-mail ; a violent strug- 
 gle ensued : Henry fell across a bench, and his brother being 
 uppermost, had well-nigh mastered him, when one of Henry's fol- 
 lowers seizing Don Pedro by the leg, turned him over, and his 
 master, thus at length gaining the upper-hand, instantly stabbed 
 the King to the heart. 
 
 Froissart calls this man the Vicompte de Roquebetyn, and othrr> 
 the Bastard of Anisse. Menard, in his History of Du Guesrlin, says. 
 that while all around gazed like statues on the furious struggle of 
 the brothers, Du Guesclin exclaimed to this attendant of Henry. 
 " What ! will you stand by and see your master placed at such a 
 pass by a false renegade? Make forward and aid him, for well 
 you may." 
 
 Pedro's head was cut off, and his remains were meanly buried. 
 They were afterwards disinterred by his daughter, the wife of our 
 own John of Gaunt, " time-honoured Lancaster," and deposited
 
 THE DEATH OF DOX PEDRO. 89 
 
 in Seville, with the honours due to his rank. His memory was 
 regarded with a strange mixture of horror and compassion, which 
 recommended him as a subject for legend and for romance. He 
 had caused his innocent wife to be assassinated, had murdered 
 three of his brothers, and committed numberless cruelties upon 
 his subjects. He had, which the age held equally scandalous, held 
 a close intimacy with the Jews and Saracens, and had enriched 
 him at the expense of the church. Yet, in spite of all these crimes, 
 his undaunted bravery and energy of character, together with the 
 strange circumstances of his death, excited milder feelings towards 
 his memory. 
 
 The following ballad, which describes the death of Don Pedro, 
 was translated by a friend. 1 It is quoted more than once by Cer- 
 vantes in Don Quixote. 
 
 HENRY and King Pedro clasping, 
 Hold in straining arms each other ; 
 
 Tugging hard, and closely grasping, 
 
 Brother proves his strength with brother. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Harmless pastime, sport fraternal, 
 Blends not thus their limbs in strife ; 
 
 Either aims, with rage infernal, 
 Naked dagger, sharpened knife. 
 
 in. 
 
 Close Don Henry grapples Pedro, 
 
 Pedro holds Don Henry strait, 
 Breathing, this, triumphant fury, 
 
 That, despair and mortal hate. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Sole spectator of the struggle, 
 
 Stands Don Henry's page afar, 
 In the chase who bore his bugle, 
 
 And who bore his sword in war. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott," says Lockhart himself, edition of 1853.
 
 90 THE DEATH OF DON PEDRO. 
 
 V. 
 
 Down they go in deadly wrestle, 
 Down upon the earth they go, 
 
 Fierce King Pedro has the vantage, 
 Stout Don Henry falls below. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Marking then the fatal crisis, 
 Up the page of Henry ran, 
 
 By the waist he caught Don Pedro, 
 Aiding thus the fallen man. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " King to place, or to depose him, 
 Dwelleth not in my desire, 
 
 But the duty which he owes him, 
 To his master pays the squire." 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Now Don Henry has the upmost, 
 Now King Pedro lies beneath, 
 
 In his heart his brother's poniard 
 Instant finds its bloody sheath. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Thus with mortal gasp and quiver, 
 While the blood in bubbles welled, 
 
 Fled the fiercest soul that ever 
 In a Christian bosom dwelled.
 
 THE PROCLAMATION Ol- KING HEXRY, 91 
 
 THE 
 
 PROCLAMATION OF KING HENRY. 
 
 THE following ballad, taking up the story where it is left in the 
 preceding one, gives us the Proclamation and Coronation of Don 
 Henry, surnamed, from the courtesy of his manners, El Cavallero, 
 and the grief of Pedro's lovely and unhappy mistress, Maria de 
 Padilla. From its structure and versification, I have no doubt 
 it is of much more modern origin than most of those in the first 
 Cancionero. 
 
 The picture which Mariana gives us of Don Pedro, the hero 
 of so many atrocious and tragical stories, is to me very striking. 
 " He was pale of complexion," says the historian ; " his features 
 were high and well formed, and stamped with a certain authority 
 of majesty, his hair red, his figure erect, even to stiffness ; he was 
 bold and determined in action and in council ; his bodily frame 
 sank under no fatigues, his spirit under no weight of difficulty or 
 of danger. He was passionately fond of hawking, and all violent 
 exercises. 
 
 " In the beginning of his reign, he administered justice among 
 private individuals with perfect integrity. But even then were 
 visible in him the rudiments of those vices which grew \vith his 
 age, and finally led him to his ruin ; such as a general contempt 
 and scorn of mankind, an insulting tongue, a proud and difficult 
 ear, even to those of his household. These faults were discernible 
 even in his tender years ; to them, as he advanced in life, were 
 added avarice, dissolution in luxury, an utter hardness of heart, 
 and a remorseless cruelty." - MARIANA, Book XVI. ch. 10. 
 
 The reader will find almost the whole of Don Pedro's history 
 clothed in a strain of glowing and elegant poetry, in the Baron 
 de la Motte Fouque. See his " Bertrand Du Guesclin, historisches 
 ritter-gedicht."
 
 92 THE PROCLAMATION OF KL\G 1IEXRY. 
 
 Ax the feet of Don Henrique now King Pedro dead is lying, 
 
 Not that Henry's might was greater, but that blood to Heaven 
 
 was crying. f 
 
 Though deep the dagger had its sheath within his brother's breast, 
 Firm on the frozen throat beneath Don Henry's foot is prest. 
 
 n. 
 
 So dark and sullen is the glare of Pedro's lifeless eyes, 
 Still half he fears what slumbers there to vengeance may arise. 
 So stands the brother, on his brow the mark of blood is seen, 
 Yet had he not been Pedro's Cain, his Cain had Pedro been. 
 
 in. 
 
 Close round the scene of cursed strife, the armed knights appear 
 
 Of either band, with silent thoughts of joyfulness or fear; 
 
 All for a space, in silence, the fratricide survey, 
 
 Then sudden bursts the mingling voice of triumph and dismay. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Glad shout on shout from Henry's host ascends unto the sky ; 
 "God save King Henry save the King King Henry!" is 
 
 their cry. 
 
 But Pedro's Barons clasp their brows, in sadness stand they near, 
 Whate'er to others he had been, their friend lies murdered here. 
 
 v. 
 
 The deed, say those, was justly done a tyrant's soul is sped ; 
 These ban and curse the traitorious blow, by which a King is 
 
 dead. 
 " Now see," cries one, " how Heaven's amand asserts the people's 
 
 rights ; " 
 Another " God will judge the hand that God's anointed 
 
 smites."
 
 THE PROCLAMATION OF KING HENRY. 93 
 
 VI. 
 
 " The Lord's vicegerent," quoth a priest, " is sovereign of the land, 
 And he rebels 'gainst heaven's behest, that slights his King's com- 
 mand." 
 
 " Now Heaven be witness, if he sinned," thus speaks a gallant young, 
 " The fault was in Padilla's eye that o'er him magic flung ; 
 
 VII. 
 
 " Or if no magic be her blame, so heavenly fair is she, 
 
 The wisest, for so bright a dame, might well a sinner be. 
 
 Let none speak ill of Pedro No Roderick hath he been ; 
 
 He dearly loved fair Spain, although 'tis true he slew the Queen." 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The words he spake they all might hear, yet none vouchsafe reply, 
 " God save great Henry save the King King Henry ! " is the cry ; 
 While Pedro's liegemen turn aside, their groans are in your ear, 
 " Whate'er to others he hath been, our friend lies slaughtered 
 here ! " 
 
 IX. 
 
 No paltry souls are wanting among King Pedro's band, 
 That, now their King is dead, draw near to kiss his murderer's hand. 
 The false cheek clothes it in a smile, and laughs the hollow eye, 
 And wags the traitor tongue the while with flattery's ready lie. 
 
 x. 
 
 The valour of the King that is the justice of his cause 
 The blindness and the tyrannies of him the King that was 
 All all are doubled in their speech, yet truth enough is there 
 To sink the spirit shivering near, in darkness of despair. 
 
 XI. 
 
 The Murder of the Master, 1 the tender Infants' 2 doom, 
 
 And blessed Blanche's thread of life snapt short in dungeon's gloom, 
 
 1 The Master of the order of Saint lago. 
 
 2 Two younger brothers [sons of his father by Leonora de Guzman], who 
 were taken off by Don Pedro, when irritated by the first rebellion of Don En- 
 rique of Trastamara.
 
 94 THE PROCLAMATION OF KL\G lll-.XRY. 
 
 tVith tragedies yet unrevealed, that stained the King's abode, 
 15y lips his bounty should have sealed are blazoned black abroad. 
 
 XII. 
 
 \Vhom served he most at others' cost, most loud they rend the 
 
 sky, 
 "God save great Henry save our King King Henry ! " is the 
 
 cry. 
 
 Hut still, amid too many foes, the grief is in your ear 
 Of dead King Pedro's faithful few "Alas ! our lord lies here." 
 
 XIII. 
 
 But others' tears, and others' groans, what are they matched with 
 
 thine, 
 
 Maria de Padilla thou fatal concubine ! 
 Because she is King Henry's slave, the damsrl weepeth sore, 
 Because she's Pedro's widowed love, alas ! she weepeth more. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 "O Pedro ! Pedro ! " hear her cry " how often did I say 
 That wicked counsel and weak trust would haste thy life away ! " 
 She stands upon her turret top, she looks down from on high, 
 Where mantled in his bloody cloak she sees her lover lie. 
 
 xv. 
 
 Low lies King Pedro in his blood, while bending down ye see 
 Caitiffs that trembled ere he spake, crouched at his murderer's 
 
 knee ; 
 
 They place the sceptre in his hand, and on his head the (Town, 
 And trumpets clear are blown, and bells are merry through the 
 
 town. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 The sun shines bright, and the gay rout with clamours rend the 
 
 sky, 
 " God save great Henry save the King King Henry ! " is the 
 
 cry; 
 
 But the pale Lady weeps above, with many a bitter tear. 
 Whate'er he was, he was her love, and he lies slaughtered here.
 
 Till-. I'KOCI.AMATION OF KING ItENRY. 95 
 
 XVII. 
 
 At first, in silence down her cheek the drops of sadness roll, 
 But rage and anger come to break the sorrow of her soul ; 
 The triumph of her haters the gladness of their cries, 
 Knkindle flames of ire and scorn within her tearful eyes. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 In her hot cheek the blood mounts high, as she stands gazing 
 
 down, 
 
 Now on proud Henry's royal state, his robe and golden crown, 
 And now upon the trampled cloak that hides not from her view 
 The slaughtered Pedro's marble brow, and lips of livid hue. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 With furious grief she twists her hands among her long black 
 
 hairs, 
 
 And all from off her lovely brow the blameless locks she tears ; 
 She tears the ringlets from her front, and scatters all the pearls 
 King Pedro's hand had planted among the raven curls. 
 
 xx. 
 
 "Stop, caitiff tongues!" they hear her not "King Pedro's 
 
 love am I." 
 They heed her not " God save the King great Henry ! " still 
 
 they cry. 
 
 She rends her hair, she wrings her hands, but none to help is near, 
 "God look in vengeance on their deed, my lord lies murdered 
 
 here ! " 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Away she flings her garments, her broidered veil and vest, 
 As if they should behold her love within her lovely breast 
 As if to call upon her foes the constant heart to see, 
 Where Pedro's form is still enshrined, and evermore shall be. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 But none on fair Maria looks, by none her breast is seen, 
 Save angry Heaven remembering well the murder of the Queen, 
 The wounds of jealous harlot rage, which virgin blood must stanch, 
 And all the scorn that mingled in the bitter cup of Blanche.
 
 % THE PROCLAMATION OF KIXG UEXRY. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 The utter coldness of neglect that haughty spirit stings, 
 As if a thousand fiends were there, with all their flapping wing-. ; 
 She wraps the veil about her head, as if 'twere all a dream 
 The love the murder and the wrath and that rebellion. 
 
 scream ; 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 For still there's shouting on the plain, and spurring far and nigh, 
 "God save the King Amen! amen! King Henry!" is the 
 
 cry- 
 While Pedro all alone is left, upon his bloody bier, 
 Not one remains to cry to God, " Our lord lies murdered here ! >;
 
 THE LORD OF BUTRAGO. 97 
 
 THE LORD OF BUTRAGO. 
 
 [The incident to which the following Ballad relates, is supposed to have oc- 
 curred on the famous field of Aljubarrota, where King Juan the First of Castile 
 was defeated by the Portuguese. The King, who was at the time in a feeble 
 state of health, exposed himself very much during the action; and being 
 wounded, had great difficulty in making his escape. The battle was fought 
 A.D. 1385.] 
 
 " YOUR horse is faint, my King, my Lord, your gallant horse is 
 
 sick, 
 
 His limbs are torn, his breast is gored, on his eye the film is thick ; 
 Mount, mount on mine, oh, mount apace, I pray thee mount and 
 
 fly! 
 Or in my arms I'll lift your grace their trampling hoofs are nigh. 
 
 n. 
 
 " My King, my King, you're wounded sore ; the blood runs from 
 
 your feet, 
 
 But only lay a hand before, and I'll lift you to your seat : 
 Mount, Juan, for they gather fast I hear their coming cry ; 
 Mount, mount, and ride for jeopardy I'll save you though I die 1 
 
 in. 
 
 " Stand, noble steed, this hour of need be gentle as a lamb ; 
 I'll kiss the foam from off thy mouth thy master dear I am. 
 Mount, Juan, mount, whate'er betide, away the bridle fling, 
 And plunge the rowels in his side My horse shall save my King ! 
 
 rv. 
 
 " Nay, never speak ; my sires, Lord King, received their land from 
 
 yours, 
 And joyfully their blood shall spring, so be it thine secures :
 
 98 
 
 THE LORD OF Bi'TKAGO. 
 
 If I should fly, and thou, my King, be found among the dead, 
 How could I stand 'mong gentlemen, such scorn on my grey 
 head? 
 
 v. 
 
 ' Castile's proud dames shall never point the finger of disdain, 
 And say there's ONE that ran away when our good lords were 
 
 slain, 
 
 I leave Diego in your care you'll fill his father's place : 
 Strike, strike the spur, and never spare God's blessing on your 
 
 grace ! " 
 
 VI. 
 
 So spake the brave Montanez, Butrago's Lord was he ; 
 And turned him to the coming host in steadfastness and glee ; 
 He flung himself among them, as they came down the hill ; 
 He died, God wot ! but not before his sword had drunk its fill.
 
 THE KING OF ARRAGON. 99 
 
 THE KING OF ARRAGON. 
 
 THE following little Ballad represents the supposed feelings of 
 Alphonso, King of Arragon, on surveying Naples, after he had at 
 last obtained possession of that city, and driven Rene" of Anjou l 
 from the south of Italy. " The King of Arragon," says Mariana, 
 " entered Naples as victor on the morning of Sunday, the second 
 of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand, four hundred, and 
 forty-two." 
 
 The brother, whose death is represented as saddening the 
 King's triumph, was Don Pedro of Arragon, who was killed "by 
 the fourth rebound of a cannon-ball," very soon after the com- 
 mencement of the siege of Naples. " When the King heard of 
 these woeful tidings," says Mariana, " he hastened to the place 
 where the body had been laid, and kissing the breast of the dead 
 man, said, ' Alas ! my brother, what different things had I expected 
 of thee ! God help thy soul ! ' And with that he wept and 
 groaned, and then turning to his attendants, ' Alas,' said he, ' my 
 comrades, we have lost this day the flower of all our chivalry.' 
 Don Pedro died in the bloom of his youth, being just twenty- 
 seven years old, and having never been married. He had been 
 in many wars, and in all of them he had won honour." MARIANA, 
 Book XXL chap. 13. 
 
 Who was the favourite boy (Pagezico), whose death the King 
 also laments in the ballad, I have not been able to find. 
 
 1 Joanna II., Queen of Naples, left her crown by will to Rene of Anjou, 
 who had thus a double claim to it, for he was the descendant of the ancient An- 
 gevine dynasty, founded by Charles of Anjou, brother to Louis IX. of France, 
 in 1265, but he never possessed it. The city and kingdom were conquered 
 by Alphonso V., King of Arragon. Ren6 is well known to English readers 
 as the father of Henry VI.'s brave Queen Margaret. [Editor's note.]
 
 100 
 
 THE KING OF ARRAGON. 
 
 ONE day, the King of Arragon, from the old citadel, 
 Looked down upon the sea of Spain, as the billows rose and fell ; 
 He looked on ship and galley, some coming and some going. 
 With all their prize of merchandize, and all their streamers flowing. 
 
 n. 
 
 Some to Castile were sailing, and some to Barbary 
 And then he looked on Naples, that great city of the sea : 
 " O city ! " saith the King, " how great hath been thy cost, 
 For thee I twenty years, my fairest years, have lost ! 
 
 in. 
 
 " By thee I have lost a brother ; never Hector was more brave ; 
 High cavaliers have dropped their tears upon my brother's grave : 
 Much treasure hast thou cost me, and a little boy beside, 
 (Alas ! thou woeful city !) for whom I would have died."
 
 THE VOW OF THE MOOR RED U AN, 
 THE 
 
 VOW OF THE MOOR REDUAN. 
 
 THE marriage of Ferdinand the Catholic and Donna Isabella, 
 having united the forces of Arragon and Castile, the total ruin of 
 the Moorish power in Spain could no longer be deferred. The 
 last considerable fragment of their once mighty possessions in the 
 Peninsula, was Granada ; but the fate of Malaga and Cadiz gave 
 warning of its inevitable fall, while internal dissensions, and the 
 weakness of King Boabdil, hastened and facilitated that great 
 object of Ferdinand's ambition. 
 
 The following is a version of certain parts of two ballads ; in- 
 deed, the Moor Reduan is the hero of a great many more. The 
 subject is, as the reader will perceive, the rash vow and tragical 
 end of a young and gallant soldier, allied, as it would appear, to 
 the blood of the last Moorish King of Granada, Boabdil, or, as he 
 is more generally called by the Spanish writers, El rey Chiquito, 
 i.e. The Little King. 
 
 THUS said before his Lords the King to Reduan, 
 " Tis easy to get words, deeds get we as we can ; 
 Remember'st thou the feast at which I heard thee saying, 
 'Twere easy in one night to make me Lord of Jaen ? 
 
 ii. 
 
 " Well in my mind I hold the valiant vow was said ; 
 Fulfil it, boy, and gold shall shower upon thy head ; 
 But bid a long farewell, if now thou shrink from doing, 
 To bower and bonnibell, thy feasting, and thy wooing."-
 
 102 THE VOW OF THE MOOR REDUAN. 
 
 III. 
 
 " I have forgot the oath, if such I e'er did plight, 
 But needs their plighted troth to make a soldier fight? 
 A thousand sabres bring, we'll see how we may thrive." 
 " One thousand ! " quoth the King ; " I trow thou shalt have 
 five." 
 
 IV. 
 
 They passed the Elvira gate, 1 with banners all displayed, 
 They passed in mickle state, a noble cavalcade ; 
 What proud and pawing horses, what comely cavaliers, 
 What bravery of targets, what glittering of spears ! 
 
 v. 
 
 What caftans blue and scarlet, what turbans pleached of green ; 
 What waving of their crescents and plumages between ; 
 What buskins and what stirrups, what rowels chased in gold, 
 What handsome gentlemen, what buoyant hearts and bold ! 
 
 VI. 
 
 In midst, above them all, rides he who rules the band, 
 Yon feather white and tall is the token of command. 
 He looks to the Alhambra, 2 whence bends his mother down ; 
 " Now Alia save my boy, and merciful Mahoun ! " 
 
 VII. 
 
 But 'twas another sight when Reduan drew near 
 To look upon the height where Jaen's towers appear ; 
 The fosse was wide and deep, the walls both tall and strong, 
 And keep was matched with keep the battlements along. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 It was a heavy sight, but most for Reduan ; 
 He sighed, as well he might, ere thus his speech began, 
 " O Jaen, had I known how high thy bulwarks stand, 
 My tongue had not outgone the prowess of my hand. 
 
 1 One of the gates of Granrula that looking towards Elvira. 
 
 2 The fanioim I'.il K c of (he Moorish Kings of C.ranada.
 
 THE VOW OF THE MOOR RED L' AX. 103 
 
 IX. 
 
 " But since in hasty cheer I did my promise plight 
 (What well might cost a year) to win thee in a night, 
 The pledge demands the paying. I would my soldiers brave 
 Were half as sure of Jaen, as I am of my grave. 
 
 x. 
 
 " My penitence comes late, my death lags not behind ; 
 
 I yield me up to fate, since hope I may not find." 
 
 With that he turned him round ; " Now blow your trumpets 
 
 high ! " 
 But every spearman frowned, and dark was every eye. 
 
 XI. 
 
 But when he was aware that they would fain retreat, 
 He spurred his bright bay mare, I wot her pace was fleet ; 
 He rides beneath the walls, and shakes aloft his lance, 
 And to the Christians calls, if any will advance. 
 
 XII. 
 
 With that an arrow flew from o'er the battlement, 
 Young Reduan it slew, sheer through the breast it went. 
 He fell upon the green, " Farewell, my bonny bay ! " 
 Right soon, when this was seen, broke all the Moor array.
 
 104 THE FLIGHT FROM G KAN AD A. 
 
 THE FLIGHT FROM GRANADA. 
 
 [The following Ballad describes the final departure of the weak and unfor- 
 tunate Boabdil from Granada. 
 
 In point of fact, the Moorish King came out and received Ferdinand and 
 Isabella in great form and pomp, at the gates of his lost city, presenting thtm 
 with the keys on a cushion, and in abject terms entreating their protection for 
 his person. 
 
 The valley of Purchena, in Murcia, was assigned to him for his place of res- 
 idence, and a handsome revenue provided for the maintenance of him and his 
 family; but after a little while, "not having resolution," as Mariana expresses 
 it, " to endure a private life in the country where he had so long reigned a 
 King," he went over to Barbary. 1 
 
 The entrance of Ferdinand and Isabella into Granada took place on Friday 
 the 6th of January, 1492.] 
 
 THERE was crying in Granada when the sun was going down, 
 Some calling on the Trinity, some calling on Mahoun ; 
 Here passed away the Koran, there in the Cross was borne, 
 And here was heard the Christian bell, and there the Moorish 
 horn; 
 
 ii. 
 
 Te Deum Laudamus was up the Alcala sung : 
 Down from the Alhambra's minarets were all the crescents flung ; 
 The arms thereon of Arragon they with Castile's display ; 
 One king comes in in triumph, one weeping goes away. 
 
 in. 
 
 Thus cried the weeper, while his hands his old white beard did 
 
 tear, 
 
 " Farewell, farewell, Granada ! thou city without peer ; 
 Woe, woe, thou pride of Heathendom, seven hundred years and 
 
 more 
 Have gone since first the faithful thy royal sceptre bore. 
 
 1 He took service under the King of Fez, and died fighting with that mon- 
 arch's enemies.
 
 THE FLIGHT FROM GRANADA. 105 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Thou wert the happy mother of an high renowned race ; 
 Within thee dwelt a haughty line that now go from their place ; 
 Within thee fearless knights did dwell, who fought with mickle 
 
 glee 
 The enemies of proud Castile, the bane of Christientie. 
 
 v. 
 
 ""The mother of fair dames wert thou, of truth and beauty rare, 
 Into whose arms did courteous knights for solace sweet repair ; 
 For whose dear sakes the gallants of Afric made display 
 Of might in joust and battle on many a bloody day : 
 
 VI. 
 
 " Here gallants held it little thing for ladies' sake to die, 
 Or for the Prophet's honour, and pride of Soldanry ; 
 For here did valour flourish, and deeds of warlike might 
 Ennobled lordly palaces, in which was our delight. 
 
 VII. 
 
 "The gardens of thy Vega, 1 its fields and blooming bowers 
 Woe, woe ! I see their beauty gone, and scattered all their flowers. 
 No reverence can he claim the King that such a land hath lost, 
 On charger never can he ride, nor be heard among the host 
 But in some dark and dismal place, where none his face may see, 
 There weeping and lamenting, alone that King should be." 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Thus spake Granada's King as he was riding to the sea, 
 About to cross Gibraltar's Strait away to Barbary : 
 Thus he in heaviness of soul unto his Queen did cry. 
 ( He had stopped and ta'en her in his arms, for together they did 
 fly.) 
 
 IX. 
 
 " Unhappy King ! whose craven soul can brook " (she 'gan reply) 
 " To leave behind Granada, who hast not heart to die 
 Now for the love I bore thy youth thee gladly could I slay, 
 For what is life to leave when such a crown is cast away?" 
 
 1 The plain of Granada.
 
 106 THE DEATH OF DON ALONZO OF AGUILAR. 
 
 THE 
 
 DEATH OF DON ALONZO OF AGUILAR. 
 
 THE Catholic zeal of Ferdinand and Isabella was gratified by 
 the external conversion at least of a great part of the Moors of 
 Granada ; but the inhabitants of the Sierra of Alpuxarra, a ridge 
 of mountainous territory at no great distance from that city, resisted 
 every argument of the priests who were sent among them, so that 
 the royal order for Baptism was at last enforced by arms. 
 
 These Moorish mountaineers resisted for a time, in several of 
 their strongholds ; but were at last subdued, and in great part 
 extirpated. Among many severe losses sustained by the Spanish 
 forces in the course of this hill warfare, none was more grievous 
 than that recorded in the following ballad. Don Alonzo of Aguilar 
 was the elder brother of that Gonsalvo Hernandez y Cordova of 
 Aguilar, who afterwards became so illustrious as to acquire the 
 name of THE GREAT CAPTAIN. 
 
 The circumstances of Don Alonzo's death are described some- 
 what differently by the historians. (See in particular, Mariana, 
 Book XXVII. chap. 6, where no mention is made of the Moors 
 throwing down stones on him and his party, as in the ballad.) 
 This tragic story has been rendered familiar to all English readers 
 by the Bishop of Dromore's exquisite version of " Rio Verde, Rio 
 Verde." l 
 
 FERNANDO, King ot Arragon, before Granada lies, 
 
 With dukes and barons many a one, and champions of emprize ; 
 
 With all the captains of Castile that serve his lady's crown, 
 
 He drives Boabdil from his gates, and plucks the crescent down. 
 
 1 See Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poe4ry.
 
 THE DEATH OF DON ALONZO OF AGUILAR. 107 
 II. 
 
 The cross is reared upon the towers, for our Redeemer's sake ; 
 The King assembles all his powers, his triumph to partake, 
 Yet at the royal banquet, there's trouble in his eye 
 " Now speak thy wish, it shall be done, great King," the lordlings 
 cry. 
 
 HI. 
 
 Then spake Fernando, " Hear, grandees ! which of ye all will go, 
 
 And give my banner in the breeze of Alpuxar to blow ? 
 
 Those heights along, the Moors are strong ; now who, by dawn of 
 
 day, 
 Will plant the cross their cliffs among, and drive the dogs away ? " 
 
 IV. 
 
 Then champion on champion high, and count on count doth look ; 
 And faltering is the tongue of lord, and pale the cheek of duke ; 
 Till starts up brave Alonzo, the knight of Aguilar, 
 The lowmost at the royal board, but foremost still in war. 
 
 v. 
 
 And thus he speaks : " I pray, my lord, that none but I may go ; 
 For I made promise to the Queen, your consort, long ago, 
 That ere the war should have an end, I, for her royal charms, 
 And for my duty to her grace, would shew some feat of arms." 
 
 VI. 
 
 Much joyed the King these words to hear he bids Alonzo 
 
 speed 
 
 And long before their revel's o'er the knight is on his steed ; 
 Alonzo's on his milk-white steed, with horsemen in his train 
 A thousand horse, a chosen band, ere dawn the hills to gain. 
 
 VII. 
 
 They ride along the darkling ways, they gallop all the night ; 
 They reach Nevada ere the cock hath harbingered the light, 
 But ere they've climbed that steep ravine the east is glowing red. 
 And the Moors their lances bright have seen, and Christian ban 
 ners spread.
 
 108 THE DEATH OF DON ALONZO OF AGUILAR. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Beyond the sands, between the rocks, where the old cork-trees 
 
 grow, 
 
 The path is rough, and mounted men must singly march and slow ; 
 There, o'er the path, the heathen range their ambuscade's line, 
 High up they wait for Aguilar, as the day begins to shine. 
 
 IX. 
 
 There nought avails the eagle-eye, the guardian of Castile, 
 The eye of wisdom, nor the heart that fear might never feel, 
 The arm of strength that wielded well the strong mace in the fray, 
 Nor the broad plate, from whence the edge of falchion glanced 
 away. 
 
 x. 
 
 Not knightly valour there avails, nor skill of horse and spear, 
 
 For rock on rock comes rumbling down from cliff and cavern 
 drear ; 
 
 Down down like driving hail they come, and horse and horse- 
 men die, 
 
 Like cattle whose despair is dumb when the fierce lightnings fly. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Alonzo, with a handful more, escapes into the field, 
 There like a lion stands at bay, in vain besought to yield ; 
 A thousand foes around are seen, but none draws near to fight ; 
 Afar with bolt and javelin they pierce the steadfast knight. 
 
 XII. 
 
 A hundred and a hundred darts are hissing round his head ; 
 Had Aguilar a thousand hearts, their blood had all been shed ; 
 Faint and more faint he staggers, upon the slippery sod, 
 At last his back is to the earth, he gives his soul to God. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 With that the Moors plucked up their hearts to gaze upon his face, 
 And caitiffs mangled where he lay the scourge of Afric's race ; 
 To woody Oxijera then the gallant corpse they drew, 
 And there upon the village-green they laid him out to view.
 
 THE DEATH OF DON ALONZO OF AGUILAR. 109 
 XIV. 
 
 Upon the village-green he lay as the moon was shining clear, 
 And all the village damsels to look on him drew near ; 
 They stood around him all a-gaze, beside the big oak-tree, 
 And much his beauty they did praise, though mangled sore was he. 
 
 xv. 
 
 Now, so it fell, a Christian dame that knew Alonzo well, 
 Not far from Oxijera did as a captive dwell, 
 And hearing all the marvels, across the woods came she, 
 To look upon this Christian corpse, and wash it decently. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 She looked upon him, and she knew the face of Aguilar, 
 Although his beauty was disgraced with many a ghastly scar ; 
 She knew him, and she cursed the dogs that pierced him from 
 
 afar, 
 And mangled him when he was slain the Moors of Alpuxar. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 The Moorish maidens, while she spake, around her silence kept, 
 But her master dragged the dame away then loud and long they 
 
 wept ; 
 They washed the blood, with many a tear, from dint of dart and 
 
 arrow, 
 And buried him near the waters clear of the brook of Alpuxarra.
 
 110 THE DEPARTURE OF KING SEBASTIAN. 
 
 THE 
 
 DEPARTURE OF KING SEBASTIAN. 
 
 [The reader is acquainted with the melancholy story of Sebastian, King of 
 Portugal. 1 It was in 1578 that his unfortunate expedition and death took 
 place. 
 
 The following is a version of one of the Spanish ballads, founded on the 
 history of Sebastian. There is another, which describes his death, almost in 
 the words of a ballad already translated, concerning King Juan I. of Castile.] 
 
 IT was a Lusitanian Lady, and she was lofty in degree, 
 Was fairer none, nor nobler, in all the realm than she ; 
 I saw her that her eyes were red, as, from her balcony, 
 They wandered o'er the crowded shore and the resplendent sea. 
 
 n. 
 
 Gorgeous and gay, in Lisbon's Bay, with streamers flaunting wide, 
 
 Upon the gleaming waters Sebastian's galleys ride, 
 
 His valorous armada (was never nobler sight) 
 
 Hath young Sebastian marshalled against the Moorish might. 
 
 1 It is just possible that the story of Sebastian (once well known to the 
 general public through Miss Jane Porter's novel) may not be equally in the 
 memory of all the present readers of the " Ballads." Sebastian, chivalrous and 
 romantic, sailed for Africa with the flower of his nobility in 1578, to do battle 
 on their own soil with the Moors. He was then only 23 years of age. A 
 battle took place at Alcacer-el-Xebir, in which the young king displayed re- 
 markable valour. He rushed into the midst of the Moorish ranks, where he 
 disappeared, and is supposed to have been slain. So bravely did the Portu- 
 guese fight to rescue their sovereign that only fifty of the gallant army Sebastian 
 had brought over survived that fatal battle. The mystery which surrounded 
 the fate of the young king led to several claimants appearing, who professed 
 to be Sebastian, escaped from Moorish thraldom. Over one of these some- 
 thing of the same doubt hovers which attended on Perkin Warbeck. The 
 story of Sebastian has very recently (in 1866) produced a very interesting 
 work entitled, " Les faux Don Sebastian. Etude sur 1'histoire de Portugal 
 par Don Miguel d'Antas," to which we refer our readers. [Editor's note.]
 
 THE DEPARTURE OF KING SEBASTIAN. Ill 
 
 III. 
 
 The breeze comes forth from the clear north, a gallant breeze there 
 
 blows ; 
 
 Their sails they lift, then out they drift, and first Sebastian goes. 
 " May none withstand Sebastian's hand God shield my King ! " 
 
 she said ; 
 Yet pale was that fair Lady's cheek, her weeping eyes were red. 
 
 rv. 
 
 She looks on all the parting host, in all its pomp arrayed, 
 Each pennon on the wind is tost, each cognizance displayed ; 
 Each lordly galley flings abroad, above its armed prow, 
 The banner of the Cross of God, upon the breeze to flow. 
 
 v. 
 
 But one there is, whose banner, above the Cross divine, 
 A scarf upholds, with aure folds, of love and faith the sign : 
 Upon that galley's stern you see a peerless warrior stand, 
 Though first he goes, still back he throws his eye upon the land. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Albeit through tears she looks, yet well may she that form descry, 
 Was never seen a vassal mien so noble and so high ; 
 Albeit the Lady's cheek was pale, albeit her eyes were red, 
 " May none withstand my true-love's hand ! God bless my 
 Knight ! " she said. 
 
 VII. 
 
 There are a thousand Barons, all harnessed cap-a-pee, 
 
 With helm and spear that glitter clear above the dark-green sea ; 
 
 No lack of gold or silver, to stamp each proud device 
 
 On shield or surcoat nor of chains and jewellery of price. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The seamen's cheers the Lady hears, and mingled voices come, 
 From every deck, of glad rebeck, of trumpet, and of drum ; 
 " Who dare withstand Sebastian's hand ? what Moor his gage may 
 
 fling 
 At young Sebastian's feet?" she said. "The Lord hath blessed 
 
 my King."
 
 MOORISH BALLADS. 
 
 [It is sometimes very difficult to determine which of the Moorish Ballads 
 ought to be included in the Historical, which in the Romantic class : and for 
 this reason, the following five specimens are placed by themselves. Several 
 Ballads, decidedly of Moorish origin, such as REDUAN'S Vow, THE FLIGHT 
 FROM GRANADA, &c., have been printed in the preceding Section.] 
 
 THE BULL-FIGHT OF GAZUL. 
 
 [Gazul is the name of one of the Moorish heroes who figure in the Ifisloria 
 de las Guerras Civiles de Grenada. The following Ballad is one of very many 
 in which the dexterity of the Moorish cavaliers in the bull-fight is described. 
 The Reader will observe, that the shape, activity, and resolution of the unhappy- 
 animal, destined to furnish the amusement of the spectators, are enlarged upon, 
 just as the qualities of a modern race-horse might be among ourselves : nor is 
 the bull without his name.~\ 
 
 I. 
 
 KING ALMANZOR of Granada, he hath bid the trumpet sound, 
 
 He had summoned all the Moorish Lords, from the hills and plains 
 
 around ; 
 
 From Vega and Sierra, from Betis and Xenil, 
 They have come with helm and cuirass of gold and twisted steel. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Tis the holy Baptist's feast they hold in royalty and state, 1 
 And they have closed the spacious lists, beside the Alhambra's gate ; 
 In gowns of black with silver laced within the tented ring, 
 Eight Moors to fight the bull are placed in presence of the King. 
 
 1 The day of the Baptist is a festival among the Mussulmans, as well as 
 among Christians.
 
 THE BULL-FIGHT OF GAZUL. 113 
 
 III. 
 
 Eight Moorish lords of valour tried, with stalwart arm and true, 
 The onset of the beasts abide, come trooping furious through ; 
 The deeds they've done, the spoils they've won, fill all with hcj e 
 
 and trust, 
 Yet ere high in heaven appears the sun, they all have bit the dust. 
 
 rv. 
 
 Then sounds the trumpet clearly, then clangs the loud tambour, 
 Make room, make room for Gazul throw wide, throw wide the 
 
 door ; 
 
 Blow, blow the trumpet clearer still, more loudly strike the drum, 
 The Alcayd6 of Agalva to fight the bull doth come. 
 
 v. 
 
 And first before the King he passed, with reverence stooping low, 
 And next he bowed him to the Queen, and the Infantas all a-rowe ; 
 Then to his lady's grace he turned, and she to him did throw 
 A scarf from out her balcony was whiter than the snow. 
 
 VI. 
 
 With the life-blood of the slaughtered lords all slippery is the sand, 
 Yet proudly in the centre hath Gazul ta'en his stand ; 
 And ladies look with heaving breast, and lords with anxious eye, 
 But the lance is firmly in its rest, and his look is calm and high. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Three bulls against the knight are loosed, and two come roaring 
 
 on, 
 
 He rises high in stirrup, forth stretching his rej6n ; 
 Each furious beast upon the breast he deals him such a blow, 
 He blindly totters and gives back across the sand to go. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 "Turn, Gazul, turn," the people cry the third comes up behind. 
 Low to the sand his head holds he, his nostrils snuff the wind ;
 
 114 THE BULL-FIGHT OF C.I /('/.. 
 
 The mountaineers that lead the steers, without stand whispering 
 
 low, 
 ' Now thinks this proud Alcayde to stun Harpado so?" 
 
 IX. 
 
 From Guadiana comes he not, he comes not from Xenil, 
 From Guadalarif of the plain, or Barves of the hill ; 
 But where from out the forest burst Xarama's waters clear, 
 Beneath the oak-trees was he nursed, this proud and stately steer. 
 
 x. 
 
 Dark is his hide on either side, but the blood within doth boil, 
 And the dun hide glows, as if on fire, as he paws to the turmoil. 
 His eyes are jet, and they are set in crystal rings of snow ; 
 But now they stare with one red glare of brass upon the foe. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Upon the forehead of the bull the horns stand close and near, 
 From out the broad and wrinkled skull, like daggers they appear ; 
 His neck is massy, like the trunk of some old knotted tree, 
 Whereon the monster's shagged mane, like billows curled, ye see. 
 
 XII. 
 
 His legs are short, his hams are thick, his hoofs are black as night, 
 Like a strong flail he holds his tail in fierceness of his might ; 
 Like something molten out of iron, or hewn from forth the ro< k. 
 Harpado of Xarama stands, to bide the Alcaydd's shock. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Now stops the drum close, close they come thrice meet, and 
 
 thrice give back ; 
 
 The white foam of Harpado lies on the charger's breast of black 
 The white foam of the charger on Harpado's front of dun 
 Once more advance upon his lance once more, thou fearless 
 
 one !
 
 THE BULL-FIGHT OF GAZTL. 
 
 115 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Once -more, once more ; in dust and gore to ruin must thou 
 
 reel 
 
 In vain, in vain thou tearest the sand with furious heel 
 In vain, in vain, thou noble beast, I see, I see thee stagger, 
 Now keen and cold thy neck must hold the stern Alcayd's dagger ! 
 
 xv. 
 
 They have slipped a noose around his feet, six horses are brought 
 
 m. 
 
 And away they drag Harpado with a loud and joyful din. 
 Now stoop thee, lady, from thy stand, and the ring of price bestow 
 Upon Gazul of Agalva, that hath laid Harpado low.
 
 116 THE ZECRrS BRIDE. 
 
 THE ZEGRI'S BRIDE. 
 
 [The reader cannot need to he reminded of the fatal effects which were 
 produced by the feuds subsisting between the two great families, or rather 
 races, of the Zegris and the Abencerrages of Granada. The following Ballad 
 is also from the Gutrras Civile s.~\ 
 
 OF all the blood of Zegri, the. chief is Lisaro, 
 To wield rej6n like him is none, or javelin to throw ; 
 From the place of his dominion, he ere the dawn doth go, 
 From Alcala de Henares, he rides in weed of woe. 
 
 ii. 
 
 He rides not now as he was wont, when ye have seen him speed 
 
 To the field of gay Toledo, to fling his lusty reed ; 
 
 No gambeson of silk is on, nor rich embroidery 
 
 Of gold-wrought robe or turban nor jewelled tahali. 1 
 
 in. 
 
 No amethyst nor garnet is shining on his brow, 
 No crimson sleeve, which damsels weave at Tunis, decks him now ; 
 The belt is black, the hilt is dim, but the sheathed blade is bright ; 
 They have housened his barb in a murky garb, but yet her hoofs 
 are light. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Four horsemen good, of the Zegri blood, with Lisaro go out ; 
 
 No flashing spear may tell them near, but yet their shafts are stout ; 
 
 In darkness and in swiftness rides every armed knight, 
 
 The foam on the rein ye may see it plain, but nothing else is white. 
 
 1 Scimitar.
 
 THE ZEGRI'S BRIDE. 117 
 
 V. 
 
 Young Lisaro, as on they go, his bonnet doffeth he, 
 Between its folds a sprig it holds of a dark and glossy tree ; 
 That sprig of bay, were it away, right heavy heart had he 
 Fair Zayda to her Zegri gave that token privily. 
 
 VI. 
 
 And ever as they rode, he looked upon his lady's boon. 
 " God knows," quoth he, " what fate may be I may be slaugh- 
 tered soon ; 
 Thou still art mine, though scarce the sign of hope that bloomed 
 
 whilere, 
 But in my grave I yet shall have my Zayda's token dear." 
 
 VII. 
 
 Young Lisaro was musing so, when onwards on the path, 
 
 He well could see them riding slow; then pricked he in his 
 
 wrath. 
 
 The raging sire, the kinsmen of Zayda's hateful house, 
 Fought well that day, yet in the fray the Zegri won his spouse.
 
 118 THE BRIDAL OF ANDALLA. 
 
 THE BRIDAL OF ANDALLA. 
 
 [The following Ballad has been often imitated by modern poets, both in 
 Spain and in Germany : 
 
 Pon te a las reias azules, dexa la manga que labras, 
 
 Melancholies Xarifa, veras al galan Andalla, &C.J 
 
 " RISE up, rise up, Xarifa, lay the golden cushion down ; 
 
 Rise up, come to the window, and gaze with all the Town. 
 
 From gay guitar and violin the silver notes are flowing, 
 
 And the lovely lute doth speak between the trumpet's lordly blow- 
 ing, 
 
 And banners bright from lattice light are waving everywhere, 
 
 And the tall tall plume of our cousin's bridegroom floats proudly 
 in the air : 
 
 Rise up, rise up, Xarifa, lay the golden cushion down ; 
 
 Rise up, come to the window, and gaze with all the Town. 
 
 ii. 
 
 " Arise, arise, Xarifa, I see Andalla's face, 
 
 He bends him to the people with a calm and princely grace, 
 
 Through all the land of Xeres and banks of Guadalquiver 
 
 Rode forth Bridegroom so brave as he, so brave and lovely never. 
 
 Yon tall plume waving o'er his brow of azure mixed with white, 
 
 I guess 'twas wreathed by Zara, whom he will wed to-night ; 
 
 Rise up, rise up, Xarifa, lay the golden .cushion down ; 
 
 Rise up, come to the window, and gaze with all the Town. 
 
 in. 
 
 " What aileth thee, Xarifa, what makes thine eyes look down ? 
 Why stay ye from the window far, nor gaze with all the Town ? 
 I've heard you say on many a day, and sure you said the truth, 
 Andalla rides without a peer, among all Granada's youth,
 
 THE BRIDAL OF AND ALL A. 119 
 
 Without a peer he rideth, and yon milk-white horse doth go 
 Beneath his stately master, with a stately step and slow ; 
 Then rise, oh rise, Xarifa, lay the golden cushion down ; 
 Unseen here through the lattice, you may gaze with all the 
 Town." 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Zegri Lady rose not, nor laid her cushion down, 
 
 Nor came she to the window to gaze with all the Town ; 
 
 But though her eyes dwelt on her knee, in vain her fingers strove, 
 
 And though her needle pressed the silk, no flower Xarifa wove ; 
 
 One bonny rose-bud she had traced, before the noise drew nigh 
 
 That bonny bud a tear effaced, slow drooping from her eye. 
 
 " No no," she sighs " bid me not rise, nor lay my cushion 
 
 down, 
 To gaze upon Andalla with all the gazing Town." 
 
 v. 
 
 " Why. rise ye not, Xarifa, nor lay your cushion down? 
 Why gaze ye not, Xarifa, with all the gazing Town ? 
 Hear, hear the trumpet how it swells, and how the people cry. 
 He stops at Zara's palace-gate why sit ye still oh why? " 
 " At Zara's gate stops Zara's mate ; in him shall I discover 
 The dark-eyed youth pledged me his truth with tears, and was my 
 
 lover ? 
 
 I will not rise, with weary eyes, nor lay my cushion down, 
 To gaze on false Andalla with all the gazing Town."
 
 120 ZARA'S EAR-RINGS. 
 
 ZARA'S EAR-RINGS. 
 
 [I have taken the liberty to omit, in translating this Ballad, certain lines, in 
 which mention is made of " the Mass " and " the Marquisses." Depping 
 considers these as the interpolations of a Spaniard unskilfully rendering 
 a Moorish song.] 
 
 I. 
 
 " MY ear-rings ! my ear-rings ! they've dropt into the well, 
 
 And what to say to Muca, I cannot, cannot tell." 
 
 'Twas thus Granada's fountain by, spoke Albuharez' daughter, 
 
 " The well is deep, far down they lie, beneath the cold blue 
 
 water 
 
 To me did Muca give them, when he spake his sad farewell, 
 And what to say when he comes back, alas ! I cannot tell. 
 
 n. 
 
 " My ear-rings ! my ear-rings ! they were pearls in silver set, 
 That when my Moor was far away, I ne'er should him forget, 
 That I ne'er to other tongue should list, nor smile on other's tale, 
 But remember he my lips had kissed, pure as those ear-rings 
 
 pale 
 When he comes back, and hears that I have dropped them in the 
 
 well, 
 Oh what will Muca think of me, I cannot, cannot tell. 
 
 in. 
 
 " My ear-rings ! my ear-rings ! he'll say they should have been, 
 Not of pearl and of silver, but of gold and glittering sheen, 
 Of jasper and of onyx, and of diamond shining clear, 
 Changing to the changing light, with radiance insincere 
 That changeful mind unchanging gems are not befitting well 
 Thus will he think and what to say, alas ! I cannot tell,
 
 ZARA'S EAR-RINGS. 121 
 
 IV. 
 
 ' He'll think when I to market went, I loitered by the way ; 
 He'll think a willing ear I lent to all the lads might say ; 
 He'll think some other lover's hand, among my tresses noosed, 
 From the ears where he had placed them, my rings of pearl un- 
 loosed ; 
 
 He'll think when I was sporting so beside this marble well, 
 My pearls fell in, and what to say, alas ! I cannot tell. 
 
 v. 
 
 " He'll say I am a woman, and we are all the same ; 
 He'll say I loved when he was here to whisper of his flame 
 But when he went to Tunis my virgin troth had broken, 
 And thought no more of Muca, and cared not for his token. 
 My ear-rings ! my ear-rings ! oh ! luckless, luckless well, 
 For what to say to Muca, alas ! I cannot tell. 
 
 VI. 
 
 " I'll tell the truth to Muca, and I hope he will believe 
 That I thought of him at morning, and thought of him at eve ; 
 That musing on my lover, when down the sun was gone, 
 His ear-rings in my hand I held, by the fountain all alone ; 
 And that my mind was o'er the sea, when from my hand they fell, 
 And that deep his love lies in my 'heart, as they lie in the well."
 
 122 LAMEMATWX FOR THE DEATH OF CELL\. 
 
 THE 
 
 LAMENTATION FOR THE DEATH OF CELIX. 
 
 [This Ballad, which celebrates the untimely fate of a Zegri cavalier, by name 
 of Celin, or Selim, 
 
 Por la puerta de la vega, &c., 
 
 consists, as it stands in the Romancero, of many more stanzas than I ha\c 
 translated. But M. Depping points out sufficient evidence that some of tin -\\\ 
 had been added in the time of Montemayor.] 
 
 AT the gate of old Granada, when aU-its bolts are barred, 
 At twilight at the Vega gate there is a trampling heard ; 
 There is a trampling heard, as of horses treading slow, 
 And a weeping voice of women, and a heavy sound of woe. 
 "What tower is fallen, what star is set, what chief come these be- 
 
 wailing?" 
 " A tower is fallen, a star is set. Alas ! alas for Celin ! " 
 
 Three times they knock, three times they cry, and wide the doors 
 
 they throw ; 
 
 Dejectedly they enter, and mournfully they go ; 
 In gloomy lines they mustering stand beneath the hollow porch, 
 Each horseman grasping in his hand a black and flaming torch ; 
 Wet is each eye as they go by, and all around is wailing, 
 For all have heard the misery. " Alas ! alas for Celin ! " 
 
 in. 
 
 Him yesterday a Moor did slay of Bencewaje's blood, 
 
 Twas at the solemn jousting, arpund the nobles stood ; 
 
 The nobles of the land were there, and the ladies bright and fair 
 
 Looked from their latticed windows, the haughty sight to share ; 
 
 But now the nobles all lament, the ladies are bewailing, 
 
 For he was Granada's darling knight. " Alas ! alas for Celin I "
 
 LAMENTATION FOR THE DEATH OF CELIN. 123 
 
 IV. 
 
 Before him ride his vassals, in order two by two, 
 With ashes on their turbans spread most pitiful to view ; 
 Behind him his four sisters, each wrapped in sable veil, 
 Between the tambour's dismal strokes take up their doleful tale ; 
 When stops the muffled drum, ye hear their brotherless bewailing, 
 And all the people, far and near, cry "Alas ! alas for Celin !" 
 
 v. 
 
 Oh lovely lies he on the bier above the purple pall, 
 
 The flower of all Granada's youth, the loveliest of them all ; 
 
 His dark, dark eyes are closed, his rosy lip is pale, 
 
 The crust of blood lies black and dim upon his burnished mail, 
 
 And evermore the hoarse tambour breaks in upon their wailing, 
 
 Its sound is like no earthly sound " Alas ! alas for Celin ! " 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Moorish maid at the lattice stands, the Moor stands at his 
 
 door, 
 
 One maid is wringing of her hands, and one is weeping sore 
 Down to the dust men bow their heads, and ashes black they strew 
 Upon their broidered garments of crimson, green, and blue 
 Before each gate the bier stands still, then bursts the loud bewail- 
 ing, 
 From door and lattice, high and low " Alas ! alas for Celin ! " 
 
 VII. 
 
 An old old woman cometh forth, when she hears the people cry ; 
 Her hair is white as silver, like horn her glazed eye. 
 Twas she that nursed him at her breast, that nursed him long ago ; 
 She knows not whom they all lament, but soon she well shall know. 
 With one deep shriek she through doth break, when her ears 
 
 receive their wailing 
 " Let me kiss my Celin ere I die Alas ! alas for Celin ! "
 
 ROMANTIC BALLADS. 
 
 THE MOOR CALAYNOS. 
 
 [In the following version I have taken liberty to omit a good many of the 
 introductory stanzas of the famous Cof>las de Calainos. The reader will re- 
 member that this ballad is alluded to in Don Quixote, where the Knight's 
 nocturnal visit to Toboso is described. 
 
 It is generally believed to be among the most ancient, and certainly was 
 among the most popular, of all the ballads in the Cancionero.] 
 
 " I HAD six Moorish nurses, but the seventh was not a Moor, 
 The Moors they gave me milk enow, but the Christian gave me 
 
 lore ; 
 
 And she told me ne'er to listen, though sweet the words might be, 
 Till he that spake had proved his troth, and pledged a gallant 
 
 fee." 
 
 n. 
 
 " Fair damsel," quoth Calaynos, " if thou wilt go with me, 
 Say what may win thy favour, and thine that gift shall be. 
 Fair stands the castle on the rock, the city in the vale, 
 And bonny is the red red gold, and rich the silver pale." 
 
 HI. 
 
 " Fair sir," quoth she, " virginity I never will lay down 
 
 For gold, nor yet for silver, for castle, nor for town ; 
 
 But I will be your leman for the heads of certain peers 
 
 And I ask but three Rjnaldo's Roland '$ find Oljvier's,"
 
 THE MOOR CALAYNOS. 125 
 
 IV. 
 
 He kissed her hand where she did stand, he kissed her lips also, 
 And " Bring forth," he cries, " my pennon, for to Paris I must 
 
 go-"- 
 
 I wot ye saw them rearing his banner broad right soon, 
 Whereon revealed his bloody field its pale and crescent moon. 
 
 v. 
 
 That broad bannere the Moore did rear, ere many days were gone, 
 In foul disdain of Charlemagne, by the church of good Saint John ; 
 In the midst of merry Paris, on the bonny banks of Seine, 
 Shall never scornful Paynim that pennon rear again. 
 
 VI. 
 
 His banner he hath planted high, and loud his trumpet blown, 
 That all the twelve might hear it well around King Charles's throne ; 
 The note he blew right well they knew ; both Paladin and Peer 
 Had the trumpet heard of that stern lord in many a fierce career. 
 
 VII. 
 
 It chanced the King, that fair morning, to the chace had made 
 
 him bowne, 
 
 With many a knight of warlike might, and prince of high renown ; 
 Sir Reynold of Montalban, and Glares' Lord, Gaston, 
 Behind him rode, and Bertram good, that reverend old Baron. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Black D'Ardennes' eye of mastery in that proud troop was seen, 
 And there was Urgel's giant force, and Guarinos' princely mien ; 
 Gallant and gay upon that day was Baldwin's youthful cheer, 
 But first did ride, by Charles's side, Roland and Olivier. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Now in a ring around the King, not far in the greenwood, 
 Awaiting all the huntsman's call, it chanced the nobles stood ; 
 " Now list, mine earls, now list ! " quoth Charles, " yon breeze 
 
 will come again, 
 Some trumpet-note methinks doth float from the bonny banks of 
 
 Seine."
 
 126 THE MOOR CALAY.YOS. 
 
 X. 
 
 Me scarce had heard the trumpet, the word he scarce had said, 
 When among the trees he near him sees a dark and turhaned 
 
 head ; 
 
 '' Now stand, now stand at my command, hold Moor," quoth 
 Charlemagne. 
 "That turban green, how dare it be seen among the woods of 
 
 Seine?" 
 
 XI. 
 
 " My turban green must needs be seen among the woods of Seine." 
 The Moor replied, " since here I ride in quest of Charlemagne 
 For I serve the Moor Calaynos, and I his defiance bring 
 To every lord that sits at the board of Charlemagne your King. 
 
 XII. 
 
 " Now lordlings fair, if anywhere in the wood ye've seen him 
 
 riding, 
 O tell me plain the path he has ta'en there is no cause for 
 
 chiding ; 
 
 For my lord hath blown his trumpet by every gate of Paris 
 Ixmg hours in vain, by the bank of Seine, upon his steed he 
 
 tarries." 
 
 XIII. 
 
 When the Emperor had heard the Moor, full red was liis old cheek, 
 " Go back, base cur, upon the spur, for I am he you seek 
 Go back, and tell your master to commend him to Mahoun, 
 For his soul shall dwell with him in hell, or ere yon sun go down. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 " Mine arm is weak, my hairs are grey " (thus spake King Charle- 
 magne), 
 
 ' Would for one hour I had the power of my young days again, 
 As when I plucked the Saxon from out his mountain den 
 O soon should cease the vaunting of this proud Saracen ! 
 
 xv. 
 " Though now mine arm be weakened, though now my hairs be 
 
 grey, 
 The hard-won praise of other days cannot be swept away
 
 7 '//A' .UOOK CAI.AY.VOS. 127 
 
 If shame there be, my liegemen, that shame on you must lie 
 (k> forth, go forth, good Roland ; to-night this Moor must die." 
 
 Then out and spake rough Roland " Ofttimes I've thinned the 
 
 ranks 
 
 Of the hot Moor, and when all was o'er have won me little thanks ; 
 Some carpet knight will take delight to do this doughty feat, 
 Whom damsels gay shall well repay with their smiles and whispers 
 
 sweet ! " 
 
 xvn. 
 
 Then out and spake Sir Baldwin the youngest peer was he, 
 The youngest and the comeliest " Let none go forth but me ; 
 Sir Roland is mine uncle, and he may in safety jeer, 
 But I will shew the youngest may be Sir Roland's peer." 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 " Nay, go not thou," quoth Charlemagne, " thou art my gallant 
 
 youth, 
 
 And braver none I look upon ; but thy cheek it is too smooth ; 
 And the curls upon thy forehead they are too glossy bright ; 
 Some elder peer must couch his spear against this crafty knight." 
 
 XIX. 
 
 But away, away goes Baldwin, no words can stop him now, 
 Behind him lies the greenwood, he hath gained the mountain's 
 
 brow, 
 
 He reineth first his charger, within the church-yard green, 
 Where, striding slow the elms below, the haughty Moor is seen. 
 
 xx. 
 
 Then out and spake Calaynos " Fair youth, I greet thee well ; 
 Thou art a comely stripling, and if thou with me wilt dwell, 
 All for the grace of thy sweet face, thou shall not lack thy fee, 
 Within my lady's chamber a pretty page thou'lt be."
 
 128 THE MOOR CALAYNOS. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 An angry man was Baldwin, when thus he heard him speak, 
 
 " Proud knight," quoth he, " I come with thee a bloody spear to 
 
 break." 
 
 Oh, sternly smiled Calaynos, when thus he heard him say, 
 O loudly as he mounted his mailed barb did neigh. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 One shout, one thrust, and in the dust young Baldwin lies full 
 
 low 
 No youthful knight could bear the might of that fierce warrior's 
 
 blow; 
 
 Calaynos draws his falchion, and waves it too and fro, 
 " Thy name now say, and for mercy pray, or to hell thy soul must 
 
 go."- 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 The helpless youth revealed the truth. Then said the conqueror 
 " I spare thee for thy tender years, and for thy great valour ; 
 But thou must rest thee captive here, and serve me on thy knee, 
 For fain I'd tempt some doughtier peer to come and rescue thee." 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Sir Roland heard that haughty word (he stood behind the wall), 
 His heart, I trow, was heavy enow, when he saw his kinsman fall ; 
 But now his heart was burning, and never a word he said, 
 But clasped his buckler on his arm, his helmet on his head. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Another sight saw the Moorish knight, when Roland blew his 
 
 horn, 
 
 To call him to the combat in anger and in scorn ; 
 All cased in steel from head to heel, in the stirrup high he stood, 
 The long spear quivered in his hand, as if athirst for blood. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Then out and spake Calaynos " Thy name I fain would hear ; 
 A coronet on thy helm is set ; I guess thou art a Peer." 
 Sir Roland lifted up his horn, and blew another blast, 
 "No words, base Moor," quoth Roland, "this hour shall be thy 
 last."
 
 THE MOOR CALAYNOS. 129 
 
 xxvn. 
 
 I wot they met full swiftly, I wot the shock was rude ; 
 Down fell the misbeliever, and o'er him Roland stood ; 
 
 Close to his throat the steel he brought, and plucked his beard full 
 
 sore 
 "What devil brought thee hither? speak out or die, false 
 
 Moor !" 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 " Oh ! I serve a noble damsel, a haughty maid of Spain, 
 And in evil day I took my way, that I her grace might gain j 
 
 I I or every gift I offered, my lady did disdain, 
 
 And craved the ears of certain Peers that ride with Charlemagne." 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Then loudly laughed rough Roland " Full few will be her tears, 
 It was not love her soul did move, when she bade thee beard THE 
 
 PEERS." 
 
 With that he smote upon his throat, and spurned his crest in twain, 
 "No more," he cries, "this moon will rise above the woods of 
 
 Seine."
 
 130 THE ESCAPE OF GAYFEROS. 
 
 THE ESCAPE OF GAYFEROS. 
 
 [The story of Gayfer de Bourdeaux is to be found at great length in the 
 Romantic Chronicle of Charlemagne; and it has supplied the Spanish min- 
 strels with subjects for a long series of ballads. 
 
 In that which follows, Gayferos, yet a boy, is represented as hearing frorv 
 his mother the circumstances of his father's death; and as narrowly escaping 
 with his own life, in consequence of his step-father's cruelty.] 
 
 BEFORE her knee the boy did stand, within the dais so fair, 
 The golden shears were in her hand, to clip his curled hair ; 
 And ever as she clipped the curls, such doleful words she spake, 
 That tears ran from Gayferos' eyes, for his sad mother's sake. 
 
 H. 
 
 " God grant a beard were on thy face, and strength thine arm within, 
 To fling a spear, or swing a mace, like Roland Paladin ! 
 For then, I think, thou would'st avenge thy father that is dead, 
 Whom envious traitors slaughtered within thy mother's bed. 
 
 in. 
 
 " Their bridal-gifts were rich and rare, that hate might not be seen ; 
 They cut me garments broad and fair none fairer hath the 
 
 Queen." 
 
 Then out and spake the little boy " Each night to God I call, 
 And to his blessed Mother, to make me strong and tall ! " 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Count he heard Gayferos, in the palace where he lay ; 
 " Now silence, silence, Countess ! it is falsehood that you say ; 
 I neither slew the man, nor hired another's sword to slay ; 
 But, for that the mother hath desired, be sure the son shall pay ! "
 
 THE ESCAPE OF GAYl-hKOS. 
 
 V. 
 
 The Count called to his esquires (old followers were they, 
 Whom the dead Lord had nurtured for many a merry day), 
 He bade them take their old Lord's heir, and stop his tender 
 
 breath 
 Alas ! 'twas piteous but to hear the manner of that death. 
 
 VI. 
 
 " List, esquires, list, for my command is offspring of mine oath 
 The stirrup- foot and the hilt- hand see that ye sunder both ; 
 That ye cut out his eyes 'twere best the safer he will go 
 And bring a finger and the heart, that I his end may know." 
 
 VII. 
 
 The esquires took the little boy aside with them to go ; 
 Yet, as they went, they did repent " O, God ! must this be so? 
 How shall we think to look for grace, if this poor child we slay, 
 When ranged before Christ Jesu's face at the great judgment- 
 day?" 
 
 VIII. 
 
 While they, not knowing what to do, were standing in such talk, 
 The Countess' little lap-dog bitch, by chance did cross their walk ; 
 Then out and spake one of the 'squires (you may hear the words 
 
 he said), 
 " I think the coming of this bitch may serve us in good stead 
 
 IX. 
 
 " Let us take out the bitch's heart, and give it to Galvan ; 
 The boy may with a finger part, and be no worser man." - 
 With that they cut the joint away, and whispered in his ear, 
 That he must wander many a day, nor once those parts come near. 
 
 x. 
 
 "Your uncle grace and love will show ; he is a bounteous man ; " 
 And so they let Gayferos go, and turned them to Galvan. 
 The heart and the small finger upon the board they laid, 
 And of Gayferos' slaughter a cunning story made.
 
 132 THE ESCAPE OF GAYFEROS. 
 
 XI. 
 
 The Countess, when she hears them, in great grief loudly cries : 
 
 Meantime the stripling safely unto his uncle hies : 
 
 " Now welcome, my fair boy," he said, " what good news may 
 
 they be 
 Come with thee to thine uncle's hall?" "Sad tidings come with 
 
 me 
 
 XII. 
 
 " The false Galvan had laid his plan to have me in my grave ; 
 But I've escaped him, and am here, my boon from thee to crave : 
 Rise up, rise up, mine uncle, thy brother's blood they've shed ; 
 Rise up they've slain my father within my mother's bed." ' 
 
 1 There is another ballad which represents Gayferos, now grown to be a 
 man, as coming in the disguise of a pilgrim to his mother's house, and slaying 
 his step-father with his own hand. The Countess is only satisfied as to his 
 identity by the circumstance of the finger, 
 
 El dedo bien es aqueste, aqui lo vereys faltar 
 La condesa que esto oyera empezole de abracar. 
 
 SV&V3 
 
 aej^a
 
 MELISENDRA. 133 
 
 MELISENDRA. 
 
 THE following is a version of another of the ballads concerning 
 Gayferos. It is the same that is quoted in the chapter of the 
 Puppet-show in Don Quixote : 
 
 " ' Child, child,' said Don Quixote, ' go on directly with your 
 story, and don't keep us here with your excursions and ramblings 
 out of the road. I tell you there must be a formal process, and 
 legal trial, to prove matters of fact.' ' Boy,' said the master from 
 behind the show, ' do as the gentleman bids you. Don't run so 
 much upon flourishes, but follow your plain song, without ven- 
 turing on counterpoints, for fear of spoiling all.' ' I will, sir,' 
 quoth the boy, and so proceeding : ' Now, sirs, he that you see 
 there a horseback, wrapt up in the Gascoign-cloak, is Don Gay- 
 feros himself, whom his wife, now revenged on the Moor for his 
 impudence, seeing from the battlements of the tower, takes him 
 for a stranger, and talks with him as such, according to the 
 ballad, 
 
 ' Quoth Melisendra, if perchance, 
 Sir Traveller, you go for France, 
 For pity's sake, ask when you're there, 
 For Gayferos, my husband dear.' 
 
 " ' I omit the rest, not to tire . you with a long story. It is suffi- 
 cient that he makes himself known to her, as you may guess by 
 the joy she shows ; and, accordingly, now see how she lets herself 
 down from the balcony, to come at her loving husband, and get 
 behind him ; but, unhappily, alas ! one of the skirts of her gown is 
 caught upon one of the spikes of the balcony, and there she hangs 
 and hovers in the air miserably, without being able to get down. 
 But see how Heaven is merciful, and sends relief in the greatest 
 distress ! Now Don Gayferos rides up to her, and, not fearing 
 to tear her rich gown, lays hold on it, and at one pull brings her 
 down ; and then at one lift sets her astride upon his horse's crup- 
 per, bidding her to sit fast, and clap her arms about him, that she
 
 134 MELISENDRA. 
 
 might not fall ; for the lady Melisendra was not used to that kind 
 of riding. 
 
 " ' Observe now, gallants, how the horse neighs, and shews how 
 proud he is of the burden of his brave master and fair mistress. 
 Look, now, how they turn their backs, and leave the city, and 
 gallop it merrily away towards Paris. Peace be with you, for a 
 peerless couple of true lovers ! may ye get safe and sound into 
 your own country, without any lett or ill chance in your journey, 
 and live as long as Nestor, in peace and quietness among your 
 friends and relations.' ' Plainness, boy ! ' cried Master Peter, 
 'none of your flights, I beseech you, for affectation is the devil.' 
 The boy answered nothing, but going on : ' Now, sirs,' quoth he, 
 'some of those idle people, that love to pry into ever)' thing, 
 happened to spy Melisendra as she was making her escape, and 
 ran presently and gave Marsilius notice of it ; whereupon he straight 
 commanded to sound an alarm ; and now mind what a din and 
 hurly-burly there is, and how the city shakes with the ring of the 
 bells backwards in all the mosques ! ' ' There you are out, boy,' 
 said Don Quixote : ' The Moors have no bells, they only use 
 kettle-drums, and a kind of shaulms like our waits or hautboys ; so 
 that your ringing of bells in Sansuena is a mere absurdity, good 
 Master Peter.' ' Nay, sir,' said Master Peter, giving over ringing, 
 ' if you stand upon these trifles with us, we shall never please you. 
 Don't be so severe a critic : Are there not a thousand plays that 
 pass with great success and applause, though they have many 
 greater absurdities, and nonsense in abundance ? On, boy, on, let 
 there be as many impertinences as motes in the sun ; no matter, 
 so I get the money. 1 'Well said," answered Don Quixote. 
 ' And now, sirs,' quoth the boy, ' observe what a vast company of 
 glittering horse comes pouring out of the city, in pursuit of the 
 Christian lovers ; what a dreadful sound of trumpets, and clarions, 
 and drums, and kettle-drums there is in the air. I fear they will 
 overtake them, and then will the poor wretches be dragged along 
 most barbarously at the tails of their horses, which would be sad 
 indeed.' 
 
 " Don Quixote, seeing such a number of Moors, and hearing such 
 an alarm, thought it high time to assist the flying lovers ; and start- 
 ing up, ' It shall never he said while I live,' cried he aloud, ' that 
 I suffered such a wrong to be done to so famous a knight and so 
 daring a lover as Don Gayferos. Forbear, then, your unjust pur- 
 suit, ye base-born rascals ! Stop, or prepare to meet my furious 
 resentment ! ' Then drawing out his sword, to make good his
 
 MELISEXDRA. 135 
 
 threats, at one spring he gets to the show, and with a violent fury 
 lays at the Moorish puppets, cutting and slashing in a most terrible 
 manner: some he overthrows, and beheads others; maims this, 
 and cleaves that in pieces. Among the rest of his merciless 
 strokes, he thundered one down with such a mighty force, that had 
 not Master Peter luckily ducked and squatted down, it had cer- 
 tainly chopped off his head as easily as one might cut an apple." 
 
 AT Sansuena, 1 in the tower, fair Melisendra lies, 
 Her heart is far away in France, and tears are in her eyes ; 
 The twilight shade is thickening laid on Sansuena's plain, 
 Yet wistfully the lady her weary eyes doth strain. 
 
 H. 
 
 She gazes from the dungeon strong, forth on the road to Paris, 
 Weeping, and wondering why so long her Lord Gayferos tarries, 
 When lo ! a knight appears in view a knight of Christian mien, 
 Upon a milk-white charger he rides the elms between. 
 
 m. 
 
 She from her window reaches forfh her hand a sign to make, 
 O if you be a knight of worth, draw near for mercy's sake ; 
 For mercy and sweet charity, draw near, Sir Knight, to me, 
 And tell me if ye ride to France, or whither bowne ye be. 
 
 rv. 
 
 " O, if ye be a Christian knight, and if to France you go, 
 I pr'ythee tell Gayferos that you have seen my woe ; 
 That you have seen me weeping, here in the Moorish tower, 
 While he is gay by night and day, in hall and lady's bower. 
 
 v. 
 
 " Seven summers have I waited, seven winters long are spent, 
 Yet word of comfort none he speaks, nor token hath he sent ; 
 
 1 Sansuetta is the ancient name of /aragoza.
 
 136 
 
 MELISLNDRA. 
 
 And if he is weary of my love, and would have me wed a stranger 
 Still say his love is true to him nor time nor wrong can change 
 her." 
 
 VI. 
 
 The knight on stirrup rising, bids her wipe her tears away, 
 
 " My love, no time for weeping, no peril save delay 
 
 Come, boldly spring, and lightly leap no listening Moor is neai 
 
 us, 
 And by dawn of day we'll be faraway" so spake the Knight 
 
 Gayferos. 
 
 VII. 
 
 She hath made the sign of the Cross divine, and an Ave she hath 
 
 said, 
 And she dares the leap both wide and deep that damsel without 
 
 dread ; 
 
 And he hath kissed her pale pale cheek, and lifted her behind, 
 t Saint Denis speed the rnilk-white steed no Moor their path shall 
 
 find.
 
 LADY ALDA'S DREAM, 137 
 
 LADY ALDA'S DREAM. 
 
 [The following is an attempt to render one of the most admired of all the 
 
 Spanish ballads. 
 
 En Paris esta Dona Alda, la esposa de Don Roldan, 
 Trecientas damas con ella, para la accompanar, 
 Todas visten un vestido, todas caiman un calcjar, &c. 
 
 In its whole structure and strain it bears a very remarkable resemblance to 
 several of our own old ballads both English and Scottish.] 
 
 IN Paris sits the lady that shall be Sir Roland's bride, 
 
 Three hundred damsels with her, her bidding to abide ; 
 
 All clothed in the same fashion, both the mantle and the shoon, 
 
 All eating at one table, within her hall at noon : 
 
 All, save the Lady Alda, she is lady of them all, 
 
 She keeps her place upon the dais, and they serve her in her hall ; 
 
 The thread of gold a hundred spin, the lawn a hundred weave, 
 
 And a hundred play sweet melody within Alda's bower at eve. 
 
 ir. 
 
 With the sound of their sweet playing, the lady falls asleep, 
 And she dreams a doleful dream, and her damsels hear her weep ; 
 There is sorrow in her slumber, and she waketh with a cry, 
 And she calleth for her damsels, and swiftly they come nigh. 
 " Now, what is it, Lady Alda " (you may hear the words they say), 
 "Bringeth sorrow to thy pillow, and chaseth sleep away?" 
 " O, my maidens ! " quoth the lady, " my heart it is full sore ! 
 I have dreamt a dream of evil, and can slumber never more. 
 
 in. 
 
 " For I was upon a mountain, in a bare and desert place, 
 And I saw a mighty eagle, and a falcon he did chase ; 
 And to me the falcon came, and I hid it in my breast, 
 But the mighty bird, pursuing, came and rent away my vest;
 
 138 LADY ALDA'S DREAM. 
 
 And he scattered all the feathers, and blood was on his beak, 
 And ever, as he tore and tore, I heard the falcon shriek : 
 Now read my vision, damsels, now read my dream to me, 
 For my heart may well be heavy that doleful sight to see." - 
 
 IV. 
 
 Out spake the foremost damsel was in her chamber there 
 (You may hear the words she says), " Oh ! my lady's dream is 
 
 fair 
 
 The mountain is Saint Denis' choir ; and thou the falcon art, 
 And the eagle strong that teareth the garment from thy heart, 
 And scattereth the feathers, he is the Paladin 
 That, when again he comes from Spain, must sleep thy bower 
 
 within ; 
 Then be blythe of cheer, my lady, for the dream thou must not 
 
 grieve, 
 It means but that thy bridegroom shall come to thee at eve." 
 
 v. 
 
 "If thou hast read my vision, and read it cunningly " - 
 
 Thus said the Lady Alda, " thou shall not lack thy fee." 
 
 But woe is me for Alda ! there was heard, at morning hour, 
 
 A voice of lamentation within that lady's bower ; 
 
 For there had come to Paris a messenger by night, 
 
 And his horse it was a-weary, and his visage it was white ; 
 
 And there's weeping in the chamber, and there's silence in the 
 
 hall, 
 For Sir Roland has been slaughtered in the chase of Roncesval.
 
 THE ADMIRAL GUARINOS. 139 
 
 THE ADMIRAL GUARINOS. 
 
 [This is a translation of the ballad which Don Quixote and Sancho Pan/.a, 
 when at Toboso, overheard a peasant singing, as he was going to his work at 
 daybreak. " Iba cantando," says Cervantes, " aquel romance que dice, 
 
 Mala la vistes Franceses la cac.a de Roncesvalles."] 
 
 THE day of Roncesvalles was a dismal day for you, 
 
 Ye men of France, for there the lance of King Charles was broke 
 
 in two. 
 
 Ye well may curse that rueful field, for many a noble peer, 
 In fray or fight, the dust did bite, beneath Bernardo's spear. 
 
 n. 
 
 There captured was Guarinos, King Charles's admiral ; 
 
 Seven Moorish kings surrounded him, and seized him for their 
 
 thrall 
 Seven times, when all the chace was o'er, for Guarinos lots they 
 
 cast; 
 Seven times Marlotes won the throw, and the knight was his at 
 
 last. 
 
 in. 
 
 Much joy had then Marlotes, and his captive much did prize, 
 Above all the wealth of Araby, he was precious in his eyes. 
 Within his tent at evening he made the best of cheer, 
 And thus, the banquet done, he spake unto his prisoner. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Now, for the sake of Alia, Lord Admiral Guarinos, 
 Be thou a Moslem, and much love shall ever rest between us. 
 Two daughters have I all the day thy handmaid one shall be, 
 The other (and the fairer far) by night shall cherish thee.
 
 140 THE ADMIRAL GUARINOS. 
 
 V. 
 
 " The one shall be thy waiting- maid, thy weary feet to lave, 
 To scatter perfumes on thy head, and fetch thee garments brave ; 
 The other she the pretty shall deck her bridal-bower, 
 And my field and my city they both shall be her dower. 
 
 VI. 
 
 " If more thou wishest, more I'll give speak boldly what thy 
 
 thought is." 
 
 Thus earnestly and kindly to Guarinos said Marlotes ; 
 But not a moment did he take to ponder or to pause, 
 Thus clear and quick the answer of the Christian Captain was : 
 
 VII. 
 
 " Now, God forbid ! Marlotes, and Mary, his dear mother, 
 That I should leave the faith of Christ, and bind me to another. 
 For women I've one wife in France, and I'll wed no more in 
 
 Spain ; 
 I change not faith, I break not vow, for courtesy or gain." 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Wroth waxed King Marlotes, when thus he heard him say, 
 And all for ire commanded, he should be led away ; 
 Away unto the dungeon-keep, beneath its vault to lie, 
 With fetters bound in darkness deep, far off from sun and sky. 
 
 IX. 
 
 With iron bands they bound his hands. That sore unworthy plight 
 Might well express his helplessness, doomed never more to fight. 
 Again, from cincture down to knee, long bolts of iron he bore, 
 Which signified the knight should ride on charger never more. 
 
 x. 
 
 Three times alone, in all the year, it is the captive's doom, 
 To see God's daylight bright and clear, instead of dungeon-gloom ; 
 Three times alone they bring him out, like Samson long ago, 
 Before the Moorish rabble-rout to be a sport and show.
 
 THE ADMIKAL GUARINOS. 141 
 
 XI. 
 
 On three high feasts they bring him forth, a spectacle to be, 
 
 The feast of Pasque, and the great day of the Nativity, 
 
 And on that morn, more solemn yet, when the maidens strip the 
 
 bowers, 
 And gladden mosque and minaret with the first fruits of the flowers. 
 
 XII. 
 
 I )ays come and go of gloom and show. Seven years are come and 
 
 gone, 
 
 And now doth fall the festival of the holy Baptist John ; 
 Christian and Moslem tilts and jousts, to give it homage due ; 
 And rushes on the paths to spread they force the sulky Jew. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Marlotes, in his joy and pride, a target high doth rear, 
 
 Below the Moorish knights must ride and pierce it with the spear ; 
 
 But 'tis so high up in the sky, albeit much they strain, 
 
 No Moorish lance so far may fly, Marlotes' prize to gain. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Wroth waxed King Marlotes, when he beheld them fail, 
 The whisker trembled on his lip, and his cheek for ire was pale ; 
 And heralds proclamation made, with trumpets, through the town, 
 " Nor child shall suck, nor man shall eat, till the mark be tumbled 
 down." 
 
 xv. 
 
 The cry of proclamation, and the trumpet's haughty sound, 
 
 Did send an echo to the vault where the admiral was bound. 
 
 " Now, help me God ! " the captive cries, " what means this din 
 
 so loud ? 
 O, Queen of Heaven ! be vengeance given on these thy haters 
 
 proud ! 
 
 XVI. 
 
 " O ! is it that some Pagan gay doth Marlotes' daughter wed, 
 And that they bear my scorned fair in triumph to his bed ? 
 Or is it that the day is come one of the hateful three, 
 When they, with trumpet, fife, and drum, make heathen game of 
 me?"
 
 142 THE ADMIRAL GUARINOS. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 These words the jailer chanced to hear, and thus to him he said, 
 " These tabors, Lord, and trumpets clear, conduct no bride to bed ; 
 Nor has the feast come round again, when he that has the right, 
 Commands thee forth, thou foe of Spain, to glad the people's sight. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 " This is the joyful morning of John the Baptist's day, 
 When Moor and Christian feasts at home, each in his nation's way , 
 But now our King commands that none his banquet shall begin, 
 Until some knight, by strength or sleight, the spearman's prize do 
 win." 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Then out and spake Guarinos, " O ! soon each man should feed, 
 Were I but mounted once again on my own gallant steed. 
 O ! were I mounted as of old, and harnessed cap-a-pee, 
 Full soon Marlotes' prize I'd hold, whate'er its price may be. 
 
 xx. 
 
 " Give me my horse, mine old grey horse, so be he is not dead, 
 All gallantly caparisoned, with plate on breast and head, 
 And give the lance I brought from France, and if I win it not, 
 My life shall be the forfeiture I'll yield it on the spot." 
 
 XXI. 
 
 The jailer wondered at his words. Thus to the knight said he, 
 " Seven weary years of chains and gloom have little humbled thee ; 
 There's never a man in Spain, I trow, the like so well might bear ; 
 An' if thou wilt, I with thy vow will to the King repair." 
 
 XXII. 
 
 The jailer put his mantle on, and came unto the King, 
 He found him sitting on the throne, within his listed ring ; 
 Close to his ear he planted him, and the story did begin, 
 How bold Guarinos vaunted him the spearman's prize to win.
 
 THE ADMIRAL GUARINOS. 143 
 
 
 
 xxm. 
 
 That, were he mounted but once more on his own gallant grey, 
 And armed with the lance he bore on the Roncesvalles' day, 
 What never Moorish knight could pierce, he would pierce it at a 
 
 blow, 
 Or give with joy his life-blood fierce, at Marlotes' feet to flow. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Much marvelling, then said the King, " Bring Sir Guarinos forth, 
 And in the Grange go seek ye for his grey steed of worth ; 
 His arms are rusty on the wall seven years have gone, I judge, 
 Since that strong horse has bent his force to be a carrion drudge. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 " Now this will be a sight indeed, to see the enfeebled lord 
 Essay to mount that ragged steed, and draw that rusty sword ; 
 And for the vaunting of his phrase he well deserves to die, 
 So, jailer, gird his harness on, and bring your champion nigh." 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 They have girded on his shirt of mail, his cuisses well they've 
 
 clasped, 
 And they've barred the helm on his visage pale, and his hand the 
 
 lance hath grasped, 
 And they have caught the old grey horse, the horse he loved of 
 
 yore, 
 And he stands pawing at the gate caparisoned once more. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 When the knight came out the Moors did shout, and loudly laughed 
 
 the King, 
 
 For the horse he pranced and capered, and furiously did fling ; 
 But Guarinos whispered in his ear, and looked into his face, 
 Then stood the old charger like a lamb, with a calm and gentle 
 
 grace.
 
 144 THE ADMIRAL GUARINOS. 
 
 * 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Oh ! lightly did Guarinos vault into the saddle-tree, 
 
 And slowly riding down made halt before Marlotes' knee ; 
 
 Again the heathen laughed aloud "All hail, sir knight," quoth 
 
 he, 
 " Now do thy best, thou champion proud. Thy blood I look to 
 
 see." 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 With that Guarinos, lance in rest, against the scoffer rode, 
 Pierced at one thrust his envious breast, and down his turban 
 
 trode. 
 
 Now ride, now ride, Guarinos nor lance nor rowel spare 
 Slay, slay, and gallop for thy life. The land of France lies there :
 
 THE LADY OF THE TREE. 145 
 
 THE LADY OF THE TREE. 
 
 [The following is one of the few old Spanish ballads in which mention is 
 made of the Fairies. The sleeping child's being taken away from the arms of 
 the nurse, is a circumstance quite in accordance with our own tales of Fairy- 
 land; but the seven years' enchantment in the tree reminds us more of those 
 oriental fictions, the influence of which has stamped so many indelible traces 
 on all the imaginative literature of Spain.] 
 
 THE knight had hunted long, and twilight closed the day, 
 His hounds were weak and weary, his hawk had flown away. 
 He stopped beneath an oak, an old and mighty tree, 
 Then out the maiden spoke, and a comely maid was she. 
 
 ir. 
 
 The knight 'gan lift his eye, the shady boughs between ; 
 She had her seat on high, among the oak- leaves green ; 
 Her golden curls lay clustering above her breast of snow ; 
 But when the breeze was westering, upon it they did flow. 
 
 m. 
 
 " O, fear not, gentle knight ; there is no cause for fear ; 
 I am a good king's daughter, long years enchanted here ; 
 Seven cruel fairies found me they charmed a sleeping child ; 
 Seven years their charm hath bound me, a damsel undefiled. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Seven weary years are gone since over me charms they threw 
 I have dwelt here alone I have seen none but you. 
 My seven sad years are spent ; for Christ that died on rood, 
 Thou noble Knight, consent, and lead me from the wood !
 
 146 THE LADY OF THE TREE. 
 
 V. 
 
 " O ! bring me forth again from out this darksome place ! 
 I dare not sleep for terror of the unholy race. 
 (), take me, gentle sir ! I'll be a wife to thee 
 I'll be thy lowly leman, if wife I may not be." 
 
 VI. 
 
 " Till dawns the morning, wait, thou lovely lady, here ; 
 I'll ask my mother straight, for her reproof I fear." - 
 " O, ill beseems thee, knight ! " said she, that maid forlorn, 
 " The blood of kings to slight a lady's tears to scorn." 
 
 VII. 
 
 He came when morning broke, to fetch the maid away, 
 But could not find the oak wherein she made her stay ; 
 All through the wilderness he sought in bower and tree - 
 Fair lordlings, will ye guess what weary heart had he. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 There came a sound of voices from up the forest glen, 
 The King had come to find her with all his gentlemen ; 
 They rode in mickle glee a joyous cavalcade 
 Fair in the midst rode she, but never word she said. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Though on the green he knelt, no look on him she cast 
 His hand was on the hilt ere all the train were past. 
 " O shame to knightly blood ! O scorn to chivalry ! 
 I'll die within the wood ! No eye my death shall see !"
 
 THE FALSE QUEEN. 147 
 
 THE FALSE QUEEN. 
 
 [The following is a version of the ballad, 
 
 A tan alta va la Luna 
 Como el sol en media dia. 
 
 It is in the Cancionero of Antwerp. Mr. Depping, the German collector, sup- 
 poses the " German Lord " (Conde Aleman) to be the famous Baldwin, nephew 
 to the Marquis of Mantua now perhaps best known to the English reader 
 from the many allusions to his tragical death in Don Quixote.] 
 
 UP on high the moon was riding, 
 
 High as the sun in blaze of day, 
 When, within her chamber hiding, 
 
 With the Queen the Conde" lay. 
 
 No one knows it, knight or lady, 
 
 In the good King's court that dwelleth, 
 
 Save but one, the pale Infanta ; 
 She to none her sorrow telleth. 
 
 Out and spake the blushing mother, 
 To the maiden wan and weeping, 
 
 " Daughter, thou my shame wilt cover ; 
 Lo ! my life is in thy keeping ! 
 
 " Child, my German lord hath gold, 
 Gold and pearl he'll give to thee ; 
 
 Gowns and mantles manifold, 
 Blazoned with embroidery." 
 
 " May an evil fire consume them ! " 
 
 Out and spake the damosel ; 
 " There's a false man in thy chamber, 
 
 While my father loves thee well."
 
 148 THE AVENGING CHILDE. 
 
 THE AVENGING CHILDE. 
 
 [The ballad of the Infante Vengador is proved to be of very high antiquity 
 by certain particulars in its language. The circumstance of the tiled floor, 
 and some others of the same sort, will not escape the notice of the antiquarian 
 reader.] 
 
 HURRAH ! hurrah ! avoid the way of the Avenging Childe ; 
 His horse is swift as sands that drift an Arab of the wild ; 
 His gown is twisted round his arm a ghastly cheek he wears ; 
 And in his hand, for deadly harm, a hunting-knife he bears. 
 
 H. 
 
 Avoid that knife in battle-strife, that weapon short and thin ; 
 The dragon's gore hath bathed it o'er, seven times 'twas steeped 
 
 therein ; 
 Seven times the smith hath proved its pith, it cuts a coulter 
 
 through 
 In France the blade was fashioned, from Spain the shaft it drew. 
 
 in. 
 
 He sharpens it, as he doth ride, upon his saddle bow, 
 He sharpens it on either side, he makes the steel to glow. 
 He rides to find Don Quadros, that false and faitour knight, 
 His glance of ire is hot as fire, although his cheek be white. 
 
 rv. 
 
 He found him standing by the King within the judgment-hall ; 
 He rushed within the Barons' ring he stood before them all. 
 Seven times he gazed and pondered, if he the deed should do, 
 Eight times distraught he looked and thought, then out his dagger 
 flew. 
 
 v. 
 
 He stabbed therewith at Quadros the King did step between, 
 It pierced his royal garment of purple wove with green ;
 
 THE AVENGING CHILDE. 149 
 
 He fell beneath the canopy, upon the tiles he lay. 
 " Thou traitor keen, what dost thou mean ? thy King why wouldst 
 thou slay?" 
 
 VI. 
 
 " Now, pardon, pardon," cried the Childe, " I stabbed not, King, 
 
 at thee, 
 
 But him, that caitiff, blood-defiled, who stood beside thy knee ; 
 Eight brothers were we in the land might none more loving be 
 They all are slain by Quadros' hand they are all dead but me. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " Good King, I fain would wash the stain for vengeance is my 
 
 cry; 
 
 This murderer with sword and spear to battle I defy." 
 But all took part with Quadros, except one lovely May, 
 Except the King's fair daughter, none word for him would say. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 She took their hands, she led them forth into the court below ; 
 She bade the ring be guarded ; she bade the trumpet blow ; 
 From lofty place, for that stern race, the signal she did throw 
 "With truth and right the Lord will fight together let them go." 
 
 IX. 
 
 The one is up, the other down, the hunter's knife is bare ; 
 
 It cuts the lace beneath the face, it cuts through beard and hair ; 
 
 Right soon that knife hath quenched his life the head is sundered 
 
 sheer ; 
 Then gladsome smiled the Avenging Childe, and fixed it on his 
 
 spear. 
 
 x. 
 
 But when the King beholds him bring that token of his truth, 
 Nor scorn nor wrath his bosom hath " Kneel down, thou noble 
 
 youth ; 
 Kneel down, kneel down, and kiss my crown, I am no more thy 
 
 foe ; 
 My daughter now may pay the vow she plighted long ago."
 
 150 COUNT ARNALDOS. 
 
 COUNT ARNALDOS. 
 
 [This Ballad is in the Cancionero of Antwerp, 1555. 
 I should be inclined to suppose that 
 
 more is meant than meets the ear, 
 that some religious allegory is intended to be shadowed forth. 1 
 
 I. 
 
 WHO had ever such adventure, 
 Holy priest, or virgin nun, 
 
 As befell the Count Arnaldos 
 At the rising of the sun? 
 
 ii. 
 
 On his wrist the hawk was hooded, 
 Forth with horn and hound went he, 
 
 When he saw a stately galley 
 Sailing on the silent sea. 
 
 in. 
 
 Sail of satin, mast of cedar, 
 
 Burnished poop of beaten gold 
 
 Many a morn you'll hood your falcon 
 Ere you such a bark behold. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Sails of satin, masts of cedar, 
 Golden poops may come again, 
 
 But mortal ear no more shall listen 
 To yon grey-haired sailor's strain. 
 
 Heart may beat, and eye may glisten, 
 Faith is strong, and Hope is free,
 
 COUXT ARNALDOS. 151 
 
 But mortal ear no more shall listen 
 To the song that rules the sea. 
 
 VI. 
 
 When the grey- haired sailor chanted, 
 
 Every wind was hushed to sleep 
 Like a virgin's bosom panted 
 
 All the wide reposing deep. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Bright in beauty rose the star-fish 
 
 From her green cave down below, 
 Right above the eagle poised him 
 
 Holy music charmed them so. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " Stately galley ! glorious galley \ 
 
 God hath poured his grace on thee ! 
 Thou alone mayst scorn the perils 
 
 Of the dread devouring sea ! 
 
 rx. 
 
 " False Almeria's reefs and shallows, 
 
 Black Gibraltar's giant rocks, 
 Sound and sand-bank, gulf and whirlpool, 
 
 All my glorious galley mocks ! " 
 
 x. 
 
 " For the sake of God, our maker ! " 
 
 (Count Arnaldos' cry was strong), 
 " Old man, let me be partaker 
 
 In the secret of thy song ! " 
 
 XI. 
 
 " Count Arnaldos ! Count Arnaldos ! 
 
 Hearts I read, and thoughts I know - ' 
 Wouldst thou learn the ocean serrct, 
 
 In our galley thou must go,"
 
 152 SOA'G FOR THE MORNING OF ST. JOHN. 
 
 SONG FOR THE MORNING OF THE DAY OF 
 ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 
 
 THE Marquis du Palmy said, many years ago, in his ingenious 
 Essay, " Sur la vie prive"e des Francois," " Les feux de la Saint 
 Jean fonde"s sur ce qu'on lit dans le Nouveau Testament, 1 que les 
 nations se rejouiront & la Naissance de Saint Jean, sont presque 
 dteintes par tout." 
 
 Both in the northern and the southern parts of Europe, there 
 prevailed of old a superstitious custom, of which the traces prob- 
 ably linger to this day, in many simple districts. The young wo- 
 men rose on this sacred morning ere the sun was up, and collected 
 garlands of flowers, which they bound upon their heads ; and ac- 
 cording as the dew remained upon these a longer or a shorter time, 
 they augured more or less favourably of the future constancy of 
 their lovers. 
 
 That the day of the Baptist was a great festival among the Span- 
 ish Moors, the reader may gather from many passages in the fore- 
 going Ballads, particularly that of THE ADMIRAL GUARINOS. There 
 are two in the Cancionero which show, that some part at least of 
 the amorous superstitions of the day were also shared by them. 
 The one of them begins, 
 
 La mafiana de San Juan, salen a coger guirnaldas, 
 
 Zara muger del Rey Chico, con sus mas queridas damas, c. 
 
 The other, 
 
 La mafiana de Sant Juan, a punta que alboreava, 
 Gran fiesta hazen los Moros por la vega de Granada, 
 Rebolviendo sus cavallos, y jugando con las lanzas 
 Ricos pendones en ellas, labrados por las amadas. 
 
 ******** 
 
 El moro que amores tiene, senates dellos monstrava, 
 Y el que amiga no tenia, alii no fscaramu(ava, Gfc. 
 
 1 Thou shall have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. 
 St. Luke, chap. i. ver. 14.
 
 SOA'G FOR THE MORNING OF ST. JOHN. 153 
 
 The following song is one that was used to be sung by the Span- 
 ish country-girls, as they went out to gather their dew and their 
 flowers, on St. John's day in the morning. There are many of the 
 same kind ; such as that beginning 
 
 Este dia de San Juan 
 
 Ay de mi ! 
 
 Que no solia ser ansi ! &c. 
 
 And that other, 
 
 Yo no me porne guirnalda 
 La mafiana de San Juan 
 Pues mis amores se van, &c. 
 
 COME forth, come forth, my maidens, 'tis the day of good St. John, 
 It is the Baptist's morning that breaks the hills upon, 
 And let us all go forth together, while the blessed day is new, 
 To dress with flowers the snow-white wether, ere the sun has dried 
 the dew. 
 
 Come forth, come forth, &c. 
 
 Come forth, come forth, my maidens, the woodlands all are green, 
 And the little birds are singing the opening leaves between, 
 And let us all go forth together, to, gather trefoil by the stream, 
 Ere the face of Guadalquiver glows beneath the strengthening 
 beam. 
 
 Come forth, come forth, &c. 
 
 Come forth, come forth, my maidens, and slumber not away 
 The blessed, blessed morning of the holy Baptist's day ; 
 There's trefoil on the meadow, and lilies on the lee, 
 And hawthorn blossoms on the bush, which you must pluck with 
 me. 
 
 Come forth, come forth, &c. 
 
 Come forth, come forth, my maidens, the air is calm and cool, 
 And the violet blue far down ye'll view, reflected in the pool ; 
 The violets and the roses, and the jasmines all together, 
 We'll bind in garlands on the brow of the strong and lovely 
 wether. 
 
 Come forth, come forth, &c.
 
 154 
 
 SOA'G FOR THE MORNING OF ST. JOHN. 
 
 Come forth, come forth, my maidens, we'll gather myrtle boughs, 
 
 And we all shall learn from the dews of the fern, if our lads will 
 keep their vows. 
 
 If the wether be still, 1 as we dance on the hill, and the dew hangs 
 sweet on the flowers, 
 
 Then we'll kiss off the dew, for our lovers are true, and the Bap- 
 tist's blessing is ours. 
 
 Come forth, come forth, my maidens, 'tis the day of good St. 
 
 John, 
 
 It is the Baptist's morning that breaks the hills upon ; 
 And let us all go forth together, while the blessed day is new. 
 To dress with flowers the snow-white wether, ere the sun has dried 
 
 the dew. 
 
 1 " They enclose the wether in a hut of heath," says Depping, " and if he re- 
 mains quiet while the girl sings, all is well; hut if he puts his horns through 
 the frail wall or door, then the lover is false-hearted."
 
 JULIANA. 155 
 
 JULIANA. 
 
 [The following Ballad is inserted in this place on account of an allusion it 
 contains to the ancient custom which forms the subject of the preceding one. 
 
 It seems to represent the frenzy of a Spanish knight, who has gone mad, in 
 consequence of his mistress having been carried off in the course of a Moorish 
 foray. 
 
 Arriba! canes, arriba! que rabia mala os mate, 
 
 En jueves matays el puerco, y en viemes comeys la came, &c.] 
 
 " OFF ! off ! ye hounds ! in madness an ill death be your doom ! 
 The boar ye killed on Thursday on Friday ye consume ! 
 Aye me ! and it is now seven years I in this valley go ; 
 Barefoot I wander, and the blood from out my nails doth flow. 
 
 ii. 
 
 " I eat the raw flesh of the boar, J drink his red blood here, 
 Seeking, with heavy heart and sore, my Princess and my dear. 
 'Twas on the Baptist's morning the Moors my Princess found, 
 While she was gathering roses upon her father's ground." 
 
 m. 
 
 Fair Juliana heard his voice where by the Moor she lay, 
 Even in the Moor's encircling arms she heard what he did say 
 The lady listened, and she wept within that guarded place, 
 While the Moor Lord beside her slept the tears fell on his face.
 
 156 THE SONG Of THE GALLEY. 
 
 THE SONG OF THE GALLEY. 
 
 [This is from a song in the Cancionero of Valencia, 1511. 
 
 Galeristas de Espann 
 Parad los remos, &c.] 
 
 " YE mariners of Spain, 
 Bend strongly on your oars, 
 And bring my love again, 
 For he lies among the Moors. 
 
 n. 
 
 " Ye galleys fairly built, 
 Like castles on the sea, 
 O great will be your guilt, 
 If ye bring him not to me. 
 
 HI. 
 
 " The wind is blowing strong, 
 The breeze will aid your oars ; 
 O swiftly fly along, 
 For he lies among the Moors. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " The sweet breeze of the sea 
 Cools every cheek but mine ; 
 Hot is its breath to me, 
 As I gaze upon the brine. 
 
 v. 
 
 " Lift up, lift up your sail, 
 And bend upon your oars ; 
 O lose not the fair gale, 
 For he lies among the Moors.
 
 THE SONG OF THE GALLEY. 
 
 157 
 
 VI. 
 
 " It is a narrow strait, 
 I see the blue hills over ; 
 Your coming I'll await, 
 And thank you for my lover. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " To Mary I will pray, 
 
 While ye bend upon your oars ; 
 
 Twill be a blessed day, 
 
 If ye fetch him from the Moors."
 
 158 THE WANDERING KNIGHT'S SONG. 
 
 THE WANDERING KNIGHT'S SONG. 
 
 [In the Cancionero of Antwerp, 1555. 
 
 Mis arreos son las armas 
 Mi descanso el pelear.] 
 
 " MY ornaments are arms, 
 
 My pastime is in war, 
 My bed is cold upon the wold, 
 My lamp yon star : 
 
 H. 
 
 " My journeyings are long, 
 
 My slumbers short and broken ; 
 From hill to hill I wander still, 
 Kissing thy token. 
 
 in. 
 
 " I ride from land to lane*, 
 
 I sail from sea to sea ; 
 Some day more kind I fate may find, 
 Some night kiss thee."
 
 MINGUILLO. 159 
 
 MINGUILLO. 
 
 [From the collection of Juan cle Linares, entitled Flor de Enamorados. 
 
 Plies por besarte Minguijlo 
 
 Me rine mi madre a mi. 
 Vuelveme presto, carillo, 
 
 Aquel beso que le di, &c.] 
 
 I. 
 
 SINCE fcr kissing thee, Minguillo, 
 My mother scolds me all the day, 
 
 Let me have it quickly, darling ; 
 Give me back my kiss, I pray. 
 
 u. 
 
 If we have done aught amiss, 
 
 Let's undo it while we may, 
 Quickly give me back the kiss, 
 
 That she may have nought to say. 
 
 in'. 
 
 Do she keeps so great a pother, 
 Chides so sharply, looks so grave ; 
 
 Do, my love, to please my mother, 
 Give me back the kiss I gave. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Out upon you, false Minguillo ! 
 
 One you give, but two you take ; 
 Give me back the two, my darling, 
 
 Give them, for my mother's sake I
 
 160 SEKEA'ADK 
 
 SERENADE. 
 
 [From the Romancero General of 1604. 
 Mientras duerme mi nina, &c.j 
 
 WHILE my lady sleepeth, 
 
 The dark blue heaven is bright, 
 Soft the moonbeam creepeth 
 
 Round her bower all night. 
 Thou gentle, gentle breeze, 
 
 While my lady slumbers, 
 Waft lightly through the trees 
 
 Echoes of my numbers, 
 Her dreaming ear to please. 
 
 n. 
 Should ye, breathing numbers 
 
 That for her I weave, 
 Should ye break her slumbers, 
 
 All my soul would grieve. 
 Rise on the gentle breeze, 
 And gain her lattice' height 
 
 O'er yon poplar trees, 
 But be your echoes light 
 
 As hum of distant bees. 
 
 in. 
 All the stars are glowing 
 
 In the gorgeous sky, 
 In the stream scarce flowing 
 
 Mimic lustres lie : 
 Blow, gentle, gentle breeze, 
 
 But bring no cloud to hide 
 Their dear resplendencies ; 
 
 Nor chase from Zara's side 
 Dreams bright and pure as these.
 
 MINGUELA'S CHIDING. 
 
 MINGUELA'S CHIDING. 
 
 [From the Romancero General of 1604. 
 
 Rino con Juanilla 
 
 Su hermana M inguela 
 
 Palabras le dice 
 
 Que mucho le duelan, &c.J 
 
 I. 
 
 HER sister Minguela 
 
 Thus chid Juanilla, 
 The words that she said 
 
 Brought no peace to her pillow. 
 
 ii. 
 
 " Heretofore you went gadding 
 
 As gay as the rest, 
 Your new mantle clad in, 
 
 And fine crimson vest. 
 
 in. 
 
 " But now you sit moping, 
 You look and you stare, 
 
 Sighing over your needle, 
 As if no one was there. 
 
 rv. 
 
 " When beside you I'm lying, 
 
 I cannot get sleeping ; 
 When you give over signing, 
 
 I'm sure that you're weeping. 
 
 v. 
 
 " When one loves, I've been told, 
 It is sighing that shows it ;
 
 162 MINGUELA'S CHIDING. 
 
 How our mother will scold 
 At us both, if she knows it ! 
 
 VI. 
 
 " She will close all the windows, 
 And bolt every door ; 
 
 When the fiddles are playing, 
 We shall join them no more. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " The old nurse will attend, 
 When we go to the mass ; 
 
 What an eye she will bend 
 On whoever may pass ! 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " No new gossip we'll learn, 
 If help it she can ; 
 
 How she'll frown if we turn, 
 To look after a man ! 
 
 IX. 
 
 " As we sit at our work, 
 
 From the lattice she'll peer, 
 And be sure to remark 
 If a gallant comes near. 
 
 x. 
 
 " O look up as you did, 
 For I'll suffer with you ; 
 
 And I'm loth to be chid, 
 When it is not my due." 
 
 XI. 
 
 " O sister Minguela, 
 How little you know ! 
 
 You guess at my love, 
 
 But you read not my woe.
 
 MINGUELA'S CHIDING. 
 
 163 
 
 XII. 
 
 " Young Pedro (you know 
 Tis the son of old Juan), 
 
 Promised love long ago, 
 But has left me in ruin. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 " Had he loved as he swore, 
 He'd have married me yet ; 
 
 Oh, I love him no more, 
 But I cannot forget ! "
 
 164 THE CAPTIVE KNIGHT AND THE BLACKBIRD. 
 
 THE 
 
 CAPTIVE KNIGHT AND THE BLACKBIRD. 
 
 THE following is a translation of a ballad in the Cancionero 01 
 Antwerp, 1555. 
 
 Pues el mes era de Mayo, &c. 
 
 There is one in the Cancionero General of Valencia, 1511, of 
 which this would seem to have been no more than an expansion. 
 The older is perhaps the finer of the two. It is, at all events, so 
 short, that I shall transcribe it. 
 
 Que por Mayo era por Mayo 
 Cuando los blandos calores 
 Cuando los enamorados 
 Van servir a sus amores; 
 Sino yo, triste Mezquino, 
 Que yago en estas prisiones 
 Que ni se cuando es de dia 
 Ni menos cuando es de Noche; 
 Sino por una avecilla 
 Que me cantaha al albor; 
 Matumelo un ballestero 
 Delo Dios mal galardon ! 
 
 " Tis now, they say, the month of May, 'tis now the moons are 
 
 bright ; 
 'Tis now the maids, 'mong greenwood shades, sit with their loves 
 
 by night ; 
 
 Tis now the hearts of lovers true are glad the groves among ; 
 Tis now they sit the long night through, and list the thrush's song.
 
 THE CAPTIVE KNIGHT AND THE BLACKBIRD. 165 
 
 II. 
 
 "Woe dwells with me, in spite of thee, thou gladsome month of 
 
 May; 
 
 I cannot see what stars there be, I know not night from day. 
 There was a bird, whose voice I heard, oh, sweet my small bird sung, 
 I heard its tune when night was gone, and up the morning sprung. 
 
 in. 
 
 " To comfort me in darkness bound, comes now no voice of cheer, 
 Long have I listened for the sound, there is no bird to hear. 
 Sweet bird ! he had a cruel heart, whose steel thy bosom tore ; 
 A ruffian hand discharged the dart, that makes thee sing no more. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " I am the vassal of my King it never shall be said 
 
 That I even hence a curse could fling against my liege's head ; 
 
 But if the jailer slew my merle, no sin is in the word, 
 
 God look in anger on the churl that harmed my harmless bird ! 
 
 v. 
 
 " O, should some kindly Christian bring another bird to me, 
 Thy tune I in his ear would sing till he could sing like thee ; 
 But were a dove within my choice, my song would soon be o'er, 
 For he would understand my voice, and fly to Leonore. 
 
 VI. 
 
 " He would fly swiftly through the air, and though he could not 
 
 speak, 
 
 He'd ask a file, which he could bear within his little beak ; 
 Had I a file, these fetters vile I from my wrist would break, 
 And see right soon the fair May moon shine on my lady's cheek." 
 
 VII. 
 
 It chanced while a poor captive knight, within yon dungeon strong, 
 Lamented thus the arrow's flight that stopped his blackbird's song 
 (Unknown to him), The King was near; he heard him through 
 
 the wall, 
 " Nay, since he has no merle to hear, 'tis time his fetters fall."
 
 166 VALLADOLLD. 
 
 VALLADOLID. 
 
 [This is a translation from one of the Ballads in Sepulveda's collection (Ant 
 werp, 1580) the author's name unknown. 
 
 En los tempos que me vi, &c., p. 219.] 
 I. 
 
 MY heart was happy when I turned from Burgos to Valladolid ; 
 My heart that day was light and gay, it bounded like a kid. 
 I met a Palmer on the way, my horse he bade me rein 
 " I left Valladolid to-day, I bring thee news of pain ! 
 The lady-love whom thou dost seek in gladness and in cheer, 
 Closed is her eye, and cold her cheek, I saw her on her bier. 
 
 ii. 
 " The Priests went singing of the Mass, my voice their song did 
 
 aid ; 
 
 A hundred knights with them did pass to the burial of the maid ; 
 And damsels fair went weeping there, and many a one did say, 
 Poor Cavalier ! he is not here 'tis well he's far away." - 
 I fell when thus I heard him speak, upon the dust I lay, 
 I thought my heart would surely break, I wept for half a day. 
 
 m. 
 
 When evening came I rose again, the Palmer held my steed, 
 And swiftly rode I o'er the plain to dark Valladolid. 
 I came unto the sepulchre where they my love had laid, 
 I bowed me down beside the bier, and there my moan I made : 
 " O take me, take me to thy bed, I fain would sleep with thee ! 
 My love is dead, my hope is fled, there is no joy for me ! " 
 
 IV. 
 
 I heard a sweet voice from the tomb, I heard her voice so clear, 
 " Rise up, rise up, my knightly love, thy weeping well I hear ; 
 Rise up and leave this darksome place, it is no place for thee, 
 God yet will send thee helpful grace, in love and chivalry ; 
 Though in the grave my bed I have, for thee my heart is sore. 
 Twill ease my heart if thou depart thy peace may God restore ! "
 
 THE ILL-MARRIED LADY. 16? 
 
 THE ILL-MARRIED LADY. 
 
 [This is from another ballad, also in Sepulveda's Collection. "La bella 
 mal maridada " must have been very popular, for I have seen many different 
 glosses of it, executed in the time when that species of poetical trifling prevailed 
 among the Spanish wits.] 
 
 " LOVELY lady, married ill, though fairest of the fair thou be, 
 Grief within thine eye is seated, well thy lonely grief I see. 
 If thou seek another lover, seek not farther, rest with me, 
 While thy faithless lord is wandering, faith and love I'll give to 
 thee. 
 
 ii. 
 
 "All the day thy husband wanders 'midst the damsels of the town, 
 He to play and prado squires them, while thy bosom's peace is 
 
 flown ; 
 Yesternight I heard them spotting, merry jibes on thee they 
 
 threw, 
 Soon, he said, thy days he'll finish, and another lady woo." 
 
 in. 
 
 Out and spake the lovely lady, " Thou my sorrow well hast read ; 
 Take me with thee, gentle stranger, let me quit my lonely bed ; 
 Careless eye and cruel tongue, weary am I of them both, 
 Let me swear to be thy love, and faithfully I'll keep mine oath. 
 
 IV. 
 
 " I will serve thee late and early, with an handmaid's humble 
 
 cheer, 
 
 I will dress our capon neatly, I will pour our wine so clear ; 
 I will deck our bed so fairly, all with sheets of Holland fine 
 Take me where thou wilt, I'm weary of this faithless lord of 
 
 mine."
 
 168 THE ILL-MARRIED LADY. 
 
 V. 
 
 While the stranger kissed the lady in her chamber o'er and o'er, 
 Hush ! the husband hears their voices ! ha ! he open knocks the 
 
 door, 
 
 " Traitress false, and foul adulterer, have I caught ye in the deed ? 
 Now to God commend your spirit.-, great of mercy is your need ! " 
 
 VI. 
 
 "Husband, bright thy sword is gleaming! must I, must I die 
 
 to-day ? 
 
 Save thyself, with mortal lover, till this hour I never lay. 
 But if blood thy sword must drink, hear my last request, I pray, 
 Harm not him that owed thee nothing ; let me all the forfeit pay ! 
 
 VII. 
 
 "Though thou whip me with thy bridle, silently the pain I'll bear ; 
 Though thou hang me in my girdle, anger shall not stain my 
 
 prayer ; 
 
 Let the youth go free, and slay me - - grant the only boon I crave ! 
 Lay me in the orange garden, thei e I fain would have my grave. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " Underneath the spreading branches, where the blossoms bright 
 
 are shed, 
 
 Deeply dig for one that loved thee long and well, a peaceful bed ; 
 Lay a marble stone above, and let its golden legend be, 
 ' Ladies, shrink from love unholy, wa .Tied by her whose tomb you 
 
 see.' "
 
 DRAGUT. 169 
 
 DRAGUT. 
 
 [The reader of Don Quixote will remember the description of the Captain 
 Viedma's landing in Spain after his Moorish captivity. Dragut was a cele- 
 brated corsair of Algiers.] 
 
 O SWIFTLY, very swiftly, they up the Straits have gone, 
 O swiftly flies the corsair, and swift the cross comes on, 
 The cross upon yon banner, that streams unto the breeze, 
 It is the sign of victory, the cross of the Maltese. 
 
 n. 
 
 " Row, row, my slaves," quoth Dragut, " the knights, the knights 
 
 are near, 
 
 Row, row, my slaves, row swiftly,' the star-light is too clear, 
 The stars they are too bright, and he that means us well, 
 He harms us when he trims his light yon Moorish sentinel." 
 
 in. 
 
 There came a wreath of smoke from out a culverine, 
 The corsair's poop it broke, and it sunk in the brine ; 
 Stout Dragut swims ashore, but many a one goes down ; 
 Down goes the fettered Christian with the servant of Mahoun. 
 
 rv. 
 
 But one of Dragut's captives, a happy man is he, 
 The Christian sailors see him struggling in the sea, 
 They hear the captive praying in the Christian tongue, 
 And a rope from the galley they down to him have flung.
 
 170 
 
 DRAGUT. 
 
 V. 
 
 It was a Spanish knight, who had long been in Algiers, 
 From ladies high descended, and noble cavaliers, 
 Hut forced, for a season, a false Moor's slave to be, 
 Upon the shore his gardener, his galley-slave at sea. 
 
 VI. 
 
 But now his heart is dancing, he sees the Spanish land, 
 And all his friends advancing to meet him on the strand. - 
 His heart was full of gladness, but his eyes they ran o'er, 
 For he wept as he stepped upon the Christian shore.
 
 COUNT ALARCQS AND THE INFANTA SOLISA. 171 
 
 COUNT ALARCOS AND THE INFANTA SOLISA. 
 
 [Mr. Bouterweck has analysed this Ballad, and commented upon it at some 
 length, in his History of Spanish Literature. See Book I. Section i. 
 
 He bestows particular praise upon a passage, which the reader will find at- 
 tempted in the fourth line of stanza xxxi. of the following version 
 
 Dedes me a$a este hijo amamare por despedida. 
 
 " What modern poet," says he, " would have dared to imagine that trait, at 
 once so natural and touching? " 
 
 Mr. Bouterweck seems to be of opinion that the story of the ballad had been 
 taken from some prose romance of chivalry; but I have not been able to find 
 any trace of it.] 
 
 ALONE, as was her wont, she sate, within her bower alone ; 
 Alone, and very desolate, Solisa made her moan, 
 Lamenting for her flower of life, that it should pass away, 
 And she be never wooed to wife, nor see a bridal day. 
 
 n. 
 
 Thus said the sad Infanta "I will not hide my grief, 
 
 I'll tell my father of my wrong, and he will yield relief." - 
 
 The King, when he beheld her near, " Alas ! my child," said he, 
 
 " What means this melancholy cheer ? reveal thy grief to me." 
 
 in. 
 
 " Good King," she said, " my mother was buried long ago, 
 She left me to thy keeping, none else my griefs shall know ; 
 I fain would have a husband, 'tis time that I should wed, 
 Forgive the words I utter, with mickle shame they're said." - 
 
 IV. 
 
 Twas thus the King made answer, " This fault is none of mine, 
 
 You to the Prince of Hungary your ear would not incline ; 
 
 Yet round us here where lives your peer? nay, name him if you 
 
 can, 
 Except the Count Alarcos, and he's a married man."
 
 172 COUNT ALARCOS AND THE INFANTA SOUS A. 
 
 V. 
 
 " Ask Count Alarcos, if of yore his word he did not plight 
 To be my husband evermore, and love me day and night? 
 If he has bound him in new vows, old oaths he cannot break 
 Alas ! I've lost a loyal spouse, for a false lover's sake." 
 
 VI. 
 
 The good King sat confounded in silence for some space, 
 At length he made this answer, with very troubled face, 
 " It was not thus your mother gave counsel you should do ; 
 You've done much wrong, my daughter ; we're shamed, both I anil 
 you. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " If it be true that you have said, our honour's lost and gone ; 
 And while the Countess is in life, remeed for us is none. 
 Though justice were upon our side, ill-talkers would not spare 
 Speak, daughter, for your mother's dead, whose counsel eased my 
 care." 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " How can I give you counsel ? but little wit have I ; 
 But certes, Count Alarcos may make this Countess die : 
 Let it be noised that sickness cut short her tender life, 
 And then let Count Alarcos come and ask me for his wife. 
 What passed between us long ago, of that be nothing said ; 
 Thus none shall our dishonour know, in honour I shall wed."- 
 
 IX. 
 
 The Count was standing with his friends, thus in the midst he 
 
 spake 
 
 " What fools we be ! what pains men dree for a fair woman's sake ! 
 I loved a fair one long ago ; though I'm a married man, 
 Sad memory I can ne'er forego, how life and love began." - 
 
 x. 
 
 While yet the Count was speaking, the good King came full near ; 
 
 He made his salutation with very courteous cheer. 
 
 " Come hither, Count Alarcos, and dine with me this day, 
 
 For I have something secret I in your ear must say."
 
 COUNT ALARCOS AND THE INFANTA SOLISA. 173 
 XL 
 
 The King came from the chapel, when he had heard the mass ; 
 With him the Count Alarcos did to his chamber pass ; 
 Full nobly were they served there, by pages many a one ; 
 When all were gone, and they alone, 'twas thus the King begun. 
 
 XII. 
 
 " What news be these, Alarcos, that you your word did plight, 
 To be a husband to my child, and love her day and night? 
 If more between you there did pass, yourself may know the truth, 
 But shamed is my grey-head alas ! and scorned Solisa's youth. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 " I have a heavy word to speak, a lady fair doth lie 
 Within my daughter's rightful place, and certes ! she must die. 
 Let it be noised that sickness cut short her tender life, 
 Then come and woo my daughter, and she shall be your wife : 
 What passed between you long ago, of that be nothing said, 
 Thus, none shall my dishonour know in honour you shall 
 wed." 
 
 XIV.' 
 
 Thus spake the Count Alarcos " The truth I'll not deny, 
 
 I to the Infanta gave my troth, and broke it shamefully ; 
 
 I feared my King would ne'er consent to give me his fair daugh- 
 ter; 
 
 But, oh ! spare her that's innocent avoid that sinful slaugh- 
 ter." 
 
 xv. 
 
 "She dies, she dies," the King replies ; " from thine own sin it 
 
 springs, 
 If guiltless blood must wash the blot which stains the blood of 
 
 kings : 
 
 Ere morning dawn her life must end, and thine must be the deed 
 Else thou on shameful block must bend : thereof is no remeed."
 
 174 COUNT ALARCOS AND THE INFAN7^A SOLISA. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 " Good King, my hand thou mayst command, else treason blots 
 
 my name ! 
 
 I'll take the life of my dear wife (God ! mine be not the blame !) 
 Alas ! that young and sinless heart for others' sin should bleed ! 
 Good King, in sorrow I depart." " May God your errand 
 
 speed ! " 
 
 XVII. 
 
 In sorrow he departed, dejectedly he rode 
 The weary journey from that place, unto his own abode ; 
 He grieved for his fair Countess, dear as his life was she 
 Sore grieved he for that lady, and for his children three. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 The one was yet an infant upon its mother's breast, 
 For though it had three nurses, it liked her milk the best ; 
 The others were young children, that had but little wit, 
 Hanging about their mother's knee while nursing she did sit. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 " Alas ! " he said, when he had come within a little space, 
 " How shall I brook the cheerful look of my kind lady's face?- 
 To see her coming forth in glee to meet me in my hall, 
 When she so soon a corpse must be, and I the cause of all ! " 
 
 xx. 
 
 Just then he saw her at the door with all her babes appear 
 
 (The little page had run before to tell his lord was near) 
 
 " Now welcome home, my lord, my life ! Alas ! you droop your 
 
 head : 
 Tell, Count Alarcos, tell your wife, what makes your eyes so 
 
 red?" 
 
 XXI. 
 
 " I'll tell you all I'll tell you all : It is not yet the hour ; 
 We'll sup together in the hall I'll tell you in your bower." 
 The lady brought forth what she had, and down beside him sate ; 
 He sat beside her pale and sad, but neither drank nor ate.
 
 COUNT ALARCOS AXD THE INFANTA SOLISA. 175 
 
 XXII. 
 
 The children to his side were led (he loved to have them so), 
 Then on the board he laid his head, and out his tears did flow : 
 " I fain would sleep I fain would sleep," the Count Alarcos 
 
 said : 
 Alas ! be sure, that sleep was none that night within their bed. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 They came together to the bower where they were used to rest, 
 None with them but the little babe that was upon the breast : 
 The Count had barred the chamber doors, they ne'er were barred 
 
 till then ; 
 " Unhappy lady," he began, " and I most lost of men ! " 
 
 xxrv. 
 
 " Now, speak not so, my noble lord, my husband and my life, 
 
 Unhappy never can she be, that is Alarcos' wife." 
 
 " Alas ! unhappy lady, 'tis but little that you know, 
 
 For in that very word you've said is gathered all your woe. 
 
 xxv. 
 
 " Long since I loved a lady, long since I oaths did plight, 
 To be that lady's husband, to love her day and night ; 
 Her father is our lord the King, to him the thing is known, 
 And now, that I the news should bring ! she claims me for her 
 own. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 " Alas ! my love, alas ! my life, the right is on their side ; 
 
 Ere I had seen your face, sweet wife, she was betrothed my 
 
 bride ; 
 
 But, oh ! that I should speak the word since in her place you lie, 
 It is the bidding of our Lord, that you this night must die." 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 " Are these the wages of my love, so lowly and so leal ? 
 O, kill me not, thou noble Count, when at thy foot I kneel ! 
 But send me to my father's house, where once I dwelt in glee, 
 There will I live a lone chaste life, and rear my children three."
 
 176 COUNT ALARCOS AND THE INFANTA SOLISA. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 " It may not be mine oath is strog ere dawn of day you \ 
 
 die ! " 
 
 " O ! well 'tis seen how all alone upon the earth am I 
 My father is an old frail man, my mother's in her grave, 
 And dead is stout Don Garcia Alas ! my brother brave ! 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 " 'Twas at this coward King's command they slew my brother dear, 
 And now I'm helpless in the land : It is not death I fear, 
 But loth, loth am I to depart, and leave my children so 
 Now let me lay them to my heart, and kiss them ere I go." 
 
 XXX. 
 
 " Kiss him that lies upon thy breast the rest thou mayst not 
 
 see." 
 
 " I fain would say an Ave." " Then say it speedily." 
 She knelt her down upon her knee : " O, Lord ! behold my case 
 Judge not my deeds, but look on me in pity and great grace." - 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 When she had made her orison, up from her knees she rose 
 " Be kind, Alarcos, to our babes, and pray for my repose 
 And now give me my boy once more upon my breast to hold, 
 That he may drink one farewell drink, before my breast be 
 cold." 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 " Why would you waken the poor child ? you see he is asleep 
 Prepare, dear wife, there is no time, the dawn begins to peep." - 
 " Now hear me, Count Alarcos ! I give thee pardon free 
 I pardon thee for the love's sake wherewith I've loved thee. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 " But they have not my pardon, the King and his proud daugh- 
 ter 
 
 The curse of God be on them, for this unchristian slaughter ! 
 I charge them with my dying breath, ere thirty days be gone, 
 To meet me in the realm of death, and at God's awful throne ! ''
 
 COUNT ALAR COS AND THE INFANTA SO US A. 177 
 XXXIV. 
 
 He drew a kerchief round her neck, lie drew it tight and strong 
 Until she lay quite stiff and cold her chamber floor along ; 
 He laid her then within the sheets, and, kneeling by her side, 
 To God and Mary Mother in miser) he cried. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Then called he for his esquires : - - oh ! deep was their dismay, 
 When they into the chamber came, and saw her how she lay ; 
 Thus died she in her innocence, i lady void of wrong, 
 But God took heed of their offc nee his vengeance stayed not 
 long. 
 
 X> XVI. 
 
 Within twelve days, in pain and dole, the Infanta passed away, 
 The cruel King gave up his sou 1 upon the twentieth day ; 
 Alarcos followed ere the Moon had made her round complete, 
 Three guilty spirits stood right soon before God's judgment-seat.
 
 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE B1VAR, THE CAMPEADOR. 
 
 Bv ROBERT SOUTHEY.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THIS Chronicle of the Cid is wholly translation, but it is not the 
 translation of any single work. The three following have been used. 
 
 I. CRONICA DEL FAMOSO CAVALLERO CID RUYDIEZ CAMPEADOR. 
 Burgos, 1593. 
 
 The first and only other edition of this Chronicle was printed in 
 1552. The Infante Don Fernando, who was afterwards Emperor, 
 seeing the manuscript at Cardefia, ordered the Abbot Don Fr. Juan 
 de Velorado to publish it, and obtained an order from his grand- 
 father Fernando the Catholic King to the same effect. The Abbot 
 performed his task very carelessly and very inaccurately, giving no 
 account of the manuscript, and suffering many errors to creep into 
 the text, which might have been corrected by collating it with the 
 original. 
 
 Beuther, Escolano, and others, ascribe it to Abenalfarax, the 
 nephew of Gil Diaz. Berganza is of opinion that the main part 
 was written by Gil Diaz himself, because the manuscript at Car- 
 dena says, " Then Abenfax the Moor, who wrote this Chronicle 
 in Arabic, set down the price of food " : And Abentaxi, accord- 
 ing to him, was the name of Gil Diaz before his conversion. 
 Abenalfarax is named in the end of the book as the author : he 
 concludes therefore that it was completed by him ; . . . and this the 
 Coronica General confirms by saying, Segun cuenta la Estoria del 
 Cid, que de aqui adelante comfuso Aben Alfarax su sobrino de Gil 
 Diaz en Valencia. The printed Chronicle however says Abenal- 
 farax where Berganza reads Abenfax, and writes Alfaraxi for the 
 Moorish name of Gil Diaz. This question is not easily decided. 
 There is nothing Arabian in the style of the Chronicle, except the 
 lamentation for Valencia, which is manifestly so. It is most prob- 
 ably the work of a Spaniard, who used Arabic documents. 
 
 It is equally impossible to ascertain the age of this Chronicle. The 
 Abbot who published it judged that it was as old as the days of the
 
 182 PREFACE. 
 
 Cid himself. This supposition is absurd. Lucas of Tuy and the 
 Archbishop Rodrigo are frequently cited in it. It was however an 
 old manuscript in 1552. A much older was seen in 1593 by Don 
 Gil Ramirez de Arellano, which according to his account was in 
 Portuguese, but agreed in the main with that which had been pub- 
 lished. The older the language, the more it would resemble Por- 
 tuguese. Another question is, whether it has been inserted in the 
 Coronica General, or extracted from it : for that the one copied 
 from the other is certain : but it is equally certain from the varia- 
 tions, that each must have had some other original ; . . . perhaps the 
 Arabic. If the Cronica del Cid be extracted from the General 
 Chronicle, which is giving it the latest date, even in that case it 
 was written before the end of the thirteenth century ; that is, little 
 more than 150 years after the Cid's death; and whatever fiction 
 has been introduced into the story, must have been invented long 
 before, or it would not have been received as truth, and incor- 
 porated into the general history of Spain. This question has not 
 been, and perhaps cannot be decided. There are some errors in 
 the Chronicle of the Cid which are corrected in the General 
 Chronicle, and sometimes it contains passages which are necessary 
 to explain an after circumstance, but are not found in the other. 1 
 
 II. Las quatro partes enteras dc la Cronica de Espana, que 
 mando componer el Serenissimo Rey Don Alonso llmado el sabio, 
 donde se contienen los acontesdmientos y hazanas mayo res y mas 
 senaladas que suc,edieron en Espana, desde su primera poblacion 
 hasta cast los tiempos del dicho senor Rey. Vista y cmendada 
 mucha parte de su impresion por el maestro Florian Docampo 
 Cronista del emperador rey nuestro senor. Con previlfgio imperial. 
 
 Fue impressa la presente Cronica general de Espana en la 
 magnifica, noble y antiquissima cibdad de Zamora ; por los hon- 
 rrados varones Augustin de paz y J^uan Picardo companeros in- 
 pressores de libros, vezinos de la dicha cibdad. A costa y espensas 
 del virtuoso varon 'Juan de Spinosa mercader de libros vezino de 
 Medina del Campo. Acabose en nueve dias del mes de deziembre. 
 Ano del nascimiento de nuestro Salvador ^esu Cristo de mill y 
 
 1 The language of the Cr. del Cid \s sometimes of greater antiquity than the 
 other, . . . for instance; . . . E tamano fue el plazer del Rey D. Fernando e de 
 los suyos qua.ma.no fue el pesar del Rey D. Ramiro de Aragon e de los suyos. 
 
 In the Cor. Ger. quan grande and tan grande are the phrases. But this is 
 a subject which none but a Spaniard can properly investigate.
 
 PREFACE. 183 
 
 quinientos y quarenta y un anos. Reynando en Espana el Em- 
 perador Don Carlos nuestro Senor y Rey natural. 
 
 Florian de Ocampo relates the history of this first edition in his 
 epistle dedicatory to Don Luys de Stuniga y Avila. The printers 
 of Zamora, he says, came to him and besought him to give them 
 something which they might publish to the use and glory of those 
 kingdoms whereof they and he were natives. He had at that 
 time in his house a manuscript of this Chronicle, which had been 
 lent him by the Licentiate Martin de Aguilar. Aguilar joyfully 
 gave up the manuscript to the printers, and Ocampo undertook to 
 correct the press as far as he could in those hours which he could 
 spare from his studies and pursuits : this, says he, I did with such 
 fidelity that I would never permit the style, nor order, nor antique 
 words to be changed, holding any such alteration to be an offence 
 committed upon the work of another. Notwithstanding this be- 
 coming respect for antiquity, Ocampo passes a censure upon the 
 style at the end of the Sumario. He says, Todas estas cosas 
 sobredichas van escritas en estas quatro paries con plabras antiguas 
 v toscas, segun las usavan los Espanoles al tiempo que las hazian, 
 quando se presdavan mas de bien obrar que de bien hablar ; puesto 
 que siemprefue y sera gran alabanfa bien hablar a los qne bien 
 obran. 
 
 The Spanish Chronicles were all villanously printed, because the 
 printers made use of the first manuscript they could find, and the 
 correctors did their best to bring the language to that of their own 
 times, after the newest and most 'approved fashion. This mischief 
 Ocampo prevented as far as he could, but he should have done 
 more ; Ocampo was not a common Corrector of the Press ; he 
 was Chronicler to the King of Castile, and any manuscript in the 
 kingdom which he had asked for would have been put into his 
 hands as readily as that of his friend Aguilar. The copy which 
 he implicitly followed happened to be remarkably faulty. Words 
 and sentences are omitted in almost every column, whole chapters 
 are wanting, and even one entire reign. Zurita collated the 
 printed book with a manuscript of great antiquity, which had once 
 belonged to the famous Marques de Santillana ; and this copy, in 
 which he had with his own hand inserted all the omissions, was in 
 the possession of the Marques de Mondejar. An imperfect manu- 
 script, which is likewise of great antiquity, is at Salamanca, in the 
 Collegio de S. Bartolome ; some man of letters has prefixed a note 
 to it, saying that it contains many chapters which are not to be 
 found in the printed book . . . y tienf tambien otra utilidud que
 
 134 PREFACE. 
 
 es, el hallarse aqui los vocablos y voces castellanas antiguas en su 
 pureza, sin haberse limado al tiempo presente, como la imprimio 
 Florian de Ocampo. If this writer be accurate, the copier of 
 Aguilar's manuscript had modernized the book as well as muti- 
 lated it. 
 
 Ocampo calls this work la Cronica de Espana, que man do com- 
 poner el Serenissimo Rey D. Alonso. The manuscript which 
 Zurita collated has la Estoria de Espana que fizo el mui noble Rey 
 D. Alonso. The Marques de Mondejar possessed three manu- 
 scripts, neither of which supported Ocampo's reading, nor afforded 
 the slightest ground for supporting it. On the other hand, Don 
 Juan Manuel, Alonso's nephew, expressly says that the King made 
 the Chronicle, and in the Prologue the King says so himself. 
 That Florian de Ocampo, who printed the Prologue, should have 
 overlooked this, is inconceivable ; and why he should deny the 
 King wrote it, in direct contradiction of the King's own authority, 
 is what he has not explained, and what nobody can explain for 
 him. Don Fraacisco Cerda y Rico says, the real author was 
 Maestre Jofre d i Loaysa, Archdeacon of Toledo, and afterwards 
 Abbot of Santarder ; and this he says he has proved in a disserta- 
 tion which was ready for the press. I know not whether this dis- 
 sertation has appeared, neither do I know that at the distance of 
 more than five centuries any proof can possibly be obtained to 
 show that Alonso the Wise did not write the history, which he him- 
 self says he wiote, and which we know he was capable of writing. 
 
 The printed Chronicle is divided into four parts, and the last 
 part is not Alonso's work. Ocampo gives it as his own opinion, and 
 that of many other intelligent persons, that it was not written by 
 the author ot the three former, because it contained nothing but 
 what was to be found in other books ; because the style was dif- 
 ferent, and the language ruder, . . . the whole being in fact com- 
 posed of frigments put together without any attempt at improving 
 them, and because in many places the writer expressed himself as 
 if he had been contemporary with the persons whose feats he was 
 then recox'ding. There is no doubt that this opinion is right. It 
 ends with the death of King St. Fernando, Alonso's father. It is 
 in this p irt that the history of the Cid is contained. 
 
 This very curious work was reprinted at Valladolid in 1604. It 
 is the later edition which I have used.
 
 PREFACE. 185 
 
 III. POEMA DEL ClD. 
 
 Sandoval first mentioned this poem, which is preserved at Bivar, 
 and gave the four first lines, calling the whole " Versos Barbaras y 
 Notables." Berganza afterwards inserted seventeen lines in his 
 Antigitedades. The notice which they thus gave of its existence 
 excited the curiosity of Sanchez, to whom Spanish literature has 
 been so greatly indebted, and he published it in the first volume of 
 his Coleccion de Poesias Castellanas Anteriores al Siglo XV. 
 
 Some leaves are wanting at the beginning of the manuscript, and 
 one in the middle. The whole fragment consists of 3744 lines, 
 the three last of which are added by the transcriber : 
 
 Quien escribio este libra del' Dios paraiso : Amen. 
 Per abbat le escribio en el mes de mayo 
 En era de mill e CC . . XL V. anos. 
 
 Who Per Abbat was, and whether Abbat implied his rank or his 
 name, cannot now be known : ... it is certain that he was the copier 
 of the book, not the author, by the language, which is much older 
 than the date of the manuscript. But there is a difficulty concern- 
 ing the date. There is a space between the CC and the XLV ; 
 and that space is just as much as another C would have filled. 
 Perhaps, says Sanchez, the copier put one C too much, and erased 
 it ; perhaps he placed the conjunction e, part of the date being 
 expressed by words and part by figures, and afterwards erased it as 
 superfluous ; or possibly some person thought to give the manu- 
 script greater value by obliterating one C, to make it appear a 
 century older. The writing seems to be of the fourteenth century. 
 It is of little consequence ; even upon that supposition the date is 
 1307 ; and no person can doubt that the language of the poem is 
 considerably older than that of Gonzalo de Berceo, who flourished 
 about 1220; ... a century is hardly sufficient to account for the 
 difference between them. Sanchez is of opinion that it was com- 
 posed about the middle of the twelfth century, some fiftv years 
 after the death of the Cid ; . . . there are some passages which 
 induce me to believe it the work of a contemporary. Be that as 
 it may, it is unquestionably the oldest poem in the Spanish lan- 
 guage. In my judgment it is as decidedly and beyond all com- 
 parison the finest. 
 
 One other source of information remains to be mentioned, the 
 popular ballads of the Cid.
 
 186 PREFACE. 
 
 ROMANCES DEL Cm. 
 
 Sarmiento (Mem. para la Hist, de la Poesia, 546, 548, 550) 
 delivers it as his opinion, that the popular ballads of the Twelve 
 Peers, Bernardo del Carpio, Fernan Gonzalez, the Cid, &c., were 
 composed soon after the age of the heroes whom they celebrate, 
 and were what the Copleros, Trouveurs, Joculars, and all the com- 
 mon people, sung at their entertainments. That these being orally 
 preserved, were subject to frequent alterations as the language of 
 the country altered ; and thus when at length they were committed 
 to writing, their language was materially different, but their sub- 
 stance remained 'the same. In support of this authority which he- 
 assigns to them in point of fact, he observes that the Cor. General 
 frequently cites the Joglares or popular poets. Their present form 
 he assigns to the end of the fifteenth century. 
 
 Sarmiento describes the collection which he had seen of the 
 Ballads of the Cid as containing one hundred and two ballads, in 
 old style, and in eight-syllable verse. This is the Historia del in in 
 valeroso Cavallero el Cid Ruy Diez de Bivar, en Romances, en len- 
 guage antiguo, recopilados par yuan de Escobar. Sevilla, 1632. 
 The ballads in this little volume are chronologically arranged ; it 
 is, I believe, the only separate collection, and by no means a com- 
 plete one. Two which Escobar has overlooked are among the 
 Romances nuevamente sac ados de Historias Antiguas de la Cronica 
 de Espana por Lorenzo de Sepulveda vezino de Sevilla. Van ana- 
 didos muchos nunca vistos, compuestos por un Cavallero Cesarii>. 
 cuyo nombre se guarda para mayores cosas. Anvers, 1566. This 
 volume contains forty-one ballads of the Cid, scattered through it 
 without any regular order. There are thirty-two in the Romancero 
 General, en que se contienen todos los Romances que andan im- 
 pressos en las nueve partes de Romanceros. Aora nuevamente 
 impresso, anadido, y emendado. Medina del Campo, 1602. 
 Twelve of these are not in Escobar's collection ; and probably 
 others which he has overlooked may be found in other Romanceros. 
 Many of these ballads are evidently little older than the volumes in 
 which they are contained ; very few of them appear to me to bear 
 any marks of antiquity, and the greater part are utterly worthless. 
 Indeed the heroic ballads of the Spaniards have been overrated in 
 this country : they are infinitely and every way inferior to our own. 
 There are some spirited ones in the Guerras Civiles de Granada. 
 from which the rest have been estimated ; but excepting these, I 
 know none of any value among the many hundreds which I have
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 187 
 
 perused. I have very seldom availed myself of the Romances del 
 CuL 
 
 The Chronicle of the Cid is the main web of the Story of the 
 Cid. I have omitted such parts as relate to the general history of 
 Spain but have no reference to Ruydiez, and I have incorporated 
 with it whatever additional circumstances, either of fact or cos- 
 tume, are contained in the Cronica General or the Poema del Cid. 
 The poem is to be considered as metrical history, not metrical 
 romance. It was written before those fictions were invented which 
 have been added to the history of the Cid, and which have made 
 some authors discredit what there is not the slightest reason to 
 doubt. I have preferred it to the Chronicles sometimes in point 
 of fact, and always in point of costume ; for as the historian of 
 manners, this poet, whose name unfortunately has perished, is the 
 Homer of Spain. A few material additions have been made from 
 other authentic sources, and the references are given, section by 
 section, with exemplary minuteness.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IF any country might have been thought safe from the Saracens, 
 it was Spain. The Wisi-Goths had been nearly three centuries in 
 possession of it : during that time the independent kingdoms 
 which were founded by the first conquerors, had been formed into 
 one great monarchy, more extensive and more powerful than any 
 other existing at the same time in Europe ; they and the con- 
 quered were blended into one people ; their languages were inter- 
 mingled, and the religion and laws of the peninsula had received 
 that character which they retain even to the present day. The 
 Wisi-Goths themselves were a more formidable enemy than the 
 Mahommedans had yet encountered ; in Persia, Syria, and Egypt, 
 they had found a race always accustomed to oppression, and ready 
 for the yoke of the strongest ; among the Greeks a vicious and 
 effeminated people, a government at once feeble and tyrannical, 
 and generals who either by their treachery or incapacity, afforded 
 them an easy conquest ; in Africa they overrun provinces which 
 had not yet recovered from the destructive victories of Belisarius. 
 But the Spanish Goths were a nation of freemen, and their strength 
 and reputation unimpaired. Yet in two battles their monarchy 
 was subverted ; their cities fell as fast as they were summoned, 
 and in almost as little time as the Moors could travel over the 
 kingdom, they became masters of the whole, except only those 
 mountainous regions in which the language of the first Spaniards 
 found an asylum from the Romans, and which were now destined 
 to preserve the liberties and institutions of the Goths. 
 
 No country was ever yet subdued by foreign enemies, unless the 
 badness of its government, or the folly of its governors prepared 
 the way for them. The laws of succession among the Wisi-Goths 
 were ill-defined and worse observed. There were claimants to the 
 crown abject enough to be willing to accept it from the hand of 
 the Moorish Conqueror, and fools enough to suppose that a con- 
 queror would give it them ; actuated by this vile hope, and by 
 the desire of destroying their rival, though the utter overthrow of
 
 190 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 their country should be brought about by the same means, they 
 invited the invaders, and aided them with all their influence. These 
 wretches are inexcusable. (Jount Julian was provoked by heavier 
 injuries to pursue the same unhappy course. Rodrigo the reigning 
 King had forcibly violated his daughter. An act of manly ven- 
 geance would have been recorded with applause ; but he betrayed 
 his country and renounced his religion to revenge an individual 
 wrong, and for him too there is no excuse. There is little for 
 those Arians and other persecuted sectaries with whom Spain 
 abounded, who welcomed the Moors, or willingly submitted to 
 them weak and miserable men, to rejoice in ruin, because it fell 
 heavier upon their oppressors than themselves ! But there were 
 two classes in Spain, the Jews and the slaves, whom the grievances 
 which they endured justified in forwarding any revolution that 
 afforded them even a chance of change, and in joining any invaders 
 as their deliverers. The persecution which the Jews endured from 
 the Wisi-Goth Kings, was more atrocious than any to which that 
 persecuted race had yet been exposed : . . . the fiendish system 
 of extirpation, which has since been pursued against them in the 
 same country, was little more than a renewal of the execrable laws 
 enacted by Sisebuto, Suinthela, Recesuinto, and Egica. If they 
 were detected in observing any custom or ceremony of their reli- 
 gion, they were to be killed upon the spot, or stoned, or burnt ; . . . 
 and finally, upon an absurd accusation that they had conspired 
 with the Jews of Africa and other provinces to rise against the 
 Christians and destroy them, they were all condemned to slavery, 
 and their children above the age of seven taken from them and 
 baptized. The laws respecting slaves were iniquitous in the high- 
 est degree. At one time they were not admitted as witnesses, and 
 the law which disqualified them, classed them with thieves, mur- 
 derers, and poisoners. If in spite of this law their evidence was 
 taken, it was not to be believed, though it had been forced from 
 them by torture. When it was found that this disqualification too 
 frequently obstructed the course of justice, they were allowed to be 
 heard in trifling actions, and upon any deadly fray, provided no 
 free witnesses could be found. In questions of adultery, treason, 
 coining, murder, and poisoning, they might be tortured to extort 
 evidence against their masters : he who gave it under the torture 
 suffered with the criminal, but if he gave it without compulsion, he 
 escaped ; this law must often have occasioned the condemnation 
 of the innocent. If a slave who had been transferred accused his 
 former master, that master had the privilege of repurchasing him
 
 INTRODUCTION. 191 
 
 to punish him at pleasure. A law was made to keep the children 
 of slaves slaves like their parents, because, said the legislator, there 
 is a great confusion of lineage when the son is not like the father, 
 and as the root is even so must the branch be ; By a stili greater 
 injustice, if a runaway slave of either sex married a free person, 
 under pretence of being free, the children of that marriage became 
 slaves to the owner of the fugitive. If a woman married her slave, 
 or one who having been her slave had been emancipated, both 
 were to be burnt. The very sanctuary was forbidden them ; they 
 used to fly to the churches, that the clergy might hear their com- 
 plaints and compel their merciless owners to sell them ; but even 
 this refuge was taken away, and it was enacted that they should be 
 given up to punishment. There was a penalty for harbouring fugi- 
 tive slaves ; and whosoever admitted one into his house, though 
 the runaway called himself free, and did not immediately carry 
 him before a judge for examination, was to receive a hundred 
 stripes and pay the owner a pound ; the neighbours were liable to 
 the same penalties, if they did not supply his neglect ; all persons 
 therefore were bound to examine a suspicious stranger, and torture 
 him to find out who he was. If they omitted to do this, men or 
 women, of whatever race, family or rank, were to suffer two hun- 
 dred stripes, churchmen and officers of justice three hundred, and 
 Bishop or Lord who was thus guilty, either for compas.*'.on or for 
 a bribe, was to forfeit three pounds to the King, ?nd <f ) penance 
 during thirty days, like one who had been excomvnuni ,ated. The 
 monstrous severity of this law proves how frequently these unhappy 
 people fled from their masters, and the legislator complains that 
 there was neither city, castle, burgh, nor village, in which runaway 
 slaves were not concealed. Such were the laws of the Spanish 
 Goths respecting slavery ! where such a system was established, the 
 first invader could not but be victorious, because he found recruits 
 in every house. The kingdom deserved to fall, and it fell. 
 
 The Mahommedans made many proselytes in Spain as well as 
 everywhere else where they established themselves. But the growth 
 and decline of all Mahommedan empires are necessarily connected 
 with the civil and religious institutions of Islamism, and may be 
 traced to them. 
 
 In forming a new religion, Mahommed aimed at making its ritual 
 less burthensome, its morality more indulgent, and its creed more 
 rational than those of other nations. It was not however enough 
 to appeal to the reason, nor even to the passions of mankind, with- 
 out at the same time profiting by their credulity. To the Jews he
 
 192 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 announced himself as the Messiah, the conqueror in whom their 
 prophecies centred ; to the Christians as the Paraclete who was to 
 accomplish the yet unfulfilled system of revelation. The mere 
 robber would soon have been crushed, the mere philosopher would 
 have been neglected, and he who had attempted to preach the in- 
 communicable nature of Deity either among Pagan or Christian 
 Idolaters, would hardly have escaped death as a blasphemer. God 
 is God, was a tenet to which none would have listened without the 
 daring addition that Mahommed was his prophet. The impiety of 
 one reasonable doubt would have shocked and terrified those who 
 believed the impudence of an asserted mission. Reason was too 
 weak to stand alone, and clung to fanaticism for support. 
 
 No traces of a disordered mind are discoverable either in the 
 life or in the doctrines of Mahommed. The pure theism which he 
 preached he probably believed ; but his own claims proceeded 
 from ambition, not from self-deceit. Persevering in his object, he 
 varied the means, and never scrupled at accommodating his insti- 
 tutions to the established prejudices of the people. At first Jeru- 
 salem was chosen to be the metropolis of his religion, and the point 
 toward which all the faithful should turn their faces in prayer. This 
 privilege he transferred to Mecca, and though he destroyed the Idols 
 of the Caaba, he suffered the black stone which was the great object 
 of idolatrous worship, to retain its honours. Those founders or re- 
 formers of religion who were inspired, and those who believed them- 
 selves to be so, have spared neither the prejudices, nor passions, 
 nor feelings, nor instincts, which opposed them. Mahommed at- 
 tempted no such conquest over human nature : he did not feel 
 himself strong enough to conquer. His conduct displayed the ver- 
 satility of a statesman, not the inflexibility of an honest fanatic. 
 
 The Moslem, in proof of their religion, appeal to the plenary and 
 manifest inspiration of the Koran. They rest the divinity of their 
 holy Book upon its inimitable excellence ; but instead of holding 
 it to be divine because it is excellent, they believe its excellence 
 because they admit its divinity. There is nothing in the Koran 
 which affects the feelings, nothing which elevates the imagination, 
 nothing which enlightens the understanding, nothing which ameli- 
 orates the heart : it contains no beautiful narrative, no proverbs of 
 wisdom or axioms of morality ; it is a chaos of detached sentences, 
 a mass of dull tautology. Not a solitary passage to indicate the 
 genius of a poet can be found in the whole volume. Inspired by 
 no fanaticism, of a meagre mind, and with morals of open and 
 impudent profligacy, Mahommed has effected a revolution which in
 
 IXTRODUCTIOX. 193 
 
 its ruinous consequences still keeps in barbarism the greatest and 
 finest part of the old world. His were common talents, and it is 
 by common talents that great revolutions have most frequently been 
 effected ; when the train is ready there needs no lightning to kindle 
 it ; any spark suffices. That his character was not generally mis- 
 taken, is evident from the number of imitators who started up : 
 there is also reason to suspect that it was as well understood by 
 many of his friends as by his enemies. Ali indeed believed in him 
 with all the ardour of youth and affection ; but they who were con- 
 vinced by the sword are suspicious converts, and among these are 
 Abbas and Amrou and Caled, the holiest heroes of Islamism. Am- 
 bition and the hope of plunder soon filled his armies, and they who 
 followed him for these motives could teach their children what they 
 did not believe themselves. 
 
 The political and moral system of the Impostor, if system it 
 may be called, is such as might be expected from one who aimed 
 only at his own aggrandizement, and had no generous views or 
 hopes beyond it. That his language and his institutions have 
 spread together is not to be attributed to him : this great political 
 advantage necessarily arises when nations are either civilized or 
 converted by force, and it is only by force that this religion has 
 been propagated ; its missionaries have marched in armies, and 
 its only martyrs are those who have fallen in the field of battle. 
 Mahommed attempted nothing like a fabric of society : he took 
 abuses as he found them. The continuance of polygamy was his 
 great and ruinous error ; where ,this pernicious custom is estab- 
 lished, there will be neither connubial, nor paternal, nor brotherly 
 affection ; and hence the unnatural murders with which Asiatic 
 history abounds. The Mahommedan imprisons his wives, and 
 sometimes knows not the faces of his own children ; he believes 
 that despotism must be necessary in the state, because he knows 
 it to be necessary at home : thus the domestic tyrant becomes 
 the contented slave, and the atrocity of the ruler and the patience 
 of the people proceed from the same cause. It is the inevitable 
 tendency of polygamy to degrade both sexes ; wherever it prevails, 
 the intercourse between them is merely sexual. Women are only 
 instructed in wantonness, sensuality becomes the characteristic of 
 whole nations, and humanity is disgraced by crimes the most 
 loathsome and detestable. This is the primary and general cause 
 of that despotism and degradation which are universal throughout 
 the East : not climate, or the mountaineers would be free and 
 virtuous ; not religion, for through all the changes of belief which
 
 194 fNTRODUCTION. 
 
 the East has undergone, the evil and the effect have remained the 
 same. 
 
 Mahommed inculcated the doctrine of fatalism, because it is 
 the most useful creed for a conqueror. The blind passiveness 
 which it causes has completed the degradation, and for ever im- 
 peded the improvement of all Mahommedan nations. They will 
 not struggle against oppression, for the same reason that they will 
 not avoid the infection of the plague. If from this state of stupid 
 patience they are provoked into a paroxysm of brutal fury, they 
 destroy the tyrant ; but the tyranny remains unaltered. Oriental 
 revolutions are like the casting a stone into a stagnant pool ; the 
 surface is broken for a moment, and then the green weeds close 
 over it again. 
 
 Such a system can produce only tyrants and slaves, those who 
 are watchful to commit any crime for power, and those who are 
 ready to endure any oppression for tranquillity. A barbarous and 
 desolating ambition has been the sole motive of their conquering 
 chiefs ; the wisdom of their wisest sovereigns has produced nothing 
 of public benefit : it has ended in idle moralizings, and the late 
 discovery that all is vanity. One Tyrant at the hour of death 
 asserts the equality of mankind ; another, who had attained em- 
 pire by his crimes, exposes his shroud at last, and proclaims that 
 now nothing but that is left him. I have slain the Princes of 
 men, said Azzud ad Dowlah, and have laid waste the palaces of 
 Kings. I have dispersed them to the East and scattered them to 
 the West, and now the Grave calls me, and I must go ! and he 
 died with the frequent exclamation, What avails my wealth ? my 
 empire is departing from me ! . . . When Mahmoud, the great 
 ( iaznevide, was dying of consumption in his Palace of Happiness, 
 he ordered that all his treasures should be brought out to amuse 
 him. They were laid before him, silk and tapestry, jewels, vessels 
 of silver and gold, coffers of money, the spoils of the nations whom 
 he had plundered : it was the spectacle of a whole day, . . . but pride 
 yielded to the stronger feeling of nature ; . . . Mahmoud recollected 
 that he was in his mortal sickness, and wept and moralized upon 
 the vanity of the world. 
 
 It were wearying to dwell upon the habitual crimes of which 
 their history is composed ; we may estimate their guilt by what is 
 said of their virtues. Of all the Abbassides, none but Mutaded 
 equalled Almanzor in goodness. A slave one day, when fanning 
 away the flies from him, struck off his turban, upon which Mutaded 
 only remarked that the boy was sleepy ; but the Vizir who was
 
 INTRODUCTION. 19=; 
 
 present fell down and kissed the ground, and exclaimed, O Com- 
 mander of the Faithful, I never heard of such a thing ! I did 
 not think such clemency had been possible ! ... for it was the 
 custom of this Caliph, when a slave displeased him, to have the 
 offender buried alive. 
 
 The Mahommedan sovereigns have suffered their just punish- 
 ment ; they have been miserable as well as wicked. For others 
 they can feel no sympathy, and have learnt to take no interest : 
 for themselves there is nothing but fear ; their situation excludes 
 them from hope, and they have the perpetual sense of danger, 
 and the dread of that inevitable hour wherein there shall be no 
 distinction of persons. This fear they have felt and confessed ; in 
 youth it has embittered enjoyment, and it has made age dreadful. 
 A dream, or the chance words of a song, or the figures of the tap- 
 estry, have terrified them into tears. Haroun Al Raschid opened 
 a volume of poems, and read, Where are the Kings, and where are 
 the rest of the world ? They are gone the way which thou shalt 
 go. O thou who choosest a perishable world, and callest him happy 
 whom it glorifies, take what the world can give thee, but death is 
 as the end ! And at these words, he who had murdered Yahia 
 and the Barmecides, wept aloud. 
 
 In these barbarous monarchies the people are indolent, because 
 if they acquire wealth they dare not enjoy it. Punishment pro- 
 duces no shame, for it is inflicted by caprice, not by justice. They 
 who are rich or powerful become the victims of rapacity or fear. 
 If a battle or fortress be lost, the Commander is punished for his 
 misfortune ; if he become popular for his victories, he incurs the 
 jealousy and hatred of the ruler. Nor is it enough that wealth, 
 and honour, and existence are at the Despot's mercy ; the feelings 
 and instincts must yield at his command. If he take the son for 
 his eunuch, and the daughter for his concubine ; if he order the 
 father to execute the child, it is what Destiny has appointed, and 
 the Mahommedan says, ... God's will be done. But insulted 
 humanity has not unfrequently been provoked to take vengeance ; 
 the monarch is always in danger, because the subject is never 
 secure ; these are the consequences of that absolute power and 
 passive obedience' which have resulted from the doctrines of 
 Mahommed ; and this is the state of society wherever his religion 
 has been established. 
 
 But when Islamism entered Spain, it was in its youth and vigour ; 
 its destructive principles had not yet had time to develop them- 
 selves ; and its military apostles could safely challenge corrupted
 
 1% INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Christianity to a comparison of creeds. No nation had yet been 
 able to resist them ; they had gone on from victory to victory. 
 With the majority of mankind the successful cause passes for the 
 right one ; and when there were so many motives for conversion, it 
 is not to be wondered at that the greater number of the Spanish 
 Goths became converts to a triumphant faith. When in the first 
 years of that faith Amrou led an army against Gaza, the Governor 
 asked, for what reason the city was attacked. Our Master, re- 
 plied Amrou, has sent us to conquer you, unless ye receive our 
 religion ; do this and ye shall be our companions and brethren. 
 If ye refuse this, pay a yearly tribute for ever, and we will protect 
 you against all invaders. If neither of these terms be accepted, 
 there can be only the sword between us, and we must war upon 
 you in obedience to the command of the Lord. This was the 
 system of the Mahommedans, and hitherto no policy could have 
 succeeded better. The Christians who retained their religion be- 
 came a kind of Helots, who supplied the revenue and cultivated 
 the land ; they were everywhere the minority, and as Mahommedan 
 states grew round them on all sides, it was not long before they 
 disappeared. The Moors found the same obsequiousness in Spain 
 as they had done in Africa and in the East. The main part of the 
 men apostatized, and the women contentedly learnt a new creed, 
 to qualify themselves for foreign husbands, or for the renegades 
 who profited by the ruin of their country. But there yet remained 
 Gothic valour and Gothic genius. Pelayo baffled them with a 
 troop of mountaineers, the wreck and remnant of the nation. This 
 hero was strengthened by the accident of his royal descent ; but 
 it was not for his birth that his fellow-soldiers lifted him upon a 
 shield, and in the hour of difficulty and danger acclaimed him 
 King. In a strong country, with the defiles of which he was well 
 acquainted, he maintained himself against the neighbouring Moors. 
 His own weakness was his best security ; foes like these wen 
 beneath the notice of the conqueror ; he who had overthrown the 
 kingdom of the Goths did not stop to exterminate a handful of 
 banditti. Once already had Musa crossed the Pyrenees and ad- 
 vanced as far as Carcassonne : he now proposed to overrun France, 
 proceed through Germany and Hungary to Constantinople, and by 
 this line of conquests, connect Spain with the Saracen empire. 
 For this enterprise he was preparing when a courier seized the 
 bridle of his horse, and commanded him in the Caliph's name to 
 set out for Damascus. There was retribution in this. Musa had 
 imprisoned Tarif because he envied his glory ; he himself was now
 
 INTRODUCTION. V)1 
 
 arrested in his own career, and detained in Syria, while secret 
 orders were sent to destroy his whole family. All who were in 
 Africa were cut off. His son Abdalazis, a man worthy of a better 
 fate, had been left governor in Spain; but the commanders of 
 every town at this time exercised independent authority, and his 
 power was little more than nominal. To strengthen himself by 
 conciliating the Christians, he married Egilona, widow of the late 
 King ; her foolish bigotry was one occasion of his ruin. Finding 
 it impossible to convert her husband, she placed saint-images in 
 all her apartments, and made the doors so low that he could not 
 enter, without bowing his head before her idols. The Moorish 
 Chiefs interpreted this as an artifice on his part to entrap them 
 into a gesture which was an acknowledgment of their inferiority. 
 His views were too generous for their comprehension. He wished 
 to introduce the Gothic forms of freedom, and with that view as- 
 sembled them in a Cortes. They murdered him, that the anarchy 
 might continue. His head was sent to Damascus, and the Caliph 
 bade Musa look, if he knew the face. The broken-hearted old 
 man retired to Mecca, seeking there for that consolation which, 
 such is the blessed nature of religion, every religion however cor- 
 rupted, can in some degree bestow ; and there he ended his days. 
 Spain was so distant from the capital of the Caliphs, that they 
 were continually exerting their authority there, lest their weakness 
 should be discovered. For this reason it was their policy frequently 
 to change the Governor, a system every way pernicious, which al- 
 lowed integrity no time to be useful, and hurried avarice into rapac- 
 ity. A few plundering expeditions were made beyond the Pyrenees, 
 while tyranny and extortion provoked frequent commotions at 
 home. At length Abderrahman, as well to employ a restless peo- 
 ple as to gratify his own ambition, collected a prodigious army, and 
 burst into France. The cause of civilized society has never been 
 exposed to equal danger, since the Athenians preserved it at Sala- 
 mis. Charles Martel met him by Tours, and destroyed him and 
 his army. To revenge this defeat was for awhile the great object 
 of the Moors, and Christendom was still saved by the same hero. 
 Dissensions broke out between the original conquerors, and the 
 Moors who had flocked over from Africa : an army of Syrians was 
 called in, and they soon became a third party. Meantime Pelayo 
 and the Spaniards strengthened themselves in Asturias. Wherever 
 they advanced they found a number of Christians ready to assist in 
 recovering their country. Under Alonso the Catholic, they became 
 formidable, and then in their turn weakened themselves. His su>
 
 198 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cessor, Froyla, murdered one brother, and was himself murdered 
 by another, who seized the throne. The insecure Usurper made 
 himself vassal to the Moors, and his only wars were against the 
 slaves in his own kingdom, who had risen upon their Christian 
 masters. 
 
 The revolution which established the Abbassides in Syria, erected 
 another dynasty and a new empire in Spain. Abdoulrahman, one 
 of the Ommiades, fled from the massacre of his family, and hid 
 himself, with his child and his brother, in a forest beside the Eu- 
 phrates, A.U. 749. They were discovered, the boy was slain, the 
 two brethren rode into the river. One, allured by the promise of 
 his pursuers to spare him, turned back from the dangerous passage, 
 and was immediately murdered. Abdoulrahman swam on, and ef- 
 fected his escape. He got into Africa, and had found adherents 
 there who promised to protect him against the Governor, when 
 deputies came over from the Spanish Moors to invite him to the 
 kingdom of Spain as his inheritance. His reign was a perpetual 
 warfare against those who transferred their loyalty with the throne 
 of the Caliphs, or against chiefs who fought for their own aggran- 
 dizement, and called it the cause of the Abbassides. Almanzor 
 made one direct effort, and sent Ala with troops from Africa, and 
 the whole weight of his authority, to destroy the last of a rival race. 
 He was at Mecca when the head of Ala, salted and filled with cam- 
 phor, was nailed against his palace door, and the sight made him 
 rejoice that the sea rolled between him and his enemy. The Om- 
 miade triumphed over every opposer ; established his throne at Cor- 
 dova, and left the undisputed sovereignty of all the Spanish Moors 
 to his son. The race of Abdoulrahman should not go without their 
 fame. An astrologer predicted to his successor Haccham, a happy 
 and glorious reign, but only of eight years. In the belief of this pre- 
 diction he reigned with the wholesome fear of death before his 
 eyes, and no act of injustice or cruelty is of him recorded. T\v<> 
 elder brethren, to whom he had been wisely preferred by his father, 
 attempted to dethrone him : he subdued them, and then settled am- 
 ple revenues upon these dangerous rivals, when they were at his 
 mercy. Haccham's armies were filled by soldiers who loved him ; 
 and when a father died, the sons received his pay till they also were 
 of an age to serve. The Christians resisted him with courage ; but 
 he pursued them into their mountains, and burnt the palace of 
 their Kings, and so reduced them, that when a wealthy Moor be- 
 queathed his treasures to ransom his countrymen who were in cap- 
 tivity among the Spaniards, none could be found to profit by the
 
 INTRODUCTION. 199 
 
 bequest. The Pyrenees did not bound his exploits ; he completed 
 the great Mosque at Cordova with the spoils of Narbonne. The 
 liberality of this Caliph was as dangerous to the Christians as his 
 arms. Of his body guard, which consisted of five thousand men, 
 three thousand were renegades. 
 
 The reign of the second Haccham was more troubled. Always 
 in arms either against the Leonese, or his own rebellious subjects, 
 he was alike terrible to both. A revolt threw Toledo into the 
 hands of the Christians, who were too feeble to keep the metropo- 
 lis which they had thus recovered. Another mutiny of the citizens 
 incensed Haccham, and the vengeance which he planned was in 
 the spirit and upon the scale of Asiatic barbarity. Their fellow- 
 citizen Amrouz was made Governor ; he lured the affections of the 
 people, and tempted them to plot another rebellion in which he 
 should be their leader ; and he persuaded them that a citadel would 
 be necessary for their defence. They built one, and within it, a 
 palace for their new Chief. This citadel was designed to keep the 
 people in obedience, and Amrouz made the workmen dig a pit 
 secretly within the walls, deep and wide and long. When every- 
 thing was prepared, Haccham sent his son to Toledo, on some 
 specious pretext. Amrouz entertained him and invited all who 
 possessed either authority or influence in the town to a feast. As 
 they entered, they were seized ; the massacre lasted from morning 
 till midday, and the ready grave was filled with five thousand 
 bodies. No provocation can palliate a crime like this ; yet all 
 that his subjects complained of -in Haccham, were his sloth, his 
 excesses at table, and above all his love of wine. New mutinies 
 excited him to new cruelty ; meantime the Christians insulted his 
 border. A female Moor as she was led away into captivity, called 
 upon Haccham to deliver her. Her appeal was reported to him, 
 and it roused his pride. He entered the Christian territories at 
 the head of a victorious army, sought out the woman, and with 
 his own hand broke her chains. 
 
 A second Abdoulrahman succeeded. He is called the Victori- 
 ous, though he was more fortunate against his own rebellious sub- 
 jects than against the Christians, who gained upon his frontier, or 
 the Normans who plundered his coast. Mahommed, the next in 
 succession, left thirty-three sons ; one of his forty-four brethren 
 broke the line of inheritance and seized his nephew's throne. 
 The Usurper was the third Abdoulrahman, the most magnificent 
 of the Moorish Kings of Spain. His history is like a tale of East- 
 em splendour, with an Eastern moral at the end. To gratify the
 
 200 L\TRODUCTIOX. 
 
 vanity of a favourite slave, he built a town and called it after her 
 name, Zehra, which signifies the ornament of the world. There 
 were in its palace a thousand and fourteen columns of African and 
 Spanish marble, nineteen from Italian quarries, and a hundred and 
 forty beautiful enough to be presents from the Greek Emperor. 
 The marble walls of the Hall of the Caliph were inlaid with gold ; 
 birds and beasts of gold, studded with jewels, spouted water into 
 a marble basin in its centre ; the basin was the work of the best 
 Greek sculptors, and above it hung the great pearl which had 
 been sent to Abdoulrahman by the Emperor Leon. The extent 
 of the buildings may be imagined by the size of his seraglio, which 
 contained six thousand three hundred persons. This was his 
 favourite abode. After the chase, to which twelve thousand 
 horsemen always accompanied him, he used to rest in a pavilion 
 in the gardens ; the pillars were of pure white marble, the floor of 
 gold and steel and jewellery, and in the midst there was a foun- 
 tain of quicksilver. Yet Abdoulrahman left a writing which con- 
 tained this testimony against the vanity of the world. " From the 
 moment when I began to reign, I have recorded those days in 
 which I enjoyed real and undisturbed pleasure : they amount to 
 fourteen. Mortal man, consider what this world is, and what de- 
 pendence is to be placed upon is enjoyments ! Nothing seems 
 wanting to my happiness ; . . . riches, honours, to say everything, 
 sovereign power. I am feared and esteemed by my contemporary 
 princes, they envy my good fortune, they are jealous of my glory, 
 they solicit my friendship. Fifty years have I reigned, and in so 
 long a course of time can count but fourteen days which have not 
 been poisoned by some vexation." 
 
 The reign of his son Haccham was short and splendid and 
 peaceful. He wanted to enlarge his palace at Zehra : the ground 
 adjoining was the property of a poor woman, who would not for 
 any price sell the inheritance of her fathers ; the workmen took 
 possession by force, and she went to the Cadi Ibn Bechir with her 
 complaint. Ibn Bechir took a large sack, mounted his ass, and 
 rode to the Caliph, whom he found sitting in a pavilion which had 
 been built upon the place ; he prostrated himself and asked per- 
 mission to fill the sack with earth. Having obtained leave, he 
 filled it, and then requested the Prince would help him to lift it 
 upon the ass. Haccham attempted, but found it too heavy. 
 " Prince," then said the Cadi, " this is but a small part of that land 
 whereof you have wrongfully deprived one of your subjects ; . . . 
 how will you at the last jiui-iiu-nt bear UK- burthen of the whole ! "
 
 IXTRODUCTION. 201 
 
 He restored the ground, and gave with it the buildings which had 
 already been erected there. 
 
 The Christians acquired strength during the disturbed reign of 
 the second Haccham. A race of able kings succeeded Alfonso 
 the Chaste. Ramiro, Ordono, and another Alfonso, called the 
 Great : then came a feebler line, and the Christians were divided. 
 New states were erected in Navarre, in Catalonia, and in Arragon : 
 if these sometimes rivalled the Kings of Leon, they were more 
 dangerous to the Moors, and the common cause was strengthened. 
 But the separation of Castile from Leon, was a dismemberment, an 
 actual loss of strength. The bond of unity once broken, jealousies 
 and wars followed, and the example was mischievous. Galicia was 
 ambitious of becoming independent like Castile, and frequent re- 
 bellions were the consequence. Abdoulrahman profited little by 
 these dissensions : his power was employed in gratifying a passion 
 for splendour, for which he is better remembered than he would 
 have been for a life of greater activity. His son made only one 
 campaign. A sickly boy succeeded him. Mahommed, who was 
 appointed his guardian, was called after the manner of the Orien- 
 tals, Alhagib, or the Eyelid ; he soon acquired and deserved the 
 name of Almanzor the Victorious, by which he is remembered in 
 history. The genius of this man well nigh proved fatal to the 
 Spanish Christians, weakened as they were by their own divisions. 
 The Leonese looked on with unconcern or with satisfaction while 
 he ravaged Castile, and the Castilians were consoled when Leon 
 suffered in its turn. Two and fi'fty times did he lead his armies 
 into their country, and return with their spoils. Such terror had 
 he struck into them, that Bermudo retreated with the seat of gov- 
 ernment from Leon back among the mountains to Oviedo, the 
 bodies of the Kings his predecessors were taken from their graves 
 and removed, and the relics of the Saints and Martyrs packed up 
 for flight. This fear was not without cause. Almanzor appeared 
 before the walls. Count Guillen was in the city, so far spent with 
 sickness that he could not stand ; nevertheless when he heard that 
 the Moors had made a breach, he ordered his men to arm him and 
 carry him in his bed to the place of danger. There he encouraged 
 the Leonese, more by his presence than by his weak efforts ; but 
 there he maintained the breach three days, and there when another 
 quarter had been forced, he perished, sword in hand, in his bed. 
 The conqueror carried his arms farther and ravaged Galicia. San- 
 tiago, the tutelary Saint of Spain, the God of their battles, could 
 not defend his own Church. Almanzor sent the great bells from
 
 202 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Compostella to be his trophies, and hung them up as lamps in the 
 Mosque of Cordova. During one of his expeditions, the Chris- 
 tians took advantage of a fall of snow, and occupied the mountain 
 passes to intercept his return. The Moor calmly pitched his camp 
 in the valley, and prepared to make it his dwelling-place. He 
 ploughed and sowed the ground, and so harassed the country be- 
 hind him, that the Christians offered him a price for his coming 
 harvest, and implored him to depart. 
 
 They who could not triumph over him while living, insulted him 
 with lying legends when he was no more. They asserted that the 
 Saints whose churches he had profaned, struck him with his mortal 
 sickness, and that when he died the Devil was heard bewailing 
 him along the banks of the Guadalquivir. But the Moors wrote 
 truly upon his monument, What he was is seen in his actions ; such 
 a Defender of Spain will not be found after him. 
 
 Yet the ascendancy which Almanzor obtained by these triumphs 
 eventually ruined the Spanish Moors. Their King had still the 
 nominal authority ; whatever splendour his state required, and what- 
 ever luxuries could tend to amuse or effeminate him, were amply 
 afforded him ; but he was actually a prisoner ; he never went be- 
 yond the precincts of the palace, and none except the governor's 
 friends were admitted to see him. For a character thus helpless 
 and enfeebled, the people could feel no respect ; and they repeat- 
 edly offered the throne to Almanzor; he was satisfied with the 
 substantial sovereignty which he enjoyed, nor could he be tempted 
 by the wish of leaving a legitimate title to his son Abdalmelic, a 
 man not unworthy of such a father. That son was supported dur- 
 ing a short administration by his own moderation and his father's 
 fame. His brother, who succeeded, had less talent and less virtue : 
 he usurped the royal title, abused his power, and was soon de- 
 stroyed. Civil wars ensued ; the Spanish Moors espoused the 
 cause of one adventurer, the Africans who had flocked to follow 
 Almanzor's victories, fought for another ; the race of Abdoulrah- 
 man was cut off, and his empire was divided. The petty tyrant of 
 every town now called himself King, and crimes and miseries mul- 
 tiplied with the title. The lower the sceptre sunk, the more hands 
 were stretched out to reach it. Ambition takes no warning from 
 example. Hymeya, one of these wretches, asked the Cordovans 
 to make him King, just as the last puppet had been murdered. 
 They replied, " Do you not see the tumultuous state of the city ? 
 the populace will destroy you." " Obey me to-day," said he, 
 " and kill me to-morrow." Such was the drunken lust for power.
 
 INTR OD UC TION. 203 
 
 The Moors brought with them into Spain the causes of their 
 own destruction, . . . despotism and polygamy ; consumptive prin- 
 ciples, which suffered indeed the body to mature, but when the 
 growing energy had ceased, immediately began their morbid and 
 mortal action. These causes produced their inevitable effects, the 
 war of brother against brother, the revolt of towns and provinces, 
 the breaking up of kingdoms. The Spaniards meantime were free ; 
 they were inferior in numbers, they were less civilized than their 
 enemies, and their history is sullied by acts of worse barbarity ; . . . 
 but they were a Christian and a free people. The moral institu- 
 tions of Christianity gave them a decided and increasing advan- 
 tage. Even its corruptions were in their favour. Mahommed won 
 his first victory by calling for an army of Angels, when his troops 
 were giving way. He galloped forward, and casting a handful of 
 sand among the enemy, exclaimed, " Let their faces be covered 
 with confusion ! " The Moslem believed that the armies of God 
 obeyed his call, and in that faith they were victorious. The deliv- 
 erers of Spain encouraged their followers by coarser frauds ; a 
 hermit had promised them victory, ... or they had seen visions, . . . 
 or the Cross which was their banner, had appeared to them in the 
 sky. The invention of a tutelary Saint to fight their battles, not 
 metaphorically, but in person, was a bolder and more animating 
 fiction. Ramiro had fought a whole day long with the Moors ; he 
 kept the field at night with a broken and dispirited army, who were 
 compelled to abide the next morning's danger, because they were 
 surrounded and could not fly. The King called them together and 
 told them that Santiago had appeared to him in a dream, and had 
 promised to be with them in the battle, visibly and bodily, on a 
 white steed, bearing a white banner with a red cross. The Leo- 
 nese, who before this had lost all hope, began the attack, shouting 
 God and Santiago. A knight led them on, riding a white steed, 
 and bearing a white banner with a bloody cross. They utterly 
 defeated the Moors. A general tribute in bread and wine was 
 granted to- the Saint's church for ever, and a knight's portion from 
 the spoils of every victory which the Christians should gain. 
 
 This pious fraud was the resource of genius in distress ; but it 
 had been preluded by deceit, and was systematized into a national 
 mythology. The body of Santiago had been discovered under 
 Ramiro's predecessor ; his grandson Alfonso rebuilt the church of 
 the Apostle with greater magnificence than the Christian kings be- 
 fore him had ever displayed ; and its priesthood exercised their 
 ingenuity in inventing legends to the honor of their patron Saint,
 
 204 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and to their own emolument. This they did so successfully that 
 Compostella became the great point of European pilgrimage. The 
 merit of this pilgrimage was enhanced by the difficulty and danger 
 of the journey ; the pilgrims soon became so numerous that par- 
 ties of Moorish, and perhaps also of Christian banditti, associated 
 to plunder them. On the other hand, the Canons of St. Eloy 
 erected guest-houses for their accommodation along the road from 
 France, and money and estates were often bequeathed to endow 
 them by individuals and princes. After their example a few hidal- 
 gos who were equally devout and warlike, joined their property, 
 and formed themselves into a religious brotherhood for the pur- 
 pose of protecting the pilgrims. War never stops at defence. 
 They soon found it their duty to attack the Misbelievers : and 
 hence, about fourscore years after the death of the Cid, arose the 
 order of Santiago, which was so long the scourge of the Moors. 
 
 A regular system of deceit practised by the priests for their own 
 immediate interest, continually freshened and invigorated the en- 
 thusiasm of the people. To obtain the profits of a favourite altar 
 was the motive which influenced the inventor of a Martyr's body, 
 or of an Image ; but where Chapels were thus founded, cities 
 sometimes grew. A shepherd told his fellows that he had followed 
 a dove towards a rock, whither by her frequent flight, and turning 
 back to him upon the wing, she seemed to' invite him : there he 
 had discovered a cavern and an image of the Virgin, at whose feet 
 the Dove remained undisturbed, being conscious of divine protec- 
 tion. Such was the devotion of the people that a town was soon 
 built there. St. Maria la Blanca was deserted by all its inhabitants 
 for this holier place of residence, but the priests and people go 
 yearly among its ruins to perform a service for the souls of their 
 forefathers who are buried there. A pious Spaniard employed his 
 life in improving the great road to Compostella, opening thickets 
 and building bridges along the way. About twenty paces from his 
 little hermitage he made his own tomb. The pilgrims' gratitude 
 did not cease when their benefactor died. His tomb became a 
 place of popular devotion ; a splendid church was at length erected 
 over it, and that church is now the Cathedral of a City, which is 
 called St. Domingo de la Cal/,ada, after his name. A hermit, by 
 name Juan, fixed his dwelling on Mount I'ruela, not far from Jara : 
 he built a chapel on one of its summits, and dedicated it to John 
 the Baptist. Four other Monks joined him : the fame of their 
 piety was bruited abroad, and their chapel became the chosen spot 
 for the devotion of the Christians round about. When fuan died
 
 /. V TR OD UC TION. 205 
 
 a great multitude assembled at his funeral ; six hundred hidalgos 
 were among them ; they saw their numbers and the strength of 
 the country ; the feeling which had brought them together excited 
 them, they elected a leader, and founded the kingdom of Navarre. 
 The local deities whom their Pagan ancestors had worshipped 
 were less numerous than the Saints who patronized the churches 
 of the Spanish Christians. Every town, almost every village, had 
 been hallowed by the death or burial of Martyrs, to whose wonder- 
 working bodies the faithful were led sometimes by the song of 
 Angels, more frequently by lights hovering over their holy graves. 
 Above all, the Virgin Mother was lavish in her favours to Spain. 
 Once, she descended in person upon a stone pillar, which she left 
 l>ehind her, and which is held at this day in as high veneration by- 
 thousands and tens of thousands of Catholics, as the black stone 
 at Mecca is by the Mahommedans. Sometimes she sent her image 
 down from Heaven. Sometimes a dove guided the chosen discov- 
 erer to the cavern where she had been hidden ; or the hunted 
 beast who ran to her ruined altar was protected by her pity, or 
 struck dead for his intrusion. In the number of her titles the 
 deified Mary exceeded the many-named Diana, as well as in the 
 extent and effect of her worship. In perusing the attested history 
 of any one of her images, the reader might think she had imparted 
 to it all her power, did not the Goddess of the next great shrine 
 afford a catalogue of wonders, equally splendid, equally attested, 
 and equally authentic. These miracles were easily managed in 
 darkness, and amid the wilds and ruins of a desolated country. 
 The clergy sometimes, in the confidence of talent, ventured upon 
 a more public and general exhibition. Fernando the Great, A.D. 
 1063, sent to Benabet King of Seville, requesting that he would 
 let him have the body of St. Justa to remove to Leon. Three 
 Counts and two Bishops were the ambassadors to beg this boon. 
 Benabet said he knew nothing about it, he had never heard of St. 
 Justa, but they were very welcome to her body if they could find 
 it. Upon this Alvito the Bishop of Leon said they would pray 
 three days for a revelation. At the close of the third day Alvito 
 fell asleep at his prayers, and there appeared to him in a dream an 
 old man, who told him that St. Justa must not be removed. Seville 
 was not to be deprived of a treasure reserved for its glory when it 
 should again become a Christian city, ... but they might have his 
 
 body instead And who was he ? . . . He was St. Isidore. Alvito 
 
 humbly entreated him to be dreamt of twice more, that he might 
 be sure this was not merelv a dream : and the dead Bishop gave
 
 206 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the desired proof. At his last appearance he struck the ground 
 thrice with his crosier, saying, " You will find me here, here, here." 
 In the morning three holes were seen in the ground, and upon 
 digging there they discovered his body in full odour. The court 
 and clergy went out from Leon in procession to meet the relics ; 
 the King and his three sons bore the body barefooted ; all the 
 Monks and clergy of the city were feasted upon the occasion ; and 
 Fernando and the Queen served them at the board. 
 
 The zeal with which these patron Saints were worshipped was 
 proportionate to the beneficial power which they possessed. They 
 could preserve their own district from pestilence, and if for the 
 sins of the people they sometimes suffered the Infidels to violate 
 their sanctuaries, they never failed to punish the violation. In 
 their beatitude they were still influenced by human feelings, by 
 gratitude, and by national and local affection. A Saint was the 
 representative of his townsmen in Heaven, where he was supposed 
 to receive their prayers, and exert all his influence in their behalf. 
 
 The religious fervour of the Moors meanwhile was abating. 
 Fanaticism in a few generations becomes bigotry. The belief 
 which the first Mahommedans had chosen was inherited by their 
 children; in the fathers it had the life and ardour of a new pas- 
 sion ; in the sons it was become habit, inveterate indeed, but cold. 
 This process has been exemplified in every age, and by every sect. 
 The Dominicans and Franciscans of the present day profess the 
 same tenets which their predecessors practised at the massacre 
 and the auto da fe. There are analogies in nature ; the wolf has 
 been tamed into the dog : and swine were once formidable in the 
 forest. 
 
 In the first years of the Moorish conquest the Christians carried 
 on a perpetual war against their invaders. There was no alternative 
 between hostilities and submission ; but during the anarchy whicl 
 soon weakened the conquerors, their little kingdom acquired a re 
 spectable strength, and they could venture to rest from war when 
 peace was convenient. A righteous national hatred was encouraged 
 by their leaders, and this hatred was increased by religious contempt 
 and abhorrence. Yet even these feelings readily gave way whenever 
 either public or individual interest required their sacrifice. A fre- 
 quent intercourse necessarily subsisted between the two peoples ; 
 discontented chiefs fled to a Moorish Court for protection, and the 
 Christian princes, when at war with each other, scrupled not to in- 
 vite Moorish assistance. It has even been said, that when the king- 
 dom of Arragon was founded, and that compact established between
 
 INTRODUCTION. 207 
 
 the sovereign and the people which the Arragonese have struggled 
 so nobly, but unsuccessfully to maintain, one of the privileges pro- 
 posed to them was, that they might choose either a Christian, or a 
 Mahommedan King, at pleasure ; but they rejected it as a thing 
 which ought not to be thought of. 
 
 Still the war between the two nations was a war of extermination. 
 Peace was never named, never thought of as a thing possible ; but 
 because perpetual hostilities would have destroyed both by famine, 
 they made occasional truces by common consent to recover strength 
 for renewing the contest ; or the weaker power purchased a respite 
 by paying tribute, till he believed himself strong enough to revolt. 
 These intervals were short ; the Spaniards could never long endure 
 to be idle ; they had to recover the country of their fathers, an 
 honourable and a holy object ; and war also was the business, the 
 amusement, the passion of the age. It was in war that the chiefs 
 found their sport and their spoil ; that the King at once employed 
 and gratified a turbulent nobility ; that the people indulged their 
 worst passions, and believed that they were at the same time aton- 
 ing for their sins. And what a warfare ! it was to burn the stand- 
 ing corn, to root up the vine and the olive, to hang the heads of 
 their enemies from the saddle-bow, and drive mothers and chil- 
 dren before them with the lance ; to massacre the men of a 
 town in the fury of assault ; to select the chiefs that they might be 
 murdered in cold blood ; to reserve the women for violation, and 
 the children for slavery : . . . and this warfare year after year, till 
 they rested from mere exhaustion.' The soldiers of Fernan Gonza- 
 lez complained that they led a life like Devils, like those in Hell 
 who rested neither day nor night : Our Lord, said they, is like 
 Satan, and we are like his servants, whose whole delight is in sepa- 
 rating soul from body. The Spaniards on their part suffered retali- 
 ated cruelties, and the perpetual sense of danger. At one time 
 Knights, Nobles, and Kings, never slept without having the war- 
 horse ready-saddled in the chamber. 
 
 In the beginning of the eleventh century, Navarre, Arragon, and 
 Castile, were united under Sancho the Great. But experience had 
 not taught the Christian Kings good policy, and when accident had 
 joined the separate states, the possessor divided them at his death, 
 desirous that his sons should all be Kings, though thereby they in- 
 evitably became enemies. Sancho left Navarre to his eldest son 
 Garcia, Arragon to his bastard son Ramiro, and Castile to Fer- 
 nando ; and these latter states, which had long been independent, 
 now first received the appellation of kingdom.
 
 206 INTR OD I 'C T/O.Y. 
 
 Sancho had compelled Bermudo the King of Leon to give his 
 sister in marriage to Fernando ; the King of Leon had no children, 
 his sister was his heir, and the kingdom therefore would fall to her 
 husband. Leon had long been declining ; but when the territories 
 of Sancho were divided at his death, Bermudo hoped to recover 
 its old ascendancy, and declared war against his brother-in-law. 
 Fernando called Garcia to his aid, and an obstinate battle was 
 fought. Bermudo, who was a brave man, and confident in his own 
 strength, and in that of his horse Pelayuelo, rode into the C'astilian 
 army, meaning to engage Fernando man to man ; he was slain in 
 the attempt, and Fernando possessed himself of Leon by the double 
 right of conquest and inheritance. 
 
 The elder brother regarded with impatience the division of his 
 father's kingdoms. Fernando had excited some dispute respecting 
 their boundary, and though no enmity was yet avowed, no fraternal 
 affection existed. It happened that Garcia fell sick ; the Castilian 
 went to visit him at Najara, he discovered that his brother designed 
 to imprison him, and extort a cession of territory for his ransom, 
 and he hastily departed, and then sent to excuse his departure on 
 the plea of urgent business. He soon feigned sickness and 
 requested Garcia to come and see him ; the King of Navarre 
 came, and was immediately made prisoner : by the help of money 
 he effected his escape, and open war followed. Garcia in- 
 vited the Moors to his assistance, and entered Castile. The 
 armies met about four leagues from Bourgos, near Atapuerca. St. 
 Inigo, the Abbot of Ona, endeavoured to persuade Garcia to 
 peace ; the good old man was revered by him, and though his 
 persuasions were vain, still continued in the camp, hoping he 
 might yet succeed in his mediation. An old knight called Fortun 
 Sanchez tried also to reconcile the brethren ; he was Garcia's foster- 
 father, and had loved them both from infancy. When he found 
 that his advice and entreaties were of no avail, knowing the danger 
 of Garcia, and that he could not prevent it, the old man threw off 
 his defensive armour, and with only his sword and spear, went fore- 
 most among the enemy to die, that he might not behold the over- 
 throw and destruction of his foster-child. Before the battle began, 
 two knights whom Garcia had unjustly stript of their possessions 
 came to him and demanded that he would redress their wrongs, 
 and for the future respect their privileges. The demand was just, 
 but Garcia gave no ear to it, perhaps provoked that it should be 
 made like a menace in his hour of need. They then renounced 
 their allegiance, and went over to the Castilian army. The other
 
 f.VTKODUCTfOX. 
 
 209 
 
 knights who had joined with them in their remonstrance, did not 
 indeed desert the King, but they served him without good will, 
 and without exertion. There was a band of Leonese, who directed 
 their efforts against him to revenge Bermudo ; the two knights 
 whom Garcia had wronged, fought in their company, and one of 
 them thrust him through with a lance. The wound was mortal. 
 He died upon the field with his head between the Abbot's knees, 
 the pious old man holding it, and praying and weeping over him 
 as he expired. A great stone was set up as a monument, by the 
 brook side where he was slain. In consequence of this victory Fer- 
 nando became the most powerful of all the Kings of Spain, Moor 
 or Christian. It was in his days that the Cid began to distinguish 
 himself.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 SECT. PAGE 
 
 I. How King Ferrando reigned in Castile 219 
 
 II. Of the lineage of Rodrigo of Bivar 220 
 
 III. Of the strife between Count Gomez and Diego Laynez, and 
 
 how Rodrigo slew him 220 
 
 IV. How- Rodrigo took the five Moorish kings 221 
 
 V. How Ximena Gomez asked Rodrigo of the King in marriage, 221 
 
 VI. How Rodrigo accepted her for his wife 222 
 
 VII. How Rodrigo took his wife home, and of the vow which he 
 
 made .... 222 
 
 VIII. Of the dispute concerning Calahorra 223 
 
 IX. Of the charity of Rodrigo towards the leper 223 
 
 X. Of the combat which was fought for Calahorra 224 
 
 XI. How the Counts plotted against Rodrigo 225 
 
 XII. How Rodrigo gained a great victory over the Moors 226 
 
 XIII. Of the taking of Viseu 226 
 
 XIV. Of the taking of 1 .amego 227 
 
 XV. ( )f the siege of Coimbra 228 
 
 XVI. How Santiago appeared to the Greek Bishop 229 
 
 XVII. Of the grant made by the King to the monks of Lorvam 230 
 
 XVIII. How Rodrigo was knighted 231 
 
 XIX. ( )f the taking of Montemor 232 
 
 XX. How Ruydiez was called the Cid 232 
 
 XXI. How the Emperor demanded tribute of Spain . 232 
 
 XXII. Of the answer which the King sent 233 
 
 XXIII. How the Cid defeated the Lord of Savoy 234 
 
 XXIV. How the Pope and the Emperor yielded their demand 234 
 
 XXV. How the King returned into his own land 235 
 
 XXVI. How the King divided his dominions 235 
 
 XXVII. How the Infante D. Sancho complained of the wrong which 
 
 was done him 236 
 
 XXVIII. Of the death of the King 236 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 I. How King Don Sancho was wroth at the partition of the 
 
 kingdoms 2 3 
 
 II. How the Kings of Navarre and Arragon came against Castile, 238 
 
 III. How King Don Sancho defeated the King of Arragon 239 
 
 IV. Of the beginning of the strife between the brethren 240
 
 212 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 SECT. PAGE 
 
 V. How King Don Sancho had a meeting with his brother King 
 
 Don Alfonso 241 
 
 VI. Ho\v King Don Garcia sent to ask aid from his brother King 
 
 Don Alfonso 242 
 
 VII. How Don Rodrigo Kroja/. slew Verna 242 
 
 VIII. Of the battle at Agoa de Mayas 24 } 
 
 IX. How King Don Garcia fled to the Moors 244 
 
 X. How King Don Garcia went out from Santarem to battk-. . . . 245 
 
 XI. How Alvar Kanez asked the king for a horse and arms 245 
 
 XII. How King Don Sancho was taken, and of the death of Don 
 
 Kodrigo Frojaz 246 
 
 XIII. How Alvar Fanex. rescued the King 247 
 
 XIV. How King Don Garcia was taken 248 
 
 XV. How King Don Sancho went against his brother Alfonso. . . . 248 
 
 XVI. Of the battle at Vulpegera 249 
 
 XVII. How the Cid delivered King Don Sancho 250 
 
 XVIII. How King Don Alfonso fled to the Moors 250 
 
 XIX. Of the friendship which Alimaymon showed to King Don 
 
 Alfonso 251 
 
 XX. Of the talk which the Moors held, in what manner Toledo 
 
 could be taken 252 
 
 XXI. How Alimaymon took an oath from King Don Alfonso 253 
 
 XXII. How King Don Sancho crowned himself King of the three 
 
 kingdoms '. 254 
 
 XXIII. How King Don Sancho went against Zamora 254 
 
 XXIV. Of the message which the King sent to Dofia Urraca 255 
 
 XXV. Of the council which Dofia Urraca held, and the answer which 
 
 she gave 257 
 
 XXVI. How the King was wroth with the Cid 258 
 
 XXVII. How Dofia Urraca resolved to yield the town 259 
 
 XXVIII. How Vellido Dolfos fled out of the town 260 
 
 XXIX. How the men of Zamora warned King Don Sancho of the 
 
 treason which was designed 261 
 
 XXX. How King Don Sancho was slain by treason 262 
 
 XXXI. How Vellido Dolfos fled to Dofia Urraca for protection 2<> ; 
 
 XXXII. Of the death of the King j., 4 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 I. How it was resolved to impeach the people of Xamora 266 
 
 II. How Don Diego Ordonez made the impeachment 266 
 
 III. Of the manner in which the combat was to be performed .... 267 
 
 IV. How Don Arias and his sons resolved to do combat for /amora, 268 
 V. How Don Arias was persuaded that his son I'edrarias should 
 
 do battle in his stead 268 
 
 VI. Of the first combat 269 
 
 VII. Of the second combat 270 
 
 VIII. Of the third combat, and how it was left undetermined 271 
 
 IX. How King Don Alfonso departed from Toledo 272 
 
 X. How the Cid would not kiss the King's hand 273
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 213 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XI. Of the oath which King Don Alfonso took 274 
 
 XII. How Don Alfonso was crowned King 275 
 
 XIII. How King Don Alfonso went to succour Alimaymon 276 
 
 XIV. How the King went into Toledo 276 
 
 XV. Of the noble dealing of the King with Alimaymon 276 
 
 XVI. How my Cid won many battles 277 
 
 XVII. How King Don Alfonso was made wroth with the Cid 278 
 
 XVIII. How the Cid was wrongfully banished 279 
 
 XIX. How the Cid departed from his own house, being a banished 
 
 man 280 
 
 XX. 1 low the Burgalese dared not receive him 280 
 
 XXI. Ho\v the Cid sent to borrow money of the Jews 281 
 
 XXII. How the Jews lent the money and took away the chests 282 
 
 XXIII. How the Cid went to Dofia Ximena at Cardena 283 
 
 XXIV. How the Cid took leave of his wife and daughters 284 
 
 XXV. How the Cid left the kingdom of King Don Alfonso 285 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 I. How the Cid won the castle of Castrejon 287 
 
 II. How the Cid sold his spoil to the Moors 287 
 
 III. How the Cid went against Alcocer 288 
 
 IV. Of the taking of Alcocer 289 
 
 V. How the King of Valencia sent orders to take the Cid alive . . 290 
 
 VI. How the Cid was besieged in Alcocer .... 290 
 
 VII. How the Cid went out to give them battle 291 
 
 VIII. How Pedro Bermudez carried the banner into the middle of 
 
 the Moors ; 291 
 
 IX. Of the great victory won by the Cid 292 
 
 X. How the Cid sent a present to King Don Alfonso 293 
 
 XI. How Alvar Fanez presented the horses to the King 294 
 
 XII. How the Cid departed from Alcocer 295 
 
 XIII. How the Cid was received into Zaragoza 295 
 
 XIV. How the Cid spoiled the country 296 
 
 XV. How Don Ramon Berenguer came to take away his spoil from 
 
 the Cid ' 296 
 
 XVI. Of the great bounty of the Cid towards Don Ramon Berenguer, 297 
 
 XVII. How the Cid won all the lands of Borriana 299 
 
 XVIII. How the Cid defeated King Abenalfange and Don Ramon 
 
 Berenguer 299 
 
 XIX. Of the great treason which was committed at Rueda 300 
 
 XX. How the Cid took the castle of Rueda 301 
 
 XXI. How the Cid took King Don Pedro of Arragon prisoner 301 
 
 XXII. How the Cid returned into Castile 3 2 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 I. How the King of Badajoz would have taken Toledo 303 
 
 II. How Diego Rodriguez, the son of the Cid, was slain 303 
 
 III. How King Don Alfofcso went against Toledo 34
 
 214 
 
 CONTEXTS. 
 
 SECT. PAGE 
 
 IV. Of the taking of Toledo 304 
 
 V. How Yahia went to spy the state of Valencia 305 
 
 VI. How Yahia was received into Valencia 306 
 
 VII. Of the tax which was raised for barley for the Christians 307 
 
 VIII. How Yahia went against Abenmazot in Xativa 307 
 
 IX. How Abenalfange came to help Abenmazot 308 
 
 X. How Alvar Fanez plundered the country 309 
 
 XI. Of the covenant which one of the sons of Abdalla Azis made 
 
 with King Don Alfonso 310 
 
 XII. How Alvar Fanez was called away from Valencia 311 
 
 XIII. How the Cid went to Zaragoza 312 
 
 XIV. How the King of Zaragoza could not win the city as he 
 
 thought 312 
 
 XV. How Count Ramon Berenguer came against Valencia 313 
 
 XVI. Of the covenant which was made between King Yahia and the 
 
 Cid ' 314 
 
 XVII. How Count Ramon came with a great power of Frenchmen 
 
 against the Cid 314 
 
 XVIII. Of the letter which Count Ramon sent unto the Cid 315 
 
 XIX. Of the letter which the Cid sent in reply 316 
 
 XX. How the Cid defeated Count Ramon 316 
 
 XXI. Of the death of Abenalfange, and how the Cid became master 
 
 in the land 318 
 
 XXII. How the Cid went to Requena, thinking to meet the King. . . 319 
 
 XXIII. How King Don Alfonso banished the Cid a second time 319 
 
 XXIV. How the Cid laid waste the lands of King Don Alfonso, and 
 
 the King did him justice 320 
 
 XXV. How Abeniaf sent to the Almoravides to come against Va- 
 lencia 321 
 
 XXVI. How Valencia was won by the Almoravides 322 
 
 XXVII. How Abeniaf put King Yahia to death 322 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 I. How Abeniaf was greatly puffed up 324 
 
 II. How the Cid sent letters to Abeniaf 324 
 
 III. How the Cid laid siege to Juballa 325 
 
 IV. How the Cid warred against Valencia 326 
 
 V. How the Cid offered to support Abeniaf, who agreed to send 327 
 
 away the Almoravides 327 
 
 VI. How Abeniaf sent great treasures to the Miramamolin 327 
 
 VII. How the Cid won the suburb of Alcudia 328 
 
 VIII. How they of Valencia sent away the Almoravides, and made 
 
 peace with the Cid '. 329 
 
 IX. How Juballa became a great town 330 
 
 X. How the Cid made war upon Albarazin 331 
 
 XI. How Abeniaf sent for the Cid 331 
 
 XII. How the Cid asked Abeniaf to give him a garden 332 
 
 XI 11. How they of Valencia took courage because of the approach of 
 
 the Almoravides 333
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 215 
 
 SECT> PAGE 
 
 XIV. Of the great rain and wind which caused the Almoravides to 
 
 turn back 333 
 
 XV. Of the great price of food in Valencia, and how the suburbs 
 
 were destroyed 334 
 
 XVI. How the Almoravides returned into their own country 335 
 
 XVII. Of the lamentation which was made for Valencia 336 
 
 XVIII. How they of Valencia put their trust again in Abeniaf 337 
 
 XIX. How Abeniaf took the sons of Aboegib and delivered them to 
 
 the Cid 338 
 
 XX. How Abeniaf went out to meet the Cid, and how he would not 
 
 keep the terms which were made 339 
 
 XXI. Of the pride and tyranny of Abeniaf; and how the price of 
 
 food waxed more and more 341 
 
 XXII. Of the famine which there was in Valencia 341 
 
 XXIII. How they sent to ask aid of the King of Zarago/a 342 
 
 XXIV. Of the answer of the King of Zaragoza, and of the search 
 
 which Abeniaf made for food 343 
 
 XXV. How the King of Zaragoza sent letters to Valencia 344 
 
 XXVI. How Abenmoxiz rose against Abeniaf, and how he was taken, 345 
 XXVII. How the Cid attacked the city and was put to the worst, and 
 
 of the great cruelty which he committed upon the Moors, 346 
 XXVIII. How the people went to an Alfaqui, and it was accorded that 
 
 he should go between them and the Cid 347 
 
 XXIX. How the Cid made Martin Pelaez of a coward a good knight, 348 
 XXX. How the city was to be yielded up, if succour did not come 
 
 within fifteen days 350 
 
 XXXI. Of the riches which were found upon the messengers, and of 
 
 the price of food 35 1 
 
 XXXII. How the city was yielded up 352 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 I. How the people died after the famine 353 
 
 II. Of the honour which the Cid did unto the Moors 353 
 
 III. How the Cid spake unto the Moors 353 
 
 IV. What farther the Cid said unto the Moors 354 
 
 V. How the promises of the Cid proved false, and how he de- 
 manded that Abeniaf should be delivered into his hands. . 355 
 
 VI. How the Moors asked council of Abdalla Adiz, and how they 
 
 delivered up Abeniaf 356 
 
 VII. How the Cid said that he would dwell in the Alcazar, and 
 
 how he took possession thereof 357 
 
 VIII. How Abeniaf was tortured to make him give account of his 
 
 riches, and he gave a false account, and was stoned 359 
 
 IX. Of the speech which the Cid made unto the Moors, telling 
 
 them that he would have the city to himself 360 
 
 X. How the King of Seville came against Valencia, and was 
 
 defeated 3 61 
 
 XI. How the Cid numbered his people 3& 2 
 
 XII. How there came a Bishop to Valencia, and the (id made the 
 
 city a bishopric for him 3*> 2
 
 216 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 SECT. PAGE 
 
 XIII. How the Cid sent for his wife and daughters 363 
 
 XIV. How these messengers came to the King, and of the great 
 
 favour which was shown them 363 
 
 XV. How they came to Burgos, and how Dofia Ximena and her 
 
 daughters left the monastery to go with them to Valencia, 365 
 
 XVI. How Dofia Ximena and her daughters came to Valencia .... 366 
 XVII. How tidings came that the Miramamolin was coming against 
 
 Valencia 369 
 
 XVIII. How the Cid took his wife and daughters upon the tower, 
 
 that they might see the Moors land 369 
 
 XIX. Of the council which was taken, after what manner they should 
 
 attack the Moors 371 
 
 XX. Of the great victory which the Cid won over King Vucef .... 371 
 XXI. How the Cid entered the city, and how he gave in marriage 
 
 the damsels of his wife Dofia Ximena 372 
 
 XXII. Of the great spoil which was found 373 
 
 XXIII. How King Yucef died, and of the charge he gave his brother 
 
 to revenge him 374 
 
 XXIV. Of the present which the Cid sent unto the King 374 
 
 XXV. How the Infantes of Carrion desired to marry the (id's 
 
 daughters 375 
 
 XXVI. How the meeting was appointed between the King and the 
 
 Cid 376 
 
 XXVII. How they made ready for the meeting 377 
 
 XXVIII. Of the meeting 378 
 
 XXIX. How the King asked the Cid to give his daughters in marriage 
 
 to the Infantes 379 
 
 XXX. How the Cid dispeeded himself of the King 380 
 
 XXXI. Of the conditions of the Infantes 380 
 
 XXXII. How Alvar Fanez gave his kinswomen to the Infantes 381 
 
 XXXIII. Of the marriage 382 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 I. How King Bucar made ready to revenge his brother King 
 
 Vucef 383 
 
 II. Of the cowardice shown by the Infantes of Carrion when the 
 
 lion brake loose 383 
 
 III. How the Infantes plotted to revenge themselves upon the Cid, 384 
 
 IV. How the Infantes were afraid when they beheld the great 
 
 power of the Moors 385 
 
 V. Of the message sent by King Bucar to the Cid 386 
 
 VI. Of the answer of the Cid 387 
 
 VII. Of the order of the Cid's battle 387 
 
 VIII. How the Cid defeated King Bucar and twenty-nine kings . . . 388 
 
 IX. Of the great spoil which was won by the Christians 390 
 
 X. How the Infantes said that they would return into their own 
 
 country 391 
 
 XI. How Dofia Ximena mistrusted the evil purprse of the Infantes, 392 
 
 XII. Of the parting between the Cid and his daughters 392
 
 CONTEXTS. 
 
 217 
 
 SECT. PAGE 
 
 XIII. How the Infantes would have slain Abengalvon 393 
 
 XIV. Of the great cruelty which the Infantes committed upon their 
 
 wives 394 
 
 X\ . How Felez Munoz found these dames lying in the forest 395 
 
 XVI. How Pero Sanchez and the other knights defied the Infantes . 396 
 
 XVII. How those knights made their complaint to the King 397 
 
 XVIII. How Felez Munoz found a good man who took the dames to 
 
 his house 398 
 
 XIX. How Diego Tellez took these dames to Santesteban 399 
 
 XX. How Alvar Fanez demanded justice of the King against the 
 
 Infantes 399 
 
 XXI. How Alvar Fanez went for the dames 401 
 
 XXII. How Pero Bermudez returned to Valencia 402 
 
 XXIII. How the dames returned to Valencia 403 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 I. How the Cid departed for the Cortes 404 
 
 II. How the Infantes would fain have been held excused 404 
 
 III. Of the meeting between the Cid and the King 405 
 
 IV. How the Cid sent his ivory seat to be placed in the palace . . . 406 
 V. Of the strife which was about to rise concerning the ivory seat, 406 
 
 VI. How the Cid and his knights apparelled themselves and went 
 
 to the Cortes 407 
 
 VII. How the King bade the Cid sit on ris ivory seat 408 
 
 VIII. How the King appointed Alcaldes to give judgment in this cause, 409 
 
 IX. How the Cid demanded back Colada and Tizona 409 
 
 X. How the Cid made his second demand against the Infantes .. 411 
 
 XI. How the Cid made his third demand against the Infantes 412 
 
 XII. How the Cid defied the Infantes 44 
 
 XIII. How Pero Bermudez, being angered by the Cid, smote down 
 
 Count Don Garcia 4'5 
 
 XIV. How the King said that he would give sentence in this matter, 416 
 XV. How the battle was appointed, and the Cid named his champions, 416 
 
 XVI. How the Infantes of Arragon and Navarre sent to ask the 
 
 daughters of the Cid in marriage - 4 1 7 
 
 XVII. How the Cid committed his three knights to the King's pro- 
 tection 4'8 
 
 XVIII. ( )f the nobleness with which the Cid distributed his treasure . . 419 
 
 XIX. I low the Cid would have given Bavieca to the King 4'9 
 
 XX. Of what the Cid said to his three knights 42O 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 I. How the King went to Carrion 4 21 
 
 II. How the Infantes sent to desire that Colada and Tizona might 
 
 not be used against them 4 2 ' 
 
 III. How they entered the lists 422 
 
 IV. Of the combat between Pero Bermudez and Ferrando Gonzalez, 42 j 
 V Of the battle between Martin Antolinez and Diego Gonzalez . . 423 
 
 VI. Of the battle between Mufio Gustioz and Suero Gonzale/ 424 
 
 VII. How the Infantes of Carrion were declared traitors . 424
 
 218 
 
 CONTEXTS. 
 
 SECT. 
 
 VIII. Of the great joy which was made in Valencia 425 
 
 IX. How the Soldan of Persia sent presents to the Cid 426 
 
 X. Of the presents which the Soldan sent 427 
 
 XI. Of what passed between the messenger of the Soldan and the 
 
 Cid 428 
 
 XII. Of the reason why the Soldan sent this great present 428 
 
 XIII. Of the coming of the Infantes of Arragon and Navarre 4 50 
 
 XIV. Of the marriage of the Infantes 430 
 
 XV. How the messenger of the Soldan was despatched 432 
 
 XVI. How the Alcalde of Valencia was baptized 432 
 
 BOOK XI. 
 
 I. How tidings came that King Bucar was coming against Va- 
 lencia 
 
 II. How St. Peter appeared unto the Cid 
 
 III. How the Cid spake to his people 
 
 IV. How the Cid took to his bed 
 
 V. How the Cid appointed what should be done after his death 
 
 VI. How the Cid made his testament and departed 
 
 VII. How King Bucar came up against the City 
 
 VIII. How the Christians went out from Valencia 
 
 IX. How King Bucar was utterly discomfited 
 
 X. How the Moors went into the city 
 
 XI. How the sons-in-law of the Cid came to meet the body 
 
 XII. How King Don Alfonso came to do honour to the Cid 
 
 XIII. How the body of the Cid was placed in his ivory chair 
 
 XIV. How the company brake up after this was done 
 
 XV. Of the care which was taken of Bavieca 
 
 XVI. Of the death of Dona Ximena 
 
 XVII. Of what happened to a Jew who would have taken the Cid 
 
 by the beard 449 
 
 XVIII. How the body of the Cid was interred 450 
 
 XIX. Of the death of ( iil Diaz 450 
 
 XX. How the King of Navarre restored the lx>oty which he had 
 
 taken in honour to the Cid 45 1 
 
 XXI. How the Cid went to the great battle of the Xavas de Tolosa, 452 
 XXII. How King Don Alfonso the Wise removed the body of the 
 
 Cid 453 
 
 XXIII. Of the second removal of the body, and how it was resolved 
 
 to remove it again 453 
 
 XXIV. Of the ceremonies before the lid of the tomb was lifted 454 
 
 XXV. How the third translation was performed 455 
 
 XXVI. Of the miraculous rain which fell during this translation .... 457 
 XXVII. Of the letter which the Emperor issued touching this transla- 
 tion 458 
 
 XXVIII. How the tombs were translated to the middle of the great 
 
 Chapel 459 
 
 XXIX. Of the state of those tombs at the present time 460 
 
 XXX. Of the relics of the Cid -4<) 
 
 \XXI. How the Cid should have been canonized ... j,(>2
 
 THE 
 
 CHRONICLE OF THE Cm. 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 I. KING DON FERRANDO succeeded to the states of Castile 
 after the death of his father King Don Sancho el Mayor, in the era 
 1072, which was the year of the Incarnation 1034, and from the 
 coming of the Patriarch Tubal to settle in Spain 3197, and from 
 the general deluge 3339, and from the creation of the world 4995, 
 according to the computation of the Hebrews, and from the begin- 
 ning of the false sect of the Moors 413. And in the year 1037 
 Ferrando slew Bermudo the King of Leon in battle, who was his 
 wife's brother, and conquered his kingdom, and succeeded to it in 
 right of his wife Dona Sancha. So he was the first person who 
 united the states of Castile and Leon, and the first who was called 
 King of Castile ; for till this time the lords of that country had 
 been called Counts. He was a good king, and one who judged 
 justly and feared God, and was bold in all his doings. Before he 
 reigned he had by Dona Sancha his wife the Infanta Dona Urraca, 
 his eldest daughter, who was a right excellent lady, of good cus- 
 toms and bounty and beauty ; and after her he had the Infante Don 
 Sancho, his eldest son and heir ; and then the Infanta Dona Elvira, 
 whom after the death of the King her father, her brother King 
 Don Alfonso married to the Count Don Garri de Cabra. And 
 after he became King he had the Infante Don Alfonso, and the 
 Infante Don Garcia, who was the youngest of all. And he put his 
 sons to read, that they might be of the better understanding, and 
 he made them take arms, and be shown how to demean them- 
 selves in battle and to be huntsmen. And he ordered that his 
 daughters should be brought up in the studies beseeming dames, 
 so that they might be of good customs, and instructed in devotion 
 and in all things which it behoved them to know.
 
 220 CHRONICLE OF THE CTD, 
 
 II. In those days arose Rodrigo of Bivar, who was a youth strong 
 in arms and of good customs ; and the people rejoiced in him, for 
 he bestirred himself to protect the land from the Moors. Now it 
 behoves that ye should know whence he came, and from what men 
 he was descended, because we have to proceed with his history. 
 Ye are to know therefore, that after the treason which King Don 
 OrdDfij the Second committed upon the Counts of Castile, that 
 country remained without a chief: the people therefore chose two 
 judges, of whom the one was called Nuno Rasuera, and the other 
 L:iyn Calvo, who married Nuno's daughter, Elvira Nunez. From 
 Nuno Rasuera King Don Ferrando descended, and from Layn 
 Calvo, Diego Laynez, who took to wife Dona Teresa Rodriguez, 
 the daughter of Don Rodrigo Alvarez, Count and Governor of 
 Asturias, and had by her this Rodrigo. In the year of the Incar- 
 nation 1026 was Rodrigo bom, of this noble lineage, in the city of 
 Burgos, and in the street of St. Martin, hard by the palace of the 
 Counts of Castile, where Diego Laynez had his dwelling. In the 
 church of St. Martin was he baptized, a good priest of Burgos, 
 whose name was Don Pedro de Pernegas, being his godfather : 
 and to this church Rodrigo was always greatly affectionate, and he 
 built the belfry tower thereof. 
 
 III. At this time it came to pass that there was strife between 
 Count Don Gomez the Lord of Gormaz, and Diego Laynez the 
 father of Rodrigo ; and the Count insulted Diego and gave him 
 a blow. Now Diego was a man in years, and his strength had 
 passed from him, so that he could not take vengeance, and he 
 retired to his home to dwell there in solitude and lament over his 
 dishonour. And he took no pleasure in his food, neither could 
 he sleep by night, nor would he lift up his eyes from the ground, 
 nor stir out of his house, nor commune with his friends, but turned 
 from them in silence as if the breath of his shame would taint 
 them. Rodrigo was yet but a youth, and the Count was a mighty 
 man in arms, one who gave his voice first in the Cortes, and he 
 was held to be the best in the war, and so powerful that he had a 
 thousand friends among the mountains. Howbeit all these things 
 appeared as nothing to Rodrigo when he thought of the wrong 
 done to his father, the first which had ever been offered to the 
 blood of Layn Calvo. He asked nothing but justice of Heaven, 
 .uid of man he asked only a fair field ; and his father seeing of 
 how good heart he was, gave him his sword and his blessing. The 
 sword had been the sword of Mudarra in former times, and \\lu-n 
 Rodrigo held its cross in his hand, he thought within himself that
 
 KODKIGO DIAZ DF. RIVAR. 221 
 
 his arm was not weaker than Mudarra's. And he went out and 
 defied the Count and slew him, and smote off his head and carried 
 it home to his father. The old man was sitting at table, the food 
 lying before him untasted, when Rodrigo returned, and pointing 
 to the head which hung from the horse's collar, dropping blood, he 
 bade him look up, for there was the herb which should restore to 
 him his appetite. The tongue, quoth he, which insulted you, is no 
 longer a tongue, and the hand which wronged you is no longer 
 a hand. And the old man arose and embraced his son and placed 
 him above him at the table, saying, that he who had brought home 
 that head should be the head of the house of Layn Calvo. 
 
 IV. After this Diego being full of years fell asleep and was gath- 
 ered to his fathers. And the Moors entered Castile, in great power, 
 for there came with them five Kings, and they passed above Burgos, 
 and crossed the mountains of Oca, and plundered Carrion, and Vil- 
 forado, and Saint Domingo de la Calzada, and Logrono, and Na- 
 jara, and all that land ; and they carried away many captives both 
 male and female, and brood mares, and flocks of all kinds. But 
 as they were returning with all speed, Rodrigo of Bivar raised the 
 country, and came up with them in the mountains of Oca, and fell 
 upon them and discomfited them, and won back all their booty, 
 and took all the five Kings prisoners. Then he went back to his 
 mother, taking the Kings with him, and there he divided the whole 
 spoil with the hidalgos and his other companions, both the Moor- 
 ish captives and all the spoil of whatever kind, so that they departed 
 right joyfully, being well pleased with what he had done. And he 
 gave thanks to God for the grace which had been vouchsafed to 
 him, and said to his mother, that he did not think it good to keep 
 the Kings in captivity, but to let them go freely ; and he set them 
 at liberty and bade them depart. So they returned each to his own 
 country, blessing him for their deliverance, and magnifying his 
 great bounty ; and forthwith they sent him tribute and acknowl- 
 edged themselves to be his vassals. 
 
 V. King Don Ferrando was going through Leon, putting the 
 Kingdom in order, when tidings reached him of the good speed 
 which Rodrigo had had against the Moors. And at the same time 
 there came before him Ximena Gomez, the daughter of the Count, 
 who fell on her knees before him and said, Sir, I am the daughter 
 of Count Don Gomez of Gormaz, and Rodrigo of Bivar has slain 
 the Count my father, and of three daughters whom he has left I am 
 the youngest. And, Sir, I come to crave of you a boon, that you 
 will give me Rodrigo of Bivar to be my husband, with whom I
 
 222 CI1KOMCI.E Or Till: CfD, 
 
 shall hold myself well married, and greatly honoured ; for certain 
 I am that his possessions will one day be greater than those of any 
 man in your dominions. Certes, Sir. it behoves you to do this, 
 because it is for God's service, and because I may pardon Rodrigo 
 with a good will. The King held it good to accomplish her desire ; 
 and forthwith ordered letters to be drawn up to Rodrigo of Bivar, 
 wherein he enjoined and commanded him that he should come in- 
 continently to Palencia, for he had much to communicate to him. 
 upon an affair which was greatly to God's service, and his own 
 welfare and great honour. 
 
 VI. When Rodrigo saw the letters of his Lord the King he 
 greatly rejoiced in them, and said to the messengers that he would 
 fulfil the King's pleasure, and go incontinently at his command. 
 And he dight himself full gallantly and well, and took with him 
 many knights, both his own and of his kindred and of his friends, 
 and he took also many new arms, and came to Palencia to the 
 King with two hundred of his peers in arms, in festival guise ; and 
 the King went out to meet him, and received him right well, and 
 did him honour ; and at this were all the Counts displeased. And 
 when the King thought it a fit season, he spake to him and said, 
 that Dona Ximena Gomez, the daughter of the Count whom he had 
 slain, had come to ask him for her husband ; and would forgive 
 him her father's death ; wherefore he besought him to think it good 
 to take her to be his wife, in which case he would show him great 
 favour. When Rodrigo heard this it pleased him well, and he said 
 to the King that he would do his bidding in this, and in all other 
 things which he might command ; and the King thanked him 
 much. And he sent for the Bishop of Palencia, and took their vows 
 and made them plight themselves each to the other according as 
 the law directs. And when they were espoused the King did them 
 great honour, and gave them many noble gifts, and added to Rod- 
 rigo's lands more than he had till then possessed : and he loved 
 him greatly in his heart, because he saw that he was obedient to 
 his commands, and for all that he had heard him say. 
 
 VII. So Rodrigo departed from the King, and took his spouse 
 with him to the house of his mother, and gave her to his mother's 
 keeping. And forthwith he made a vow in her hands that he 
 would never accompany with her, neither in the desert nor in the 
 inhabited place, till he had won five battles in the field. And he 
 besought his mother that she would love her even as she loved 
 himself, and that she would do good to her and show her great 
 honour, for which he should ever serve her with the better good
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DF. BIVAR. 223 
 
 will. And his mother promised him so to do ; and then he de- 
 parted from them and went out against the frontier of the Moors. 
 
 VIII. Now the history relates that King Don Ferrando con- 
 tended with King Don Ramiro of Arragon for the city of Cala- 
 horra, which each claimed as his own ; in such guise that the King 
 of Arragon placed it upon the trial by combat, confiding in the 
 prowess of Don Martin Gonzalez, who was at that time held to be 
 the best knight in all Spain. King Don Ferrando accepted the 
 challenge, and said that Rodrigo of Bivar should do battle on his 
 part, but that he was not then present. And they plighted homage 
 on both parts to meet and bring each his knight, and the knight 
 who conquered should win Calahorra for his Lord. Having rati- 
 fied this engagement, they returned into their own lands. And 
 immediately Ferrando sent for Rodrigo of Bivar, and told him all 
 the matter as it then stood, and that he was to do battle. Well 
 pleased was Rodrigo when he heard this, and he accorded to all 
 that the King had said that he should do battle for him upon that 
 cause ; but till the day arrived he must needs, he said, go to 
 Compostella, because he had vowed a pilgrimage ; and the King 
 was content therewith, and gave him great gifts. 
 
 IX. Rodrigo forthwith set out upon the road, and took with 
 him twenty knights. And as he went he did great good, and gave 
 alms, feeding the poor and needy. And upon the way they found 
 a leper struggling in a quagmire, who cried out to them with a 
 loud voice to help him for the love of God ; and when Rodrigo 
 heard this, he alighted from his be'ast and helped him, and placed 
 him upon the beast before him, and carried him with him in this 
 manner- to the inn where he took up his lodging that night. At 
 this were his knights little pleased. And when supper was ready 
 he bade his knights take their seats, and he took the leper by the 
 hand, and seated him next himself, and ate with him out of the 
 same dish. The knights were greatly offended at this foul sight, 
 insomuch that they rose up and left the chamber. But Rodrigo 
 ordered a bed to be made ready for himself and for the leper, and 
 they twain slept together. When it was midnight and Rodrigo 
 was fast asleep, the leper breathed against him between his shoul- 
 ders, and that breath was so strong that it passed through him. 
 even through his breast ; and he awoke, being astounded, and felt 
 for the leper by him, and found him not ; and he began to call 
 him, but there was no reply. Then he arose in fear, and called 
 for light, and it was brought him ; and he looked for the leper and 
 could see nothing ; so he returned into the bed, leaving the light
 
 22^ CHRONICLE OF THE (7D, 
 
 burning. And he began to think within himself what had hap- 
 pened, and of that breath which had passed through him, and how 
 the leper was not there. After awhile, as he was thus musing, 
 there appeared before him one in white garments, who said unto 
 him, Sleepest thou or wakest thou, Rodrigo? and he answered 
 and said, I do not sleep : but who art thou that bringest with thee 
 such brightness and so sweet an odour? Then said he, I am St. 
 I^azarus, and know that I was the leper to whom thou didst so 
 much good and so great honour for the love of God ; and because 
 thou didst this for his sake hath God now granted thee a great gift ; 
 for whensoever that breath which thou hast felt shall come upon 
 thee, whatever thing thou desirest to do, and shalt then begin, that 
 shall thou accomplish to thy heart's desire, whether it be in battle 
 or aught else, so that thy honour shall go on increasing from day 
 to day ; and thou shalt be feared both by Moors and Christians, 
 and thy enemies shall never prevail against thee, and thou shalt 
 die an honourable death in thine own house, and in thy renown, 
 for God hath blessed thee ; therefore go thou on, and evermore 
 persevere in doing good ; and with that he disappeared. And 
 Rodrigo arose and prayed to our lady and intercessor St. Mary, 
 that she would pray to her blessed son for him to watch over botli 
 his body and soul in all his undertakings ; and he continued in 
 prayer till the day broke. Then he proceeded on his way, and 
 performed his pilgrimage, doing much good for the love of God 
 and of St. Mary. 
 
 X. Now the day came which had been appointed for the com- 
 Ijat concerning Calahorra, between Rodrigo and Don Martin 
 ( ionzalez, and Rodrigo was not arrived : therefore his cousin Alvar 
 Fanez Minaya undertook the battle in his stead, and ordered his 
 horse to be harnessed right well. While he was arming himself 
 Rodrigo came up and took the horse of Alvar Fanez, and entered 
 the lists; Don Martin Gonzalez did the same, and the judges 
 placed them fairly, each in his place, so that neither should have 
 the sun in his eyes. They ran their career, one against the other, 
 and met so fiercely that their lances brake, and both were sorely 
 wounded ; but Don Martin began to address Rodrigo, thinking to 
 dismay him. Greatly dost thou now repent, Don Rodrigo, said 
 he, that thou hast entered into these lists with me ; for I shall so 
 handle thee that never shalt thou marry Dona Ximena thy spouse, 
 whom thou lovest so well, nor ever return alive to Castile. Rod- 
 rigo waxed angry at these words, and he replied, You are a good 
 knight, Don Martin Gonzalez, but these words are not suitable to
 
 RODRTCO DIAZ DK AY /'./A'. 225 
 
 this place, for an this business we have to contend with hands and 
 not with empty speeches ; and the power is in God who will give 
 the honour as he thinketh best. And in his anger he made at 
 him, and smote him upon his helmet, and the sword cut through 
 and wounded as much of the head as it could reach, so that he 
 was sorely hurt and lost much blood. And Don Martin Gonzalez 
 struck at Rodrigo, and the sword cut into the shield, and he 
 plucked it towards him that with main force he made Rodrigo 
 lose the shield ; but Rodrigo did not forget himself, and wounded 
 him again in the face. And they both became greatly enraged, 
 and cruel against each other, striking without mercy, for both of 
 them were men who knew how to demean themselves. But while 
 they thus struggled Don Martin Gonzalez lost much blood, and 
 for very weakness he could not hold himself upon his horse, but 
 fell from his horse upon the ground ; and Rodrigo alighted and 
 went to him and slew him : and when he had slain him he asked 
 the judges if there was anything more to be done for the right of 
 Calahorra : and they made answer that there was not. Then 
 came the King Don Ferrando to him, and alighted by him, and 
 helped to disarm him and embraced him much ; and when he was 
 disarmed he went with him from the field, he and all the Castilians 
 greatly rejoicing ; but as great as was the pleasure of King Don 
 Ferrando and his people, so great was the sorrow of King Don 
 Ramiro of Arragon and of his. And he ordered them to take up 
 Don Martin Gonzalez, and they carried the body into his own lands, 
 and he went with it, and Calahorra remained in the power of King 
 Don Ferrando. 
 
 XI. But when the Counts of Castile saw how Rodrigo increased 
 day by day in honour, they took counsel together that they should 
 plot with the Moors, and fix a day of battle with them on the day 
 of the Holy Cross in May, and that they should invite Rodrigo to 
 this battle, and contrive with the Moors that they should slay him ; 
 by which means they should be revenged upon him, and remain 
 masters of Castile, which now because of him they could not be. 
 This counsel they sent to communicate to the Moors and to the 
 Moorish Kings who were Rodrigo's vassals, being those whom he 
 had made prisoners and set at liberty. But they, when they saw 
 this counsel and the falsehood which was devised, took the letters 
 of the Counts, and sent them to Rodrigo their Lord, and sent to 
 tell him all the secret of the treason. And Rodrigo thanked them 
 greatly for their good faith, and took the letters and carried to the 
 King, and showed him all the enmity of the Counts, and especially
 
 226 CHRONICLE OF THE CfD, 
 
 of the Count Don Garcia, who was afterwards called of Cabra. 
 \Vhen the King saw this as it was, he was astonished at their great 
 falsehood, and he issued his letters in which he ordered them to 
 leave his dominions ; then he went to Santiago on a pilgrimage, 
 and ordered Rodrigo to cast these Counts out of the land ; and 
 Rodrigo did as the King commanded him. Then Dona Elvira 
 his kinswoman, the wife of the Count Don Garcia, came and fell 
 on her knees before him ; but Rodrigo took her by the hand and 
 raised her up, and would not hear her till she was arisen. And 
 when he had raised her up she said, I beseech you, Cousin, since 
 you have banished me and my husband, that you would give us a 
 letter to some King who is one of your vassals, enjoining him to 
 befriend us, and give us something for your sake whereon we may 
 live. So he gave her a letter to the King of Cordova, who received 
 her and her husband well for the love of Rodrigo, and gave Cabra 
 to him, that he and his people might dwell therein. This Count 
 was afterwards so ungrateful to the King of Cordova that he made 
 war upon him from Cabra which the King had given him, till Rod- 
 rigo came and took it. 
 
 XII. The history relateth that at this time while the King was 
 in Galicia, the Moors entered Estremadura, and the people called 
 upon Rodrigo of Bivar to help them. And when he heard the 
 summons he made no delay, but gathered together his kinsmen 
 and his friends, and went against the misbelievers. And he came 
 up with them between Atienza and San Estevan de Gormaz, as 
 they were carrying away a great booty in captives and in flocks, 
 and there he had a brave battle with them in the field ; and in fine 
 Rodrigo conquered, smiting, and slaying, and the pursuit lasted 
 for seven leagues, and he recovered all the spoil, which was so 
 great that two hundred horses were the fifth, for the whole spoil 
 was worth a hundred times a thousand maravedis. Rodrigo di- 
 vided the whole among his people without covetousness, and re- 
 turned with great honour. 
 
 XIII. Now the greater part of these Moors had been they of 
 Merida, Badajoz, Beja, and Evora, and the King was minded to 
 requite them in their own land according to their deeds ; and he 
 entered into the heart of their country, carrying with him fire and 
 sword, and pressed them sorely so that they yielded vassalage. 
 Then turning through Portugal, he won the town of Sea, which 
 was upon the western slope of the Serra da Estrella ; and also an- 
 other town called Gamne, the site whereof cannot now be known, 
 for in course of years names change and are forgotten. And pro-
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BTVAR. 227 
 
 ceeding with his conquests he laid siege to the City of Viseu, thai 
 he might take vengeance for the death of King Don Alfonso, his 
 wife's father, who had been slain before that city. But the peo- 
 ple of Viseu, as they lived with this fear before their eyes, had for- 
 tified their city well, and stored it abundantly with all things need- 
 ful, and moreover, they put their trust in their Alcayde, who was 
 an African, by name Cid Alafum, a man tried in arms. He en- 
 couraged them, saying that the city could not be taken in ten 
 years, by a greater power than the Christians ; and there were 
 many good arbalisters in the city, who shot so strong that neither 
 shield nor armour availed against their quarrels. King Don Fer- 
 rando therefore ordered mantles to be made, and also pavaises to 
 protect his people; and moreover he enjoined them to fasten 
 boards upon their shields, so that the quarrels from the cross-bows 
 might not pierce through. And he continued for eighteen days to 
 combat the city, keeping such good watch, that neither could they 
 within receive help from without, nor themselves issue forth ; and 
 on the eighteenth day, which was the Vesper of St. Peter's, he won 
 the city by force of arms ; and few were they who escaped from 
 the sword of the conquerors, except those who retreated with Ala- 
 fum into the Castle. And on the following day at the hour of 
 tierce they also came to terms, and yielded themselves to his 
 mercy, saving their lives. In this manner was Viseu recovered by 
 the Christians, and never after did that city fall into the hands of 
 the barbarians. And the Moor who had slain King Don 1 Alfonso 
 fell into Ferrando's power, and' the King took vengeance and 
 punished him in all the parts which had offended ; he cut off the 
 foot which had pressed down the 2 Armatost, and lopped off the 
 hands which had held the bow and fitted the quarrel, and plucked 
 out the eyes which had taken the mark ; and the living trunk was 
 then set up as a butt for the archers. 
 
 XIV. In all these wars there was not a man who bore greater 
 part, or did better feats in arms, than Rodrigo of Bivar. And the 
 King went up against Lamego, and besieged it. Now Zadan Aben 
 
 1 Alfonso V. having laid siege to Viseu, he rode out one day to reconnoitre, 
 with nothing on but his shirt and his cloak on account of the heat. This 
 Moor took aim at him, and though he was at a considerable distance from the 
 walls, shot him between the shoulders, being, says Morales, the first and 
 last of our Kings who died in war against the Moors. He was slain in the 
 year 1027. 
 
 " The Armatoste was an instrument used for charging the cross-bow at this 
 time, as they were not made of steel, says Brito. According to this author the 
 foot was used to press the bow down.
 
 328 CHRONICLE OF THE CfD, 
 
 Huim, son of Huim Alboazem, the King thereof, was mightier than 
 all the Kings who had reigned before him in Lamego, and he had 
 peopled many places from the Douro even to the rivers Tavora and 
 Vouga. And because he was well beloved and his city well stored 
 and strong, all the chief Moors in that district being dismayed by 
 the fall of Viseu, retired into it, to be under his protection. But 
 maugre all their power, King Don Ferrando girt the city round about, 
 and brought against it so many engines, and so many bastilles, that 
 Zadan submitted, and opened his gates on the twenty-second of 
 July, the day of St. Mary Magdalene, being twenty-five days after 
 the capture of Viseu. And Zadan became tributary to the King, 
 and the King took with him many of the Moors, to be employed 
 in building up the churches which had fallen to ruin since the land 
 was lost. 
 
 XV. All this while was Coimbra in the power of the misbelievers. 
 And the Abbot of Lorvam took counsel with his Monks, and they 
 said, Let us go to King Ferrando and tell him the state of the city. 
 And they chose out two of the brethren for this errand. When the 
 Moors therefore who came to hunt among the mountains took up 
 their lodging in the Monastery as they were wont to do, these twain 
 said unto them, We would go to the holy Dominicum, to say prayers 
 there for our sins. So feigning this to be their errand they set forth, 
 and came to the King in the town of Carrion, and spake unto him 
 in council, saying, Sir King, we come to you through waters and 
 over mountains and by bad ways, to tell you concerning Coimbra 
 in what plight it is, if you desire to know, and in what guise the 
 Moors dwell therein, what they are and how many, and with how- 
 little heed they keep the city. And he said unto them, I beseech 
 you, for the love of God, say on. Then told they him what they 
 knew : and the King took counsel upon this matter with Rodrigo 
 of Bivar, and Rodrigo said, that certes the Lord would help him 
 to win the city ; and he said that he would fain be knighted by the 
 King's hand, and that it seemed to him now that he should receive 
 knighthood at his hand in Coimbra. A covenant was then made 
 with the two monks that they should go with the army against the 
 city in the month of January without fail. Now this was in Octo- 
 ber. Incontinently the King sent to summon his Knights and peo- 
 ple, and when one part of them had assembled at Santa Maria, he 
 bade them do all the damage they could against Coimbra, and rav- 
 age the country, which accordingly they did. In- the meantime the 
 King made a pilgrimage to Santiago, as Rodrigo had exhorted him 
 to do ; and he remained there three days and nights in prayer,
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 229 
 
 offering great gifts, and taking upon himself great devotion, that it 
 might please God to fulfil his desire. And with the help of San- 
 tiago he gathered together a great host, and went up against Coim- 
 bra in the month of January, even as he had covenanted, and 
 laid siege to it. And he fought against the city all February, and 
 March, and April, May and June, five months did he fight, and 
 could not prevail against it. And when July came the food of the 
 besiegers failed them, insomuch that they had only the dole for a 
 few days left : then the baggage was made ready, and the sumpter- 
 beasts and serving- men were ordered to depart for Leon, and proc- 
 lamation was made in the camp that the army should remain yet 
 four days, and on the fifth they might break up and depart every 
 one to his own house. But then the Monks of Lorvam and the 
 Abbot consulted together and said, Let us now go to the King and 
 give him all the food which we have, both oxen and cows, and 
 sheep and goats and swine, wheat and barley and maize, bread 
 and wine, fish and fowl, even all that we have ; for if the city, 
 which God forbid, should not be won by the Christians, we may no 
 longer abide here. Then went they to the King and gave him all 
 their stores, both of flocks and herds, and pulse, and wine beyond 
 measure, which they had for a long time stored. Then was there 
 abundance in the camp ; but they who were within the city waxed 
 feeble for hunger and long suffering, because the Christians beset 
 them on all sides, and warred upon them hotly, and brought their 
 engines to bear on every part, and the walls of the city were broken 
 down. When the Moors saw this they came to the King, and fell 
 at his feet, and besought him of his mercy that he would let them 
 depart, leaving to him the city and all that they had therein, for 
 they asked for nothing but their lives. And the King had compas- 
 sion upon them and granted their prayer ; and the city was yielded 
 to him him on a Sunday at the hour of tierce, which was before a 
 week had run out since the Monks of Lorvam had succoured the 
 host. 
 
 XVI. Now it came to pass that while the King lay before Coim- 
 bra, there came a pilgrim from the land of Greece on pilgrimage 
 to Santiago ; his name was Estiano, and he was a Bishop. And as 
 he was praying in the church he heard certain of the townsmen 
 and of the pilgrims saying that Santiago was wont to appear in 
 battle like a knight, in aid of the Christians. And when he heard 
 this it nothing pleased him, and he said unto them, Friends, call 
 him not a knight, but rather a fisherman. Upon this it pleased 
 God that he should fall asleep, and in his sleep Santiago appeared
 
 230 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 to him with a good and cheerful countenance, holding in his hand 
 a bunch of keys, and said unto him, Thou thinkest it a fable that 
 they should call me a knight, and sayest that I am not so : for this 
 reason am I come unto thee that thou never more mayest doubt 
 concerning my knighthood ; for a knight of Jesus Christ I am, and 
 a helper of the Christians against the Moors. While lie \v;is thus 
 saying, a horse was brought him the which was exceeding white, 
 and the Apostle Santiago mounted upon it, being well clad in bright 
 and fair armour, after the manner of a knight. And he said to 
 Estiano, I go to help King Don Ferrand who has lain these seven 
 months before Coimbra, and to-morrow, with these keys which 
 thou seest, will I open the gates of the city unto him at the hour 
 of tierce, and deliver it into his hand. Having said this he de- 
 parted. And the Bishop when he awoke in the morning called 
 together the clergy and people of Compostella, and told them what 
 he had seen and heard. And as he said, even so did it come to 
 pass ; for tidings came that on that day and at the hour of tierce, 
 the gates of the city had been opened. 
 
 XVII. King Don Ferrando then assembled his Counts and chief 
 captains, and told them all that the Monks of Lorvam had done, 
 in bringing him to besiege the city, and in supplying his army in 
 their time of need : and the Counts and chief captains made 
 answer and said, Certes, O King, if the Monks had not given us 
 the stores of their Monastery, thou couldest not have taken the 
 city at this time. The King then called for the Abbot and the 
 brethren, for they were with him in the host, and said the hours 
 to him daily, and mass in St. Andre's, and buried there and in 
 their Monastery as many as had died during the siege, either of 
 arrow-wounds or by lances, or of their own infirmities. So they 
 came before him and gave him joy of his conquest ; and he said 
 unto them, Take ye now of this city as much as ye desire, since by 
 God's favour and your counsel I have won it. But they made 
 answer, Thanks be to God and to you, and to your forefathers, we 
 have enough and shall have, if so be that we have your favour and 
 dwell among Christians. Only for the love of God, and for the 
 remedy of your own soul, give us one church with its dwelling 
 houses within the city, and confirm unto us the gifts made to us in 
 old times by your forefathers, and the good men to whom (i<><l 
 give a happy rest. With that the King turned to his sons and his 
 soldiers, and said, Of a truth, by our Creator, these who desire so 
 little are men of God. I would have given them half the city, and 
 they will have only a single church ! Now therefore, since they
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 231 
 
 require but this, on the part of God Almighty let us grant and 
 confirm unto them what they ask, to the honour of God and Stl 
 Mamede. And the brethren brought him their charters of King 
 Ramiro, and King Bermudo, and King Alfonso, and of Gonzalo 
 Moniz, who was a knight and married a daughter of King Ber- 
 mudo, and of other good men. And the King confirmed them, 
 and he bade them make a writing of all which had passed between 
 him and them at the siege of Coimbra ; and when they brought 
 him the writing, they brought him also a crown of silver and of 
 gold, which had been King Bermudo's, and which Gonzalo Moniz 
 had given to the Monastery in honour of God and St. Mamede. 
 The King saw the crown, how it was set with precious stones, and 
 said to them, To what end bring ye hither this crown ? And they 
 said, That you should take it, Sire, in return for the good which 
 you have done us. But he answered, Far be it from me that I 
 should take from your Monastery what the good men before me 
 have given to it ! Take ye back the crown, and take also ten 
 marks of silver, and make with the money a good cross, to remain 
 with you for ever. And he who shall befriend you, may God be- 
 friend him ; but he who shall disturb you or your Monastery, may 
 he be cursed by the living God and by his Saints. So the King 
 signed the writing which he had commanded to be made, and his 
 sons and chief captains signed it also, and in the writing he en- 
 joined his children and his children's children, as many as should 
 come after him, to honour and protect the Monastery of Lorvam, 
 upon his blessing he charged them so to do, because he had found 
 the brethren better than all the other Monks in his dominions. 
 
 XVIII. Then King Don Ferrando knighted Rodrigo of Bivar 
 in the great mosque of Coimbra, which he dedicated to St. Mary. 
 And the ceremony was after this manner : the King girded on his 
 sword, and gave him the kiss, 1 but not the blow. To do him more 
 honour the Queen gave him his horse, and the Infanta Dona Ur 
 raca fastened on his spurs ; and from that day forth he was called 
 Ruydiez." Then the King commanded him to knight nine noble 
 
 1 The blow was given with the hand upon the neck, and with these words, 
 Despertad, y no os durmais en las cosas de Cavalleria, Awake, and sleep 
 not in affairs of knighthood. Berganza, 5, II, 142. He adds that the 
 King omitted this, knowing well that the Cid needed no such exhortation. 
 
 - Ruy is merely the abbreviation of Koclrigo. Berganza infers from this 
 passage, that they who aspired to knighthood were called only by their bap- 
 tismal names, and did not assume the patronymic till they had received the 
 order in signification that they were not to pride themselves upon hereditary 
 honour till they were able to support it.
 
 232 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 squires with his own hand ; and he took his sword before the 
 altar, and knighted them. The King then gave Coimbra to the 
 keeping of Don Sisnando, Bishop of Iria ; a man, who having more 
 hardihood than religion, had by reason of his misdeeds gone over 
 to the Moors, and sorely infested the Christians in Portugal. But 
 during the siege he had come to the King's service, and bestirred 
 himself well against the Moors; and therefore the King took him 
 into his favour, and gave him the city to keep, which he kept, and 
 did much evil to the Moors till the day of his death. And the King 
 departed and went to Compostella to return thanks to Santiago. 
 
 XIX. But then Benalfagi, who was the Lord of many lands in 
 Estremadura, gathered together a great power of the Moors and 
 built up the walls of Montemor, and from thence waged war against 
 Coimbra, so that they of Coimbra called upon the King for help. 
 And the King came up against the town, and fought against it, and 
 took it. Great honour did Ruydiez win at that siege ; for having to 
 protect the foragers, the enemy came out upon him, and thrice in 
 one day was he beset by them ; but he, though sorely prest by them, 
 and in great peril, nevertheless, would not send to the camp for 
 succour, but put forth his manhood and defeated them. And from 
 that day the King gave more power into his hands, and made him 
 head over all his household. 
 
 XX. Now the men of Leon besought the King that he would 
 repeople Zamora, which had lain desolate since it was destroyed 
 by Almanzor. And he went thither and peopled the city, and gave 
 to it good privileges. And while he was there came messengers 
 from the five Kings who were vassals to Ruydiez of Bivar, bringing 
 him their tribute ; and they came to him, he being with the King, 
 and called him Cid, which signifieth Lord, and would have kissed 
 his hands, but he would not give them his hand till they kissed the 
 hand of the King. And Ruydiez took the tribute and offered the 
 fifth thereof to the King, in token of his sovereignty ; and the King 
 thanked him, but would not receive it, and from that time he 
 ordered that Ruydiez should be called the Cid, because the Moors 
 had so called him. 
 
 XXI. In those days Pope Victor II. held a council at Florence, 
 and the Emperor Henry there made his complaint against King 
 Don Ferrando, that he did not acknowledge his sovereignty, and 
 pay him tribute like all other Kings ; and he besought the Pope to 
 admonish him so to do. And the Pope being a German, and the 
 friend of Henry, sent to the King to admonish him, and told him, 
 that unless he obeyed he would proclaim a crusade against him ;
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 233 
 
 and in like manner the Emperor, and the King of France, and the 
 other Kings, sent to exhort him to obedience, defying him if he 
 should refuse. When the King saw their letters he was troubled, 
 for he knew that if this thing were done, great evil would follow to 
 Castile and Leon. And he took counsel with his honourable men. 
 They seeing on the one hand the great power of the Church and on 
 the other the great evil that it would be if Castile and Leon should 
 be made tributary, knew not what counsel to give ; howbeit at 
 length they said to him that he should do the Pope's bidding. At 
 this council the Cid was not present, for he had lately completed 
 his marriage with Dona Ximena Gomez, and was then with her ; 
 but at this time he arrived, and the King showed him the letters, 
 and told him the matter how it then stood, and what had been the 
 advice of his good men, and besought him to speak his advice, as 
 a good and true vassal to his Lord. When the Cid heard what 
 had passed it grieved him to the heart, more for the counsel which 
 had been given to the King, than because of the Pope's commands ; 
 and he turned to the King and said, In an ill day, Sir, were you 
 born in Spain, if it be in your time to be made tributary, which it 
 never was before ; for all the honour which God hath given you, 
 and whatever good he hath done to you, is lost if it should be so. 
 And, Sir, whoever hath given you this counsel is not a true man, 
 neither one who regardeth your honour nor your power. But send 
 to defy them since they will have it so, and let us carry the war 
 home to them. You shall take with you five thousand knights, all 
 of whom are hidalgos, and the Moorish Kings who are your vassals 
 will give you two thousand knights ; and, Sir, you are such a one 
 as God loves, and he will not that your honour should perish. And 
 the King thought that he was well counselled by him, for the King 
 was of a great heart. 
 
 XXII. Then the King ordered letters to be written, in which he 
 besought the Pope not to proceed farther against him without just 
 cause, for Spain had been conquered by those who dwelt therein, 
 by the blood of them and of their fathers, and they had never been 
 tributary, and never would be so, but would rather all die. More- 
 over he sent his letters to the Emperor and to the other Kings, 
 telling them that they well knew the wrong which the Emperor did 
 him, having no jurisdiction over him, nor lawful claim ; and he be- 
 sought them to let him alone that he might continue to wage war 
 against the enemies of the faith ; but if they persisted to speak 
 against him he then sent them back their friendship, and defied 
 them, and where they all were, there would he go to seek them,
 
 234 CHRONICLE OF THE 
 
 While this reply was on its way he gathered together his people, as 
 he and the Cid had advised, and set forward with eight thousand 
 and nine hundred knights, both of his own and of the Cid, and the 
 Cid led the advanced guard. When they had passed the passes of 
 Aspa they found that the country was up, and the people would not 
 sell them food ; but the Cid set his hand to, to burn all the country 
 before him, and plunder from those who would not sell, but to those 
 who brought food he did no wrong. And after such manner did 
 he proceed, that wherever the King and his army arrived they found 
 all things of which they could stand in need ; and the news went 
 sounding throughout all the land, so that all men trembled. 
 
 XXIII. Then Count Remon, Lord of Savoy, with the power of 
 the King of France, gathered together twenty thousand knights and 
 came beyond Tolosa, to hold the road against King Don Ferrando. 
 And he met with his harbinger the Cid, who went before him to 
 prepare lodgings, and they had a hard battle ; and the men of the 
 Count were discomfited, and he himself made prisoner and many 
 with him, and many were slain. And the Count besought the Cid 
 of his mercy to set him free, saying that he would give him a daugh- 
 ter he had, the which was right fair ; and the Cid did as he besought 
 him, and the daughter was given to him, and he set the Count free. 
 And by this woman King Don Ferrando had his son the Cardinal 
 Ferrando, who was so honourable a man. 
 
 XXIV. After this the Cid had another battle with all the power 
 of France, and discomfited them, and at neither of these battles 
 did the King and his main army arrive. So the news went sound- 
 ing before them to the council, of the fierceness of the Cid ; and 
 as they all knew that he was the conqueror of battles, they knew 
 not what to advise ; and they besought the Pope that he would 
 send to them, begging them to turn back, and saying that they did 
 not require tribute. These letters came to the King when he had 
 past Tolosa, and he took counsel with the Cid and with his good 
 men, and they advised that he should send two of his good men to 
 the Pope, who should tell him to send a Cardinal with power to 
 make a covenant, that persons from the Emperor and from the 
 other Kings also should come to ratify this, and meanwhile he would 
 abide where he was. But if they did not come he would go on to 
 them. Count Don Rodrigo. and Alvar Fanez Minaya, and certain 
 learned men, were sent with this bidding. And when they came 
 to the Pope and gave him their letters, he was much dismayed, 
 and he assembled the good and honourable men of the council, 
 and asked of them what he should do. And they made answer
 
 RODRIGQ DIAZ DE BIVAR. 235 
 
 that he must do as the King willed him, for none. was so hardy as 
 to "fight against the good fortune of his vassal the Cid. Then the 
 Pope sent Master Roberto, the Cardinal of St. Sabina, with full 
 powers, and the representatives of the Emperor and of the other 
 Kings came also and signed the covenant, that this demand should 
 never again be made upon the King of Spain. And the writings 
 which they made were confirmed by the Pope and by the Emperor 
 and the other Kings, and sealed with their seals. 
 
 XXV. While this was doing the King abode where he was, be- 
 yond Tolosa ; six months did he abide there. And the Pope sent 
 to ask of him the daughter of Count Remon ; and she was then 
 five months gone with child ; and by the advice of his vassal the 
 Cid the King sent her, and sent to tell the Pope the whole truth, 
 requesting that he would see she was taken care of: and the Pope 
 ordered that she should be taken care of till the event should be. 
 And she was delivered of the Abbot Don Ferrando ; the Pope was 
 his godfather, and brought him up right honourably, and dispensed 
 with his bastardy that he might hold any sacred dignity ; and in 
 process of time he was made an honourable Cardinal. So the 
 King' 1 returned with great honour into his own land, and from 
 that time he was called Don Ferrando the Great, the Emperor's 
 peer ; and it was said of him in songs that he had passed the passes 
 of Aspa in despite of the Frenchmen. 
 
 XXVI. Many other things did King Don Ferrando, which are 
 written in the book of the Chroniclon of the Kings of Spain, enrich- 
 ing churches and monasteries, and honouring the saints and mar- 
 tyrs and making war upon the misbelievers. And it came to pass 
 when he was waxed old, that as he was one day saying his prayers, 
 the confessor St. Isidro appeared unto him, and told him the 
 day and hour when he should die, to the intent that he might make 
 ready and confess his sins, and make atonement for them, and take 
 thought for his soul, so that he might appear clean from offence 
 before the face of God. From that day he, being certain that his 
 end was at hand, began to discharge his soul. And he devised 
 within himself how to dispose of the kingdoms which God had 
 given him, that there might be no contention between his sons 
 after his death ; and he thought it best to divide his lands among 
 them ; ' but this which he thought best proved to be the worst, and 
 great evil came thereof, for better had it been that he had left all 
 
 1 Berganza believes everything in the history of this expedition, except the 
 episode of the Lord of Savoy's daughter, which he attributes with good reason 
 to the Joculars.
 
 236 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 to the eldest. Howbeit it was his pleasure to divide them : he had 
 three sons, Don Sancho who was the eldest, and Don Alfonso who 
 was the second born, and Don Garcia who was the youngest ; and 
 two daughters, Dona Urraca and Dona Elvira. The manner in 
 which he divided his lands was this : he gave to Don Sancho the 
 kingdom of Castile as far as to the river Pisuerga, on the side of 
 I, eon, with the border, which included the dioceses of Osma, and 
 Segovia, and Avila, and on the side of Navarre as far as the Ebro, 
 as he had won it from his nephew Don Sancho Garcia, King of 
 Navarre. To Don Alfonso he gave the kingdom of Leon, and in 
 Asturias as far as the river Deva, which runs by Oviedo, and part 
 of Campos as far as Carrion and the river Pisuerga, with the 
 border, which contained the dioceses of Zamora, Salamanca, and 
 Ciudad Rodrigo, and the city of Astorga, and other lands in Gali- 
 cia, with the town of Zebreros. To Don Garcia he gave the king- 
 dom of Galicia, and all the lands which he had won in Portugal, 
 with the title of King of Galicia, which country had had no King 
 of its own since the kingdom of the Suevi had been overthrown by 
 King Leovegildo. And to Dona Urraca he gave the city of Zamora 
 with all its dependencies, and with half the Infantazgo ; arid the 
 other half, with the city of Toro and its dependencies, to Dona 
 Elvira. 
 
 XXVII. When the Infante Don Sancho knew that the King his 
 father had made this allotment it displeased him, for he was the 
 eldest son ; and he said to his father that he neither could nor 
 ought to make this division ; for the Gothic Kings had in old time 
 made a constitution for themselves, that the kingdom and empire 
 of Spain never should be divided, but remain one dominion under 
 one Lord. But the King replied that he would not for this forbear 
 to do as he had resolved, for he had won the kingdom : then the 
 Infante made answer, Do as you will, being my father and Lord : 
 but I do not consent unto it. So the King made this division 
 against the right of the Infante Don Sancho, and it displeased 
 many in the kingdom, and many it pleased ; but they who were 
 of good understanding perceived the evil which would arise. 
 
 XXVIII. After this the King fell sick with the malady whereof he 
 died. And he made himself be carried to Leon, and there on his 
 knees before the bodies of the saints he besought mercy of them. 
 And putting his crown upon his head before the holy body of St. 
 Isidro he called upon God, saying, O Lord Jesus Christ, thine is 
 the power over all, and thine is the kingdom, for thou art King of 
 all kingdoms, and of all Kings, and of all nations, and all are at thy
 
 RODR1CO DIAZ DE BIVAK. 237 
 
 command. And now Lord I return unto thee the kingdom which 
 thou hast given me, but I beseech thee of thy mercy that my soul 
 may be brought to the light which hath no end. Having said thus, 
 he stript himself of the royal robes adorned with gold in which he 
 was arrayed, and took the crown from his head and placed it upon 
 the altar ; and he put sackcloth upon the carrion of his body, and 
 prayed to God, confessing all the sins which he had committed 
 against him, and took his acquittal from the Bishops, for they ab- 
 solved him from his sins ; and forthwith he there received extreme 
 unction, and strewed ashes upon himself. After this, by his own 
 order he was carried to St. Mary of Almazan in pilgrimage, and 
 there he remained thrice nine days, beseeching St. Mary that she 
 would have mercy upon him and intercede with her blessed Son for 
 his soul. From thence they carried him to Cabezon, and there the 
 Abbot Don Ferrando came to him, an honourable man, and many 
 other honourable men of his realms, and the Cid Ruydiez, whom the 
 King commended to the Infante Don Sancho, his son. And after 
 he had put all his affairs in order he remained three days lamenting 
 in pain, and on the fourth, being the day of St. John the Evangel- 
 ist, he called for the Cardinal abbot, and commended Spain and 
 his other sons to him, and gave him his blessing, and then at the 
 hour of sexts he rendered up his soul without stain to God, being 
 full of years. So they carried him to Leon and buried him near 
 his father, in the Church of St. Isidro, which he had built. Thirty 
 and one years did King Don Ferrando the Great, who was Peer with 
 the Emperor, reign over Castile. The Queen his wife lived two years 
 after him, leading a holy life ; a good Queen had she been and of 
 good understanding, and right loving to her husband : alway had 
 she counselled him well, being in truth the mirror of his kingdoms, 
 and the friend of the widows and orphans. Her end was a good 
 end, like that of the King her husband : God give them Paradise 
 for their reward. Amen.
 
 238 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 I. THE history relates how after the death of King Don Ferrando, 
 the three Kings his sons reigned each in his kingdom, according to 
 the division made by their father, who had divided that which should 
 all by right have descended to the King Don Sancho. Now the 
 Kings of Spain were of the blood of the Goths, which was a fierce 
 blood, for it had many times come to pass among the Gothic Kings, 
 that brother had slain brother upon this quarrel ; from this blood 
 was King Don Sancho descended, and he thought that it would be 
 a reproach unto him if he did not join together the three kingdoms 
 under his own dominion, for he was not pleased with what his father 
 had given him, holding that the whole ought to have been his. And 
 he went through the land setting it in order, and what thing soever 
 his people asked at his hand that he did grant them freely, to the 
 end that he might win their hearts. 
 
 II. Now when King Don Sancho of Navarre saw that there was 
 a new King in Castile, he thought to recover the lands of Bureva 
 and of old Castile as far as Laredo, which had been lost when the 
 King his father was defeated and slain at Atapuerca in the mountains 
 of Oca. And now seeing that the kingdom of Ferrando was divided, 
 he asked help of his uncle Don Ramiro, King of Arragon ; and the 
 men of Arragon and of Navarre entered Castile together. But King 
 Don Sancho gathered together his host, and put the Cid at their 
 head; and such account did he give of his enemies, that he of 
 Navarre was glad to enjoy Rioja in peace, and lay no farther claim 
 to what his father had lost. Now the King of Castile was wroth 
 against the King of Arragon, that he should thus have joined agains'. 
 him without cause ; and in despite of him he marched against the 
 Moors of Zaragoza, and laying waste their country with fire and 
 sword, he came before their city, and gave orders to assault it, and 
 began to set up his engines. When the King of Zarago/a saw the 
 great will which the King had to do evil unto him, and that there 
 was none to help him, he thought it best to come to his mercy, 
 paying tribute, or serving him, or in any manner whatsoever. And 
 he sent interpreters to King Don Sancho saying, that he would give 
 him much gold and silver, and many gifts, and be his vassal, and
 
 r RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 239 
 
 pay him tribute yearly. The King received them right honourably, 
 and when he had heard their bidding he answered resolutely, being 
 of a great heart, All this which the King of Zaragoza sends to say 
 unto me is well, but he hath another thing in his heart. He sends 
 to bid me break up the siege and depart from his land, and as soon 
 as I should have departed, he would make friends unto himself 
 among Christians and among Moors, and fail me in all which he 
 covenants. Nevertheless I will do this thing which your King re- 
 quires of me ; but if in the end he lie, I will come back upon him 
 and destroy him, trusting in God that he cannot defend himself 
 against me. And when the interpreters heard this they were greatly- 
 dismayed, and they returned and told their King all that he had 
 said. And the Moors seeing that they could not help themselves, 
 made such terms with him as it pleased him to grant, and gave him 
 hostages that they might not be able to prove false. And they gave 
 him gold and silver and precious stones in abundance, so that with 
 great riches and full honourably did he and all his men depart from 
 the siege. 
 
 III. Greatly was the King of Arragon displeased at this which 
 King Don Sancho had done, thinking that it was to his great injury 
 and abasement, for Zaragoza he held to be within his conquest. 
 And he came out with all his power to cut off the King's return, 
 and took possession of the way, and said unto him that he should 
 not pass till he had made amends for the great dishonour which he 
 had wrought him, in coming into, his conquest and against his 
 vassals : the amends which he required was, that he should yield 
 unto him all the spoil, and all which the King of Zaragoza had given 
 him, else should he not pass without battle. When King Don Sancho 
 heard this, being a man of great heart, he made answer, that he was 
 the head of the kingdoms of Castile and Leon, and all the conquests 
 in Spain were his, for the Kings of Arragon had no conquests ap- 
 pertaining unto them, being by right his tributaries, and bound to 
 appear at his Cortes. Wherefore he counselled him to waive this 
 demand, and let him pass in peace. But the King of Arragon drew 
 up his host for battle, and the onset was made, and heavy blows were 
 dealt on both sides, and many horses were left without a master. 
 And while the battle was yet upon the chance, King Don Sancho 
 riding right bravely through the battle, began to call out Castile ! 
 Castile ! and charged the main body so fiercely that by fine force 
 he broke them ; and when they were thus broken the Castilians 
 began cruelly to slay them, so that King Don Sancho had pity thereof, 
 and called out unto his people not to kill them, for they were Chris-
 
 240 CHRONICLE 01- THE CW, ^ 
 
 tians. Then King Don Ramiro being discomfited, retired to a 
 mountain, and King Don Sancho beset the mountain round about, 
 and made a covenant with him that he should depart, and that the 
 King of Zaragoza should remain tributary to Castile ; and but for 
 this covenant the King of Arragon would then have been slain, or 
 made prisoner. This was the battle whereof the Black Book of 
 Santiago speaketh, saying, that in this year, on the day of the Con- 
 version of St. Paul, was the great slaughter of the Christians in Porca. 
 In all these wars did my Cid demean himself after his wonted man- 
 ner ; and because of the great feats which he performed the King 
 loved him well, and made him his Alferez ; so that in the whole 
 army he was second only to the King. And because when the host 
 was in the field it was his office to choose the place for encamp- 
 ment, therefore was my Cid called the Campeador. 
 
 IV. While King Don Sancho was busied in these wars, King 
 Don Garcia of Galicia took by force from Dona Urraca his sister a 
 great part of the lands which the King their father had given her. 
 And when she heard this she began to lament aloud, saying, Ah 
 King Don Ferrando, in an evil hour didst thou divide thy king- 
 dom, for thereby will all the land be brought to destruction. And 
 now also will be accomplished that which my fosterer Arias Gon- 
 zalo said, for now that King Don Garcia, who is my younger brother, 
 hath dispossessed me and broken the oath which he made unto my 
 father, what will not the elder do, who made the vow by compul- 
 sion, and alway made protestation against the division ! God send 
 that as thou hast disherited me, thou mayest speedily thyself in 
 like manner be disherited, Amen ! But when King Don Sancho 
 heard what his brother had done he was well pleased thereat, think- 
 ing that he might now bring to pass that which he so greatly de- 
 sired ; and he assembled together his Ricos-omes and his knights, 
 and said unto them, The King my father divided the kingdoms 
 which should have been mine, and therein he did unjustly ; now 
 King Don Garcia my brother hath broken the oath and disherited 
 Dona Urraca my sister ; I beseech ye therefore counsel me what 
 1 shall do, and in what manner to proceed against him, for I will 
 take his kingdom away from him. Upon this Count Don Gmcia 
 Ordonez arose and said, There is not a man in the world, Sir, who 
 would counsel you to break the command of your father, and the 
 vow which you made unto him. And the King was greatly in- 
 censed at him and said, Go from before me for I shall never receive 
 good counsel from thee. The King then took the Cid by the hand 
 and led him apart, and said unto him, Thou well knowest, my Cid,
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE HI TAR. 241 
 
 that when the King my father commended thee unto me, he 
 charged me upon pain of his curse that I should take you for my 
 adviser, and whatever I did that I should do it with your counsel, 
 and I have done so even until this day ; and thou hast alway coun- 
 selled me for the best, and for this I have given thee a county in 
 my kingdom, holding it well bestowed. Now then I beseech you 
 advise me how best to recover these kingdoms, for if I have not 
 counsel from you I do not expect to have it from any man in the 
 world. 
 
 V. Greatly troubled at this was the Cid, and he answered and 
 said, 111, Sir, would it behove me to counsel you that you should 
 go against the will of your father. You well know that when I 
 went to Cabezon unto him, after he had divided his kingdoms, how 
 he made me swear to him that I would alway counsel his sons the 
 best I could, and never give them ill counsel ; and while I can, 
 thus must I continue to do. But the King answered, My Cid, I 
 do not hold that in this I am breaking the oath made to my father, 
 for I ever said that the partition should not be, and the oath which 
 I made was forced upon me. Now King Don Garcia my brother 
 hath broken the oath, and all these kingdoms by right are mine : 
 and therefore I will that you counsel me how I may unite them, 
 for from so doing there is nothing in this world which shall pre- 
 vent me, except it be death. Then when the Cid saw that he 
 could by no means turn him from that course, he advised him to 
 obtain the love of his brother King Don Alfonso, that he might 
 grant him passage through his kingdom to go against Don Garcia : 
 and if this should be refused he counselled him not to make the 
 attempt. And the King saw that his counsel was good, and sent 
 his letters to King Don Alfonso beseeching him to meet him at 
 Sahagun. When King Don Alfonso received the letters he mar- 
 velled to what end this might be : howbeit he sent to say that he 
 would meet him. And the two Kings met in Sahagun. And King 
 Don Sancho said, Brother, you well know that King Don Garcia 
 our brother hath broken the oath made unto our father, and dis- 
 herhed our sister Dona Urraca ; for this I will take his kingdom 
 away from him, and I beseech you join with me. But Don Alfonso 
 answered that he would not go against the will of his father, and 
 the oath which he had sworn. Then King Don Sancho said, that 
 if he would let him pass through his kingdom he would give him 
 part of what he should gain : and King Don Alfonso agreed to 
 this. And upon this matter they fixed another day to meet ; and 
 then forty knights were named, twenty for Castile and twenty for
 
 242 CIIKOXR'I.E 01- Til!-. C//>, 
 
 Leon, as vouchers that this which they covenanted should be faith- 
 fully fulfilled on both sides. 
 
 VI. Then King Don Sancho gathered together a great host, 
 Castilians and Leonese, and they of Navarre and Biscay, Asturians 
 and men of Arragon and of the border. And he sent Alvar Fane/, 
 the cousin of the Cid, to King Don Garcia, to bid him yield up 
 his kingdom, and if he refused to do this to defy him on his part. 
 Alvar Faiiex, albeit unwillingly, was bound to obey the bidding of 
 his Lord, and he went to King Don (iarcia and delivered his bid- 
 ding. When King Don Garcia heard it he was greatly troubled, 
 and he cried out in his trouble and said. Lord Jesus Christ, thou 
 rememberest the oath which we made to our father ! for my sins 
 I have been the first to break it, and have disherited my sister. 
 And he said to Alvar Fanez, Say to my brother, that I bescrrh 
 him not to break the oath which he made to our father ; but if he 
 will persist to do this thing I must defend myself as I can. And 
 with this answer Alvar Fanez returned. Then King Don (iarcia 
 called unto him a knight of Asturias, whose name was Ruy Xime- 
 nez, and bade him go to his brother King Don Alfonso and tell 
 him what had past and how King 1 )on Sancho would take away 
 his kingdom from him ; and to beseech him as a brother that he 
 would not let him pass through his dominions. And King Don 
 Alfonso replied, Say to my brother that I will neither help King 
 Don Sancho, nor oppose him : and tell him that if he can defend 
 himself I shall be well pleased. And with this answer, Ruy 
 Ximenez returned, and bade the King look to himself for defence, 
 for he would find no help in his brother. 
 
 VII. Now Don Garcia was not beloved in his kingdom of Gali- 
 cia, neither in Portugal, for as much as he showed little favour to 
 the hidalgos, both Galegos and Portuguese, and vexed the people 
 with tributes which he had newly imposed. The cause of all this 
 was a favourite, by name Verna, to whom the King gave so much 
 authority, that he displeased all the chief persons in his dominions, 
 and hearkened unto him in all things ; and by his advice it was 
 that he had despoiled his sister Dona Urraca of her lands, and 
 his sister Dona Elvira also, and had done other things, whereby 
 Portugal and Galicia were now in danger to be lost. And the 
 knights and hidalgos took counsel together how they might remedy 
 these evils, and they agreed that the King should in the name of 
 them all be advised how ill he was served, and entreated to put 
 away his favourite. Don Rodrigo Frojax was the one named to 
 speak unto the King; for bring a man of approved valour, and
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BITAK. 243 
 
 the Lord of many lands, it was thought that the King would listen 
 more to him than to any other. But it fell out otherwise than they 
 had devised, for Verna had such power over the mind of the King, 
 that the remonstrance was ill received, and Don Rodrigo and the 
 other hidalgos were contumeliously treated in public by the King. 
 Don Rodrigo would not bear this, being a right loyal and valiant 
 man ; and he went one day into the palace, and finding Verna 
 busied in affairs of state, he drew forth his sword and slew him ; 
 then leaving the palace, for none cared to lay hands on him, he 
 left Portugal and took the road toward France : many of his vas- 
 sals and kinsmen and friends following him, to seek their fortunes 
 in a country where valour would be esteemed, for they were weary 
 of the bad government of King Don Garcia. 
 
 VIII. But when King Don Garcia knew of the league which 
 his brethren had made to divide his kingdom between them, it 
 was a greater trouble to him than the death of Verna, and he 
 called his chief captains together and consulted with them ; and 
 they advised him that he should send to recall Don Rodrigo Frojaz, 
 for having him the realm would be secure, and without him it was 
 in danger to be lost. So two hidalgos were sent after him, and 
 they found him in Navarre, on the eve of passing into France. But 
 when he saw the King's letters, and knew the peril in which he then 
 stood, setting aside the remembrance of his own wrongs, like a good 
 and true Portuguese, he turned back, and went to the King at Coim- 
 bra. In good time did he arrive, for the captains of King Don 
 Sancho had now gained many lands in Galicia and in the province 
 of Beira, finding none to resist them, and the Count Don Nuno de 
 Lara, and the Count of Monzon, and Don Garcia de Cabra, were 
 drawing nigh unto Coimbra. When Don Rodrigo heard this and 
 knew that the Castilians were approaching, and who they were, he 
 promised the King either to maintain his cause, or die for it ; and 
 he besought him not to go into the battle himself, having so many 
 vassals and so good ; for it was not fitting that he should expose 
 himself when there was no King coming against him. And it 
 came to pass that when the scouts gave notice that the Castilians 
 were at hand, he ordered the trumpets to be sounded, and the Por- 
 tuguese sallied, and a little below the city, at the place which is now 
 called Agoa de Mayas, the two squadrons met. Then was the say- 
 ing of Arias Gonzalo fulfilled, that kinsmen should kill kinsmen, and 
 brother fall by his brother's hand. But the Portuguese fought so 
 well, and especially Don Rodrigo, and his brothers Don Pedro 
 and Don Vermui Frojaz, that at length they discomfited the Cas-
 
 244 CIIROXICI.E OF THE CID, 
 
 tilians. killing of them five hundred and forty, of whom three hun- 
 dred were knights, and winning their pennons and banners. How- 
 beit this victory was not obtained without great loss to themselves ; 
 for two hundred and twenty of their people were left upon the field, 
 and many were sorely wounded, among whom, even to the great 
 peril of his life, was Don Rodrigo Frojaz, being wounded with many 
 and grievous wounds. In this battle was slain the Count Don Fafes 
 Sarracem de Lanhoso, with many of his vassals, he from whom the 
 Ciodinhos are descended : he was a right good knight. 
 
 IX. A sorrowful defeat was that for King Don Sancho, more for 
 the quality of the slain than for their number ; and he put himself 
 at the head of his army, and hastened through the midst of Portugal, 
 to go against his brother. And King Don Garcia hearing of his 
 approach, called together his knights and hidalgos, and said unto 
 them, Friends, we have no land whereunto to fly from the King 
 Don Sancho my brother, let us therefore meet him in battle, and 
 either conquer him, or die ; for better is it to die an honourable 
 death than to suffer this spoiling in our country. And to the Por- 
 tuguese he said. Friends, ye are right noble and haughty knights, 
 and it is your custom to have among you few lords and good ones ; 
 now therefore make me a good one, which will be to your own 
 great honour and profit ; and if I come out of this struggle well, I 
 shall guerdon ye well, so that ye shall understand the will I have 
 to do good towards ye. And they made answer and said they 
 would stand by him to the last, and that he should not be put 
 down by their default. Then spake he to the Galegos, and said, 
 Friends, ye are right good and true knights, and never was it yet 
 said that lord was forsaken by you in the field. I put myself in 
 your hands, being assured that ye will well and loyally advise me, 
 and help me to the utmost of your power. Ye see how King 1 )on 
 Sancho my brother presses upon us, and we have nothing left us 
 but to die or to conquer ; but if ye know any other counsel, I be- 
 seech ye tell it now. And the Galegos answered, that they would 
 serve and defend him loyally, and that they held it best to fight. 
 Nevertheless they were too few in number to stand against the King 
 Don Sancho : so they retired before him. And Don Garcia took 
 with him three hundred horsemen, and went to the Moors, and be- 
 sought them to lend him aid against his brother, saying that he 
 would give them the kingdom of Leon. And the Moors made 
 answer, O King, thou canst not defend thyself; how then canst 
 thou giv unto us the kingdom of Leon ? Howbeit they did him
 
 ROD RIG O DIAZ. DE BIVAR. 245 
 
 honour and gave him great gifts, and he returned to his people and 
 recovered many of the castles which he had lost. 
 
 X. Then King Don Sancho came against his brother to besiege 
 him in Santarem. And the Portuguese and Galegos took counsel 
 together what they should do ; for some were of advice that it was 
 better to defend the cities and fortresses which they held, and so 
 lengthen out the war ; others that they should harass the army of 
 the Castilians with frequent skirmishes and assaults, and never give 
 them battle power to power, thinking that in this manner they might 
 baffle them till the winter came on. Don Rodrigo Frojaz was at 
 this time recovering of the wounds which he had received at Agoa 
 de Mayas, and he said unto the King that it behoved him above 
 all things to put his kingdom upon the hazard of a battle : for his 
 brother being a greater lord of lands than he, and richer in money 
 and more powerful in vassals, could maintain the war longer than 
 he could do, who peradventure would find it difficult another year 
 to gather together so good an army as he had now ready. For this 
 cause he advised him to put his trust in God first, and then in the 
 hidalgos who were with him, and without fear give battle to the 
 King his brother, over whom God and his good cause would give 
 him glorious victory. And to show his own good will to the King, 
 he besought of him the leading of the van for himself and the Counts 
 Don Pedro and Don Vermui Frojaz his brethren, and his two neph- 
 ews. Greatly was the King Don Garcia encouraged by his gallant 
 cheer, and he bade his host make ready to give battle to King Don 
 Sancho, as soon as he should arrive ; and he marched out from the 
 city, and took his stand near unto it in a field where afterwards were 
 the vineyards of the town. And when the banners of the Castilians 
 were seen advancing, the Galegos and Portuguese drew up in battle 
 array, Don Rodrigo and his brethren having the van, as he had re- 
 quested, and a body of chosen knights with them. 
 
 XL Count Don Garcia came in the front of King Don Sancho's 
 army, and in the one wing was the Count de Monzon and Count 
 Don Nuno de Lara ; and the Count Don Fruela of Asturias in the 
 other ; and the King was in the rear, with Don Diego de Osma, 
 who carried his banner : and in this manner were they arrayed on 
 the one side and on the other, being ready for the onset. And 
 King Don Garcia bravely encouraged his men, saying, Vassals and 
 friends, ye see the great wrong which the King my brother doth 
 unto me, taking from me my kingdom ; I beseech ye help me now 
 to defend it ; for ye well know that all which I had therein I di- 
 vided among ye, keeping ye for a season like this. And they an-
 
 246 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 swered, Great benefits have we received at your hands, and we will 
 serve you to the utmost of our power. Now when the two hosts 
 were ready to join battle, Alvar Fanez came to King Don Sancho 
 and said to him, Sir, I have played away my horse and arms : I 
 beseech you, give me others for this battle, and I will be a right 
 good one for you this day ; if I do not for you the service of six 
 knights hold me for a traitor. And the Count Don Garcia, who 
 heard this, said to the King, Give him, Sir, what he asketh ; and the 
 King ordered that horse and arms should be given him. So the 
 armies joined battle bravely on both sides, and it was a sharp onset ; 
 many were the heavy blows which were given on both sides, and 
 many were the horses that were slain at that encounter, and many 
 the men. Now my Cid had not yet come up into the field. 
 
 XII. Now Don Rodrigo Frojaz and his brethren and the knights 
 who were with them had resolved to make straight for the banner 
 of the King of Castile. And they broke through the ranks of the 
 Castilians, and made their way into the middle of the enemy's host. 
 doing marvellous feats of arms. Then was the fight at the hottest, 
 for they did their best to win the banner, and the others to defend 
 it ; the remembrance of what they had formerly done, and the hope 
 of gaining more honours heartened them ; and with the Castilians 
 there was their King, giving them brave example as well as brave 
 words. The press of the battle was here ; here died ( lonzalo de 
 Sies, a right valiant Portuguese, on the part of Don Garcia but on 
 Don Sancho's part the Count Don Nuno was sorely wounded and 
 thrown from his horse ; and Count Don Garcia Ordonez was made 
 prisoner, and the banner of King Don Sancho was beaten down. 
 and the King himself also. The first who encountered him was 
 Don Gomes Echiguis, he from whom the old Sousas of Portugal 
 derived their descent ; he was the first who set his lance against 
 King Don Sancho, and the other one was Don Moninho Hermigis, 
 and Don Rodrigo made way through the press and laid hands on him 
 and took him. But in the struggle his old wounds burst open, and 
 having received many new ones he lost much blood, and peireiv- 
 ing that his strength was failing, he sent to call the King Don Gar- 
 cia with all speed. And as the King came, the Count Don Pedro 
 Frojaz met him and said, An honourable gift, Sir, hath my brother 
 Don Rodrigo to give you, but you lose him in gaining it. And 
 tears fell from the eyes of the King, and he made answer and said, 
 1 1 may indeed be that Don Rodrigo may lose his life in serving me, 
 but the good name which he hath gained, and the honour which he 
 leaveth to his descendants, death cannot take away. Saying this,
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 247 
 
 he came to the place where Don Rodrigo was, and Don Rodrigo 
 gave into his hands the King Don Sancho his brother, and asked 
 him three times if he was discharged of his prisoner ; and when the 
 King had answered Yes, Don Rodrigo said, For me, Sir, the joy 
 which I have in your victory is enough ; give the rewards to these 
 good Portuguese, who with so good a will have put their lives upon 
 the hazard to serve you, and in all things follow their counsel, and 
 you will not err therein. Having said this he kissed the King's 
 hand, and lying upon his shield, for he felt his breath fail him, with 
 his helmet for a pillow, he kissed the cross of his sword in remem- 
 brance of that on which the incarnate Son of God had died for him, 
 and rendered up his soul into the hands of his Creator. This was 
 the death of one of the worthy knights of the world, Don Rodrigo 
 Frojaz. In all the conquests which King Don Ferrando had made 
 from the Moors of Portugal, great part had he borne, insomuch 
 that that King was wont to say that other Princes might have more 
 dominions than he, but two such knights as his two Rodrigos, 
 meaning my Cid and this good knight, there was none but himself 
 who had for vassals. 
 
 XIII. Then King Don Garcia being desirous to be in the pur- 
 suit himself, delivered his brother into the hands of six knights 
 that they should guard him, which he ought not to have done. And 
 when he was gone King Don Sancho said unto the knights, Let 
 me go and I will depart out of your country and never enter it 
 again ; and I will reward ye well as long as ye live. But they an- 
 swered him, that for no reward would they commit such disloyalty, 
 but would guard him well, not offering him any injury, till they 
 had delivered him to his brother the King Don Garcia. While 
 they were parleying Alvar Fanez Minaya came up, he to whom 
 the' King had given horse and arms before the battle ; and he see- 
 ing the King held prisoner cried out with a loud voice, Let loose 
 my Lord the King : and he spurred his horse and made at them ; 
 and before his lance was broken he overthrew two of them, and so 
 bestirred himself that he put the others to flight ; and he took the 
 horses of the two whom he had smote down, and gave one to the 
 King, and mounted upon the other himself, for his own was hurt 
 in the rescue ; and they went together to a little rising ground 
 where there was yet a small body of the knights of their party, and 
 Alvar Fanez cried out to them aloud, Ye see here the King our 
 Lord, who is free ; now then remember the good name of the 
 Castilians, and let us not lose it this day. And about four hundred 
 knights gathered about him. And while they stood there they saw
 
 248 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 the Cid Ruydiez coming up with three hundred knights, for he had 
 not been in the battle, and they knew his green pennon. And 
 when King Den Sancho beheld it his heart rejoiced, and he said, 
 Now let us descend into the plain, for he of good fortune 
 cometh ; and he said, Be of good heart, for it is the will of God 
 that I should recover my kingdom, for I have escaped from cap- 
 tivity, and seen the death of Don Rodrigo Frojaz who took me, 
 and Ruydiez the fortunate one cometh. And the King went down 
 to him and welcomed him right joyfully, saying, In happy time are 
 you come, my fortunate Cid ; never vassal succoured his Lord in 
 such season as you now succour me, for the King my brother had 
 overcome me. And the Cid answered, Sir, be sure that you shall 
 recover the day, or I will die ; for wheresoever you go, either you 
 shall be victorious or I will meet my death. 
 
 XIV. By this time King Don Garcia returned from the pursuit, 
 singing as he came full joyfully, for he thought that the King his 
 brother was a prisoner, and his great power overthrown. But 
 there came one and told him that Don Sancho was rescued and in 
 the field again, ready to give him battle a second time. Bravely 
 was that second battle fought on both sides ; and if it had not been 
 for the great prowess of the Cid, the end would not have been as 
 it was ; in the end the Galegos and Portuguese were discomfited, 
 and the King Don Garcia taken in his turn. And in that battle 
 the two brethren of Don Rodrigo Frojaz, Don Pedro and Don 
 Vermui, were slain, and the two sons of Don Pedro, so that five 
 of that family died that day. And the King Don Sancho put his 
 brother in better ward than his brother three hours before had put 
 him, for he put him in chains and sent him to the strong castle of 
 Luna. 
 
 XV. When King Don Sancho had done this he took unto him- 
 self the kingdom of Galicia and of Portugal, and without delay sent 
 to his brother King Don Alfonso, commanding him to yield up 
 to him the kingdom of Leon, for it was his by right. At this was 
 the King of Leon troubled at heart ; howbeit he answered that he 
 would not yield up his kingdom, but do his utmost to defend it. 
 Then King Don Sancho entered Leon, slaying and laying waste 
 before him, as an army of infidels would have done r and King 
 Don Alfonso sent to him to bid him cease from this, for it was in- 
 human work to kill and plunder the innocent : and he defied him 
 to a pitched battle, saying that to whichsoever God should give 
 the victory, to him also would he give the kingdom of Leon : and 
 the King of Castile accepted the defiance, and a day was fixed for
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 249 
 
 the battle, and the place was to be Lantada, which is near unto 
 Carrion. The chief counsellor of King Don Alfonso was Don Pero 
 Ansures, a notable and valiant knight, of the old and famous stock 
 of the Ansures, Lords of Monzon which is nigh unto Palencia : the 
 same who in process of time was Count of Carrion and of Saldana 
 md Liebana, and Lord of Valladolid, a city which was by him 
 greatly increased. This good knight commanded the army of his 
 King Don Alfonso, and on the part of King Don Sancho came 
 Ruydiez the Cid. Both Kings were in the field that day, and full 
 hardily was the battle contested, and great was the mortality on 
 either side, for the hatred which used to be between Moors and 
 Christians was then between brethren. And that day also was the 
 saying of Arias Gonzalo fulfilled. But in the end the skill and 
 courage of my Cid prevailed, and King Don Alfonso was fain to 
 avail himself of his horse's feet to save himself. 
 
 XVI. Nevertheless the power of King Don Alfonso was not yet 
 destroyed, and he would not yield up his kingdom : and he sent 
 to his brother a second time to bid him battle, saying that who- 
 soever conquered should then certainly remain King of Leon ; and 
 the place appointed was at Vulpegera, beside the river Carrion. 
 And the two armies met and joined battle, and they of Leon had 
 the victory, for my Cid was not in the field. And King Don Alfonso 
 had pity upon the Castilians because they were Christians, and gave 
 orders not to slay them ; and his brother King Don Sancho fled. 
 Now as he was flying, my Cid came up with his green pennon : 
 and when he saw that the King his Lord had been conquered, it 
 grieved him sorely : howbeit he encouraged him saying, This is 
 nothing, Sir ! to fail or to prosper is as God pleases. But do you 
 gather together your people who are discomfited, and bid them 
 take heart. The Leonese and Galegos are with the King your 
 brother, secure as they think themselves in their lodging, and tak- 
 ing no thought of you ; for it is their custom to extol themselves 
 when their fortune is fair, and to mock at others, and in this boast- 
 fulness will they spend the night, so that we shall find them sleep- 
 ing at break of day, and will fall upon them. And it came to pass 
 as he had said. The Leonese lodged themselves in Vulpegera, 
 taking no thought of their enemies, and setting no watch ; and 
 Ruydiez arose betimes in the morning, and fell upon them, and 
 subdued them before they could take their arms. King Don Al- 
 fonso fled to the town of Carrion, which was three leagues distant, 
 and would have fortified himself there in the Church of St. Mary, 
 but he was surrounded and constrained to yield,
 
 250 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 XVII. Now the knights of Leon gathered together in their flight, 
 and when they could not find the King they were greatly ashamed, 
 and they turned back and smote the Castilians ; and as it befell, 
 they encountered King Don Sancho and took him prisoner, not 
 having those in his company whom he should have had, for his 
 people considered the victory as their own, and all was in confu- 
 sion. And thirteen knights took him in their ward and were lead- 
 ing him away, but my Cid beheld them and galloped after them ; 
 he was alone, and had no lance, having broken his in battle. And 
 he came up to them, and said, Knights, give me my Lord and I 
 will give unto you yours. They knew him by his arms, and they 
 made answer, Ruydiez, return in peace and seek not to contend 
 with us, otherwise we will carry you away prisoner with him. And 
 he waxed wroth and said, Give me but a lance and I will, single as 
 I am, rescue my Lord from all of ye : by God's help I will do it. 
 And they held him as nothing because he was but one, and gave 
 him a lance. But he attacked them therewith so bravely that he 
 slew eleven of the thirteen, leaving two only alive, on whom he had 
 mercy ; and thus did he rescue the King. And the Castilians re- 
 joiced greatly at the King's deliverance : and King Don Sancho 
 went to Burgos, and took with him his brother prisoner. 
 
 XVIII. Great was the love which the Infanta Doiia Urraca bore 
 to her brother King Don Alfonso, and when she heard that he was 
 made prisoner, she feared lest he should be put to death : and she 
 took with her the Count Don Peransures, and went to Burgos. And 
 they spake with the Cid, and besought him that he would join with 
 them and intercede with the King that he should release his brother 
 from prison, and let him become a Monk at Sahagun. Full willing 
 was the Cid to serve in anything the Infanta Dona Urraca, and he 
 went with her before the King. And she knelt down before the 
 King her brother, and besought mercy for Don Alfonso, his brother 
 and hers. And the King took her by the hand and raised her from 
 her knees, and made her sit beside him, and said unto her, Now then. 
 my sister, say what you would have. And she besought him that 
 he would let their brother Don Alfonso take the habit of St. Bene- 
 dict, in the royal Monastery of Sahagun, and my Cid, and Count 
 Peransures and the other chief persons who were there present, 
 besought him in like manner. And the King took my Cid aside, 
 and asked counsel of him what he should do ; and the Cid said, 
 that if Don Alfonso were willing to become a Monk, he would do 
 well to set him free upon that condition, and he besought him so 
 to do. Then King Don Sancho, at my Cid's request, granted to
 
 RODKIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 251 
 
 Dona Urraca what she had asked. And he released King Don 
 Alfonso from prison, and Don Alfonso became a Monk in the Mon- 
 astery at Sahagun, more by force than of free will. And being in 
 the Monastery he spake with Don Peransures, and took counsel 
 with him, and fled away by night from the Monks, and went among 
 the Moors to King Alimaymon of Toledo. And the Moorish King 
 welcomed him with a good will, and did great honour to him. and 
 gave him great possessions and many gifts. 
 
 XIX. When Dona Urraca knew that her brother King Don 
 Alfonso had fled to Toledo, she sent to him three good men of 
 the kingdom of Leon, that they should be his counsellors, for she 
 loved him well. These were Don Pero Ansures, and Don Ferran 
 Ansures, and Don Gonzalo Ansures, all three brethren : and they 
 went with King Don Sancho's permission, for it was God's pleasure. 
 Now Alimaymon rejoiced in the King Don Alfonso, and loved him 
 as if he had been his own son. And Don Alfonso made a cov- 
 enant with him to love him and defend him and serve him aluay, 
 so long as he should remain with him, and not to depart from him 
 without his leave ; and the King covenanted on his side to love 
 him and honour him, and defend him to the utmost of his power. 
 And Alimaymon ordered fair palaces to be edified for him, by the 
 wall of the Alcazar, on the outer part, that the Moors of the city 
 i night do no displeasure neither to him nor to his companions : 
 and they were hard by a garden of the King's that he might go out 
 and disport himself therein whensoever it pleased him. And for 
 these things King Don Alfonso loved to serve King Alimaymon. 
 Nevertheless when he saw the great honour of the King of Toledo, 
 and how powerful he was and that he was the Lord of so great 
 chivalry, and of the noblest city which had belonged unto the 
 Gothic Kings, from whom he himself was descended, it grieved 
 him in his heart to see that city in the hand of the Moors : and 
 he said within his heart, I^ord God and Father Jesus Christ, it is 
 wholly in thy power to give and to take away, and right it is that 
 thy will should be done, even as thou hast done it to me, to whom 
 thou gavest a kingdom, and it was thy will to take it away from me, 
 and thou hast made me come hither to serve the enemies who 
 were at the service of the King my father. Lord, I put my hope 
 in thee that thou wilt deliver me from this servitude, and give 
 me a land and kingdom to command, and that thou wilt show 
 unto me such favour that this land and this city shall by me be 
 won, that thy holy body may be sacrificed in it to the honour c 
 ( hristendom. This prayer he made with great devotion and with
 
 252 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 many tears ; and the Lord God heard him, as hereafter you shall 
 hear in this history. In those days King Alimaymon was at war 
 with other Moorish Kings his enemies, and King Don Alfonso 
 fought against them on his side, and did such good service that he 
 quelled their power, and they durst no longer offend him. And in 
 time of peace Don Alfonso and his companions went fowling along 
 the hanks of the Tagus, for in those days there was much game 
 there, and venison of all kinds ; and they killed venison among 
 the mountains. And as he was thus sporting he came to a place 
 which is now called Brihuega, and it pleased him well, for it was a 
 fair place to dwell in, and abounded with game, and there was a 
 dismantled castle there, and he thought that he would ask the King 
 for this place. And he returned to Toledo and asked it of the 
 King, and King Alimaymon gave it him, and he placed there his 
 huntsmen and his fowlers who were Christians, and fortified the 
 place as his own. And the lineage of these people continued 
 there till Don Juan, the third Archbishop of Toledo, enlarged it, 
 and peopled the parish of St. Pedro. 
 
 XX. It came to pass after this that both the Kings one day 
 came out of Toledo, and passed over the bridge of Alcantara, and 
 went into the royal garden to disport themselves therein and take 
 their pleasure. And at evening Don Alfonso lay down upon a bed 
 to sleep, and King Alimaymon fell in talk with his favourites con- 
 cerning his city of Toledo, how strong it was and how well pro- 
 vided with all things, and that he feared neither war of Moor nor 
 Christian against it ; and he asked them if it could by any means be 
 lost in war. Then one of them answered and said, Sir, if you would 
 not hold it ill, I would tell you how it might be lost, and by no 
 other manner in the world could it be so. And the King bade 
 him say on. And the favourite then said, If this city were beset 
 for seven years, and the bread and the wine and the fruits should 
 be cut down year by year, it would be lost for lack of food. All 
 this King Don Alfonso heard, for he was not sleeping, and he took 
 good heed of it. Now the Moors knew not that he was lying 
 there. And when they had thus spoken Alimaymon arose to walk 
 in the palace, and he saw King Don Alfonso lying there as if he 
 were sleeping : and it troubled him, and he said to his favourites, 
 We did not heed Alfonso who is lying there, and has heard all that 
 we have said. And the favourites made answer, Kill him, Sir. But 
 the King said, How shall I go against my true promise? moreover 
 he sleepeth, and peradventure hath heard nothing. And they said 
 to him. Would you know whether or not he sleepeth? and he an-
 
 KODRICO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 253 
 
 swered, Yea : and they said, Go then and wake him, and if Jie have 
 drivelled he hath slept, but if not he hath been awake and hath 
 heard us. Then King Don Alfonso immediately wetted the pil- 
 low, and feigned hard to be awakened, so that Alimaymon thought 
 he slept. 
 
 XXI. And when the Easter of the Sheep } was come, which the 
 Moors celebrate, the King of Toledo went out of the city to kill the 
 sheep at the place accustomed, as he was wont to do, and King 
 Don Alfonso went with him. Now Don Alfonso was a goodly 
 personage and of fair demeanour, so that the Moors liked him well. 
 And as he was going by the side of the King, two honourable 
 Moors followed them, and the one said unto the other, How fair a 
 knight is this Christian, and of what good customs ! well doth he 
 deserve to be the lord of some great land. And the other made 
 answer, I dreamed a dream last night, that this Alfonso entered 
 the city riding upon a huge boar, and many swine after him, who 
 rooted up all Toledo with their snouts, and even the Mosques 
 therein. Certes, he will one day become King of Toledo. And 
 while they were thus communing every hair upon King Don Al- 
 fonso's head stood up erect, and Alimaymon laid his hand upon 
 them to press them down, but so soon as his hand was taken off 
 they rose again : and the two Moors held it for a great token, and 
 spake with each other concerning it, and one of King Alimaymon's 
 favourites heard all which they said. And after the sheep had been 
 sacrificed they returned into the, city, and the favourite told the 
 King what he had heard the two Moors say ; and the King sent for 
 them forthwith, and questioned them, and they repeated to him 
 what they had said, even as ye have heard. And King Alimaymon 
 said unto them, What then shall I do ? and they made answer, that 
 he should put Don Alfonso to death ; but the King replied, that 
 this he would not do, nor do against the true promise which he had 
 given him, but that he would so deal that no evil should ever come 
 towards himself from Alfonso. So he sent for Don Alfonso and 
 bade him swear that he would never come against him, nor against 
 his sons, and that no evil should come against them from him ; and 
 King Don Alfonso did as Alimaymon required, and did him hom- 
 age to this effect. And thenceforth was the King of Toledo more 
 secure of him, and held him even in greater favour than before. All 
 this while did King Don Alfonso govern himself by the advice of 
 Count Peransures, who alway advised him discreetly and well. 
 
 1 The Bairem of the Turks, on which a sheep was sacrificed.
 
 254 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 XXI J. But when King Don Sancho heard how his brother had 
 fled from the Monastery, he drew out his host and went against the 
 '.;ity Oi Leon. The Leonese would fain have maintained the city 
 Against him, but they could not, and he took the city of Leon, and 
 ill the towns and castles which had been under the dominion of his 
 urother King Don Alfonso. And then he put the crown upon his 
 nead, and called himself King of the three kingdoms. He was 
 a fair knight and of marvellous courage, so that both Moors and 
 Christians were dismayed at what they saw him do, for they saw 
 that nothing which he willed to take by force could stand against 
 him. And when the Infanta Dona Urraca, and the men of Zamo- 
 ra, saw that he had quiet possession of both his brothers' kingdoms 
 they feared that he would come against them and disherit his sis- 
 ter also. And for this reason they took Don Arias Gonzalo to be 
 their chief captain, Dona Urraca's foster-father, that by his means 
 they might protect themselves, if need should be. And it came to 
 pass as they had feared, for King Don Sancho knew that his sis- 
 ters greatly loved Don Alfonso, and he thought that by their coun- 
 sel he had fled from the Monastery, especially by Dona LTrraca's, 
 because Don Alfonso guided himself in all things by her counsel, 
 holding her in place of a mother, for she was a lady of great un- 
 derstanding. And he went forth with his army, and took from the 
 Infanta Dona Elvira the half of the Infantazgo which she possessed, 
 and also from Dona Urraca the other half. And he went against 
 Toro, the city of Dona Elvira, and took it ; and then he went to 
 Zamora to Dona Urraca, bidding her yield him up the city, and 
 saying that he would give her lands as much as she required in the 
 plain country. But she returned for answer, that she would in no 
 manner yield unto him that which the King her father had given 
 her ; and she besought him that he would suffer her to continue to 
 dwell peaceably therein, saying that no disservice should ever be 
 done against him on her part. 
 
 XXIII. Then King Don Sancho went to Burgos, because it was 
 not the season for besieging a town, being winter. And he sent 
 his letters through all the land, calling upon his vassals to assem- 
 ble together upon the first day of March in Sahagun, upon pain of 
 forfeiting his favour. Now though the King was yet but a young 
 man, whose beard was but just coming, he was of so great courage 
 that the people feared him, and dared not do otherwise than as he 
 commanded. And they assembled together in Sahagun on the day 
 appointed ; and when the King heard in what readiness they were, 
 it gladdened him, and he lifted up his hands to God and said,
 
 KODRIGO DIAZ DK Bll'AR. 255 
 
 Blessed be thy name, O Lord, because thou hast given me all the 
 kingdoms of my father. And when he had said this he ordered 
 proclamation to be made through the streets of Burgos, that all 
 should go forth to protect the host and the body of the King their 
 Lord. And the day in which they left Burgos they took up their 
 lodging at Fromesta ; and the next day they came to Carrion, but 
 the King would not lodge there, and he went on to Sahagun, where 
 the army awaited him, and took up his lodging without the town ; 
 and on the following morning he bade the host advance, and they 
 made such speed that in three days they arrived before Zamora, 
 and pitched their tents upon the banks of the Douro ; and he 
 ordered proclamation to be made throughout the host that no 
 harm should be done until he had commanded it. And he 
 mounted on horseback with his hidalgos and rode round the town, 
 and beheld how strongly it was situated upon a rock, with strong 
 walls, and many and strong towers, and the river Douro running at 
 the foot thereof; and he said unto his knights, Ye see how strong 
 it is, neither Moor nor Christian can prevail against it ; if I could 
 have it from my sister either for money or exchange, I should be 
 Ix)rd of Spain. 
 
 XXIV. Then the King returned to his tents, and incontinently 
 he sent for the Cid, and said unto him, Cid, you well know how 
 manifoldly you are bound unto me, both by nature, and by reason 
 of the breeding which the King my father gave you ; and when he 
 died he commended you to me, and I have ever shown favour unto 
 you, and you have ever served me as the loyalest vassal that ever 
 did service to his Lord ; and I have for your good deserts given 
 unto you more than there is in a great county, and have made you 
 the chief of all my household. Now therefore I beseech you as 
 my friend and true vassal, that you go to Zamora to my sister 
 Dona Urraca, and say unto her again, that I beseech her to give 
 me the town either for a price, or in exchange, and I will give to 
 her Medina de Rio-seco, with the whole Infantazgo, from Villal- 
 pando to Valladolid, and Tiedra also, which is a good Castle ; and 
 I will swear unto her, with twelve knights of my vassals, never to 
 break this covenant between us ; but if she refuseth to do this I 
 will take away the town from her by force. And my Cid kissed 
 the hand of the King and said unto him, This bidding, Sir, should 
 be for other messenger, for it is a heavy thing for me to deliver it ; 
 for I was brought up in Zamora by your father's command, in the 
 house of Don Arias Gonzalo, with Dona Urraca and with his sons, 
 and it is not fitting that I should be the bearer of such bidding.
 
 256 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 And the King persisted in requiring of him that he should go, in- 
 somuch that he was constrained to obey his will. And he took 
 with him fifteen of his knights and rode towards Zamora, and when 
 he drew nigh he called unto those who kept guard in the towers 
 not to shoot their arrows at him, for he was Ruydiez of Bivar, 
 who came to Dona Urraca with the bidding of her brother Kini; 
 Don Sancho. With that there came down a knight who was neph- 
 ew to Arias Gonzalo, and had the keeping of the gate, and he bade 
 the Cid enter, saying that he would order him to be well lodged 
 while he went to Dona Urraca to know if she would be pleased to 
 see him. So the Cid went in, and the knight went to the Infanta, 
 and told her that Ruydiez of Bivar was come with a message from 
 King Don Sancho ; and it pleased her well that he should be the 
 messenger, and she bade him come before her that she might know 
 what was his bidding ; and she sent Arias Gonzalo and the other 
 knights of her party to meet him and accompany him. And when 
 the Cid entered the palace Dona Urraca advanced to meet him, and 
 greeted him full well, and they seated themselves both upon the 
 Estrado. And Dona Urraca said unto him, Cid, you well know 
 that you were brought up with me here in Zamora, in the house of 
 Don Arias Gonzalo, and when my father was at the point of death 
 he charged you that you should alway counsel his sons the best 
 you could. Now therefore tell me I beseech you what is it which 
 my brother goes about to do, now that he has called up all Spain 
 in arms, and to what lands he thinks to go, whether against Moors 
 or Christians. Then the Cid answered and said, Lady, to mes- 
 senger and a letter no wrong should be done ; give me safe assur- 
 ance and I will tell unto you that which the King your brother hath 
 sent me to say. And she said she would do as Don Arias Gonzalo 
 should advise her. And Don Arias answered that it was well to 
 hear what the King her brother had sent to say. Peradventure, 
 said he, he goeth against the Moors, and requires aid of you, which 
 it would be right to give ; and for such service I and my sons would 
 go with him, and I would give fifteen of my people well mounted 
 and armed, and supply them with food for ten years, if he needed 
 them. Dona Urraca then said to the. Cid, that he might speak 
 his bidding safely. Then said my Cid, the King your brother sends 
 to greet you, and beseeches you to give him this town of Zamora, 
 either for a price or in exchange ; and he will give to you Medina 
 de Rio-seco, with the whole Infantazgo, from Villalpando to Val- 
 ladolid, and the good castle of Tiedra, and he will swear unto 
 you, with twelve knights his vassals, never to do you hurt or harm ;
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAK. 257 
 
 but if you will not give him the town, he will take it against your 
 will. 
 
 XXV. When Dona Urraca heard this she was sorely grieved, 
 and in her great sorrow she lamented aloud, saying, Wretch that I 
 am, many are the evil messages which I have heard since my 
 father's death ! He hath disherited my brother King Don Garcia 
 of his kingdom, and taken him, and now holds him in irons as if 
 he were a thief or a Moor : and he hath taken his lands from my 
 brother King Don Alfonso, and forced him to go among the Moors, 
 and live there exiled as if he had been a traitor ; and would let 
 none go with him except Don Peransures and his brethren, whom 
 I sent : and he hath taken her lands from my sister Dona Elvira 
 against her will, and now would he take Zamora from me also ! 
 Now then let the earth open and swallow me, that I may not see 
 so many troubles ! And with that, in her strong anger against her 
 brother King Don Sancho, she said, I am a woman, and well know 
 that I cannot strive with him in battle ; but I will have him slain 
 either secretly or openly. Then Don Arias Gonzalo stood up and 
 said, Lady Dona Urraca, in thus complaining and making lamen- 
 tation you do inconsiderately ; for in time of trouble it befits us to 
 take thought of what best is to be done, and so must we do. Now 
 then, Lady, give order that all the men of Zamora assemble in St. 
 Salvador's and know of them whether they will hold with you, 
 seeing that your father gave them to you to be your vassals. And 
 if they will hold with you, then give not you up the town, neither 
 for a price, nor in exchange ; but if they will not, let us then go to 
 Toledo among the Moors, where your brother King Don Alfonso 
 abideth. And she did as her foster-father had advised, and it was 
 proclaimed through the streets that the men of Zamora should 
 meet in council at St. Salvador's. And when they were all as- 
 sembled, Dona Urraca arose and said, Friends and vassals, ye have 
 seen how my brother King Don Sancho hath disherited all his 
 brethren, against the oath which he made to the King my father, 
 and now he would disherit me also. He hath sent to bid me 
 give him Zamora, either for a price or in exchange. Now con- 
 cerning this I would know whereunto ye advise me, and if you 
 will hold with me as good vassals and true, for he saith that he will 
 take it from me whether I will or no ; but if ye will keep my career 
 I think to defend it by God's mercy and with your help. Then 
 by command of the council there rose up a knight who was called 
 Don Nuno, a man of worth, aged, and of fair speech ; and he 
 said, God reward you, Lady, this favour which you have shown us
 
 258 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 in thinking good to come to our council, for we are your vassals, 
 and should do what you command. And we beseech you give not 
 up Zamora, neither for price nor for exchange, for he who be- 
 sieges you upon the rock would soon drive you from the plain. 
 The council of Zamora will do your bidding, and will not desert 
 you neither for trouble nor for danger which may befall them, 
 even unto death. Sooner, Lady, will we expend all our posses- 
 sions, and eat our mules and horses, yea sooner feed upon our 
 children and our wives, than give up Zamora, unless by your com- 
 mand. And they all with one accord confirmed what Don Nuno 
 had said. When the Infanta Dona Urraca heard this she was well 
 pleased, and praised them greatly ; and she turned to the Cid and 
 said unto him, You were bred up with me in this town of Zamora, 
 where Don Arias Gonzalo fostered you by command of the King 
 my father, and through your help it was that the King my father 
 gave it unto me to be my inheritance. I beseech you help me 
 now against my brother, and entreat him that he will not seek to 
 disinherit me ; but if he will go on with what he hath begun, say- 
 to him that I will rather die with the men of Zamora, and they 
 with me,. than give him up the town, either for price or exchange. 
 And with this answer did the Cid return unto the King. 
 
 XXVI. When King Don Sancho heard what the Cid said, his 
 anger kindled against him, and he said, You have given this council 
 to my sister because you were bred up with her. And my Cid 
 answered and said, Faithfully have I discharged your bidding, and 
 as a true vassal. Howbeit, O King, I will not bear arms against the 
 Infanta your sister, nor against Zamora, because of the days which 
 are past ; and I beseech you do not persist in doing this wrong. 
 But then King Don Sancho was more greatly incensed, and he said 
 unto him, If it were not that my father left you commended to me, 
 I would order you this instant to be hanged. But for this which 
 you have said I command you to quit my kingdom within nine days. 
 And the Cid went to his tent in anger, and called for his kinsmen 
 and his friends, and bade them make ready on the instant to depart 
 with him. And he set forth with all the knights and esquires of his 
 table, and with all their retainers horse and foot, twelve hundred 
 persons, all men of approved worth, a goodly company ; and they 
 took the road to Toledo, meaning to join King Don Alfonso among 
 the Moors. And that night they slept at Castro Nuno. But when 
 the Counts and Ricos-omes, and the other good men of the host 
 saw this, they understood the great evil and disservice which might 
 arise to the King, and to the land, from the departure of the Cid,
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 259 
 
 who went away in wrath. And they went to the King and said 
 unto him, Sir, wherefore would you lose so good a vassal, who has 
 done you such great service ? If he should go unto your brother 
 Don Alfonso among the Moors, he would not let you besiege this 
 city thus in peace. And the King perceived that they spake rightly, 
 and he called for Don Diego Ordonez, the Son of Count Don Ber- 
 mudo, who was the son of the Infante Don Ordono of Leon, and 
 hade him follow the Cid, and beseech him in his name to return; 
 and whatever covenant he should make it should be confirmed 
 unto him ; and of this he ordered his letters of credence to be made 
 out. And Don Diego Ordonez went to horse, and rode after the 
 Cid, and overtook him between Castro Nuno and Medina del Cam- 
 po. And when it was told unto the Cid that Don Diego Ordonez 
 was coming, he turned to meet him, and greeted him well, and 
 asked him wherefore he was come. And he delivered the King's 
 .bidding, and showed unto him his letters of credence, and said 
 unto him that the King besought him not to bear in mind the words 
 which he had spoken unto him, being in anger. Then the Cid called 
 together his kinsmen and friends, and asked them what they should 
 do. And they counselled him that he should return to the King, 
 for it was better to remain in his land and serve God, than to go 
 among the Moors. And he held their counsel good, and called for 
 Don Diego, and said unto him that he would do the will of the 
 King : and Don Diego sent to the King to tell him how he had 
 sped. And when the Cid drew nigh unto the host, the King went 
 out with five hundred knights to -meet him, and received him gladly, 
 and did him great honour. And the Cid kissed his hand and asked 
 him if he confirmed what Don Diego had said ; and the King con- 
 firmed it before all the knights who were there present, promising 
 to give him great possessions. And when they came to the army 
 great was the joy because of the Cid's return, and great were the 
 rejoicings which were made : but as great was the sorrow in Zamora, 
 for they who were in the town held that the siege was broken up 
 by his departure. Nevertheless my Cid would not bear arms against 
 the Infanta, nor against the town of Zamora, because of the days 
 which were past. 
 
 XXVII. And the King ordered proclamation to be made through- 
 out the host that the people should make ready to attack the town. 
 And they fought against it three days and three nights so bravely 
 that all the ditches were filled up, and the barbicans thrown down, 
 and they who were within fought sword in hand with those without, 
 and the waters of the Douro, as they past below the town, were all
 
 260 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 discoloured with blood. And when Count Don Garcia de Cabra 
 saw the great loss which they were suffering, it grieved him ; and 
 he went unto the King and told him that many men were slain, and 
 advised him to call off the host that they should no longer fight 
 against the town, but hold it besieged, for by famine it might soon 
 be taken. Then the King ordered them to draw back, and he sent 
 to each camp to know how many men had died in the attack, and 
 the number was found to be a thousand and thirty. And when the 
 King knew this he was greatly troubled for the great loss which he 
 had received, and he ordered the town to be beleaguered round 
 about, and in this manner he begirt it, that none could enter into 
 it, neither go out therefrom ; and there was a great famine within 
 the town. And when Don Arias Gonzalo saw the misery, and the 
 hunger, and the mortality which were there, he said to the Infanta 
 Dona Urraca, You see, Lady, the great wretchedness which the 
 people of Zamora have suffered, and do every day suffer to main- 
 tain their loyalty ; now then call together the Council, and thank 
 them truly for what they have done for you, and bid them give up 
 the town within nine days to the King your brother. And we, Lady, 
 will go to Toledo to your brother King Don Alfonso, for we cannot 
 defend Zamora ; King Don Sancho is of so great heart and so reso- 
 lute, that he will never break up the siege, and I do not hold it good 
 that you should abide here longer. And Dona Urraca gave orders 
 that the good men of Zamora should meet together in Council ; 
 and she said unto them, Friends, ye well see the resoluteness 
 of King Don Sancho my brother; and already have ye suffered 
 much evil and much wretchedness for doing right and loyally, los- 
 ing kinsmen and friends in my service. Ye have done enough, and 
 I do not hold it good that ye should perish ; I command ye there- 
 fore give up the town to him within nine days, and I will go to To- 
 ledo to my brother King Don Alfonso. The men of Zamora when 
 they heard this had great sorrow, because they had endured the 
 siege so long, and must now give up the town at last ; and they 
 determined all to go with the Infanta, and not remain in the town. 
 XXVIII. When Vellido Dolfos heard this, he went to Dona 
 Urraca and said, Lady, I came here to Zamora to do you service 
 with thirty knights, all well accoutred, as you know ; and I have 
 served you long time, and never have I had from you guerdon for 
 my service, though I have demanded it ; but now if you will grant 
 my demand I will relieve Zamora, and make King Don Sancho 
 break up the siege. Then said Dona Urraca, Vellido, I shall re- 
 peat to thee the saying of the wise man, A man bargains well with
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 261 
 
 the slothful and with him who is in need ; and thus you would deal 
 with me. I do not bid thee commit any evil thing, if such thou 
 hast in thy thought ; but I say unto you, that there is not a man 
 in the world to whom if he should relieve Zamora, and make the 
 King my brother raise the siege, I would not grant whatsoever he 
 might require. And when Vellido heard this he kissed her hand, 
 and went to a porter who kept one of the gates of the town, and 
 spake with him, saying, that he should open the gate unto him 
 when he saw him flying toward it, and he gave him his cloak. 
 Then went he to his lodging and armed himself, and mounted his 
 horse, and rode to the house of Don Arias Gonzalo, and cried 
 with a loud voice, We all know the reason, Don Arias Gonzalo, 
 why you will not let Dona Urraca exchange Zamora with her 
 brother ; it is because you deal with her as with a harlot, like an 
 old traitor. When Arias Gonzalo heard this, it grieved him to the 
 heart, and he said, In an evil day was I born, that so shameful a 
 falsehood as this should be said to me in mine old age, and there 
 should be none to revenge me ! Then his sons arose and armed 
 themselves hastily, and went after Vellido, who fled before them 
 toward the gate of the town. The porter when he saw him com- 
 ing opened the gate, and he rode out and galloped into the cr.mf 
 of the King Don Sancho, and the others followed him tili \ney 
 were nigh the camp, but farther they did not venture. And Vel- 
 lido went to the King and kissed his hand, and said unto him these 
 false words with a lying tongue-: Sir, because I said to the Coun- 
 cil of Zamora that they should yield the town unto you, the sons of 
 Arias Gonzalo would have slain me, even as you have seen. And 
 therefore come I to you, Sir, and will be your vassal, if I may find 
 favour at your hands. And I will show you how in a few days you 
 may have Zamora, if God pleases ; and if I do not as I have said, 
 then let me be slain. And the King believed all that he said, and 
 received him for his vassal, and did him great honour. And all 
 that night they talked together of his secrets, and he made the 
 King believe that he knew a postern by means of which he would 
 put Zamora into his hands. 
 
 XXIX. On the morrow in the morning, one of the knights who 
 were in the town went upon the wall, and cried out with a loud 
 voice, so that the greater part of the host heard him, King Don 
 Sancho, give ear to what I say ; I am a knight and hidalgo, a na- 
 tive of the land of Santiago ; and they from whom I spring were 
 true men and delighted in their loyalty, and I also will live and die 
 in my truth. Give ear, for I would undeceive you, and tell you
 
 262 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 the truth, if you will believe me. I say unto you, that from this 
 town of Zamora there is gone forth a traitor to kill you ; his name 
 is Vellido Dolfos ; he is the son of Adolfo, who slew Don Nuno 
 like a traitor, and the grandson of Laino, another traitor, who 
 killed his gossip and threw him into the river ; and this is as great 
 a traitor as the rest of his race ; look to yourself therefore and take 
 heed of him. I say this to you, that if peradventure evil should 
 befall you by this traitor, it may not be said in Spain that you were 
 not warned against him. Now the name of this knight was Bernal 
 Dianez de Ocampo. And the men of Zamora sent also to the 
 King to bid him beware of Vellido, and the King took their warn- 
 ing in good part, and sent to say unto them, that when he had the 
 town he would deal bountifully with them, for this which they had 
 done ; nevertheless he gave no heed to the warning. And Vellido. 
 when he heard this went to the King, and said, Sir, the old Arias 
 Gonzalo is full crafty, and hath sent to say this unto you, because 
 he knows that by my means you would have won the town. 
 And he called for his horse, feigning that he would depart because 
 of what had been said. But the King took him by the hand and 
 said, Friend and vassal, take no thought for this ; I say unto you, 
 that if I may have Zamora, I will make you chief therein, even as 
 Arias Gonzalo is now. Then Vellido kissed his hand and said, 
 God grant you life, Sir, for many and happy years, and let you 
 fulfil what you desire. But the traitor had other thoughts in his 
 heart. 
 
 XXX. After this Vellido took the King apart and said to him. 
 If it please you, Sir, let us ride out together alone ; we will go 
 round Zamora, and see the trenches which you have ordered to be 
 made ; and I will show unto you the postern which is called the 
 Queen's, by which we may enter the town, for it is never closed. 
 When it is night you shall give me a hundred knights who are 
 hidalgos, well armed, and we will go on foot, and the Zamorans 
 because they are weak with famine and misery, will let us conquer 
 them, and we will enter and open the gate, and keep it open till 
 all your host shall have entered in ; and thus shall we win the town 
 of Zamora. The King believed what he said, and they took horse 
 and went riding round the town, and the King looked at the trenches. 
 and that traitor showed him the postern whereof he had spoken. 
 And after they had ridden round the town the King alighted 
 upon the side of the Douro ; now he carried in his hand a light 
 hunting spear which was gilded over, even such as the Kings from
 
 ROD RIG O DIAZ DE BIVAR. 263 
 
 whom he was descended were wont to bear ; and he gave this to 
 Vellido to hold it while he went aside, to cover his feet. And 
 Vellido Dolfos, when he saw him in that guise, took the hunting 
 spear and thrust it between his shoulders, so that it went through 
 him and came out at his breast. And when he had stricken him 
 he turned the reins and rode as fast as he could toward the pos- 
 tern ; this was not the first treason which he had committed, for 
 he had killed the Count Don Nuno treacherously. Now it chanced 
 that the Cid saw him riding thus, and asked him wherefore he fled, 
 and he would not answer ; and then the Cid understood that he 
 had done some treason, and his heart misgave him that he had 
 slain the King ; and he called in haste for his horse, but while 
 they were bringing it, Vellido had ridden far away ; and the Cid 
 being eager to follow him, took only his lance and did not wait to 
 have his spurs buckled on. And he followed him to the postern 
 and had well nigh overtaken him, but Vellido got in ; and then the 
 Cid said ' in his anger, Cursed be the knight who ever gets on 
 horseback without his spurs. Now in all the feats of the Cid 
 never was fault found in him save only in this, that he did not 
 enter after Vellido into the town ; but he did not fail to do this for 
 cowardice, neither for fear of death, or of imprisonment, but be- 
 cause he thought that peradventure this was a device between him 
 and the King, and that he fled by the King's command ; for certes, 
 if he had known that the King was slain, there was nothing which 
 would have prevented him from -entering the town, and slaying the 
 traitor in the streets, thereright. 
 
 XXXI. Now the history saith, that when Vellido Dolfos had got 
 within the postern, he was in such fear both of those who were in 
 the town and of those who were without, that he went and placed 
 himself under the mantle of the Infanta Dona Urraca. And when 
 Don Arias Gonzalo knew this, he went unto the Infanta and said, 
 I,ady, I beseech you that you give up this traitor to the Castilians, 
 otherwise be sure that it will be to your own harm ; for the Castil- 
 ians will impeach all who are in Zamora, and that will be greater 
 dishonour for you and for us. And Dona Urraca made answer. 
 Counsel me then so that he may not die for this which he hath 
 done. Don Arias Gonzalo then answered, Give him unto me, and 
 I will keep him in custody for three days, and if the Castilians 
 impeach us, we will deliver him into their hands ; and if they do 
 not impeach us within that time, we will thrust him out of the 
 town so that he shall not be seen among us. And Don Arias
 
 264 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 Gonzalo took him from thence, and secured him with double 
 fetters, and guarded him well. 
 
 XXXII. Meantime the Castilians went to seek their King, and 
 they found him by the side -of the Douro, where he lay sorely 
 wounded, even unto death ; but he had not yet lost his speech, 
 and the hunting spear was in his body, through and through, and 
 they did not dare to take it out lest he should die immediately. 
 And a master of Burgos came up who was well skilled in these 
 things, and he sawed off the ends of the spear, that he might not 
 lose his speech, and said that he should be confessed, for he had 
 death within him. Then Count Don Garcia de Cabra, the curly- 
 haired one of Granon, said unto him, Sir, think of your soul, for 
 you have a desperate wound. And the King made answer, Blessed 
 be you, Count, who thus counsel me, for I perceive that I am 
 slain ; the traitor Vellido has killed me, and I well know that this 
 was for my sins, because I broke the oath which I made unto the 
 King my father. And as the King was saying this the Cid came 
 up and knelt before him and said : I, Sir, remain more desolate 
 than any other of your vassals, for for your sake have I made your 
 brethren mine enemies, and all in the world who were against you, 
 and against whom it pleased you to go. The King your father 
 commended me to them as well as to you, when he divided his 
 kingdoms, and I have lost their love for your sake, having done 
 them great evil. And now neither can I go before King Don Alfonso 
 your brother, nor remain among the Christians before Dona Urraca 
 your sister, because they hold that whatsoever you have done against 
 them was by my counsel. Now then, Sir, remember me before you 
 depart. The King then commanded that they should raise him up 
 in the bed, and the Counts and Ricos-omes stood round about him, 
 and the Bishops and Archbishops who had come thither to make 
 accord between him and his sister Dona Urraca, and they heard 
 what the Cid said, and knew that he said truly ; for whatever good 
 speed King Don Sancho had had in his doings was all by means of 
 my Cid. And the King said unto them, I beseech all ye who are 
 here present, Counts and Ricos-omes, and all my other vassals, 
 that if my brother King Don Alfonso should come from the land 
 of the Moors, ye beseech him to show favour unto you, my Cid, and 
 that he always be bountiful unto you, and receive you to be his 
 vassal ; and if he alway doth this and listen unto you, he will not 
 be badly advised. Then the Cid arose and kissed his hand, and 
 all the chief persons who were there present did the like. And
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 
 
 265 
 
 after this the King said unto them, I beseech ye entreat my 
 brother King Don Alfonso to forgive me whatever wrong I have 
 done him, and to pray to God to have mercy upon my soul. And 
 when he had said this he asked for the candle, and presently his 
 soul departed. And all who were there present made great 
 lamentation for the King.
 
 266 CHRONICLE OF THE CID. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 I. Now when the King was dead, the townsmen who were in 
 the camp forsook their tents and fled, and much did they lose 
 in their flight; but the noble Castilians, thinking rather of what 
 they were bound to do as men who had alway preserved their 
 loyalty, like their ancestors before them, would not depart from 
 Zamora, nor break up the siege thereof, but remained bravely 
 before it, though they had lost their Lord. And they summoned 
 all the Bishops, and took the body of the King and sent it full 
 honourably to the Monastery of Ona, and buried him there as 
 beseemed a King : and while one part of the chief men of the 
 host accompanied the body, the rest remained in the camp before 
 Zamora. And when the prelates and good men had returned to 
 the army, they took counsel together how they should proceed 
 against the men of Zamora for this great treason which had been 
 committed. Then Count Don Garcia de Cabra arose and said, 
 Friends, ye see that we have lost our Lord the King Don Sancho ; 
 the traitor Vellido, being his vassal, slew him, and they of Zamora 
 have received and harboured him within their walls ; and therefore 
 as we think, and as has been said unto us, he did this treason by 
 their counsel. Now then if there be one here who will impeach 
 them for this thing, we will do whatever may be needful that he 
 may come off with honour, and the impeachment be carried 
 through. Then Don Diego Ordonez arose, the son of Count Don 
 Ordono, a man of royal lineage and great hardihood ; and he said 
 unto them, If ye will all assent to this which ye have heard, I will 
 impeach the men of Zamora, for the death of the King our Lord : 
 and they all assented, promising to fulfil what had been said. 
 Now my Cid did not make this impeachment against the people 
 of Zamora, because of the oath which he had sworn. 
 
 II. Then Don Diego Ordonez went to his lodging and armed 
 himself well, and armed his horse also, and mounted and rode 
 toward Zamora. And when he drew nigh unto the town, he 
 covered himself with his shield that they might not hurt him from 
 the walls, and began to cry aloud, asking if Don Arias Gonzalo
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 267 
 
 were there, for he would speak with him. A squire who was 
 keeping guard upon the wall went to Don Arias and told him that 
 there was a knight well armed calling for him, without the walls, 
 and he said that if it pleased Don Arias he would shoot at him 
 with a cross-bow, and strike him or kill his horse : but Don Arias 
 forbade him, saying that he should no ways harm him. And Don 
 Arias Gonzalo went with his sons upon the wall to see who called 
 for him, and he spake to the knight, saying, Friend, what wouldst 
 thou ? And Don Diego Ordonez answered, The Castilians have 
 lost their Lord ; the traitor Vellido slew him, being his vassal, and 
 ye of Zamora have received Vellido and harboured him within 
 your walls. Now therefore I say that he is a traitor who hath a 
 traitor with him, if he knoweth and consenteth unto the treason. 
 And for this I impeach the people of Zamora, the great as well as 
 the little, the living and the dead, they who now are and they who 
 are yet unborn ; and I impeach the waters which they drink and 
 the garments which they put on ; their bread and their wine, and 
 the very stones in their walls. If there be any one in Zamora 
 to gainsay what I have said, I will do battle with him, and with 
 (rod's pleasure conquer him, so that the imfamy shall remain upon 
 you. Don Arias Gonzalo replied, If I were what thou sayest I am, 
 it had been better for me never to have been born ; but in what 
 thou sayest thou liest. In that which the great do the little have 
 no fault, nor the dead for the deeds of the living, which they 
 neither see nor hear : but setting aside these and the things which 
 have no understanding, as to the rest I say that thou liest, and I 
 will do battle with thee upon this quarrel, or give thee one in my 
 stead. But know that you have been ill advised in making this 
 impeachment, for the manner is, that whosoever impeacheth a 
 Council must do battle with five, one after another, and if he con- 
 quer the five he shall be held a true man, but if either of the five 
 conquer him, the council is held acquitted and he a liar. When 
 Don Diego heard this it troubled him ; howbeit he dissembled 
 this right well, and said unto Don Arias Gonzalo. I will bring 
 twelve Castilians, and do you bring twelve men of Zamora, and 
 they shall swear upon the Holy Gospel to judge justly between us, 
 and if they find that I am bound to do battle with five, I will per- 
 form it. And Don Arias made answer that he said well, and it 
 should be so. And truce was made for three times nine days, till 
 this should have been determined and the combat fought. 
 
 III. Then when the truce was made, Don Arias Gonzalo went 
 out from the town into the host of the Castilians, and his sons
 
 268 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 with him, and many of the knights of the town ; and all the Ricos- 
 omes and knights who were in the host assembled together with 
 them, and consulted what was to be done in this impeachment. 
 And they chose out twelve alcaldes on the one part, and twelve on 
 the other, who should decide in what manner he was bound to 
 perform combat who impeached a Council. And the four and 
 twenty alcaldes accorded concerning what was the law in this case ; 
 and two of them who were held the most learned in these things 
 arose, the one being a Castilian and the other of Zamora, and said 
 that they had found the law as it was written to be this : That who- 
 soever impeacheth the Council of a town which was a bishop's 
 seat, must do battle with five in the field, one after another ; and 
 that after every combat there should be given unto him fresh arms 
 and horse, and three sops of bread, and a draught either of wine 
 or of water, as he chose. And in this sentence which the twain 
 pronounced, and the other twenty and two accorded. 
 
 IV. On the morrow before the hour of tierce, the four and 
 twenty alcaldes marked out the lists upon the sand beside the 
 river, at the place which is called Santiago, and in the middle of 
 the lists they placed a bar, and ordained that he who won the bat- 
 tle should lay hand on the bar, and say that he had conquered : 
 and then they appointed a term of nine days for the combatants 
 to come to those lists which had been assigned. And when all 
 was appointed as ye have heard, Don Arias returned to Zamora. 
 and told the Infanta Dona Urraca all that had been done, and she 
 ordered a meeting to be called, at which all the men of the town 
 assembled. And when they were gathered together, Don Arias 
 Gonzalo said unto them, Friends, I beseech ye, if there be any 
 here among ye who took counsel for the death of King Don San- 
 cho, or were privy thereunto, that ye now tell me, and deny it not ; 
 for rather would I go with my sons to the land of the Moors, than 
 be overcome in the field, and held for a traitor. Then they all re- 
 plied, that there was none there who knew of the treason, nor had 
 consented unto it. At this was Don Arias Gonzalo well pleased, 
 and he bade them go each to his house ; and he went to his house 
 also with his sons, and chose out four of them to do -combat, and 
 said that he would be the fifth himself; and he gave them direc- 
 tions how to demean themselves in the lists, and said, that he 
 would enter first ; and if, said he, what the Castilian saith be true, 
 1 would die first, not to see the infamy ; but if what he saith be 
 false, I shall conquer him, and ye shall ever be held in honour. 
 
 V. When the day appointed was come, Don Arias Gonzalo early
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DR BIVAR. 269 
 
 in the morning armed his sons, and they armed him ; and it was 
 told him that Don Diego Ordonez was already in the lists. Then 
 he and his sons mounted their horses, and as they rode through 
 the gates of their house, Dona Urraca, with a company of dames 
 met them, and said to Don Arias, weeping, Remember now how 
 my father, King Don Ferrando, left me to your care, and you 
 swore between his hands that you would never forsake me ; and 
 lo ! now you are forsaking me. I beseech you remain with me, 
 and go not to this battle ; for there is reason enough why you 
 should be excused, and not break the oath which you made unto 
 my father. And she took hold on him, and would not let him go, 
 and made him be disarmed. Then came many knights around 
 him, to demand arms of him, and request that they might do bat- 
 tle in his stead ; nevertheless he would give them to none. And 
 he called for his son Pedro Arias, who was a right brave knight, 
 though but of green years, and who had greatly entreated his father 
 before this, that he would suffer him to fight in his stead. And 
 Don Arias armed him completely with his own hands, and instructed 
 him how to demean himself, and gave him his blessing with his 
 right hand, and said unto him, that in such a point he went to 
 save the people of Zamora, as when our Lord Jesus Christ came 
 through the Virgin Mary, to save the people of this world, who 
 were lost by our father Adam. Then went they into the field, 
 where Don Diego Ordonez was awaiting them, and Pedrarias 
 entered the lists, and the judges placed them each In his place, 
 and divided the sun between them, and went out, leaving them in 
 the lists. 
 
 VI. Then they turned their horses one against the other, and 
 ran at each other full bravely, like good knights. Five times they 
 encountered, and at the sixth encounter their spears brake, and 
 they laid hand upon their swords, and dealt each other such heavy 
 blows that the helmets failed; and in this manner the combat 
 between them continued till noon. And when Don Diego Ordo- 
 nez saw that it lasted so long, and he could not yet conquer him, 
 he called to mind that he was there fighting to revenge his Ix>rd, 
 who had been slain by a foul treason, and he collected together 
 all his strength. And he lifted up his sword and smote Pedrarias 
 upon the helmet, so that he cut through it, and through the hood 
 of the mail also, and made a wound in the head. And Pedrarias 
 with the agony of death, and with the blood which ran over his 
 eyes, bowed down to the neck of the horse ; yet with all this he 
 neither lost his stirrups, nor let go his sword. And Don Diego
 
 270 CHRONICLE OF THE C7D, 
 
 Ordonez seeing him thus, thought that he was dead, and would 
 not strike him again ; and he called aloud, saying, Don Arias, send 
 me another son, for this one will never fulfil your bidding. When 
 Pedrarias heard this, grievously wounded as he was, he wiped the 
 blood away with the sleeve of his mail, and went fiercely against 
 him : and he took the sword in both hands, and thought to give it 
 him upon his head ; but the blow missed, and fell upon the horse, 
 and cut off great part of his nostrils, and the reins with it ; and the 
 horse immediately ran away because of the great wound which he 
 had received. And Don Diego had no reins wherewith to stop 
 him, and perceiving that he should else be carried out of the lists, 
 he threw himself off. And while he did this, Pedrarias fell down 
 dead, just without the mark. And Don Diego Ordonez laid hand 
 on the bar, and said, Praised be the name of God, one is con- 
 quered. And incontinently the judges came and took him by the 
 hand, and led him to a tent and disarmed him, and gave him three 
 sops, and he drank of the wine and rested awhile. And afterwards 
 they gave him other arms, and a horse that was a right good one, 
 and went with him to the lists. 
 
 VII. Then Don Arias Gonzalo called for another son, whose 
 name was Diego Arias, and said unto him, To horse ! and go light 
 to deliver this Council and to revenge the death of your brother : 
 and he answered, For this am I come hither. Then his father 
 gave him his blessing and went with him to the lists. And the 
 judges took the reins of the two champions and led them each to 
 his place, and went out and left them in the lists. And they ran 
 against each other with such force that both shields failed, and in 
 another career they brake their lances. Then laid they hand on 
 their good swords, and delivered such blows that their helmets were 
 cut away, and the sleeves of the mail. And at length Diego Arias 
 received such a blow near the heart that he fell dead. And 1 )on 
 1 )iego Ordonez went to the bar and laid hold on it, and cried out 
 to Don Arias Gonzalo, Send me another son, for I have conquered 
 two, thanks be to God. Then the judges came and said that the 
 dead knight was not yet out of the lists, and that he must alight 
 and cast him out. And Don Diego Ordonez did as they had di- 
 rected him, and alighted from his horse and took the dead man by 
 the leg, and dragged him to the line, and then letting the leg fall 
 he thrust him out of the lists with his feet. And then he went and 
 laid hand upon the bar again, saying that he had liefer fight with a 
 living man than drag a dead one out of the field. And then the 
 judges came to him, and led him to the tent, and disarmed him,
 
 RODRIGO DTAZ DE BIVAR. 271 
 
 and gave him the three sops and the wine, as they had done before, 
 and sent to say to Don Arias Gonzalo that this son also was slain, 
 and that he should send another. 
 
 VIII. Then Don Arias Gonzalo, in great rage and in great trouble 
 called for his son Rodrigo Arias, who was a good knight, right hardy 
 and valiant, the elder of all the brethren ; he had been in many a 
 tournament, and with good fortune. And Don Arias said unto him, 
 Son, go now and do battle with Diego Ordonez, to save Dona Ur- 
 raca your Lady, and yourself, and the Council of Zamora ; and if 
 you do this, in happy hour were you born. Then Rodrigo Arias 
 kissed his hand and answered, Father, I thank you much for what 
 you have said, and be sure that I will save them, or take my death. 
 And he took his arms and mounted, and his father gave him his 
 blessing, and went with him to the lists ; and the judges took his 
 reins and led him in. And when the judges were gone out, they 
 twain ran at each other, and Don Diego missed his blow, but Rod- 
 rigo Arias did not miss, for he gave him so great a stroke with the 
 lance that it pierced through the shield, and broke the saddle-bow 
 behind, and made him lose his stirrups, and he embraced the neck 
 of his horse. But albeit that Don Diego was sorely bested with 
 that stroke, he took heart presently, and went bravely against him, 
 and dealt him so great a blow that he broke the lance in him ; for 
 it went through the shield and all his other arms, and great part of 
 the lance remained in his flesh. After this they laid hand to sword, 
 and gave each to the other great blows, and great wounds with them. 
 And Rodrigo Arias gave so great a wound to Diego Ordonez, that 
 he cut his left arm through to the bone. And Don Diego Ordo- 
 nez, when he felt himself so sorely wounded, went against Rodrigo 
 Arias and delivered him a blow upon the head which out through 
 the helmet and the hood of the mail, and entered into his head. 
 When Rodrigo Arias felt himself wounded to death, he let go the 
 reins and took his sword in both hands, and gave so great a blow 
 to the horse of Don Diego that he cut his head open. And the 
 horse -in his agony ran out of the lists, and carried Don Diego out 
 also, and there died. And Rodrigo Arias fell dead as he was 
 following him. Then Don Diego Ordonez would have returned 
 into the field to do battle with the other two, but the judges would 
 not permit this, neither did they think good to decide whether 
 they of Zamora were overcome in this third duel or not. And in 
 this manner the thing was left undecided. Nevertheless, though 
 no sentence was given, there remained no infamy upon the people 
 of Zamora. But better had it been for Don Arias Gonzalo if he
 
 272 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 had given up Vellido to the Castilians, that he might have died the 
 death of a traitor ; he would not then have lost these three sons, 
 who died like good men, in their duty. Now what was the end of 
 Vellido the history sayeth not, through the default of the Chroniclers ; 
 but it is to be believed, that because the impeachment was not 
 made within three days, Don Arias Gonzalo thrust him out of the 
 town as Dona Urraca had requested, and that he fled into other 
 lands, peradventure among the Moors. And though it may be that 
 he escaped punishment in this world, yet certes he could not escape 
 it in hell, where he is tormented with Dathan and Abiram, and with 
 Judas the Traitor, for ever ajid ever. 
 
 IX. In the meantime the Infanta Dona Urraca wrote letters se- 
 cretly and sent messengers with them to Toledo to King Don Alfon- 
 so, telling him that King Don Sancho his brother was dead, and had 
 left no heir, and that he should come as speedily as he could to 
 receive the kingdoms. And she bade her messengers deliver these 
 privately that the Moors might not discover what had taken place, 
 lest they should seize upon King Don Alfonso, whom she dearly 
 loved. Moreover the Castilians assembled together and found that 
 as King Don Sancho had left no son to succeed him they were 
 bound by right to receive King Don Alfonso as their Lord ; and 
 they also sent unto him in secret. Howbeit, certain of those spies 
 who discover to the Moors whatever the Christians design to do, 
 when they knew the death of King Don Sancho, went presently 
 to acquaint the Moors therewith. Now Don Peransures, as he was 
 a man of great understanding and understood the Arabic tongue, 
 when he knew the death of King Don Sancho, and while he was 
 devising how to get his Lord away from Toledo, rode out every 
 day, as if to solace himself, on the way towards Castile, to see whom 
 he might meet, and to learn tidings. And it fell out one day that 
 he met a man who told him he was going with news to King Ali- 
 maymon, that King Don Sancho was dead ; and Don Peransures 
 took him aside from the road as if to speak to him, and cut off his 
 head. And Peransures returned into the road and met another 
 man coming with the same tidings to the King, and he slew him in 
 like manner. Nevertheless the tidings reached King Alimaymon. 
 Now Peransures and his brethren feared that if the Moor knew this 
 he would not let their Lord depart, but would seize him and make 
 hard terms for his deliverance ; and on the other hand, they thought 
 that if he should learn it from any other than themselves, it would 
 be yet worse. And while they were in doubt what they should do, 
 King Don Alfonso, trusting in God's mercy, said unto them, When
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 273 
 
 I came hither unto this Moor, he received me with great honour, 
 and gave to me abundantly all things of which I stood in need, 
 even as if I had been his son ; how then should I conceal from him 
 this favour which it hath pleased God to show me ? I will go and 
 tell it unto him. But Don Peransures besought him not to- tell him 
 of his brother's death. And he went to King Alimaymon and said 
 unto him, that he would fain go into his own country, if it pleased 
 him, to help his vassals, who stood greatly in need of him, and he 
 besought him that he would give him men. The death of King 
 Don Sancho he did not make known. And King Alimaymon an- 
 swered that he should not do this, because he feared that King 
 Don Sancho his brother would take him. And King Don Alfonso 
 said, that he knew the ways and customs of his brother, and did 
 not fear him, if it pleased the King to give him some Moors to help 
 him. Now Alimaymon had heard of the death of King Don Sancho, 
 and he had sent to occupy the roads and the passes, that King Don 
 Alfonso might be stopped if he should attempt to depart without 
 his knowledge. Howbeit he did not fully believe the tidings, see- 
 ing that King Don Alfonso did not speak of it ; and he rejoiced in 
 his heart at what the King said, and he said unto him, I thank God, 
 Alfonso, that thou hast told me of thy wish to go into thine own 
 country ; for in this thou hast dealt loyally by me, and saved me 
 from that which might else have happened, to which the Moors 
 have alway importuned, me. And hadst thou departed privily thou 
 couldest not have escaped being slain or taken. Now then go and 
 take thy kingdom ; and I will give thee whatever thou hast need of 
 to give to thine own people and win their hearts that they may serve 
 thee. And he then besought him to renew the oath which he had 
 taken, never to come against him nor his sons, but always to befriend 
 them ; and this same oath did the King of Toledo make unto him. 
 Now Alimaymon had a grandson whom he dearly loved, who was 
 not named in the oath, and King Don Alfonso therefore was not 
 bound to keep it towards him. And King Don Alfonso made ready 
 for his departure, and Alimaymon and the chief persons of the court 
 went out from the city with him and rode with him as far as the 
 Sierra del Dragon, which is now called Valtome ; and he gave him 
 great gifts, and there they took leave of each other with great love. 
 X. As soon as King Don Alfonso arrived at Zamora, he pitched 
 his tents in the field of Santiago, and took counsel with his sister. 
 And the Infanta Dona Urraca, who was a right prudent lady and a 
 wise, sent letters throughout the land, that a Cortes should assemble 
 and receive him for their Lord. And when the Leonese and the
 
 274 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 Galegos knew that their Lord King Don Alfonso was come, they 
 were full joyful, and they came to Zamora and received him for 
 their Lord and King. And afterwards the Castilians arrived, and 
 they of Navarre, and they also received him for their Lord and 
 King, but upon this condition, that he should swear that he had not 
 taken counsel for the death of his brother King Don Sancho. How- 
 beit they did not come forward to recieve the oath, and they kissed 
 his hands in homage, all, save only Ruydiez, my Cid. And when 
 King Don Alfonso saw that the Cid did not do homage and kiss 
 his hand, as all the other chief persons and prelates and Councils 
 had done, he said, Since now ye have all received me for your Lord, 
 and given me authority over ye, I would know of the Cid Ruydie/ 
 why he will not kiss my hand and acknowledge me ; for I would 
 do something for him, as I promised unto my father King Don 
 Ferrando, when he commended him to me and to my brethren. 
 And the Cid arose and said, Sir, all whom you see here present, 
 suspect that by your counsel the King Don Sancho your brother 
 came to his death ; and therefore, I say unto you that, unless you 
 clear yourself of this, as by right you should do, I will never kiss 
 your hand, nor receive you for my Lord. Then said the King, Cid, 
 what you say pleases me well ; and here I swear to God and to St. 
 Mary, that I never slew him, nor took counsel for his death, neither 
 did it please me, though he had taken my kingdom from me. And 
 I beseech ye therefore all, as friends and true vassals, that ye tell 
 me how I may clear myself. And the chiefs who were present 
 said, that he and twelve of the knights who came with him from 
 Toledo, should make this oath in the church at St. Gadea at Bur- 
 gos, and that so he should be cleared. 
 
 XL So the King and all his company took horse and went to 
 Burgos. And when the day appointed for the oath was come, the 
 King went to hear mass in the church of Gadea, and his sisters the 
 Infantas Dona Urraca and Dona Elvira with him, and all his knights. 
 And the King came forward upon a high stage that all the people 
 might see him, and my Cid came to him to receive the oath ; and 
 my Cid took the book of the Gospels and opened it, and laid it 
 upon the altar, and the King laid his hands upon it, and the Cid 
 said unto him, King Don Alfonso, you come here to swear concern- 
 ing the death of King Don Sancho your brother, that you neither 
 slew him nor took counsel for his death ; say now you and these 
 hidalgos, if ye swear this. And the King and the hidalgos an- 
 swered and said, Yea, we swear it. And the Cid said, If ye knew 
 of this thing, or gave command that it should be done, may you
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 275 
 
 die even such a death as your brother the King Don Sancho, by 
 the hand of a villain whom you trust ; one who is not a hidalgo, 
 from another land, not a Castilian ; and the King and the knights 
 \vho were with him said Amen. And the King's colour changed ; 
 and the Cid repeated the oath unto him a second time, and the 
 King and the twelve knights said Amen to it in like manner, and in 
 like manner the countenance of the King was changed again. And 
 my Cid repeated the oath unto him a third time, and the King and 
 the knights said Amen ; but the wrath of the King was exceeding 
 great, and he said to the Cid, Ruydiez, why dost thou thus press 
 me, man ? To-day thou swearest me, and to-morrow thou wilt kiss 
 my hand. And from that day forward there was no love towards 
 my Cid l in the heart of the King. 
 
 XII. After this was King Don Alfonso crowned King of Castile, 
 and Leon, and Galicia, and Portugal ; and he called himself King 
 and Emperor of all Spain, even as his father had done before him. 
 And in the beginning of his reign he did in all things according to 
 the counsel of the Infanta Dona Urraca his sister ; and he was a 
 good King, and kept his kingdom so well, that rich and poor alike 
 dwelt in peace and security, neither did one man take arms against 
 another, nor dare to do it, if he valued the eyes in his head. And 
 if the King was noble and high of lineage, much more was he of 
 heart ; and in his days justice abounded in the land so, that if a 
 woman had gone alone throughout the whole of his dominions, 
 bearing gold and silver in her hand, she would have found none to 
 hurt her, neither in the waste, nor' in the peopled country. The 
 merchants and pilgrims also who. passed through his lands were so 
 well protected, that none durst do them wrong. Never while the 
 kingdom was his, had they of his land to do service to any other 
 Lord. And he was a comforter of the sorrowful, and an increaser 
 of the faith, and a defender of the churches, and the strength of 
 the people ; a judge without fear ; there was not in Spain a con- 
 soler of the poor and of those who were oppressed, till he came. 
 Now there was a mortal enmity between my Cid and Count Garcia 
 Ordonez, and in this year did my Cid gather together those of his 
 table, and all his power, and entered into the lands of Logrono, and 
 Navarre, and Calahorra, burning and spoiling the country before 
 him. And he laid siege to the Castle of Faro and took it. And 
 he sent messengers to the Count his enemy, to say that he would 
 
 1 The Cid when he repeated the oath seems only to have enforced the law 
 of Castile.
 
 276 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 wait for him seven days, and he waited. And the mighty men of 
 the land came to the Count Don Garcia, but come against my Cid 
 that they dared not do, for they feared to do battle with him. 
 
 XIII. In the second year of the reign of King Don Alfonso, the 
 King of Cordova made war upon Alimaymon King of Toledo, and 
 did great damage in his land, and held him besieged in Toledo ; 
 and King Don Alfonso drew forth a great host and went to help 
 the King of Toledo. When Alimaymon knew that he was coming 
 with so great a power, he was greatly dismayed, thinking that he 
 came against him ; and he sent to remind him of the love and the 
 honour which he had shown unto him in the days of his brother 
 King Don Sancho, and of the oath which he had taken ; and to be- 
 seech him that he would continue in peace with him. And the 
 King detained his messengers, giving them no reply, and went on 
 advancing into the land, doing no hurt therein. And when he came 
 to Olias, he ordered the whole army to halt. And when the King 
 of Cordova knew that King Don Alfonso was coming, he rose up 
 from before Toledo, and fled away, and the men of Toledo pur- 
 sued him and inflicted great loss upon him in his flight. 
 
 XIV. And when the army had halted at Olias, the King called 
 for the messengers of Alimaymon, and took with him five knights, 
 and rode to Toledo. And when they came to the gate which is 
 called Visagra, the messengers who went with him made him enter 
 the town, and he sent one of them to tell the King that he was there, 
 and went on in the meantime towards the Alcaxar. And when King 
 Alimaymon heard this, he would not wait till a beast should be brought 
 him that he might ride, but set out on foot and went to meet him ; 
 and as he was going out he met King Don Alfonso, and they em- 
 braced each other. And the King of Toledo kissed King Don 
 Alfonso's shoulder, for the joy and pleasure that he had in his heart 
 at seeing him ; and he gave thanks to God for what he had done 
 to King Don Alfonso, and thanked him also for the truth which 
 was in him in coming thus to his deliverance, and for remembering 
 the oath which they had made each to the other. And they re- 
 joiced together all that night, and great was the joy of the people 
 of Toledo, because of the love which King Don Alfonso bore 
 toward their Lord. But great was the sorrow in the host of the 
 Castilians, for they never thought to see their Lord again ; and 
 they thought that he had committed a great folly in thus putting 
 himself into the power of the Moors. 
 
 XV. On the morrow, King Don Alfonso besought King Alimay- 
 mon that he would go and eat with him at Olias, and see how he
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 277 
 
 came to help him. And they went both together with a little 
 company, and when they of the host saw their Lord they were all 
 right joyful, and the two Kings went through the camp, and they 
 sat down to eat in the tent of the King, which was a large one. 
 And while they were at meat King Don Alfonso gave order in 
 secret that five hundred knights should arm themselves and sur- 
 round the tent. And when the King of Toledo sa\v these armed 
 knights, and that the tent was surrounded, he was in great fear, 
 and he asked of King Don Alfonso what it should be ; and the 
 King bade him eat, and said, that afterwards they would tell him. 
 And after they had eaten, King Don Alfonso said to Alimaymon, 
 You made me swear and promise when you had me in Toledo in 
 your power, that no evil should ever come against you on my 
 part ; now since I have you in my power I will that you release 
 me from this oath and covenant. And the King of Toledo con- 
 sented to release him, and besought him to do him no other wrong, 
 and he acquitted him from the promise three times. And when 
 he had done this King Don Alfonso called for the book of the 
 Gospels, and said unto him, Now then that you are in my power, 
 I swear and promise unto you never to go against you, nor against 
 your son, and to aid you against all other men in the world. And 
 I make this oath unto you because there was reason why I should 
 have broken that other one, seeing that it was made when I was in 
 your hands ; but against this I must not go, for I make it when 
 you are in mine, and I could do with you even whatever pleased 
 me ; and he laid his hands upon the book, and swore even as he 
 had said. Right joyful was the King of Toledo at this which 
 King Don Alfonso had done, for the loyalty which he had shown 
 towards him. And they remained that night together ; and on the 
 morrow Alimaymon returned to his city full gladly, and King Don 
 Alfonso made his host move on towards Cordova, and Alimaymon 
 went with him ; and they overran the land, and burnt towns and 
 villages, and destroyed castles, and plundered whatever they could 
 find ; and they returned each into his own country with great 
 spoils. And from thenceforward the King of Cordova durst no 
 more attack the King of Toledo. 
 
 XVI. In the following years nothing is found to be related, save 
 that my Cid did battle by command of the King with a knight 
 called Ximen Garcia de Tiogelos, who was one of the best of 
 Navarre : they fought for the castle of Pazluengas, and for two 
 other castles, and my Cid conquered him, and King Don Alfonso 
 had the castles. And after this my Cid did battle in Medina Celi,
 
 278 CHRONICLE OF THE CW, 
 
 with a Moor called Faras, who was a good knight in arms, and he 
 defeated and slew him and another also. And in the fifth year 
 of the reign of King Don Alfonso, the King sent the Cid to the 
 Kings of Seville and of Cordova, for the tribute which they were 
 bound to pay him. Now there was at this time war between 
 Almocanis King of Seville, and Almundafar King of Granada, and 
 with Almundafar were these men of Castile, the Count Don Garcia 
 Ordonez, and Fortun Sanchez, the son-in-law of King Don Garcia 
 of Navarre, and Lope Sanchez his brother, and Diego Perez, one 
 of the best men of Castile ; and they aided him all that they could, 
 and went against the King of Seville. And when my Cid knew 
 this it troubled him, and he sent unto them requiring them not to 
 go against the King of Seville, nor to destroy his country, because 
 he was King Don Alfonso's vassal ; otherwise the King must de- 
 fend him. And the King of Granada and the Ricos-omes who 
 were with him cared nothing for his letters, but entered boldly into 
 the land of Seville, and advanced as far as Cabra, burning and 
 laying waste before them. When the Cid saw this he gathered 
 together what Christians he could and went against them. And 
 the King of Granada and the Christians who were with him, sent 
 to tell him that they would not go out of the country for him. 
 And the wrath of the Cid was kindled, and he went against them, 
 and fought with them in the field, and the battle lasted from the 
 hour of tierce even until the hour of sexts ; and many died upon 
 the part of the King of Granada, and at length my Cid overcame 
 them and made them take to flight. And Count Garcia Ordonez 
 was taken prisoner, and Lope Sanchez, and Diego Perez, and 
 many other knights, and of other men so many that they were out 
 of number ; and the dead were so many that no man could count 
 them ; and the spoils of the field were very great. And the Cid 
 held these good men prisoners three clays and then set them free, 
 and he returned with great honour and great riches to Seville. And 
 King Almocanis received him full honourably, and gave him great 
 gifts for himself, and paid him the full tribute for the King ; and 
 he returned rich to Castile, and with great honour. And King 
 Don Alfonso was well pleased with the good fortune of the C'id 
 in all his feats ; but there were many who wished ill to him, and 
 sought to set the King against him. 
 
 XVII. After this King Don Alfonso assembled together all his 
 power and went against the Moors. And the Cid should have 
 gone with him, but he fell sick and perforce therefore abode at 
 home. And while the King was going through Andalusia, having
 
 RODRfGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 279 
 
 the land at his mercy, a great power of the Moors assembled to- 
 gether on the other side, and entered the land, and besieged the 
 castle of Gormaz, and did much evil. At this time the Cid was 
 gathering strength ; and when he heard that the Moors were in the 
 country, laying waste before them, he gathered together what force 
 he could, and went after them ; and the Moors, when they heard 
 this, dared not abide his coming, but began to fly. And the Cid 
 followed them to Atienza, and to Siguenza, and Fita, and Guada- 
 lajara, and through the whole land of St. Esteban, as far as Toledo, 
 slaying and burning, and plundering and destroying, and laying 
 hands on all whom he found, so that he brought back seven thou- 
 sand prisoners, men and women ; and he and all his people returned 
 rich and with great honour. But when the King of Toledo heard 
 of the hurt which he had received at the hands of the Cid, he sent 
 to King Don Alfonso to complain thereof, and the King was greatly 
 troubled. And then the Ricos-omes who wished ill to the Cid, 
 had the way open to do him evil with the King, and they said to 
 the King, Sir, Ruydiez hath broken your faith, and the oath and 
 promise which you made to the King of Toledo : and he hath 
 done this for no other reason but that the Moors of Toledo may- 
 fall upon us here, and slay both you and us. And the King be- 
 lieved what they said, and was wroth against the Cid, having no 
 love towards him because of the oath which he had pressed upon 
 him at Burgos concerning the death of King Don Sancho his 
 brother. And he went with all speed to Burgos, and sent from 
 thence to bid the Cid come unto him. 
 
 XVIII. Now my Cid knew the evil disposition of the King 
 towards him, and when he received his bidding, he made answer 
 that he would meet him between Burgos and Bivar. And the King 
 went out from Burgos and came nigh unto Bivar ; and the Cid 
 came up to him and would have kissed his hand, but the King 
 withheld it, and said angrily unto him, Ruydiez, quit my land. 
 Then the Cid clapped spurs to the mule upon which he rode, and 
 vaulted into a piece of ground which was his own inheritance, and 
 answered, Sir, I am not in your land, but in my own.. And the 
 King replied full wrathfully, Go out of my kingdoms without any 
 delay. And the Cid made answer, Give me then thirty days time, 
 as is the right of the hidalgos ; and the King said he would not, 
 but that if he were not gone in nine days time he would come and 
 look for him. The Counts were well pleased at this ; but all the 
 people of the land were sorrowful. And then the King and the 
 Cid parted. And the Cid sent for all his friends and his kinsmen
 
 280 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 and vassals, and told them how King Don Alfonso had banished 
 him from the land, and asked of them who would follow him into 
 banishment, and who would remain at home. Then Alvar Fanez, 
 who was his cousin-german, came forward and said, Cid, we will all 
 go with you, through desert and through peopled country, and 
 never fail you. In your service will we spend our mules and 
 horses, our wealth and our garments, and ever while we live be 
 unto you loyal friends and vassals. And they all confirmed what 
 Alvar Fanez had said ; and the Cid thanked them for their love, 
 and said that there might come a time in which he should guerdon 
 them. 
 
 XIX. And as he was about to depart he looked back upon his 
 own home, and when he saw his hall deserted, the household chest 
 unfastened, the doors open, no cloaks hanging up, no seats in the 
 porch, no hawks upon the perches, the tears came into his eyes, 
 and he said, My enemies have done this . . God be praised for all 
 things. And he turned toward the East, and knelt and said, Holy 
 Mary Mother, and all Saints, pray to God for me, that he may give 
 me strength to destroy all the Pagans, and to win enough from 
 them to requite my friends therewith, and all those who follow and 
 help me. Then he called for Alvar Fanez and said unto him, 
 Cousin, the poor have no part in the wrong which the King hath 
 done us ; see now that no wrong be done unto them along our 
 road : and he called for his horse. And then an old woman who 
 was standing at her door said, Go in a lucky minute, and make 
 spoil of whatever you wish. And with this proverb he rode on, 
 saying, Friends, by God's good pleasure we shall return to Castile 
 with great honour and great gain. And as they went out from 
 Bivar they had a crow on their right hand, and when they came to 
 Burgos they had a crow on the left. 
 
 XX. My Cid Ruydiez entered Burgos, having sixty streamers in 
 his company. And men and women went forth to see him, and the 
 men of Burgos and the women of Burgos were at their windows, 
 weeping, so great was their sorrow ; and they said with one accord, 
 God, how good a vassal if he had but a good Lord ! and willingly 
 would each have bade him come in, but no one dared so to do. 
 For King Don Alfonso in his anger had sent letters to Burgos, say- 
 ing that no man should give the Cid a lodging ; and that whosoever 
 disobeyed should lose all that he had, and moreover the eyes in his 
 head. Great sorrow had these Christian folk at this, and they hid 
 themselves when he came near them because they did not dare 
 speak to him ; and my Cid went to his Posada, and when he came
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 281 
 
 to the door he found it fastened, for fear of the King. And his 
 people called out with a loud voice, but they within made no an- 
 swer. And the Cid rode up to the door, and took his foot out of 
 the stirrup, and gave it a kick, buf the door did not open with it, 
 for it was well secured ; a little girl of nine years old then came 
 out of one of the houses and said unto him, O Cid, the King hath 
 forbidden us to receive you. We dare not open our doors to you, 
 for we should lose our houses and all that we have, and the eyes in 
 our head. Cid, our evil would not help you, but God and all his 
 Saints be with you. And when she had said this she returned into 
 the house. And when the Cid knew what the King had done he 
 turned away from the door and rode up to St. Mary's, and there 
 he alighted and knelt down, and prayed with all his heart ; and then 
 he mounted again and rode out of the town, and pitched his tent 
 near Arlanzon, upon the Glera, that is to say, upon the sands. My 
 Cid Ruydiez, he who in a happy hour first girt on his sword, took 
 up his lodging upon the sands, because there was none who would 
 receive him within their door. He had a good company round 
 about him, and there he lodged as if he had been among the moun- 
 tains. 
 
 XXI. Moreover the King had given orders that no food should 
 be sold them in Burgos, so that they could not buy even a penny- 
 worth. But Martin Antolinez, who was a good Burgalese, he sup- 
 plied my Cid and all his company with bread and wine abundantly. 
 Campeador, said he to the Cid, to-night will we rest here, and to- 
 morrow we will be gone : I shall be accused for what I have done 
 in serving you, and shall be in the King's displeasure ; but following 
 your fortunes, sooner or later, the King will have me for his friend, 
 and if not, I do not care a fig for what I leave behind. Now this 
 Martin Antolinez was nephew unto the Cid, being the son of his 
 brother, Ferrando Diaz. And the Cid said unto him, Martin An- 
 tolinez, you are a bold Lancer ; if I live I will double you your pay. 
 You see I have nothing with me, and yet must provide for my com- 
 panions. I will take two chests and fill them with sand, and do 
 you go in secret to Rachel and Vidas, and tell them to come hither 
 privately ; for I cannot take my treasures with me because of their 
 weight, and will pledge them in their hands. Let them come 
 for the chests at night, that no man may see them. God knows 
 that I do this thing more of necessity than of wilfulness ; but by 
 God's good help I shall redeem all. Now Rachel and Vidas were 
 rich Jews, from whom the Cid used to receive money for his spoils. 
 And Martin Antolinez went in quest of them, and he passed through
 
 282 CHRONICLE Of THE CW, 
 
 Burgos and entered into the Castle ; and when he saw them he said, 
 Ah, Rachel and Vidas, my dear friends ! now let me speak with ye 
 in secret And they three went apart. And he said to them, Give 
 me your hands that you will not discover me neither to Moor nor 
 Christian ! I will make you rich men for ever. The Campeadcr 
 went for the tribute and he took great wealth, and some of it he 
 has kept for himself. He has two chests full of gold ; ye know that 
 the King is in anger against him, and he cannot carry these away 
 with him without their being seen. He will leave them therefore 
 in your hands, and you shall lend him money upon them, swearing 
 with great oaths and upon your faith, that ye will not open them till 
 a year be past. Rachel and Vidas took counsel together and an- 
 swered, We well knew he got something when he entered the land 
 of the Moors ; he who has treasures does not sleep without sus- 
 picion ; we will take the chests, and place them where they shall not 
 be seen. But tell us with what will the Cid be contented, and what 
 gain will he give us for the year? Martin Antolinez answered like 
 a prudent man, My Cid requires what is reasonable ; he will ask 
 but little to leave his treasures in safety. Men come to him from 
 all parts. He must have six hundred marks. And the Jews said, 
 We will advance him so much. Well then, said Martin Antoline/,, 
 ye see that the night is advancing ; the Cid is in haste, give us the 
 marks. This is not the way of business, said they ; we must take 
 first, and then give. Ye say well, replied the Burgalese ; come then 
 to the Campeador, and we will help you to bring away the chests, 
 so that neither Moors nor Christians may see us. So they went to 
 horse and rode out together, and they did not cross the bridge, but 
 rode through the water that no man might see them, and they came 
 to the tent of the Cid. 
 
 XXII. Meantime the Cid had taken two chests, which wen- 
 covered with leather of red and gold, and the nails which fastened 
 down the leather were well gilt ; they were ribbed with bands of 
 iron, and each fastened with three locks ; they were heavy, and he 
 filled them with sand. And when Rachel and Vidas entered his 
 tent with Martin Antolinez, they kissed his hand; and the C'id 
 smiled and said to them, Ye see that I am going out of the land, 
 because of the King's displeasure ; but I shall leave something with 
 ye. And they made answer, Martin Antolinez has covenanted with 
 us, that we shall give you six hundred marks upon these chests, 
 and keep them a full year, swearing not to open them till that time 
 be expired, else shall we be perjured. Take the chests, said Mar- 
 tin Antolinez ; I will go with you, and bring back the marks, for
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 283 
 
 my Cid must move before cockcrow. So they took the chests, and 
 though they were both strong men they could not raise them from 
 the ground ; and they were full glad of the bargain which they had 
 made. And Rachel then went to the Cid and kissed his hand and 
 said, Now, Campeador, you are going from Castile among strange 
 nations, and your gain will be great, even as your fortune is. I 
 kiss your hand, Cid, and have a gift for you, a red skin ; it is Moor- 
 ish and honourable. And the Cid said, It pleases me : give it me 
 if ye have brought it, if not reckon it upon the chests. And they 
 departed with the chests, and Martin Antolinez and his people 
 helped them, and went with them. And when they had placed 
 the chests in safety, they spread a carpet in the middle of the hall, 
 and laid a sheet upon it, and they threw down upon it three hun- 
 dred marks of silver. Don Martin counted them, and took them 
 without weighing. The other three hundred they paid in gold. 
 Don Martin had five squires with him, and he loaded them all with 
 the money. And when this was done he said to them, Now Don 
 Rachel and Vidas, you have got the chests, and I who got them 
 for you well deserve a pair of hose. And the Jews said to each 
 other, Let us give him a good gift for this which he has done ; and 
 they said to him, We will give you enough for hose and for a rich 
 doublet and a good cloak ; you shall have thirty marks. Don 
 Martin thanked them and took the marks, and bidding them both 
 farewell, he departed right joyfully. 
 
 XXIII. When Martin Antolinez came into the Cid's tent he 
 said unto him, I have sped well, 'Campeador ! you have gained six 
 hundred marks, and I thirty. Now then strike your tent and be 
 gone. The time draws on, and you may be with your Lady Wife 
 at St. Pedro de Cardena, before the cock crows. So the tent was 
 struck, and my Cid and his company went to horse at this early 
 hour. And the Cid turned his horse's head toward St. Mary's, and 
 with his right hand he blessed himself on the forehead, and he 
 said, God be praised : help me, St. Mary. I go from Castile be- 
 cause the anger of the King is against me, and I know not whether 
 I shall ever enter it again in all my days. Help me, glorious Vir- 
 gin, in my goings, both by night and by day. If you do this and 
 my lot be fair, I will send rich and goodly gifts to your altar, and 
 will have a thousand masses sung there. Then with a good heart 
 he gave his horse the reins. And Martin Antolinez said to him, 
 Go ye on ; I must back to my wife and tell her what she is to do 
 during my absence. I shall be with you in good time. And back 
 he went to Burgos, and my Cid and his company pricked on.
 
 284 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 The cocks were crowing amain, and the day began to break, when 
 the good Campeador reached St. Pedro's. The Abbot Don Sise- 
 buto was saying matins, and Dona Ximena and five of her ladies 
 of good lineage were with him, praying to God and St. Peter to 
 help my Cid. And when he called at the gate and they knew his 
 voice, God, what a joyful man was the Abbot Don Sisebuto ! Out 
 into the courtyard they went with torches and with tapers, and the 
 Abbot gave thanks to God that he now beheld the face of my Cid. 
 And the Cid told him all that had befallen him, and how he was 
 a banished man ; and he gave him fifty marks for himself, and a 
 hundred for Dona Ximena and her children. Abbot, said he, I 
 leave two little girls behind me, whom I commend to your care. 
 Take you care of them and of my wife and of her ladies : when 
 this money be gone, if it be not enough, supply them abundantly : 
 for every mark which you expend upon them I will give the Mon- 
 astery four. And the Abbot promised to do this with a right good 
 will. Then Dona Ximena came up and her daughters with her, 
 each of them borne in arms, and she knelt down on both her knees 
 before her husband, weeping bitterly, and she would have kissed 
 his hand ; and she said to him, Lo, now you are banished from the 
 land by mischief-making men, and here am I with your daughters, 
 who are little ones and of tender years, and we and you must be 
 parted, even in your lifetime. For the love of St. Mary tell me 
 now what we shall do. And the Cid took the children in his arms, 
 and held them to his heart and wept, for he dearly loved them. 
 Please God and St. Mary, said he, I shall yet live to give these my 
 daughters in marriage with my own hands, and to do you service 
 yet, my honoured wife, whom I have ever loved, even as my own 
 soul. 
 
 XXIV. A great feast did they make that day in the Monastery 
 for the good Campeador, and the bells of St. Pedro's rung merrily. 
 Meantime the tidings had gone through Castile how my Cid was 
 banished from the land, and great was the sorrow of the people. 
 Some left their houses to follow him, others forsook their honour- 
 able offices which they held. And that day a hundred and fifteen 
 knights assembled at the bridge of Arlanzon, all in quest of my 
 ( 'id ; and there Martin Antolinez joined them, and they rode on 
 together to St. Pedro's. And when he of Bivar knew what a 
 goodly company were coming to join him, he rejoiced in his own 
 strength, and rode out to meet them and greeted them full courte- 
 ously ; and they kissed his hand, and he said to them, I pray to 
 ( iod that I may one day requite ye well, because ye have forsaken
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 285 
 
 your houses and your heritages for my sake, and I trust that I 
 shall pay ye twofold. Six days of the term allotted were now gone, 
 and three only remained : if after that time he should be found 
 within the King's dominions, neither for gold nor for silver could 
 he then escape. That day they feasted together, and when it was 
 evening the Cid distributed among them all that he had, giving to 
 each man according to what he was ; and he told them that they 
 must meet at mass after matins, and depart at that early hour. 
 Before the cock crew they were ready, and the Abbot said the 
 mass of the Holy Trinity, and when it was done they left the 
 church and went to horse. And my Cid embraced Dona Ximena 
 and his daughters, and blessed them ; and the parting between 
 them was like separating the nail from the quick flesh : and he 
 wept and continued to look round after them. Then Alvar Fanez 
 came up to him and said, Where is your courage, my Cid ? In a 
 good hour were you born of woman. Think of our road now ; 
 these sorrows will yet be turned into joy. And Cid spake again 
 to the Abbot, commending his family to his care ; well did the 
 Abbot know that he should one day receive good guerdon. And 
 as he took leave of the Cid, Alvar Fanez said to him, Abbot, if 
 you see any who come to follow us, tell them what route we take, 
 and bid them make speed, for they may reach us either in the 
 waste or in the peopled country. And then they loosed the reins 
 and pricked forward. 
 
 XXV. That night my Cid lay at Spinar de Can, and people 
 flocked to him from all parts, and early on the morrow he set out ; 
 Santestevan lay on his left hand, which is a good city, and Ahilon 
 on the right, which belongs to the Moors, and he passed by Alco- 
 biella, which is the boundary of Castile. And he went by the 
 Calzada de Quinea, and crossed the Douro upon rafts. That 
 night, being the eighth, they rested at Figeruela, and more adven- 
 turers came to join him. And when my Cid was fast asleep, the 
 Angel Gabriel appeared to him in a vision, and said, Go on boldly 
 and fear nothing ; for everything shall go well with thee as long as 
 thou livest, and all things which thou beginnest, thou shalt bring 
 to good end, and thou shalt be rich and honourable. And the Cid 
 awoke and blessed himself: and he crossed his forehead and rose 
 from his bed, and knelt down and gave thanks to God for the 
 mercy which he had vouchsafed him, being right joyful because of 
 the vision. Early on the morrow they set forth ; now this was the last 
 day of the nine. And they went on towards the Sierra de Miedes. 
 Before sunset the Cid halted and took account of his company ;
 
 286 
 
 CUKOXICI.E OF THE C1D, 
 
 there were three hundred lances, all with streamers, beside foot- 
 soldiers. And he said unto them, Now take and eat, for we must 
 pass this great and wild Sierra, that we may quit the land of King 
 Alfonso this night. To-morrow he who seeks us may find us. So 
 they passed the Sierra that night.
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 287 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 I. Now hath my Cid left the kingdom of King Don Alfonso, 
 and entered the country of the Moors. And at daybreak they 
 were near the brow of the Sierra, and they halted there upon the 
 top of the mountains, and gave barley to their horses, and remained 
 there until evening. And they set forward when the evening had 
 closed, that none might see them, and continued their way all 
 night, and before dawn they came near to Castrejon, which is upon 
 the Henares. And Alvar Fanez said unto the Cid, that he would 
 take with him two hundred horsemen, and scour the country as far 
 as Fita and Guadalajara and Alcala, and lay hands on whatever he 
 could find, without fear either of King Alfonso or of the Moors. 
 And he counselled him to remain in ambush where he was, and 
 surprise the castle of Castrejon : and it seemed good unto my Cid. 
 Away went Alvar Fanez, and Alvar Alvarez with him, and Alvar 
 SaK adores, and Galin Garcia, and the two hundred horsemen ; and 
 the Cid remained in ambush with the rest of his company. And 
 as soon as it was morning, the Moors of Castrejon, knowing noth- 
 ing of these who were so near them, opened the castle gates, and 
 went out to their work as they were wont to do. And the Cid 
 rose from ambush and fell upon them, and took all their flocks, 
 and made straight for the gates, pursuing them. And there was a 
 cry within the castle that the Christians were upon them, and they 
 who were within ran to the gates to defend them, but my Cid 
 came up sword in hand ; eleven Moors did he slay with his own 
 hand, and they forsook the gate and fled before him to hide them- 
 selves within, so that he won the castle presently, and took gold 
 and silver, and whatever else he would. 
 
 II. Alvar Fanez meantime scoured the country along the 
 Henares as far as Alcala, and he returned driving flocks and herds 
 before him, with great stores of wearing apparel, and of other plun- 
 der. He came with the banner of Minaya, and there were none 
 who dared fall upon his rear. And when the Cid knew that he 
 was nigh at hand he went out to meet him, and praised him 
 greatly for what he had done, and gave thanks to God. And he
 
 288 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 gave order that all the spoils should be heaped together, both what 
 Alvar Fanez had brought, and what had been taken in the castle ; 
 and he said to him, Brother, of all this which God hath given us, 
 take you the fifth, for you well deserve it ; but Minaya would not, 
 saying, You have need of it for our support. And the Cid divided 
 the spoil among the knights and foot-soldiers, to each his due por- 
 tion ; to every horseman a hundred marks of silver, and half as 
 much to the foot-soldiers : and because he could find none to 
 whom to sell his fifth, he spake to the Moors of Castrejon, and 
 sent to those of Fita and Guadalajara, telling them that they might 
 come safely to purchase the spoil, and the prisoners also whom he 
 had taken, both men-prisoners and women, for he would have none 
 with him. And they came, and valued the spoil and the prison- 
 ers, and gave for them three thousand marks of silver, which they 
 paid within three days : they bought also much of the spoil which 
 had been divided, making great gain, so that all who were in my 
 Cid's company were full rich. And the heart of my Cid was joy- 
 ous, and he sent to King Don Alfonso, telling him that he and his 
 companions would yet do him service upon the Moors. 
 
 III. Then my Cid assembled together his good men and said 
 unto them, Friends, we cannot take up our abode in this Castle, 
 for there is no water in it, and moreover the King is at peace with 
 these Moors, and I know that the treaty between them hath been 
 written ; so that if we should abide here he would come against us 
 with all his power, and with all the power of the Moors, and we 
 could not stand against him. If therefore it seem good unto you, 
 let us leave the rest of our prisoners here, for it does not beseem 
 us to take any with us, but to be as free from all incumbrance as 
 may be, like men who are to live by war, and to help ourselves 
 with our arms. And it pleased them well that it should be so. 
 And he said to them, Ye have all had your shares, neither is there 
 anything owing to any one among ye. Now then let us be ready 
 to take horse betimes on the morrow, for I would not fight against 
 my Lord the King. So on the morrow they went to horse and 
 departed, being rich with the spoils which they had won ; and they 
 left the castle to the Moors, who remained blessing them for this 
 bounty which they had received at their hands. Then my Cid 
 and his company went up the Henares as fast as they could go, 
 and they passed by the Alcarias, 1 and by the caves of Anquita, and 
 
 1 Alcaria signifies a cottage. The word however is used in the Poem as 
 the name of a place, as we should speak of a few dwelling-houses standing 
 together in an open country.
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 289 
 
 through the waters, and they entered the plain of Torancio, and 
 halted between Fariza and Cetina ; great were the spoils which they 
 collected as they went along. And on the morrow they passed Al- 
 fama, and leaving the Gorge below them they passed Bobierca, 
 and Teca which is beyond it, and came against Alcocer. There 
 my Cid pitched his tents upon a round hill, which was a great hill 
 and a strong ; and the river Salon ran near them, so that the wa- 
 ter could not be cut off. My Cid thought to take Alcocer ; so he 
 pitched his tents securely, having the Sierra on one side, and the 
 river on the other, and he made all his people dig a trench, that 
 they might not be alarmed, neither by day nor by night. 
 
 IV. When my Cid had thus encamped, he went to look at the 
 Alcazar, and see if he could by any means enter it. And the 
 Moors offered tribute to him if he would leave them in peace ; but 
 this he would not do, and he lay before the town. And news 
 went through all the land that the Cid was come among them, and 
 they of Calatayud were in fear. And my Cid lay before Alcocer 
 fifteen weeks ; and when he saw that the town did not surrender, 
 he ordered his people to break up their camp, as if they were fly- 
 ing, and they left one of their tents behind them, and took their 
 way along the Salon, with their banners spread. And when the 
 Moors saw this they rejoiced greatly, and there was a great stir 
 among them, and they praised themselves for what they had done 
 in withstanding him, and said, that the Cid's bread and barley had 
 failed him, and he had fled away, and left one of his tents behind 
 him. And they said among themselves, Let us pursue them and 
 spoil them, for if they of Teruel should be before us the honour 
 and the profit will be theirs and we shall have nothing. And they 
 went out after him, great and little, leaving the" gates open and 
 shouting as they went ; and there was not left in the town a man 
 who could bear arms. And when my Cid saw them coming he 
 gave orders to quicken their speed, as if he was in fear, and would 
 not let his people turn till the Moors were far enough from the 
 town. But when he saw that there was a good distance between 
 them and the gates, then he bade his banner turn, and spurred 
 towards them, crying, Lay on, knights ; by God's mercy the spoil 
 is our own. God ! what a good joy was theirs that morning ! My 
 Cid's vassals laid on without mercy ; in one hour, and in a little 
 space, three hundred Moors were slain, and the Cid and Alvar 
 Fanez had good horses, and got between them and the Castle, and 
 stood in the gateway sword in hand, and there was a great mortal- 
 ity among the Moors ; and my Cid won the place, and Pero
 
 290 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 Bermudez planted his banner upon the highest point of the Castle. 
 And the Cid said, Blessed be God, and all his Saints, we have bet- 
 tered our quarters both for horses and men. And he said to Alvar 
 Fanez and all his knights, Hear me, we shall get nothing by killing 
 these Moors; let us take them and they shall show us their 
 treasures which they have hidden in their houses, and we will dwell 
 here and they shall serve us. In this manner did my Cid win 
 Alcocer, and take up his abode therein. 
 
 V. Much did this trouble the Moors of Teca, and it did not 
 please those of Teruel, nor of Calatayud. And they sent to the 
 King of Valencia to tell him that one who was called Ruydiez the 
 Cid, whom King Don Alfonso had banished, was come into their 
 country, and had taken Alcocer ; and if a stop were not put to him, 
 the King might look upon Teca and Teruel and Calatayud as lost, 
 for nothing could stand against him, and he had plundered the 
 whole country, along the Salon on the one side, and the Siloca on 
 the other. When the King of Valencia, whose name was Alcamin, 
 heard this, he was greatly troubled. And incontinently he spake 
 unto two Moorish Kings who were his vassals, bidding them take 
 three thousand horsemen, and all the men of the border, and bring 
 the Cid to him alive, that he might make atonement to him for 
 having entered his land. 
 
 VI. Fariz and Galve were the names of these two Moorish Kings, 
 and they set out with the companies of King Alcamin from Valen- 
 cia, and halted the first night in Segorve, and the second night at 
 Celfa de Cenal. And they sent their messengers through the land 
 to all the Councils thereof, ordering all men at arms, as well horse- 
 men as footmen, to join them, and the third night they halted at 
 Calatayud, and great numbers joined them ; and they came up 
 against Alcocer, and pitched their tents round about the Castle. 
 Every day their host increased, for their people were many in num- 
 ber, and their watchmen kept watch day and night ; and my Cid 
 had no succour to look for except the mercy of God, in which he 
 put his trust. And the Moors beset them so close that they cut 
 off their water, and albeit the Castilians would have sallied against 
 them, my Cid forbade this. In this guise were my Cid and his 
 people besieged for three weeks, and when the fourth week began, 
 
 'he called for Alvar Fanez, and for his company, and said unto 
 them, Ye see that the Moors have cut off our water, and we have 
 but little bread ; they gather numbers day by day, and we become 
 weak, and they are in their own country. If we would depart they 
 would not let us, and we cannot go out by night because they have
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 291 
 
 beset us round about on all sides, and we cannot pass on high 
 through the air, neither through the earth which is underneath. 
 Now then if it please you let us go out and fight with them, though 
 they are many in number, and either defeat them or die an hon- 
 ourable death. 
 
 VII. Then Minaya answered and said, We have left the gentle 
 land of Castile, and are come hither as banished men, and if we 
 do not beat the Moors they will not give us food. Now, though 
 we are but few, yet are we of a good stock, and of one heart and 
 one will ; by God's help let us go out and smite them to-morrow, 
 early in the morning, and you who are not in a state of penitence, 
 go and shrive yourselves and repent ye of your sins. And they all 
 held that what Alvar Fanez had said was good. And my Cid an- 
 swered, Minaya, you have spoken as you should do. Then ordered 
 he all the Moors, both men and women, to be thrust out of the 
 town, that it might not be known what they were preparing to do ; 
 and the rest of that day and the night also they passed in making 
 ready for the battle. And on the morrow at sunrise the Cid 
 gave his banner to Pero Bermudez, and bade him bear it boldly 
 like a good man as he was, but he charged him not to thrust for- 
 ward with it without his bidding. And Pero Bermudez kissed his 
 hand, being well pleased. Then leaving only two foot-soldiers to 
 keep the gates, they issued out ; and the Moorish scouts saw them 
 and hastened to the camp. Then was there such a noisS of tam- 
 bours as if the earth would have been broken, and the Moors armed 
 themselves in great haste. Two royal banners were there, and five 
 city ones, and they drew up their men into great bodies, and moved 
 on, thinking to take my Cid and all his company alive ; and my 
 Cid bade his men remain still and not move till he should bid them. 
 
 VIII. Pero Bermudez could not bear this, but holding the ban- 
 ner in his hand, he cried, God help you, Cid Campeador ; I shall 
 put your banner in the middle of that main body ; and you who 
 are bound to stand by it I shall see how you will succour it. And 
 he began to prick forward. And the Campeador called unto him 
 to stop as he loved him, but Pero Bermudez replied he would 
 stop for nothing, and away he spurred and carried his banner into 
 the middle of the great body of the Moors. And the Moors fell 
 upon him '.hat they might win the banner, and beset him on all sides, 
 giving him many and great blows to beat him down ; nevertheless 
 his arms were proof, and they could not pierce them, neither could 
 they beat him down, nor force the banner from him, for he was a 
 right brave man and a strong, and a good horseman, and of great
 
 292 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 heart. And when the Cid saw him thus beset he called to his 
 people to move on and help him. Then placed they their shields 
 before their hearts, and lowered their lances with the streamers 
 thereon, and bending fonvard, rode on. Three hundred lances 
 were they, each with its pendant, and every man at the first charge 
 slew his Moor. Smite them, knights, for the love of charity, cried 
 the Campeador. I am Ruydiez, the Cid of Bivar ! Many a shield 
 was pierced that day, and many a false corselet was broken, and 
 many a white streamer dyed with blood, and many a horse left with- 
 out a rider. The Misbelievers called on Mahomet, and the Chris- 
 tians on Santiago, and the noise of the tambours and of the trumpets 
 was so great that none could hear his neighbour. And my Cid and 
 his company succoured Pero Bermudez, and they rode through the 
 host of the Moors, slaying as they went, and they rode back again 
 in like manner ; thirteen hundred did they kill in this guise. If 
 you would know who they were, who were the good men of that 
 day, it behoves me to tell you, for though they are departed, it is 
 not fitting that the names of those who have done well should die, 
 nor would they who have done well themselves, or who hope so to 
 do, think it right ; for good men would not be so bound to do well, 
 if their good feats should be kept silent. There was my Cid, the 
 good man in battle, who fought well upon his gilt saddle ; and Alvar 
 Fanez Minaya, and Martin Antolinez the Burgalese of prowess, and 
 Muno Gustios, and Martin Munoz who held Montemayor, and Al- 
 var Alvarez, and Alvar Salvadores, and Galin Garcia the good one 
 of Arragon, and Felez Munoz the nephew of the Campeador. Wher- 
 ever my Cid went, the Moors made a path before him, for he smote 
 them down without mercy. And while the battle still continued, 
 the Moors killed the horse of Alvar Fanez, and his lance was broken, 
 and he fought bravely with his sword afoot. And my Cid, seeing 
 him, came up to an Alguazil who rode upon a good horse, and smote 
 him with his sword under the right arm, so that he cut him through 
 and through, and he gave the horse to Alvar Fanez, saying, Mount, 
 Minaya, for you are my right hand: 
 
 IX. When Alvar Fanez was thus remounted, they fell upon the 
 Moors again, and by this time the Moors were greatly disheartened, 
 having suffered so great loss, and they began to give way. And 
 my Cid, seeing King Fariz, made towards him, smiting down all 
 who were in his way ; and he came up to him, and made three 
 blows at him ; two of them failed, but the third was a good one, 
 and went through his cuirass, so that the blood ran down his legs. 
 And with that blow was the army of the Moors vanquished, for
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 293 
 
 King Fariz, feeling himself so sorely wounded, turned his reins and 
 fled out of the field, even to Teruel. And Martin Antolinez the 
 good Burgalese came up to King Galve, and gave him a stroke on 
 the head, which scattered all the carbuncles out of his helmet, and 
 cut through it even to the skin ; and the King did not wait for an- 
 other such, and he fled also. A good day was that for Christen- 
 dom, for the Moors fled on all sides. King Fariz got into Teruel, 
 and King Galve fled after him, but they would not receive him 
 within the gates, and he went on to Calatayud. And the Chris- 
 tians pursued them even to Calatayud. And Alvar Fanez had a 
 good horse ; four and thirty did he slay in that pursuit with the 
 edge of his keen sword, and his arm was all red, and the blood 
 dropped from his elbow. And as he was returning from the spoil 
 he said, Now am I well pleased, for good tidings will go to Castile, 
 how my Cid has won a battle in the field. My Cid also turned 
 back ; his coif was wrinkled, and you might see his full beard ; the 
 hood of his mail hung down upon his shoulders, and the sword was 
 still in his hand. He saw his people returning from the pursuit, 
 and that of all his company fifteen only of the lower sort were slain, 
 and he gave thanks to God for this victory. Then they fell to the 
 spoil, and they found arms in abundance, and great store of 
 wealth ; and five hundred and ten horses. And he divided the spoil, 
 giving to each man his fair portion, and the Moors whom they 
 had put out of Alcocer before the battle, they now received again 
 into the castle, and gave to them also a part of the booty, so that 
 all were well content. And my Cid had great joy with his vassals. 
 X. Then the Cid called unto Alvar Fanez and said, Cousin, you 
 are my right hand, and I hold it good that you should take of my 
 fifth as much as you will, for all would be well bestowed upon you ; 
 but Minaya thanked him, and said, that he would take nothing 
 more than his share. And the Cid said unto him, I will send 
 King Don Alfonso a present from my part of the spoils. You 
 shall go into Castile, and take with you thirty horses, the best 
 which were taken from the Moors, all bridled and saddled, and 
 each having a sword hanging from the saddle-bow ; and you shall 
 give them to the King, and kiss his hand for me, and tell him that 
 we know how to make our way among the Moors. And you shall 
 take also this bag of gold and silver, and purchase for me a thou- 
 sand masses in St. Mary's at Burgos, and hang up there these ban- 
 ners of the Moorish Kings whom we have overcome. Go then to 
 St. Pedro's at Cardena, and salute my wife Dona Ximena, and my 
 daughters, and te]l them how well I go on, and that if I live I will
 
 294 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 make them rich women. And salute for me the Abbot Don Sise- 
 buto, and give him fifty marks of silver ; and the rest of the money, 
 whatever shall be left, give to my wife, and bid them all pray for 
 me. Moreover the Cid said unto him, This country is all spoiled, 
 and we have to help ourselves with sword and spear. You are go- 
 ing to gentle Castile ; if when you return you should not find us 
 here, you will hear where we are. 
 
 XI. Alvar Fanez went his way to Castile, and he found the King 
 in Valladolid, and he presented to him the thirty horses, with all 
 their trappings, and swords mounted with silver hanging from the 
 saddle-bows. And when the King saw them, before Alvar Fane/ 
 could deliver his bidding, he said unto him, Minaya, who sends me 
 this godflly present ? and Minaya answered, My Cid Ruydiez, the 
 Campeador, sends it, and kisses by me your hands. For since 
 you were wroth against him, and banished him from the land, he 
 being a man disherited, hath helped himself with his own hands, 
 and hath won from the Moors the Castle of Alcocer. And the 
 King of Valencia sent two Kings to besiege him there, with all his 
 power, and they begirt him round about, and cut off the water and 
 bread from us so that we could not subsist. And then holding it 
 better to die like good men in the field, than shut up like bad 
 ones, we went out against them, and fought with them in the open 
 field, and smote them and put them to flight ; and both the Moor- 
 ish Kings were sorely wounded, and many of the Moors were slain, 
 and many were taken prisoners, and great was the spoil which we 
 won in the field, both of captives and of horses and arms, gold and 
 silver and pearls, so that all who are with him are rich men. And 
 of his fifth of the horses which were taken that day, my Cid hath 
 sent you these, as to his natural Lord, whose favour he desire th. 
 I beseech you, as God shall help you, show favour unto him. 
 Then King Don Alfonso answered, This is betimes in the morn- 
 ing for a banished man to ask favour of his Lord ; nor is it befitting 
 a King, for no Lord ought to be wroth for so short a time. Nev- 
 ertheless, because the horses were won from the Moors, I will take 
 them, and rejoice that my Cid hath sped so well. And I pardon 
 you, Minaya, and give again unto you all the lands which you have 
 ever held of me, and you have my favour to go when you will, and 
 come when you will. Of the Cid Campeador, I shall say nothing 
 now, save only that all who choose to follow him may freely go, 
 and their bodies and goods and heritages are safe. And Minaya 
 said, God grant you many and happy years for his service. Now 
 I beseech you, this which you have done for me, do also to all
 
 ROD RIG O DIAZ DE BIVAR. 295 
 
 those who are in my Cid's company, and show favour unto them 
 also, that their possessions may be restored unto them. And the 
 King gave order that it should be so. Then Minaya kissed the 
 King's hand and said, Sir, you have done this now, and you will do 
 the rest hereafter. 
 
 XII. My Cid remained awhile in Alcocer, and the Moors of the 
 border waited to see what he would do. And in this time King 
 Fariz got well of his wound, and my Cid sent to him and to the 
 Moors, saying, that if they would give him three thousand marks 
 of silver, he would leave Alcocer and go elsewhere. And King 
 Fariz and the Moors of Techa, and of Teruel, and of Calatayud, 
 were right glad of this, and the covenant was put in writing, and 
 they sent him the three thousand marks. And my Cid divided it 
 among his company, and he made them all rich, both knights and 
 esquires and footmen, so that they said to one another, He who 
 serves a good Lord, happy man is his dole. But the Moors of 
 Alcocer were full sorry to see him depart, because he had been to 
 them a kind master and a bountiful ; and they said unto him, 
 Wherever you go, Cid, our prayers will go before you : and they 
 wept both men and women when my Cid went his way. So the 
 Campeador raised his banner and departed, and he went down the 
 Salon, and crossed it ; and as he crossed the river they saw good 
 birds, and signs of good fortune. And they of Za and of Calatayud 
 were well pleased, because he went from them. My Cid rode on 
 till he came to the knoll above Monte-Real ; it is a high hill and 
 strong, and there he pitched his tents, being safe on all sides. 
 And from thence he did much harm to the Moors of Medina and 
 of the country round about ; and he made Daroca pay tribute, and 
 Molina also, which is on the other side, and Teruel also, and Celfa 
 de Canal, and all the country along the river Martin. And the 
 news went to the King of Zaragoza, and it neither pleased the King 
 nor his people. 
 
 XIII. Ever after was that knoll called the Knoll of the Cid. 
 And when the Perfect one had waited a long time for Minaya and 
 saw that he did not come, he removed by night, and passed by 
 Teruel and pitched his camp in the pine-forest of Tebar. And 
 from thence he infested the Moors of Zaragoza, insomuch that they 
 held it best to give him gold and silver and pay him tribute. And 
 when this covenant had been made, Almudafar, the King of Zara- 
 goza, became greatly his friend, and received him full honourably 
 into the town. In three weeks time after this came Alvar Fanez 
 from Castile. Two hundred men of lineage came with him, every
 
 296 CHRONICLE OF THE CID t 
 
 one of whom wore a sword girt to his side, and the foot-soldiers 
 in their company were out of number. When my Cid saw Minaya 
 he rode up to him, and embraced him without speaking, and 
 kissed his mouth and the eyes in his head. And Minaya told him 
 all that he had done. And the face of the Campeador brightened, 
 and he gave thanks to God and said, It will go well with me, 
 Minaya, as long as you live ! God, how joyful was that whole host 
 because Alvar Fanez was returned ! for he brought them greetings 
 from their kinswomen and their brethren, and the fair comrades 
 whom they had left behind. God, how joyful was my Cid with the 
 fleecy beard, that Minaya had purchased the thousand masses, and 
 had brought him the biddings of his wife and daughters ! God, 
 what a joyful man was he ! 
 
 XIV. Now it came to pass that while my Cid was in Zaragoza 
 the days of King Almudafar were fulfilled ; and he left his two 
 sons Zulema and Abenalfange, and they divided his dominions 
 between them ; and Zulema had the kingdom of Zaragoza, and 
 Abenalfange the kingdom of Denia. And Zulema put his kingdom 
 under my Cid's protection, and bade all his people obey him even 
 as they would himself. Now there began to be great enmity be- 
 tween the two brethren, aud they made war upon each other. 
 And King Don Pedro of Arragon, and the Count Don Ramon 
 Berenguer of Barcelona, helped Abenalfange, and they were ene- 
 mies to the Cid because he defended Zulema. And my Cid chose 
 out two hundred horsemen and went out by night, and fell upon 
 the lands of Alcaniz ; and he remained out three days in this in- 
 road, and brought away great booty. Great was the talk thereof 
 among the Moors ; and they of Monzon and of Huesca were trou- 
 bled, but they of Zaragoza rejoiced, because they paid tribute to 
 the Cid, and were safe. And when my Cid returned to Zaragoza 
 he divided the spoil among his companions, and said to them, Ye 
 know, my friends, that for all who live by their arms, as we do, it 
 is not good to remain long in one place. Let us be off again 
 to-morrow. So on the morrow they moved to the Puerto de 
 Alucant, and from thence they infested Huesca and Montalban. 
 Ten days were they out upon this inroad ; and the news was sent 
 everywhere how the exile from Castile was handling them, and 
 tidings went to the King of Denia and to the Count of Barcelona, 
 how my Cid was overrunning the country. 
 
 XV. When Don Ramon Berenguer the Count of Barcelona 
 heard this, it troubled him to the heart, and he held it for a great 
 dishonour, because that part of the land of the Moors was in his
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 297 
 
 keeping. And he spake boastfully saying, Gres*. wrong doth that 
 Cid of Bivar offer unto me ; he smote my nephew in my own court 
 and never would make amends for it, and now he ravages the lands 
 which are in my keeping, and I have never defied him for this nor 
 renounced his friendship ; but since he goes on 'n this way I must 
 take vengeance. So he and King Abenalfange gathered together 
 a great power both of Moors and Christians, and went in pursuit 
 of the Cid, and after three days and two nights tney came up with 
 him in the pine-forest of Tebar, and they carne on confidently, 
 thinking to lay hands on him. Now my Cid was returning with 
 much spoil, and had descended from the Sierra into the valley 
 when tidings were brought him that Count Don Kamon Berenguer 
 and the King of Denia were at hand, with a great power, to take 
 away his booty, and take or slay him. And whtn the Cid heard 
 this he sent to Don Ramon saying, that the booty which he had 
 won was none of his, and bidding him let him go on his way in 
 peace : but the Count made answer, that my Cid should now learn 
 whom he had dishonoured, and make amends Ox.ce for all. Then 
 my Cid sent the booty forward, and bade his knights make ready. 
 They are coming upon us, said he, with a grc It power both of 
 Moors and Christians, to take from us the spoils which we have so 
 hardly won, and without doing battle we cannot ^>e quit of them ; 
 for if we should proceed they would follow till they overtook us : 
 therefore let the battle be here, and I trust in ')od that we shall 
 win more honour, and something to boot. They come down the 
 hill, dressed in their hose, with their gay saddle , and their girths 
 wet ; we are with our hose covered and on our Galician saddles ; 
 a hundred such as we ought to beat their whole ompany. Before 
 they get upon the plain ground let us give them the points of our 
 lances ; for one whom we run through, three wilj kimp out of their 
 saddles ; and Ramon Berenguer will then see whom he has over- 
 taken to-day in the pine-forest of Tebar, thinking to despoil him of 
 the booty which I have won from the enemies of God and of the faith. 
 XVI. While my Cid was speaking, his knights had taken their 
 arms, and were ready on horseback for the charge. Presently 
 they saw the pendants of the Frenchmen coming down the hill, and 
 when they were nigh the bottom, and had not yet set foot upon 
 the plain ground, my Cid bade his people charge, which they did 
 with a right good will, thrusting their spears so stiffly, that by God's 
 good pleasure not a man whom they encountered but lost his seat. 
 So many were slain and so many wounded, that the Moors were 
 dismayed forthwith, and began to fly. The Count's people stood
 
 29S CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 firm a little longer, gathering round their Lord ; but my Cid was in 
 search of him, and when he saw where he was, he made up to him, 
 clearing the way as he went, and gave him such a stroke with his 
 lance that he felled him down to the ground. When the Frenchmen 
 saw their Lord in this plight they fled away and left him ; and the 
 pursuit lasted three leagues, and would have been continued farther 
 if the conquerors had not had tired horses. So they turned back 
 and collected the spoils, which were more than they could carry 
 away. Thus was Count Ramon Berenguer made prisoner, and my 
 Cid won from him that day the good sword Colada, which was 
 worth more than a thousand marks of silver. That night did my 
 Cid and his men make merry, rejoicing over their gains. And the 
 Count was taken to my Cid's tent, and a good supper was set be- 
 fore him ; nevertheless he would not eat, though my Cid besought 
 him so to do. And on the morrow my Cid ordered a feast to be 
 made, that he might do pleasure to the Count, but the Count said 
 that for all Spain he would not eat one mouthful, but would rather 
 die, since he had been beaten in battle by such a set of ragged fel- 
 lows. And Ruydiez said to him, Eat and drink, Count, of this 
 bread and of this wine, for this is the chance of war ; if you do as 
 I say you shall be free ; and if not you will never return again into 
 your own lands. And Don Ramon answered, Eat you, Don Rod- 
 rigo, for your fortune is fair and you deserve it ; take you your 
 pleasure, but leave me to die. And in this mood he continued for 
 three days, refusing all food. But then my Cid said to him, Take 
 food, Count, and be sure that I will set you free, you and any two 
 of your knights, and give you wherewith to return into your own 
 country. And when Don Ramon heard this, he took comfort and 
 said, If you will indeed do this thing I shall marvel at you as long 
 as I live. Eat then, said Ruydiez, and I will do it : but mark you, 
 of the spoil which we have taken from you I will give you nothing ; 
 for to that you have no claim, neither by right nor custom, and 
 besides we want it for ourselves, being banished men, who must 
 live by taking from you and from others as long as it shall please 
 God. Then was the Count full joyful, being well pleased that 
 what should be given him was not of the spoils which he had lost ; 
 and he called for water and washed his hands, and chose two of 
 his kinsmen to be set free with him ; the one was named Don 
 Hugo, and the other Guillen Bernalto. And my Cid sat at the 
 table with them, and said, If you do not eat well, Count, you and 
 I shall not part yet. Never since he was Count did he eat with 
 better will than that day ! And when they had done he said, Now,
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 299 
 
 Cid, if it be your pleasure let us depart. And my Cid clothed him 
 and his kinsman well with goodly skins and mantles, and gave 
 them each a goodly palfrey, with rich caparisons, and he rode out 
 with them on their way. And when he took leave of the Count he 
 said to him, Now go freely, and I thank you for what you have 
 left behind ; if you wish to play for it again let me know, and you 
 shall either have something back in its stead, or leave what you 
 bring to be added to it. The Count answered, Cid, you jest safely 
 now, for I have paid you and all your company for this twelve- 
 months, and shall not be coming to see you again so soon. Then 
 Count Ramon pricked on more than apace, and many times 
 looked behind him, fearing that my Cid would repent what he had 
 done, and send to take him back to prison, which the Perfect one 
 would not have done for the whole world, for never did he do dis- 
 loyal thing. 
 
 XVII. Then he of Bivar returned to Zaragoza, and divided the 
 spoil, which was so great that none of his men knew how much 
 they had. And the Moors of the town rejoiced in his good speed, 
 liking him well, because he protected them so well that they were 
 safe from all harm. And my Cid went out again from Zaragoza, 
 and rode over the lands of Monzon and Huerta and Onda and 
 Buenar. And King Pedro of Arragon came out against him, but 
 my Cid took the Castle of Monzon in his sight ; and then he went 
 to Tamarit : and one day as he rode out hunting from thence with 
 twelve of his knights, he fell in with a hundred and fifty of the 
 King of Arragon's people, and he fought with them and put 
 them to flight, and took seven knights prisoners, whom he let go 
 freely. Then he turned towards the sea-coast, and won Xerica 
 and Onda and Almenar, and all the lands of Borriana and Mur- 
 viedro ; and they in Valencia were greatly dismayed because of 
 the great feats which he did in the land. And when he had 
 plundered all that country he returned to Tamarit, where Zulema 
 then was. 
 
 XVIII. Now Zulema had sent for my Cid, and the cause was 
 this. His brother the King of Denia had taken counsel with 
 Count Ramon Berenguer, and with the Count of Cardona, and 
 with the brother of the Count of Urgel, and with the chiefs of 
 Balsadron and Remolin and Cartaxes, that they should besiege 
 the Castle of Almenar, which my Cid had refortified by command 
 of King Zulema. And they come up against it while my t 
 taeay, besieging the Castle of Estrada, which is in the rivers 'Iiegic 
 and' Sege, the which he took by force. And they fought against
 
 300 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 it and cut off the water. And when my Cid came to the King at 
 Tamarit, the King asked him to go and fight with the host which 
 besieged Almenar; but my Cid said it would be better to give 
 something to King Abenalfange that he should break up the siege 
 and depart ; for they were too great a power to do battle with, 
 being as many in number as the sands on the sea-shore. And the 
 King did as he counselled him, and sent to his brother King 
 Abenalfange, and to the chiefs who were with him, to propose 
 this accord, and they would not. Then my Cid, seeing that they 
 would not depart for fair means, armed his people, and fell upon 
 them. That was a hard battle and well fought on both sides, and 
 much blood was shed, for many good knights on either party were 
 in the field ; howbeit he of good fortune won the day at last, 
 he who never was conquered. King Abenalfange and Count 
 Ramon and most of the others fled, and my Cid followed, smiting 
 and slaying for three leagues ; and many good Christian knights 
 were made prisoners. Ruydiez returned with great honour and 
 much spoil, and gave all his prisoners to King Zulema, who kept 
 them eight days, and then my Cid begged their liberty and set 
 them free. And he and the King returned to Zaragoza, and the 
 people came out to meet them, with great joy, and shouts of wel- 
 come. And the King honoured my Cid greatly, and gave him 
 power in all his dominions. 
 
 XIX. At this time it came to pass that Almofalez, a Moor of 
 Andalusia, rose up with the Castle of Rueda, which was held for 
 King Don Alfonso. And because he held prisoner there the 
 brother of Adefir, another Moor, Adefir sent to the King of Cas- 
 tile, beseeching him to come to succour him, and recover the 
 Castle. And the King sent the Infante Don Ramiro his cousin, 
 and the Infante Don Sancho, son to the King of Navarre, and 
 Count Don Gonzalo Salvadores, and Count Don Nuno Alvarez, 
 and many other knights with them ; and they came to the Castle, 
 and Almofalez said he would not open the gates to them, but if 
 the King came he would open to him. And when King Don 
 Alfonso heard this, incontinently he came to Rueda. And Almo- 
 falez besought him to enter to a feast which he had prepared ; 
 howbeit the King would not go in, neither would his people have 
 permitted him so to have risked his person. But the Infante Don 
 Sancho entered, and Don Nuno, and Don Gonzalo, and fifteen 
 other knights ; and as soon as they were within the gate, the 
 Moors threw down great stones upon them and killed them all. 
 This was the end of the good Count Don Gonzalo Salvadores, who
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 301 
 
 was so good a knight in battle that he was called He of the Four 
 Hands. The bodies were ransomed, seeing that there was no 
 remedy, the Castle being so strong, and Don Gonzalo was buried 
 in the Monastery of Ona, according as he had appointed in his 
 will ; and the Infante Don Sancho with his forefathers the Kings 
 of Navarre, in the royal Monastery of Naxara. 
 
 XX. Greatly was King Don Alfonso troubled at this villany, and 
 he sent for the Cid, who was in those parts ; and the Cid came to 
 him with a great company. And the King told him the great trea- 
 son which had been committed, and took the Cid into his favour, 
 and said unto him that he might return with him into Castile. My 
 Cid thanked him for his bounty, but he said he never would accept 
 his favour unless the King granted what he should request ; and 
 the King bade him make his demand. And my Cid demanded, 
 that when any hidalgo should be banished, in time to come, he 
 should have the thirty days, which were his right, allowed him, and 
 not nine only, as had been his case ; and that neither hidalgo nor 
 citizen should be proceeded against till they had been fairly and 
 lawfully heard ; also, that the King should not go against the priv- 
 ileges and charters and good customs of any town or other place, 
 nor impose taxes upon them against their right ; and if he did, 
 that it should be lawful for the land to rise against him, till he had 
 amended the misdeed. And to all this the King accorded, and 
 said to my Cid that he should go back into Castile with him ; but 
 my Cid said he would not go into Castile till he had won that cas- 
 tle of Rueda, and delivered the villanous Moors thereof into his 
 hands, that he might do justice upon them. So the King thanked 
 him greatly, and returned into Castile, and my Cid remained be- 
 fore the castle of Rueda. And he lay before it so long, and beset 
 it so close, that the food of the Moors failed, and they had no 
 strength to defend themselves; and they would willingly have 
 yielded the castle, so they might have been permitted to leave it 
 and go whither they would ; but he would have their bodies, to 
 deliver them up to the King. When they saw that it must be so, 
 great part of them came out, and yielded themselves prisoners ; and 
 then my Cid stormed the castle, and took Almofalez and they who 
 held with him, so that none escaped; and he sent him and his 
 accomplices in the treason to the King. And the King was right 
 glad when they were brought before him, and he did great justice 
 upon them, and sent to thank my Cid for having avenged him. 
 
 XXI. After my Cid had done this good service to King Don 
 Alfonso, he and King Zulema of Zaragoza entered Arragon, slaying,
 
 302 CHRONICLE OF THE C/D, 
 
 and burning, and plundering before them, and they returned to the 
 Castle of Monzon with great booty. Then the Cid went into King 
 Abenalfange's country, and did much mischief there ; and he got 
 among the mountains of Moriella, and beat down everything before 
 him, and destroyed the Castle of Moriella. And King Zulema sent 
 to bid him build up the ruined Castle of Alcala, which is upon 
 Moriella ; and the Cid did so. But King Abenalfange being sorely 
 grieved hereat, sent to King Pedro of Arragon, and besought him 
 to come and help him against the Campeador. And the King of 
 Arragon gathered together a great host in his anger, and he and 
 the King of Denia, came against my Cid, and they halted that 
 night upon the banks of the Ebro ; and King Don Pedro sent let- 
 ters to the Cid, bidding him leave the castle which he was then 
 edifying. My Cid made answer, that if the King chose to pass 
 that way in peace, he would let him pass, and show him any service 
 in his power. And when the King of Arragon saw that he would 
 not forsake the work, he marched against him, and attacked him. 
 Then was there a brave battle, and many were slain ; but my ('id 
 won the day, and King Abenalfange fled, and King I )on Pedro was 
 taken prisoner, and many of his Counts and knights with him. My 
 Cid returned to Zaragoza with this great honour, taking his prisoners 
 with him ; and he set them all freely at liberty, and having tarried 
 in Zaragoza a few days, set forth for Castile, with great riches and 
 full of honours. 
 
 XXII. Having done all these things in his banishment, my Cid 
 returned to Castile, and the King received him well, and gave him 
 the Castle of Duenas, and of Orcejon, and Ybia, and Campo, and 
 Gana, and Berviesca, and Berlanga, with all their districts. And 
 he gave him privileges with leaden seals appendant, and confirmed 
 with his own hand, that whatever castles, towns, and places, he 
 might win from the Moors, or from any one else, should be his 
 own, quit and free for ever, both for him and for his descendants. 
 Thus was my Cid received into the King's favour, and he abode 
 with him long time, doing him great services, as his Lord.
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 303 
 
 BOOK V. 
 
 I. IN these days King Yahia reigned in Toledo, the grandson of 
 King Alimaymon, who had been the friend of King Don Alfonso ; 
 for Alimaymon was dead, and his son Hicem also. Now Yahia 
 was a bad King, and one who walked not in the ways of his fathers. 
 Insolent he was towards the elders, and cruel towards his people : 
 and his yoke was so heavy that all men desired to see his death, 
 because there was no good in him. And the people seeing that 
 he did not protect them, and that their lands were ravaged safely, 
 went to him and said, Stand up, Sir, for thy people and thy coun- 
 try, else we must look for some other Lord who will defend us. 
 But he was of such lewd customs that he gave no heed to their 
 words. And when they knew that there was no hope of him, the 
 Moors sent to the King of Badajoz, inviting him to come and be 
 their protector, saying that they would deliver the city into his 
 hands in spite of Yahia. And the Muzarabes who dwelt in the 
 city sent to King Don Alfonso, exhorting him to win Toledo, which 
 he might well do, now that he was no longer bound by his oath. 
 Then both Kings came, thinking to have the city : and the King 
 of Badajoz came first, and the gates were opened to him in de- 
 spite of Yahia. Howbeit King Don Alfonso speedily arrived, and 
 the King of Badajoz, seeing that he could not maintain Toledo 
 against him, retreated, and King Don Alfonso pursued him into 
 his own dominions, and gave orders that he should be attacked 
 along the whole of his border, and did not leave him till he had 
 plainly submitted. In this manner was Yahia delivered from the 
 King of Badajoz ; but King Don Alfonso knowing how that city 
 was to be taken, contented himself with overrunning the country, 
 and despoiling it, even to the walls of the city ; and thus he did 
 for four years, so that he was master of the land. 
 
 II. In all this time did my Cid do good service to King Don 
 Alfonso. And in these days King Don Alfonso fought at Con- 
 suegra with King Abenalfange of Denia, and in this battle the 
 Christians were defeated and Diego Rodriguez, the son of my Cid, 
 was slain. Greatly was his death lamented by the Christians, for
 
 304 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 he was a youth of great hope, and one who was beginning to tread 
 in the steps of his father. And King Don Alfonso was fain to re- 
 tire into the Castle of that town. And Abenalfange gathered to- 
 gether the greatest power of the Moors that he could, and entered 
 the land of the Christians, and passed the mountains, and came 
 even to Medina del Campo, and there Alvar Fanez Minaya met 
 him. Minaya had but five and twenty hundred horse with him, 
 and of the Moors there were fifteen thousand ; nevertheless by 
 God's blessing he prevailed against them. And by the virtue of 
 God Alvar Fanez gave King Abenalfange a cruel wound in the face so 
 that he fled away. Great honour did Minaya win for this victory. 
 
 III. Now had King Don Alfonso for many years cut down the 
 bread and the wine and the fruits in all the country round about 
 Toledo, and he made ready to go against the city. The tidings of 
 this great enterprise spread far and wide, and adventurers came 
 from all parts to be present : not only they of Castile and Leon, 
 Asturias and Nagera, Galicia and Portugal, but King Sancho Rami- 
 rez of Arragon came also, with the flower of Arragon and Navarre 
 and Catalonia, and Franks and Germans and Italians, and men of 
 other countries, to bear their part in so great and catholic a war. 
 And the King entertained them well, being full bountiful, insomuch 
 that he was called He of the Open Hand. Never had so goodly 
 a force of Christians been assembled in Spain, nor so great an 
 enterprise attempted, since the coming of the Moors. And of this 
 army was my Cid the leader. So soon as the winter was over they 
 began their march. And when they came to a ford of the Tagus, 
 behold the river was swollen, and the best horsemen feared to try 
 the passage. Now there was a holy man in the camp, by name 
 Lesmes, who was a monk of St. Benedict's ; and he being mounted 
 upon an ass rode first into the ford, and passed safely through the 
 flood ; and all who beheld him held it for a great miracle. 
 
 IV. Greatly to be blamed are they who lived in those days for 
 not handing down to everlasting remembrance the worthy feats which 
 were achieved at this siege. For not only was Toledo a strong city. 
 both by nature and in its walls and towers, but the flower of the 
 chivalry of all Spain and of all Christendom was there assembled, 
 and the Moors of Spain also, knowing that this was, as it were, the 
 heart of their empire, did all they could to defend it : greatly to be 
 blamed are they who neglected to transmit to us the memory of 
 their deeds, and greatly have they wronged the worthy knights 
 whose exploits should else have gained for them a never-dying 
 renown. Nothing more, owing to their default, can we say of this
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE RIVAR. 305 
 
 so notable a siege, than that when Don Cambrian, the Bishop of 
 Leon, was earnestly engaged in prayer for the success of the Chris- 
 tian arms, the glorious St. Isidro appeared unto him, and certified 
 that in fifteen days the city should be surrendered ; and even so it 
 came to pass, for the gates were opened to the King on Thursday 
 the twenty-fifth of May, in the year of the era 1 1 23, which is the 
 year of Christ 1085. The first Christian banner which entered the 
 city was the banner of my Cid, and my Cid was the first Christian 
 Alcayde of Toledo. Of the terms granted unto the Moors, and 
 how they were set aside for the honour of the Catholic faith, and 
 of the cunning of the Jews who dwelt in the city, and how the Rom- 
 ish ritual was introduced therein, this is not the place to speak ; 
 all these things are written in the Chronicles of the Kings of Spain. 
 V. Now Yahia, when he saw that he could by no means hold 
 Toledo, because on the one hand the Moors would give it to 
 the King of Badajoz, and on the other King Don Alfonso warred 
 against it, he made a covenant with King Don Alfonso to yield 
 the city to him, if he with the help of Alvar Fanez would put 
 him in possession of Valencia, which had belonged unto Hicem 
 and Alimaymon, his fathers, but which the Guazil Abdalla Azis 
 held now as his own, calling himself King thereof. And he 
 covenanted that King Don Alfonso should also put into his hand 
 Santa Maria de Albarrazin, and the Kingdom of Denia ; and 
 the King assented to the covenant, thinking that in this manner 
 the land would all be his own. Yahia therefore sent Abenfarat, 
 who was his cousin, to Valencia, to spy out what the Guazil would 
 do, whether he would peaceably deliver up the kingdom unto him, 
 or whether he would oppose his coming, which he greatly doubted, 
 because it was rumoured that he was about to give his daughter in 
 marriage to the King of Zaragoza. Abenfarat went his way, and 
 took up his abode in the house of a Moor who was called Abenlupo ; 
 and while he sojourned there the marriage of the Guazil's daughter 
 was effected, and the Guazil himself fell sick and died. Then 
 Abenfarat tarried yet awhile to see what would be the issue, for the 
 men of Valencia were greatly troubled because of the death of their 
 King. He left two sons, between whom there was no brotherly 
 love during his life, and now that he was dead there was less. And 
 they divided between them all that he left, even the least thing did 
 they divide, each being covetous to possess all that he could ; and 
 they made two factions in the town, each striving to possess himself 
 of the power therein. But the men of Valencia who were not en- 
 gaged on their side, and they also who held the castles round about.
 
 306 CHROX1CI.E OF THE C//), 
 
 were greatly troubled because of this strife which was between th*'in ; 
 and they also were divided between two opinions, they who were ot 
 the one wishing to give the kingdom to the King of Zaragoza, and they 
 who were of the other to yield themselves unto Yahia the grandson of 
 Alimaymon, because of the covenant which King Don Alfonso had 
 made with him. When Abenfarat knew these things he returned 
 unto Yahia, and told him all even as it was : and Yahia saw that he 
 should have the city, because of the discord which was therein. 
 
 VI. Then Yahia gathered together all his people, knights, and 
 cross-bow men, and foot-soldiers, and they of his board, and the 
 officers of his household which are the eunuchs ; and he set for- 
 ward on the way toward Valencia, and Alvar Fanez and his body 
 of Christians with him. And he sent to the townsmen greeting 
 them, and saying that he was coming to dwell among them and to 
 be their King, and that he would deal bountifully by them ; and 
 that he should wait awhile in the town which was called Sera. The 
 chief men of the town took counsel together what they should do, 
 and at length they agreed to receive him for their Lord ; and this 
 they did more in fear of King Don Alfonso and of Alvar Fane/ 
 than for any love towards him. This answer they sent him by 
 Aboeza the Alcayde. Now Aboeza would fain have departed 
 from Valencia when the Guazil Abdalla Azis died, because of the 
 strife which was in the city, and he thought to betake himself to 
 his own Castle of Monviedro and dwell there, away from the 
 troubles which were to come. Upon this purpose he took coun- 
 sel with his friend Mahomed Abenhayen the Scribe, for there was 
 great love between them ; and when the Scribe heard what he pur- 
 posed to do he was grieved thereat, and represented unto him that 
 it was not fitting for him to forsake the city at such a time, so that 
 Aboeza was persuaded. And they twain covenanted one to the 
 other, to love and defend each other against all the men in the 
 world, and to help each other with their persons and possessions ; 
 and Aboeza sent trusty men of his kinsfolk and friends to keep the 
 Castles of Monviedro and Castro and Santa Cruz, and other Castles 
 which were in his possession, and he himself abode in Valencia. 
 And now he went out to Yahia to give unto him the keys of the 
 city, and the good men of the city went out with him, and they 
 made obeisance to him and promised to serve him loyally. Then 
 Yahia, the grandson of Alimaymon, set forth with all his company 
 from Sera, and all the people of Valencia, high and low, went out 
 to meet him with great rejoicings. And Aboeza adorned the Al- 
 cazar right nobly, that Yahia and his women and they of his com-
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BfVAR. . 307 
 
 pany might lodge within. The most honourable of his knights 
 took up their lodging in the town, and the cross-bow men and 
 others of low degree lodged round about the Alcazar, and in cer- 
 tain dwellings which were between it and the Mosque, and Alvar 
 Fanez and the Christians who were with him, in the village which 
 was called Ruzaf. 
 
 VII. Yahia being now King in Valencia, made Aboeza his 
 Guazil, and gave him authority throughout all his kingdom. Nev- 
 ertheless he bore displeasure against him in his heart, because he 
 had served Abdalla Azis ; and on his part also Aboeza secretly 
 feared the King, and knew not whether it were better to depart 
 from him, or not ; howbeit he thought it best to remain and serve 
 him right loyally and well, that so he might win his good will ; and 
 when the King perceived this, his anger abated and was clean put 
 out of mind. And he made Aboeza his favourite, and made a vow 
 unto him and confirmed it by a writing, that he would never take 
 away his favour from him, nor change him for another, nor do any- 
 thing in his dominions without him. With this was -Aboeza satis- 
 fied, and the fear which he felt in his heart was removed. And 
 they who held the castles brought great gifts to Yahia, with much 
 humility and reverence, such as the Moors know how to put on. 
 This they did to set his heart at rest, that he might confide in 
 them, and send away Alvar Fanez into his own country, and not 
 keep him and his people at so great a charge, for it cost them 
 daily six hundred maravedis, and the King had no treasure in Va- 
 lencia, neither was he so rich that he could support his own com- 
 pany and supply this payment ; and for this reason the Moors com- 
 plained of the great cost. But on the other hand, Yahia feared 
 that if he should send away Alvar Fanez, the Moors would rise 
 against him ; and to maintain him he laid a great tax upon the city 
 and its district, saying that it was for barley. This tax they levied 
 upon the rich as well as the poor, and upon the great as well as the 
 little, which they held to be a great evil and breach of their privi- 
 leges, and thought that by his fault Valencia would be lost, even 
 as Toledo had been. This tribute so sorely aggrieved the people, 
 that it became as it were a bye word in the city, Give the barley. 
 They say there was a great mastiff, with whom they killed beef in 
 the shambles, who, whenever he heard, ' Give the barley,' began 
 to bark and growl : upon which a Trobador said, Thanks be to 
 God, we have many in the town who are like the mastiff. 
 
 VIII. When they who held the castles sent presents to King 
 Yahia, there was one among them, by name Abenmazot, who held
 
 30R CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 \;iti\a, who neither sent him gifts, nor came to offer obedience. 
 And the King sent to bid him come before him. But then Aben- 
 mazot sent a messenger with letters and full rich presents, saying 
 that he could by no means come himself, and this not from any 
 feigning, and that he would alway do him service with a true good 
 will. And he besought him as his Lord to let him remain in 
 Xativa, and he would give him the rents thereof; but if it was his 
 pleasure to appoint some other in his stead, he besought that he 
 would then give him something for himself and iiis company to 
 subsist upon, seeing that he desired nothing but the King's favour 
 to be well with him. Then the King took counsel with Aboeza 
 the Guazil, and the Guazil advised him to do unto Abenmazot even 
 as he had requested, and let him keep Xativa ; and to send away 
 Alvar Fanez because of the great charge it was to maintain him, 
 and to live in peace, and put his kingdom in order ; in all which 
 he advised him like a good counsellor and a true. But the King 
 would not give heed to him ; instead thereof he communicated his 
 counsel to the two sons of Abdalla Azis who had submitted unto 
 him, and whom he had taken into his favour, and they told him 
 that Aboeza had advised him ill, and that it behoved him to lead 
 out his host and bring Abenmazot to obedience. And the King 
 believed them and went out and besieged Xativa. And the first 
 day he entered the lower part of the town, but Abenmazot retired 
 to the Alcazar and the fortresses, and defended the upper part ; 
 and the King besieged him there for four months, attacking him 
 every day, till food began to fail both in the army of the King and 
 in the town. And they of Valencia could not supply what was to 
 be paid to Alvar Fanez and his company, much less what the 
 King wanted. Then the King understood that he had been ill 
 advised, and for this reason he condemned one of the sons of 
 Abdalla Azis to pay Alvar Fanez for thirty days ; and he seized a 
 Jew who was one of his Almoxarifes in Valencia, that is to say, one 
 who collected the taxes, and took from him all that he had, because 
 he had advised him ill, and while this lasted the people of Valencia 
 had some respite. 
 
 IX. When Abenmazot saw that the King was bent upon destroy- 
 ing him, and that every day he pressed him more and more, he 
 sent to Abenalfange who was King of Denia and Tortosa, saying, 
 that if he would come and help him, he would make him Lord of 
 Xativa and of all his other Castles, and would be at his mercy ; 
 and this he did to escape from the hands of Yahia. When Aben- 
 alfange heard this it pleased him well, and he sent one of his
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 309 
 
 
 
 Alcaydes, who was called the Left-handed, to enter the Alcazar, 
 and help to defend it till he could collect a company of Christians 
 who might deal with Alvar Fanez. So that Left-handed one en- 
 tered the Alcazar with his company, and the Lord of the Castle 
 which was called Almenar, was already there to help Abenmazot, 
 and encourage him that he should not submit. Then Abenalfange 
 gathered together all his host and his cavalry, and brought with 
 him Giralte the Roman, with a company of French knights, and 
 came towards Xativa, as a hungry lion goes against a sheep, or like 
 the coming of a flood in its hour ; so that Yahia was dismayed at 
 the tidings of his approach, and fled as fast as he could to the 
 Isle of Xucar, and though that Isle was so near, he thought he had 
 done a great thing ; and from thence he went to Valencia, holding 
 himself greatly dishonoured. Then Abenalfange had Xativa and 
 all its Castles, so that it was all one kingdom as far as Denia. And 
 he took Abenmazot with all his women and his household and all 
 that he had, to Denia, and gave him possessions there, and did 
 him much honour. And when it was seen that King Yahia was 
 thus dishonoured, and that Alvar Fanez had not helped him as 
 had been looked for, they who held the Castles lost all fear of him, 
 so that their hearts were changed towards him, as well they of 
 Valencia as of the other Castles, and they said that they would 
 rather belong to Abenalfange than to him, because the town could 
 not bear the charge of the Christians, nor the oppressions which 
 they suffered because of them. 
 
 X. Abenalfange abode some days in Xativa, and then moved on 
 towards Valencia, thinking to win the city ; for he knew how greatly 
 the people were oppressed because of the Christians, and that they 
 could not bear it, and that there was no love between them and 
 their Lord. And he passed by a place which was an oratory of 
 the Moors in their festivals, which they call in Arabic Axera, or 
 Araxea; and he halted near Valencia, so that they in the town 
 might see him ; and he went round about the town, to the right 
 and to the left, wheresoever he would. The King of Valencia with 
 his knights was near the wall watching him, and Alvar Fanez and 
 his company were in readiness lest the French should defy them. 
 And after Abenalfange had stayed there awhile he drew off and 
 went his way to Tortosa. And Yahia was perplexed with Alvar 
 Fanez, and sought for means to pay him ; and he threw the two 
 sons of Abdalla Azis into prison, and many other good men of the 
 town also, and took from them great riches. Then he made a 
 covenant with Alvar Fanez that he should remain with him, and
 
 310 CHRONICLE OF THE CW, 
 
 
 
 gave him great possessions. And when the Moors saw that Alvar 
 Fanez was in such power, all the ruffians and lewd livers in the 
 town flocked unto him, so that Valencia was in the hands of him 
 and his followers ; and the Moors being desperate of remedy 
 deserted the town, and went whither they could, setting at nought 
 their inheritances, for no man was safe, neither in his goods nor 
 person. Then Alvar Fanez made an inroad into the lands of 
 Abenalfange, and overran the lands of Buriana, and other parts : 
 and there went with him a great company of those Moorish des- 
 peradoes, who had joined with him, and of other Moorish Almo- 
 gavares, 1 and they stormed towns and castles, and slew many 
 Moors, and brought away flocks and herds both of cattle and of 
 brood mares, and much gold and silver, and store of wearing 
 apparel, all which they sold in Valencia. 
 
 XI. Now when one of the sons of Abdalla Azis was loosed from 
 prison, he placed his love upon Alvar Fanez and gave him goodly 
 gifts, and upon Aboeza the King's Guazil, and upon a Jew who 
 was a messenger from King Don Alfonso. And they all sent to 
 King Don Alfonso to beseech him that he would take the son of 
 Abdalla Azis and all that he had under his protection, so that 
 Yahia might do no evil unto him, neither take by force from him 
 anything that was his ; and for this protection he promised to give 
 the King thirty thousand maravedis yearly. This request King 
 Don Alfonso granted, and incontinently he took him under his 
 protection, and sent to the King of Valencia to request that he 
 would do him no wrong. Therefore the son of Abdalla Azis was 
 from that time held in more honour because of the love of King 
 Don Alfonso ; nevertheless, he was still kept under a guard in his 
 own house, that he should not issue forth. And because of this 
 confinement not thinking himself safe, he made a hole through the 
 wall and got out by night in woman's apparel, and lay hid all the 
 
 1 These men winter and summer lay upon the bare earth, they consorted in 
 the camp with none but their fellows, their manners were sullen like sa\ a^t-s. 
 they spake little, but when they went to battle were like wild beasts let Incise, 
 and kindled with joy. Winter and summer they wore the same dress of skins 
 girt with a cord of esparto. Shoes, bonnet, and scrip were of the same skin as 
 their dress; they carried spear, sword, and dagger, some of them a mace 
 (porrimaza), and without any defensive armour attacked horse or foot, gen- 
 erally the horse. The Almogavar, when a horseman ran at him, rested the end 
 of his lance against his right foot, bent forward, and let the horse spit himself; 
 in a moment he was upon the fallen horseman with his dagger, or rather 
 knife. If he could kill the man and save the horse, his reward was to become 
 a horse-soldier himself, for they were as skilful when mounted as "hen a-foot.
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 311 
 
 next day in a garden, and on the following night mounted on 
 horseback and rode to Monviedro. When the Guazil knew this 
 he took his son and his uncle as sureties for him for the thirty 
 thousand maravedis, which the Jew was now come to receive for 
 King Don Alfonso. And they went to Monviedro to him, and 
 communed with him, and accorded with him that he should pay 
 the one half immediately, and whenever he returned to Valencia 
 and was safe there in possession of all his rents and inheritances, 
 that then he should pay the remainder : so he paid the fifteen 
 thousand forthwith in silver and in rings of gold, and in cloth, and 
 in strings of pearls, and the Jew returned therewith to King Don 
 Alfonso. At this time his brother was released from prison by de- 
 sire of the King of Zaragoza, and he went unto him ; and many of the 
 rich men of the city also betook themselves to Monviedro, because 
 they were not secure neither in their possessions nor in their bodies. 
 XII. In these days the Almoravides arose in Barbary. The rise 
 of this people and all that they did in Spain are not for me to relate 
 in this place. Suffice it to say, that King Don Alfonso being in 
 great danger, sent for Alvar Fanez and all his company ; and that 
 he had so much to do for himself that he took no thought for 
 Valencia. And when they who had the keeping of Yahia's Castles 
 saw this they rose against him, so that few remained unto him, and 
 they of his vassals in whom he put the most trust proved false, so 
 that the heart of the King of Denia and Tortosa grew, and he 
 thought to win Valencia. The chief persons of the town also sent 
 unto him, saying, that if he would come they would give the city 
 into his hands. So he gathered together his host, and a company 
 of French also, and sent them forward under the command of his 
 uncle, saying that he would follow and join them on a certain day. 
 But they went forward, and Yahia thinking that if he could con- 
 quer them he should be secure, went out and fought against them ; 
 and he was defeated and lost a great part of his people and of his 
 arms, and returned into the city with great loss. When Abenal- 
 fange, who was a day's journey off, heard this, he marched all night, 
 and came before Valencia. And King Yahia knew not what to do. 
 and was minded to yield up to the town. And he took counsel 
 with his people, and they advised him to send for help to King 
 Don Alfonso, and also to the King of Zaragoza, and he did accord- 
 ingly. And an Arrayaz of Cuenca, whose name was Abencano, who 
 was a native of Valencia, went to Zaragoza, and told the King that 
 if he would go thither he would deliver the city into his hands, for 
 it appertained unto him rather than to Abenalfange.
 
 312 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 XIII. And in those days my Cid gathered together a great force, 
 and went to the borders of Arragon, and crossed the Douro, and 
 lodged that night in Fresno. From thence he went to Calamocha, 
 where he kept Whitsuntide. While he lay there the King of Al- 
 barrazin, being in great fear of him, sent to him requesting that 
 they might meet. And when they saw each other they established 
 great love between them, and the King from that day became trib- 
 utary to the Cid. Then the Cid went to Zaragoza, where he was 
 full honourably received. And when Abencano came to Zaragoza 
 inviting King Almescahen to go and take Valencia, and King Yahia 
 sent also to beg succour at his hands, the King asked the Cid to go 
 with him, and gave him whatever he demanded. So greatly did this 
 King desire to have Valencia, that he looked not whether his force 
 was great or little, nor whether that of the Cid was greater than his 
 own, but went on as fast as he could. When the King of Denia 
 heard that he was coming and the Cid with him, he durst not abide 
 them. And he thought that the King of Zaragoza by the Cid's 
 help would win the city, and that he should remain with the labour 
 he had undergone, and the costs. Then he placed his love upon 
 King Yahia, and sent him all the food he had, and besought him 
 to help him, saying that he would supply him with whatever he 
 needed. King Yahia was well pleased with this, though he well 
 understood the reason, and firm writings were made to this effect, 
 and then Abenalfange went to Tortosa. 
 
 XIV. When the King of Zaragoza and the Cid drew nigh unto 
 Valencia, Yahia went out to welcome them, and thanked them 
 greatly for coming to his assistance ; and he lodged them in the 
 great garden, which was called the Garden of Villa Nueva, and 
 honoured them greatly and sent them great presents : and he 
 invited them afterwards to come with their honourable men and be 
 his guests in the Alcazar. But the King of Zaragoza all this while 
 had his eye upon the town, thinking that it would be given up to 
 him as Abencano had promised ; but he saw no sign of this, neither 
 knew he how he could win it. Moreover Yahia had placed his 
 love upon the Cid, and had sent him full noble gifts when he was 
 upon the road, in secret, so that the King of Zaragoza knew not 
 thereof. And the King of Zaragoza asked counsel of the Cid how 
 he might get Valencia into his hands, and besought the Cid to help 
 him. But the Cid made answer, how could that be, seeing that 
 Yahia had received it from the hands of King Don Alfonso, who 
 had given it unto him that he might dwell therein. If indeed King 
 Don Alfonso should give it to the King of Zaragoza, then might
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 313 
 
 the King win it, and he would help him so to do ; otherwise he must 
 be against him. When the King heard this he perceived how the 
 Cid stood in this matter : and he left an Alcayde with a body of 
 knights to assist King Yahia, and also to see if he could win the 
 town : and he himself returned to Zaragoza. 
 
 XV. Then the Cid went to besiege the Castle called Xerica, by 
 idvice of the King of Zaragoza, that he might have a frontier 
 igainst Monviedro. This he did because, when the King came to 
 relieve Valencia, Aboeza had covenanted to give up Monviedro 
 unto him, the which he had not done ; and the King thought that 
 if he made war upon these Castles they must either yield unto him, 
 or be at his mercy, because they did not belong to the King of 
 Denia. But when Aboeza knew this he sent to Abenalfange the 
 King of Denia, saying that he would give him the Castle ; and the 
 King of Denia incontinently came and took possession of it, and 
 Aboeza became his vassal. When the Cid saw this he understood 
 that Valencia must needs be lost, and thought in his heart that he 
 could win the city for himself, and keep it. Then sent he letters 
 to King Don Alfonso, in which he besought him of his mercy not 
 to think it ill that the people who were with him should remain 
 with him, for he would do God service, and maintain them at the 
 cost of the Moors, and whensoever the King stood in need of their 
 service, he and they would go unto him and serve him freely ; 
 and at other times they would make war upon the Moors, and 
 break their power, so that the King might win the land. Well 
 was King Don Alfonso pleased at this, and he sent to say that they 
 who were in the Cid's company might remain with him, and that 
 as many as would might go join him. And my Cid went to the 
 King to commune with him, and while my Cid was with him, Don 
 Ramon Berenguer, Lord of Barcelona, came to Zaragoza ; and the 
 King gave him great gifts, that he might not place his love upon 
 any other for want ; for the King had now put away his love from 
 the Cid, thinking that because of him he had lost Valencia. And 
 presently he sent a force to besiege Valencia under Don Ramon 
 Berenguer ; and he had two Bastiles built, one in Liria, which King 
 Yahia had given him when he came to relieve him, and the other in 
 Tuballa, and he thought to build another on the side of Albuhera, so 
 that none might enter into the city, neither go out from it. And he 
 re-edified the Castle of Cebolla, that the Count might retire thither 
 if it should be needful, and every day the Count attacked the city, 
 and King Yahia defended himself, looking for the coming of the Cid 
 to help him, according to the covenant which was between them.
 
 314 CHROXICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 XVI. When the Cid returned from Castile and knew that 
 Valencia was besieged by the French, he went to Tares which 
 is near Monviedro, and encamped there with his people, who 
 were many in number. And when the Count knew that the Cid 
 was so near, he feared him, holding him to be his enemy. And 
 the Cid sent to him to bid him move from that place and raise 
 the siege of Valencia. The Count took counsel with his knights, 
 and they said that they would rather give battle to the Cid. How- 
 beit the Cid had no wish to fight with them, because the Count 
 was related to King Don Alfonso, and moreover he had defeated 
 him and made him prisoner heretofore ; so he sent a second time, 
 bidding him depart. And the Count seeing that he could not 
 abide there in the Cid's despite, broke up the siege and went 
 his way by Requena, for he would not pass through Zaragoza. 
 Then the Cid went to Valencia, and King Yahia received him full 
 honourably, and made a covenant with him to give him weekly 
 four thousand maravedis of silver, and he on his part was to 
 reduce the Castles to his obedience, so that they should pay the 
 same rents unto him as had been paid unto the former Kings of 
 Valencia ; and that the Cid should protect him against all men, 
 Moors or Christians, and should have his home in Valencia, and 
 bring all his booty there to be sold, and that he should have his 
 granaries there. This covenant was confirmed in writing, so that 
 they were secure on one side and on the other. And my Cid sent 
 to all those who held the Castles, commanding them to pay their 
 rents to the King of Valencia as they had done aforetime, and 
 they all obeyed his command, every one striving to have his love. 
 
 XVII. When the Cid had thus set the land in order he went 
 against the King of Denia, and warred against Denia and against 
 Xativa ; and he abode there all the winter, doing great hurt, inso- 
 much that there did not remain a wall standing from Orihuela to 
 Xativa, for he laid everything waste ; and all his booty and his 
 prisoners he sold in Valencia. Then he went towards Tortosa, 
 destroying everything as he went ; and he pitched his camp near 
 unto the city of Tortosa, in a place which in Arabic is called 
 Maurelet, and he cut down everything before him, orchards and 
 vines and corn. When King Abenalfange saw that the land \v;is 
 thus destroyed, and that neither bread, nor wine, nor flocks would 
 be left him, he sent to Count Ramon Berenguer, beseeching him 
 to gather together a great force, and drive the Cid out of the land, 
 for which service he would give him whatever he might stand in 
 need of. And the Count, thinking now to be revenged of the ('id
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ. DE BIVAR. 315 
 
 for his former defeat, and because he had taken from him the 
 rents which he used to receive from the land of Valencia, took 
 what the King gave him, and assembled a great host of the Chris- 
 tians. This was so great a power when the Moors had joined, 
 that they surely thought the Cid would fly before them ; for the 
 Moors held that these Frenchmen were the best knights in the 
 world, and the best appointed, and they who could bear the most 
 in battle. When the Cid knew that they came resolved to fight 
 him, he doubted that he could not give them battle because of 
 their great numbers, and sought how he might wisely disperse 
 them. And he got among the mountain valleys, whereunto the 
 entrance was by a narrow strait, and there he planted his barriers, 
 and guarded them well that the Frenchmen might not enter. The 
 King of Zaragoza sent to tell him to be upon his guard, for Count 
 Ramon Berenguer would without doubt attack him : and the Cid 
 returned for answer, Let him come. On the morrow the Count 
 came nearer, and encamped a league off, in sight of him, and when 
 it was night he sent his spies to view the camp of Ruydiez the Cid. 
 The next day he sent to bid him come out and fight, and the Cid 
 answered, that he did not want to fight nor to have any strife with 
 him, but to pass on with his people. And they drew nearer and 
 invited him to come out, and defied him, saying that he feared to 
 meet them in the field ; but he set nothing by all this. They 
 thought he did it because of his weakness, and that he was afraid 
 of them ; but what he did was to wear out their patience. 
 
 XVIII. Then the Count sent a letter to the Cid after this fashion : 
 I count Don Ramon Berenguer of Barcelona, and all my vassals 
 with me, say unto thee, Ruydiez, that we have seen thy letter to 
 King Almescahen of Zaragoza, which thou toldest him to show 
 unto us, that we might have the more cause of quarrel against 
 thee. Before this thou hast done great displeasure unto us, so 
 that we ought at all times to bear ill will against thee. And 
 now while thou hast our goods in thy possession as booty, thou 
 sendest thy letter to King Almescahen, saying that we are like our 
 wives. God give us means to show thee that we are not such. 
 And thou saidst unto him, that before we could be with thee thou 
 wouldst come to us ; now we will not alight from our horses till we 
 have taken vengeance on thee, and seen what sort of Gods these 
 mountain crows and daws are, in whom thou puttest thy trust to 
 fight with us ; whereas we believe in one (iod alone, who will give 
 us vengeance against thee. Of a truth, to-morrow morning we will 
 be with thee, and if thou wilt leave the mountain and come out to
 
 316 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 us in the plain, then wilt thou be, as they call thee, Rodrigo the 
 Campeador. But if thou wilt not do this, thou wilt then be what 
 according to the custom of Castile is called alevoso, and bauzador 
 according to the custom of France ; that is to say, a false traitor. 
 And if thou wilt not come down from the mountain it shall not 
 avail thee, for we will not depart from hence till we have thee in 
 our hands, either dead or alive, and we will deal with thee as thou 
 hast done by us, and God in his mercy now take vengeance upon 
 thee for his churches which thou hast destroyed. 
 
 XIX. When the Cid had read this letter he wrote another in 
 reply after this manner : I Ruydiez and my vassals : God save you 
 Count ! I have seen your letter in which you tell me that I sent 
 one to King Almescahen of Zaragoza speaking contumeliously of 
 you and of all your vassals ; and true it is that I did so speak, and 
 I will tell you for what reason. When you were with him you 
 spake contumeliously of me before him, saying of me the worst 
 you could, and affirming that I did not dare enter the lands of 
 Abenalfange for fear of you. Moreover Ramon de Bajaran, and 
 other of your knights who were with him, spake ill of me and of 
 my vassals before King Don Alfonso of Castile, and you also after 
 this went to King Don Alfonso, and said that you would have 
 fought with me, and driven me out of the lands of Abenalfange, 
 but that I was dismayed, and did not dare do battle with you ; and 
 you said unto him, that if it had not been for the love of him, you 
 would not have suffered me to be one day in the land. Now then 
 I say that I thank you because you no longer let me alone for the 
 love of him. Come ! here I am ; this is the plainest ground among 
 these mountains, and I am ready to receive you. But I know you 
 dare not come, for Moors and Christians know that I conquered 
 you once, and took you and your vassals, and took from ye all 
 that ye had with ye : and if ye come now ye shall receive the same 
 payment at my hands as heretofore. As for what thou sayest 
 that I am a false traitor, thou liest, and art a false traitor thyself. 
 
 XX. Greatly was the Count enraged when he read this letter, 
 and he took counsel with his vassals, and in the night time took 
 possession of the mountain above the camp of the Cid, thinking 
 that by this means he might conquer him. On the morrow the 
 Cid sent away certain of his company as if they were flying, and 
 bade them go by such ways that the French might see them, and 
 instructed them what to say when they should be taken. When 
 the French saw them, they pursued and took them, and carried 
 them before the Count, and he asked of them what the Cid would
 
 RODKTGO DJAZ DE BTVAR. 317 
 
 do. Then made they answer that he meant to fly, and had only 
 remained that day to put his things in order for flight, and as soon 
 as night came he would make his escape by way of the mountain. 
 Moreover they said that the Cid did not think Count Ramon had 
 it so much at heart to give him battle, or he would not have 
 awaited till his coming ; and they counselled the Count to send 
 and take possession of the passes by which he meant to escape, 
 for so he might easily take him. Then the Frenchmen divided 
 their host into four parts, and sent them to guard the passes, and 
 the Count himself remained with one part at the entrance of the 
 straits. The Cid was ready with all his company, and he had 
 sent the Moors who were with him forward to the passes whither 
 his men had directed the Frenchmen, and they lay in ambush 
 there ; and when the Frenchmen were in the strong places, and 
 had begun to ascend, little by little, as they could, they rose upon 
 them from the ambush and slew many, and took others of the best, 
 and among the prisoners was Guirabent the brother of Giralte the 
 Roman, who was wounded in the face. And the Cid went out and 
 attacked the Count, and the battle was a hard one ; the Count 
 was beaten from his horse, nevertheless his men remounted him, 
 and he bade them stand to it bravely, and the battle lasted a long 
 time ; but at the end, he who was never conquered won the day. 
 And the Cid took a good thousand prisoners ; among them was 
 Don Bernalte de Tamaris, and Giralte the Roman, and Ricarte 
 Guillen. And he put them all in irons, and reproached them say- 
 ing, that he well knew what his chivalry was, and his hardihood, 
 and that he should thus beat them all down ; and he said to them 
 that he was in God's service, taking vengeance for the ills which 
 the Moors had done unto the Christians, and had done them no 
 wrong; but they being envious of him, had come to help the 
 Moors, therefore God had helped him, because he was in His ser- 
 vice. And he took their tents, and their horses, and their arms, 
 which were many and good ; and much gold and silver, and fine 
 linen, and all that they had, so that he and all his company were 
 rich men with the spoils. And when Count Ramon heard in his 
 flight that the Cid had taken all his chief captains, and that well- 
 nigh all his power was either slain or taken, he thought it best to 
 come unto the Cid and trust unto his mercy, and he came full 
 humbly and put himself into his hands. And the Cid received 
 him full well and honoured him greatly, and let him go into his 
 own country. And the Count offered a price for the prisoners 
 which was a full great ransom, and moreover the swords precious
 
 318 C/fKO. \~fCLE OF THE CID, 
 
 above all others, which were made in other times. Bountiful was the 
 Cid when he received this ransom, and great part of it he returned 
 unto them again, and showed them great courtesy, and they did hom- 
 age to him never to come against him with any man in the world. 
 
 XXI. When Abenalfange the King of Denia and Tortosa heard 
 this, he was so sorely grieved that he fell sick and died. He left 
 one son who was a little one, and the sons of Buxar were his 
 guardians. One of these held Tortosa for the child, and the other 
 held Xativa, and one who was their cousin held Denia. And 
 they knowing that they could neither live in peace, nor yet have 
 strength for war, unless they could have the love of the Cid, sent 
 humbly to say unto him that if he would do no hurt to their lands 
 they would do whatever he pleased, and pay him yearly what he 
 should think good. And the Cid demanded of them fifty thousand 
 maravedis of silver every year: and the covenant was made be- 
 tween them, and the whole country from Tortosa to Orihuela was 
 under his protection and at his command. And he fixed the trib- 
 ute which each Castle was to pay, that it should be certain ; and it 
 was as you shall be told. The Lord of Albarrazin was to pay ten 
 thousand, according to covenant as you heard heretofore, and the 
 Lord of Alfuente ten thousand, and Monviedro eight thousand, 
 and Segorbe six thousand, and Xerica four thousand, and Alme- 
 nara three thousand. Liria at that time paid nothing, for it was in 
 the Lordship of Zaragoza ; but the Cid had it in his heart to fight 
 with that King. For every thousand maravedis a hundred more 
 were paid for a Bishop, whom the Moors called Alat Almarian. 
 And you are to know that whatever my Cid commanded in Valen- 
 cia was done, and whatever he forbad was forbidden. And be- 
 cause the King was sick of a malady which continued upon him 
 long time, so that he could not mount on horseback, and was seen 
 by none, Valencia remained under the command of his (Jua/il 
 Abenalfarax, whom the Cid had appointed. And then the Cid 
 appointed trusty men in the city who should know to how much 
 the rents amounted, as well those of the land as of the sea ; and 
 in every village he placed a knight to protect it, so that none dared 
 do wrong to another, nor take anything from him. Each of these 
 knights had three maravedis daily. And the people complained 
 greatly of what they gave these knights, and of that also which 
 they paid to King Yahia. Yet were they withal abundantly sup- 
 plied with bread, and with flocks which the Christians brought in, 
 and with captives both male and female, and with Moorish men 
 and women, who gave great sums for their ransom.
 
 HODR/GO DIAZ DE RIVAR. 319 
 
 XXII. Then the Cid sent to the King of Zaragoza, bidding him 
 yield up the Bastiles which he had built against Valencia ; and the 
 King returned for answer that he would not until King Yahia had 
 paid him the whole cost which he had been at, when he came to 
 his succour against King Abenalfange. Then the Cid besieged 
 Liria, and the people submitted unto him, that they should pay 
 him yearly two thousand maravedis. And he overran the whole of 
 the King of Zaragoza's country, and brought great spoils to Valen- 
 cia. Now at this time a Moor called All Abenaxa, the Adelantado 
 of the Almoravides, that is to say, of the Moors from beyond sea, 
 came with a great power of the Moors of Andalusia to besiege the 
 Castle of Aledo. This he did because he knew that King Don 
 Alfonso would come to its relief, and he thought that peradventure 
 the King would bring with him so small a force that he might slay 
 or take him. But when the King heard of it he assembled a great 
 host, and sent to the Cid, bidding him come and aid him. And 
 the Cid went to Requena, believing that he should meet the King 
 there ; but the King went another way, and the Cid not knowing 
 this tarried some days in Requena expecting him, because that 
 was the road. And when the Moors knew that King Don Alfonso 
 was coming with so great a host to relieve the Castle, they de- 
 parted, flying. And King Don Alfonso came to the Castle, and 
 when he came there he found that he was short of victuals, and 
 returned in great distress for want of food, and lost many men and 
 many beasts who could not pass the Sierra. Nevertheless he sup- 
 plied the Castle well with arms, and with such food as he could. 
 
 XXIII. Now they who hated the Cid spake leasing of him to 
 King Don Alfonso, saying that he had tarried in Requena, know- 
 ing that the King was gone another way, that so he might give the 
 Moors opportunity to fall upon him. And the King believed them, 
 and was wroth against the Cid, and ordered all that he had in 
 Castile to be taken from him, and sent to take his wife, and his 
 daughters. When the Cid heard this he sent presently a knight to 
 the King to defend himself, saying, that if there were Count or 
 Rico-ome or knight who would maintain that he had a better and 
 truer will to do the King service than he had, he would do battle 
 with him body to body, but the King being greatly incensed would 
 not hear him. And when they who hated the Cid saw this, and 
 knew that the Cid was gone against a Castle in Zaragoza, they 
 besought the King to give them a force to go against him ; how- 
 beit this the King would not. At this time AH Abenaxa, the Ade- 
 lantado of the Almoravides, besieged Murcia, and there was a
 
 320 CHRONICLE OF THE C//\ 
 
 dearth in the city, and Alvar Fanez who should have relieved them 
 did not, and they were so closely beset that they were compelled 
 to yield up the town. As soon as he had taken Murcia, he went 
 against the Castle of Aledo, of which you have heard, and assaulted 
 it vigorously, and took it by force and by famine. And when he 
 had won Murcia and Aledo, he wished to have Valencia also, and 
 they of Valencia, because of the yoke of the Cid, longed to be his 
 vassals, even as the sick man longeth after health. When King 
 Don Alfonso heard what Ali Abenaxa had done, he made ready to 
 go against him. And the Queen his wife, and certain knights who 
 were friends to the Cid, wrote to him that he should now come 
 and serve the King in such a season, that the King might thank 
 him greatly and lay aside his wrath. Having seen these letters 
 the Cid set out from Zaragoza where he was, and went his way 
 with a great host, and advanced as far as Martos, where he found 
 the King. And the King received him honourably, and they con- 
 tinued together till the King passed the Sierra de Elvira, and the 
 Cid went in the plain below before him. And they who wished ill 
 to him said to the King, The Cid came after you like one who was 
 wearied, and now he goes before you. And after this manner 
 they set the King again against him, so that his displeasure was 
 greatly moved. And the Moors did not venture to give him bat- 
 tle, but left the Castle of Aledo and retreated to Murcia, and the 
 King returned to Ubeda. And when the Cid saw that the heart 
 of the King was changed, he returned to Valencia, and the King 
 went back to Toledo. 
 
 XXIV. After this King Don Alfonso drew forth a great host 
 and went towards Valencia, and sent to all the Castles in that land, 
 saying that for five years they should pay him the tribute which 
 they were wont to pay unto the Cid. When the Cid knew this 
 he sent to the King, saying, he marvelled why the King should 
 thus seek to dishonour him, and that he trusted in God soon to 
 make him know how ill he was advised by those about him. And 
 presently the Cid gathered together a full great host both of Moors 
 and of Christians, and entered the land of King Don Alfonso, 
 burning and destroying whatever he found, and he took Logrono, 
 and Alfaro also, and sacked it. While he was at Alfaro, Count Garci 
 Ordonez and certain other Ricos-omes of Castile sent to say to 
 him, that if he would tarry for them seven days, they would come 
 and give him battle. He tarried for them twelve days, and they 
 did not dare to come ; and when the Cid saw this he returned to 
 Zaragoza. Now when King Don Alfonso knew what the Cid had
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 321 
 
 done in his land, and that the Ricos-omes had not dared fight 
 against him, he saw that he had taken an evil counsel when he set 
 his heart against him. And he sent his letters to the Cid saying, 
 that he forgave him all that he had done, seeing that he himself 
 had given the occasion ; and he besought him to come to Castile, 
 where he should find all things free which appertained unto him. 
 Much was the Cid rejoiced at these tidings, and he wrote to the 
 King thanking him for his grace, and beseeching him not to give 
 ear to bad counsellors, for he would always be at his service. 
 
 XXV. Now it came to pass, that by reason of certain affairs the 
 Cid tarried a long time in Zaragoza. And they of Valencia being 
 no longer kept in awe by his presence, complained one to another 
 of the oppressions and wrongs which they endured from him and 
 from his servants, and from Abenalfarax, the Guazil whom he had 
 appointed ; and they conspired with an Alcayde who was called 
 Abeniaf. And when Abenalfarax the Guazil understood how Abe- 
 niaf cast about to disturb the peace of the city, he would have 
 taken him and cast him in prison ; but this he dared not do till 
 the Cid should come, and moreover he weened that upon his com- 
 ing the disturbance would cease. Now Abeniaf knew that the 
 Guazil was minded to seize him if he could have dared so to do, 
 and he sent his messengers to Ali Abenaxa the Adelantado of the 
 Almoravides, who was now Lord of Murcia, telling him to come to 
 Valencia, and he would deliver the city into his hands. Moreover 
 he took counsel with the Alcayde of Algezira de Xucar, that the 
 Alcayde also should send to Ali Abenaxa, exhorting him to make 
 good speed himself, or to send an Alcayde with a fitting power, and 
 to come to Algezira, which was near, and then presently proceed 
 to Valencia. So soon as Ali Abenaxa had received this mes- 
 sage he made speed to come, and as many Castles as were upon 
 his road submitted unto him. When the Alcayde of Denia heard 
 of his coming and that all these Castles had submitted, he durst 
 not abide there, but fled to Xativa ; and Ali Abenaxa took posses- 
 sion of Denia, and he sent his Alcayde to Algezira de Xucar, and 
 took possession of that also. When these tidings came to Valencia, 
 the Bishop who was there, and the forty knights who were with the 
 messenger of the King of Arragon because of the friendship be- 
 tween their King and the Cid, and all the other Christians who 
 were in the city, would no longer abide there, but took of their 
 goods each as much as he could, and went away in fear. And the 
 Guazil was greatly dismayed, neither knew he what course to take, 
 and Yahia the King, though he was now healed of his malady,
 
 322 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 neither mounted on horseback, nor appeared abroad. Abenalfarax 
 went unto him and told him the peril in which they stood. And 
 their counsel was, that they should remove all that they had from 
 Valencia and go to the Castle of Segorbe. Then they sent away 
 many beasts laden with goods and with riches, under the care of a 
 nephew of the Guazil and many others, to the Castle of Benaecab, 
 that is to say, the Castle of the Eagle, to be in charge of the Al- 
 cayde thereof. And the King and the Guazil bestirred themselves 
 and gathered together foot soldiers and crossbow men to defend 
 the Alcazar, and sent speedily to Zaragoza, telling the Cid to 
 come ; but he could not set forth so speedily as need was : and 
 the stir which was in the city endured for full twenty clays. Then 
 that Alcayde of AH Abenaxa, who was in Algezira de Xucar set 
 forward in the first of the night with twenty horsemen of the Al- 
 moravides, and as many more of Algezira, all clad alike in green, 
 that they might all be taken for Almoravides ; and they came by 
 daybreak to Valencia to the gate of Tudela, and sounded their 
 drums, and the rumour in the town was that there were full fi\v 
 hundred knights of the Almoravides, and the Guazil was in great 
 fear. And he went to the Alcazar to take counsel with the King, 
 and they gave order that the gates of the town should be barred, 
 and that the walls should be manned. 
 
 XXVI. Then the King's soldiers went to the house of Abeniaf 
 the Alcayde who had sent for the Almoravides, and called unto 
 him to come forth that they might take him before the King ; but 
 he was trembling in great fear, and would not come out. And the 
 men of the town came to his help, and when he saw the company 
 that were on his side, he came forth and went with them to the 
 Alcazar, and entered it and took the Guazil of the Cid. And the 
 townsmen ran to the gates and drove away those of the King's 
 party who guarded them ; and they strove to beat the gates down, 
 but they could not, and they set fire to them and burnt them. 
 And others let down ropes from the walls, and drew up the Almo- 
 ravides. King Yahia put on woman's apparel, and fled with his 
 women, and hid himself in a dwelling near unto a bath. And the 
 Almoravides took possession of the Alcazar, and plundered it. 
 One Christian they slew who guarded the gates, and another who 
 was of St. Maria de Albarrazin, who guarded one of the towers 
 of the wall. In this manner was Valencia lost. 
 
 XXVII. Now when Abeniaf saw that all the people were on his 
 side, and obeyed him, his heart grew and he was puffed up, inso- 
 much that he despised those who were as good as himself or better.
 
 koDRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 323 
 
 Albeit he was of good parentage, for his fathers before him had all 
 been Alcaydes ever since Valencia was in the hands of the Moors. 
 And because he knew that the King had not fled out of the town, 
 he made search for him, and found him in the house where he had 
 hidden himself with his women. Now the King when he fled from 
 the Alcazar had taken with him the best of his treasures, pearls, 
 among which was one the most precious and noble that could 
 be, so that nowhere was there a better one to be found, nor so 
 good ; and precious stones, sapphires and rubies and emeralds ; he 
 had with him a casket of pure gold full of these things ; and in his 
 girdle he had hidden a string of precious stones and of pearls, such 
 that no King had so rich and precious a thing as that carkanet. 
 They say that in former times it had belonged to Queen Seleyda, 
 who was wife to Abanarrexit King of Belcab, which is beyond sea ; 
 and afterwards it had come to the Kings called Benivoyas, who 
 were Lords of Andalusia ; after that King Alimaymon of Toledo 
 possessed it, and gave it to his wife, and she gave it to the wife of 
 he r son, who was the mother of this Yahia. Greatly did Abeniaf 
 covet these treasures and this carkanet, and incontinently he 
 thought in his heart that he might take them and none know 
 thereof, which could no ways be done unless he slew King Yahia. 
 When therefore it was night he gave order to cut off his head, and 
 to throw it into a pond near the house in which he had been taken. 
 This was done accordingly, and Abeniaf took the treasures, and 
 they who were set over King Yahia to guard him and murder him, 
 took also each what he could, and concealed it. And the body 
 lay where it had been slain till the following day ; but then a good 
 man who grieved for the death of his Lord took it up, and laid it 
 upon the cords of a bed, and covered it with an old horsecloth, 
 and carried it out of the town, and made a grave for it in a place 
 where camels were wont to lie, and buried it there, without grave- 
 clothes and without any honours whatsoever, as if the corpse had 
 been the corpse of a villein.
 
 324 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 BOOK VI. 
 
 I. WHEN Abeniaf had slain his Lord, as you have heard, he 
 became haughty like a King, and gave no thought to anything 
 save to building his own houses, and setting guards round about 
 them by day and by night; and he appointed secretaries who 
 should write his secret letters, and chose out a body from among 
 the good men of the city to be his guard. And when he rode out 
 he took with him many knights and huntsmen, all armed, who 
 guarded him like a King ; and when he went through the streets 
 the women came out to gaze at him, and shouted and rejoiced in 
 him ; and he being elated and puffed up with these vanities, 
 demeaned himself in all things after the manner of a King. This 
 he did for the sake of abasing a certain kinsman of his, who was 
 chief Alcayde, and who was better and wiser than he. Moreover 
 he made no account of the Alcayde of the Almoravides who held 
 the Alcazar, neither took counsel with him concerning anything, 
 and he gave no heed to him except to supply him and his com- 
 pany with their charges, which he did right sparingly. 
 
 II. But when King Yahia was slain, his servants and eunuchs 
 and they of his household fled to Juballa, a Castle which was held 
 by a kinsman of the Guazil Abenalfarax, who lay in prison ; other 
 some fled to Zaragoza, and told the Cid all that had befallen. The 
 Cid was greatly grieved when he heard it, and without delay he 
 set forth with all his people, and went as fast as he could go to 
 Juballa, and there they who had escaped from Valencia met him, 
 and besought him to help them to revenge the death of their Lord, 
 saying that they would follow him for life or for death, and do 
 whatsoever he commanded them. Then the Cid sent letters to 
 Abeniaf, saying disdainfully unto him, that by God's help he had 
 kept his Lent well, and accomplished his fast with a worthy sacri- 
 fice by murdering the King his master ! and he reproached him 
 for the shame he had done the King in casting his head into the 
 pond and letting the body be buried in a dunghill ; and at the end 
 of the letter he bade Abeniaf give him his corn which he had left 
 in his granaries at Valencia. Abeniaf returned for answer that his
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 325 
 
 granaries had all been plundered, and that the city now belonged 
 to the King of the Almoravides ; and he said that if the Cid would 
 serve that King he would do his best to help him that he might 
 win his love. When the Cid read this letter he saw that Abeniat 
 was a fool, for he had sent to reproach him for the death of his 
 Lord, and the answer which he had returned was concerning 
 another matter ; and he then knew that Abeniaf was not a man to 
 keep the power which he coveted. So he sent other letters to 
 him, calling him and all who were with him traitors, and saying 
 that he would never leave from making war against them till he had 
 taken vengeance for the death of King Yahia. 
 
 III. And the Cid sent letters to all the Castles round about, 
 bidding them supply his host with victuals, and do it speedily, or 
 he would do all he could to destroy them. And there was none 
 to gainsay him : and all obeyed his commands in this matter, sav- 
 ing Aboeza Abenlupo, for he was a discreet man, and perceived 
 what was to come, and in what this was to end : moreover he 
 feared that if he should not do as the Cid commanded, the Cid 
 would put him out of the world, and no one would be able to pro- 
 tect him ; and if he should do it, then he feared least he should 
 be banished. So he sent to the Cid to say he would do his pleas- 
 ure, and he sent also to Abenrazin, the Lord of Albarrazin, saying 
 that he would give him Monviedro and the other Castles in his 
 possession, and bidding him make his terms with the Cid, for as 
 touching himself, he desired to have no dispute, but to come off 
 with his company and his own person in peace. When Abenrazin 
 heard this he was well pleased ; and he went to Monviedro with 
 all speed, and took possession of the Castle. From the time that 
 King Yahia was slain till this time, was twenty and six days. And 
 when Abenrazin had got possession of the Castle of Monviedro he 
 came to the Cid, and established love with him, and made a cov- 
 enant that there should be buying and selling between his castles 
 and the host, and that he would provide food, and that the Cid 
 should not make war upon him. And upon this they made their 
 writings, which were full fast ; and Abenrazin returned to his own 
 land, and left one to keep Monviedro for him ; and Abenlupo 
 went with him, taking with him his wives and his children and his 
 people and all that he had, and he thought himself well off that he 
 had escaped with his body, for he desired to have nothing to do 
 with the Cid. And the Cid lay before Juballa, and sent out to his 
 foragers towards Valencia twice a day; one party went in the 
 morning, and another towards night ; and they slew many Moors,
 
 326 CHRONICLE OF THE CW, 
 
 and made many prisoners, and made prey of all the flocks which 
 they found without the walls ; nevertheless the Cid commanded 
 that no hurt should be done to those of the land of Moya, nor to 
 the husbandmen, but that they who laboured to produce bread and 
 wine should be protected and encouraged ; and this he did think- 
 ing that what they raised would be for him when he should lay 
 siege unto the town ; and he said this to his knights and Adalides 
 and Almocadenes, and took homage of them that he should obey 
 him therein. All this time the Cid held that Castle besieged, so 
 that none could enter in nor come out thereof; and it is said that 
 terms had secretly been made with him to yield it up, but that it 
 was so to be done that the other Moors might believe they had 
 yielded from great necessity, for it was not stored so as to be able 
 to hold out long. And while the Cid lay before Juballa, all the 
 spoil which his Almogavares took they brought to the host, and 
 from the host it was taken and sold at Monviedro. Many laden 
 beasts came every day, and there was plenty in the host. 
 
 IV. Abeniaf gathered together the knights who were natives of 
 the city and vassals to the King whom he had slain, and sent for 
 others who were in Denia, so that in all they were three hundred 
 knights, and maintained them with the bread which was in the 
 granaries of the Cid Ruydiez, and with the rents and possessions 
 of those who had been the King's officers, and who were gone 
 from Valencia, and with the Customs ; from all these did he give 
 these knights whatsoever they stood in need of. And he took no 
 counsel with the Alcayde of the Almoravides concerning anything 
 which he did, neither with any one, nor did he care a jot for them. 
 And when the Alcayde and the Almoravides saw that he made 
 himself master in the city, and how everything that he did was by 
 his own will, they were offended therewith. The sons of Aboegib 
 were offended also : and they and the Almoravides placed their 
 love upon each other, and took counsel together against him, and 
 became of one party, and they bare great hatred against him, and 
 he against them. All this while the Cid lay before Juballa, and 
 every day he scoured the country to the gates of Valencia, early 
 in the morning, and at noon day, and at night, so that he never 
 let them rest. And the three hundred knights whom Abeniaf had 
 collected went out against his foragers, with the men of the town, 
 and the Christians slew many of them, so that there were lamen- 
 tations daily within the walls, and wailings over the dead that were 
 brought in. And in one of these skirmishes, a rich Moor was taken 
 who was Alcayde of Acala, which is near Torralva, and they gave
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 327 
 
 him grievous torments till he ransomed himself for ten thousand 
 marks of silver; and moreover he gave the houses which he had 
 in Valencia, which were called the houses of Anaya, to be theirs if 
 peradventure the town should be yielded up. 
 
 V. When the Cid knew that there was great hatred between 
 Abeniaf and the Almoravides and the sons of Aboegib, he devised 
 means how to set farther strife between them, and sent privily to 
 proffer his love to Abeniaf on condition that they should expel the 
 Almoravides out of the town ; saying, that if he did this, he would 
 remain Lord thereof, and the Cid would help him in this, and would 
 be good to him, as he knew he had been to the King of Valencia, 
 and would defend him. When Abeniaf heard this he was well pleased, 
 thinking that he should be King of Valencia. And he took counsel 
 with Abenalfarax the Guazil of the Cid, whom he held prisoner, and 
 Abenalfarax, with the hope of getting out of prison, counselled him 
 to do thus, and to accept the love of the Cid. Then sent he to 
 the Cid, saying that he would do all which he commanded to gain 
 his love, and he began to stop the allowance of the Almoravides, 
 saying that he could give them nothing, for he had nothing where- 
 of to give ; this did he to the end that they might go their way, for 
 he lacked not means. 
 
 VI. At this time Ali Abenaxa, the Alcayde who was in Denia, sent 
 to Abeniaf, saying unto him that he should send of that treasure, 
 and of those jewels which he had taken from King Yahia, to the 
 Miramamolin beyond sea ; with the which he would gather together 
 a great power, and cross the sea, arid come against the Cid, to help 
 the people of Valencia, and protect them against the Cid, who did 
 so much evil to them all. And Abeniaf took counsel with the men 
 of Valencia concerning this matter, whether he should send this to 
 the Miramamolin beyond sea or not. And the old men advised 
 him that he should, and the others that he should not. And Abe- 
 niaf took the treasures, and hid the best part thereof for himself, 
 for none knew what it was ; and the rest he sent by his messengers, 
 Abenalfarax the Guazil of the Cid being one ; and they took their 
 departure from Valencia with great secrecy, least the Cid should 
 know it and overtake them upon the road. But Abenalfarax devised 
 means to let the Cid know, and sent him a messenger. And the 
 Cid sent horsemen to follow their track, who caught them, and 
 took the treasure, and brought it to the Cid. Greatly did he thank 
 Abenalfarax for having served him so well at that season, and put- 
 ting the treasure into his hands, and he promised him goodly guer- 
 don ; and he made him chief over all the Moors who were his sub*
 
 328 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 jects. At this time the Alcayde of Juballa yielded up the Castle to 
 the Cid, and the Cid placed another therein, and went up with his 
 host against Valencia, and encamped in a village which is called 
 Deroncada. And as the seed time was now over, he burnt all the 
 villages round about, and wasted all that belonged to Abeniaf and 
 his lineage, and he burnt the mills, and the barks which were in 
 the river. And he ordered the corn to be cut, for it was now the 
 season, and he beset the city on all sides, and pulled down the 
 houses and towers which were round about, and the stone and 
 wood thereof he sent to Juballa, to make a town there beside the 
 Castle. 
 
 VII. At this time there came the Guazil of the King of Zaragoza 
 to the host of the Cid, bringing with him great treasures which the 
 King had sent for the redemption of the captives, for ruth which 
 he had of them, and also that he might have his reward from God 
 in the other world. He came also to talk with Abeniaf and coun- 
 sel him that he should give up the city to the King of Zaragoza, 
 and they would send away the Almoravides, and the King would 
 protect him ; but Abeniaf would give no ear to this, and the Guazil 
 said unto him that he would repent not having taken this advice. 
 On the second day after this Guazil had arrived, the Cid attacked 
 the suburb which is called Villa Nueva, and entered it by force, 
 and slew many Moors, both men of Andalusia and Almoravides, 
 and plundered all that they found, and pulled down the houses, 
 and the wood and stone the Cid sent to Juballa, and he set a guard 
 there that the Moors might not recover the place. On the morrow 
 the Cid attacked another suburb, which is called Alcudia, and there 
 were a great body of the Moors gathered together there. And he 
 sent a part of his host against the gate of Alcantara, bidding them 
 attack the gate, while he fought against them in Alcudia ; and he 
 thought that by God's mercy peradventure he should enter the 
 town. And the Cid with his company rode among that great mul- 
 titude of the Moors, smiting and slaying without mercy, and the 
 Cid's horse trampled over the dead, and stumbled among them 
 and fell, and the Cid remained afoot. Howbeit they brought him 
 to horse again, and he continued smiting and laying on strenuously, 
 so that the Moors were amazed at the great mortality which he 
 made among them, and maugre all they could do, were fain to fly 
 into the town. And they whom he had sent against the gate of 
 Alcantara, attacked it so bravely that they would have entered the 
 city, if it had not been for the boys and the women who were upon 
 the wall and in the towers, and threw down stones upon them,
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 329 
 
 And this while the cry went forth in the city, and many horsemen 
 sallied forth and fought with the Christians before the bridge, and 
 the battle lasted from morning until mid-day, and when they sepa- 
 rated, the Cid returned to his camp. And when the Cid had 
 taken food, he returned after the siesta to attack the suburb of Al- 
 cudia ; and this attack was so vigorous that they who dwelt therein 
 thought the place would be forced, and they began to cry out, 
 Peace ! peace ! being in great fear. Then the Cid bade his men give 
 over the attack, and the good men of the suburb came out to him, 
 and whatsoever terms of security they asked, he granted them ; 
 and he took possession of the suburb that night, and set his guards 
 therein ; and he commanded his people that they should do no 
 wrong to them of Alcudia, and if any one offended he said that his 
 head should be smitten off : so he returned that night to the camp. 
 And on the morrow he came there, and assembled together the 
 Moors of that place, and comforted them much with his speeches, 
 and promised that he would favour them greatly and not oppress 
 them, and bade them till their fields and tend their flocks securely, 
 saying that he would take only a tenth of the fruit thereof, as their 
 law directed. And he placed a Moor there named Yucef, to be 
 his Almoxarife, that is to say, his Receiver. And he gave orders 
 that all Moors who would come and dwell therein might come 
 securely, and they also who would bring food thither for sale, and 
 other merchandize. So much food and much merchandize were 
 brought there from all parts, and that suburb became like a city, 
 and there was plenty therein. 
 
 VIII. Now when the Cid Ruydiez had gotten possession of the 
 suburbs, he cut off from Valencia both the ingress and the egress, 
 and they of the town were greatly straitened, and knew not what 
 they should do, and they repented them that they had not listened 
 to what the King of Zaragoza sent to counsel them, for they had 
 none to help them ; and the Amoravides were in the like strait, 
 for they had none to look to, and the pay which they were wont 
 to receive failed, both to them and to the other knights. All this 
 time Abeniaf secretly continued his love with the Cid, for he had 
 not departed from the promise which he had made him to send 
 away the Almoravides, and put himself under his protection. And 
 they took counsel together in this distress, both the Almoravides 
 and the men of the town, how they might obtain the love of the 
 Cid, in whatever manner they could, so that they might remain in 
 peace in the city till they had sent to the Miramamolin beyond 
 sea, and received his commands ; and they sent to the Cid to say
 
 330 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 this. But he made answer that he would make no treaty with 
 them till they had sent away the Almoravides. And they of the 
 town told the Almoravides what the Cid had said, and these Afri- 
 cans were well pleased, being full weary of that place, and said 
 that they would go their way, and that it would be the happiest 
 day of their lives, that wherein they should depart. So they made 
 their covenant that the Almoravides should be placed in safety, 
 and that they should pay the Cid for all the corn which was in his 
 granaries at the time when King Yahia was slain. And moreover 
 the thousand maravedis per week which they were wont to pay 
 him should be paid for the whole time which they had been in 
 arms, and also from that time forth. And that the suburb which 
 he had won should be his; and that his host should remain in 
 Juballa so long as they continued in that land. And upon this 
 they made their writings, and confirmed them. And the Almora- 
 vides departed from Valencia, and horsemen were sent with them, 
 who conducted them in safety, and the Moors of Valencia were 
 left in peace. 
 
 IX. Then the Cid went with all his host to Juballa, leaving none 
 but such as were to collect his rents with his Almoxarife. And 
 Abeniaf cast about how he might pay the Cid for the corn, and 
 also what else was to be given him. And he made terms with 
 those who held the Castles round about Valencia, that they should 
 pay him the tenth of all their fruits and of all their other rents. 
 Now this was the season for gathering in the fruit, and he appointed 
 men in every place, who should look to it, and see it valued, and 
 receive the tenth ; a Moor and a Christian did he appoint in every 
 place, who were to receive this, and to gather the corn also into 
 the granaries : and this was done after such manner that the Cid 
 had his tribute well paid. At this time came tidings to Valencia, 
 that the Almoravides were coming again with a great power, and 
 the Cid devised how he might prevent their coming, or if they 
 came how he might fight against them. And he sent to tell Abe- 
 niaf to forbid them from coming, for if they should enter the town 
 he could not be Lord thereof, which it was better he should be, 
 and the Cid would protect him against all his enemies. Well was 
 Abeniaf pleased at this : and he held a talk with the Alcayde of 
 Xativa, and with him who held the Castle of Carchayra ; and 
 they agreed to be of one voice. And they came to Valencia, and 
 the Cid came to his suburb ; and they confirmed love with him in 
 great secrecy. But he who had the Castle of Algezira would not 
 be in this covenant with them, and the Ckl sent parties into his
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 33L 
 
 lands, and did him much evil ; and the Alcayde of Juballa went 
 against him, and cut down all his corn and brought it to Juballa, 
 which the Cid had made a great town with a church and with 
 towers, and it was a goodly place ; and there he had his corn 
 and his other things, and his rents were all brought thither, and it 
 abounded with all things ; and men held it for a great marvel that 
 in so short time he had made so great a town, which was so rich 
 and so plentiful. And the Cid thought to have Valencia if the 
 Almoravides did not come, and for this reason did all that he 
 could to prevent their coming. 
 
 X. At this time Abenrazin the Lord of Albarrazin covenanted 
 with the King of Arragon that the King should help him to win 
 Valencia, and he would give him great treasures ; and he gave 
 him in pledge a Castle which is called Toalba. And in this which 
 he did he gained nothing, but he lost the Castle. Now this Aben- 
 razin had made covenant with the Cid, so that they were friends, 
 and the Cid had never done hurt in his lands. And when he 
 knew this that he had done with the King of Arragon he held 
 himself to have been deceived and dealt falsely with ; howbeit he 
 dissembled this, and let none of his company wit, till they had 
 gathered in all the corn from about Algezira de Xucar, and carried 
 it to Juballa. When this was done, he bade his men make ready, 
 and he told them not whither they were to go, and he set forward 
 at night toward Albarrazin, and came to the Fountain. Now that 
 land was in peace, and the dwellers thereof kept neither watch nor 
 ward ; and his foragers slew many, and made many prisoners, and 
 drove great flocks and herds, sheep and kine, and brood mares, 
 and prisoners all together, and they carried away all the corn ; and 
 they sent all the spoil to Juballa, and it was so great that Valencia 
 and Juballa and all their dependencies were rich with cattle and 
 with other things. While the Cid lay before Albarrazin, as he one 
 day rode forth with five of his knights to disport himself, there came 
 twelve knights out of the town, thinking to slay him or take him. 
 And he pricked forward against them, and encountered them so 
 bravely that he slew twain, and other twain he overthrew, so that 
 they were taken, and the rest were put to flight : but he remained 
 with a wound in his throat from the push of a spear, and they 
 thought he would have died of that wound ; and it was three weeks 
 before it was healed. 
 
 XL Now came true tidings to Valencia that the host of tlu- 
 Almoravides were coming, and that they were now at Lorca, and 
 the son-in-law of the Mjramamolin at their head, for he himsell
 
 332 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 could not come, by reason that he ailed. They of Valencia 
 took courage at these tidings, and waxed insolent, and began to 
 devise how they should take vengeance upon Abeniaf, and upon 
 all those who had oppressed them. And Abeniaf was in great 
 trouble at this which was said openly concerning him, and he sent 
 privily to the Cid, telling him to come as soon as might be. The 
 Cid was then before Albarrazin, doing all the evil that he could, 
 and he brake up his camp and came with his host to Juballa ; and 
 Abeniaf and the Alcaydes of Xativa and Carchayra came unto 
 him, and they renewed their covenant to stand by each other, 
 and be of one voice. And they took counsel and made a letter 
 for the leader of the army of the Almoravides, wherein they told 
 him that the Cid had made a treaty with the King of Arragon, 
 whereby the King bound himself to help him against them ; and 
 they bade him beware how he came towards Valencia, unless 
 he chose to do battle with eight thousand Christian horsemen, 
 covered with iron, and the best warriors in the world. This did 
 they thinking that he would be dismayed and turn back : but the 
 Moor did not cease to advance, notwithstanding this letter. 
 
 XII. There was a garden nigh unto Valencia which had be- 
 longed to Abenalhazis, and the Cid asked Abeniaf to give it him, 
 that he might take his pleasure there when he was disposed to 
 solace himself. This he did cunningly, that when the Almoravides 
 heard how this garden had been given him which was so nigh unto 
 the city, they should ween that the men of Valencia had given it, 
 and that they were better pleased with his company than with theirs. 
 Abeniaf granted it. And the Cid was wary, and would not enter it 
 till a gateway had been opened into the garden, for the entrance 
 was through narrow streets, and the Cid would not trust himself in 
 those strait places : so Abeniaf ordered the gate to be made, and 
 told the Cid that he would be his host on a day appointed. And 
 Abeniaf bedecked the gate of this garden full richly, and spread 
 costly carpets, and ordered the way to be strewn with rushes, and 
 made a great feast, and expected him all the day, but he did not 
 come. And when it was night he sent to say that he was sick and 
 could not come : and he prayed him to hold him excused. This 
 he did to see whether they of Valencia would murmur against 
 him. And the sons of Aboegib and all the people murmured 
 greatly, and would fain in their hearts have risen again Abeniaf, 
 but they durst not because of the Cid, with whom they would not 
 fall out lest he should lay waste all that was without the walls. 
 And they looked daily for the Almoravides, and one day they said,
 
 RODKICO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 333 
 
 Lo ! now they are coming : and on the morrow they said, They 
 are coming not. And in this manner some days passed on. And 
 the murmur which there had been concerning the garden died 
 away ; and then the Cid entered it, and took possession of the 
 whole suburb of Alcudia round about it : and this he did peace- 
 ably, for the Moors and Christians dwelt there together. 
 
 XIII. Now came true tidings that the host of the Almoravides, 
 which was at Lorca, was coming on through Murcia, and that the 
 tarriance which they had made had been by reason of their Cap- 
 tain, who had fallen sick, but he was now healed, and they were 
 advancing fast. And the sons of Aboegib and great part of the 
 people rejoiced in these tidings, and took heart : and Abeniaf was 
 in great fear, and he began to excuse himself to the men of the 
 town, and said unto them to pacify them, that they did him wrong 
 to complain of him for the garden which the Cid had asked of 
 him, inasmuch as he had only given it him to disport himself 
 therein for some days and take his pleasure, and that he would 
 make him leave it again whenever it should please them. Moreover 
 he said, that seeing they were displeased with what he had done, 
 he would take no farther trouble upon him ; but would send to 
 break off his covenant with the Cid, and send to bid him look out 
 for others to collect his payments, for he would have the charge no 
 longer. This he said in his cunning, thinking that he should pacify 
 them ; but they understood his heart, and they cried aloud against 
 him that they would not stand to his covenant, nor by his counsel, 
 but that the sons of Aboegib should counsel them, and whatsoever 
 they should think good, that would they do. And they gave order 
 to fasten the gates of the town, and to keep watch upon the towers 
 and walls. When Abeniaf saw this he ceased to do as he had been 
 wont for fear of the people and of the sons of Aboegib, and took 
 unto himself a greater company to be his guard. And the war was 
 renewed between the Cid and the people of Valencia. 
 
 XIV. Now came true tidings that the host of the Almoravides 
 was nigh unto Xativa ; and the people of Valencia were glad and 
 rejoiced, for they thought that they were now delivered from their 
 great misery, and from the oppression of the Cid. And when he 
 heard these tidings he left the garden and went to the place where 
 his host was encamped, which was called Xarosa, and remained 
 there in his tents, and he was at a stand what he should do, whether 
 to abide the coming of the Almoravides, or to depart ; howbeit he 
 resolved to abide and see what would befall. And he gave order 
 to break down the bridges and open the sluices, that the plain
 
 334 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 might be flooded, so that they could only come by one way, which 
 was a narrow pass. Tidings now came that the host of the Almora- 
 vides was at Algezira de Xucar, and the joy of the people of Valen- 
 cia increased, and they went upon the walls and upon the towers 
 to see them come. And when night came they remained still upon 
 the walls, for it was dark, and they saw the great fires of the camp 
 of the Almoravides, which they had pitched near unto a place called 
 Bacer ; and they began to pray unto God, beseeching him to give 
 them good speed against the Christians, and they resolved as soon 
 as the Almoravides were engaged in battle with the Cid, that they 
 would issue forth and plunder his tents. But our Lord Jesus Christ 
 was not pleased that it should be so, and he ordered it after an- 
 other guise ; for he sent such a rain that night, with such a wind 
 and flood as no man living remembered, and when it was day the 
 people of Valencia looked from the wall to see the banners of the 
 Almoravides and the place where they had encamped, and behold 
 they could see nothing : and they were full sorrowful, and knew 
 not what they should do, and they remained in such state as a 
 woman in her time of childing, till the hour of tierce, and then 
 came tidings that the Almoravides had turned back, and would not 
 come unto Valencia. For the rains and floods had dismayed them, 
 and they thought the waters would have swept them away, and 
 that the hand of God was against them, and therefore they turned 
 back. And when the people of Valencia heard this they held 
 themselves for dead men, and they wandered about the streets like 
 drunkards, so that a man knew not his neighbour, and they smeared 
 their faces with black like unto pitch, and they lost all thought 
 like one who falls into the waves of the sea. And then the Chris- 
 tians drew nigh unto the walls, crying out unto the Moors with a 
 loud voice like thunder, calling them false traitors and renegados, 
 and saying, Give up the town to the Cid Ruydiez, for ye cannot 
 escape from him. And the Moors were silent, and made no reply 
 because of their great misery. 
 
 XV. Then Abenalfarax, a Moor of Valencia, he who wrote this 
 history in Arabic, took account of the food which was in the 
 city, to see how long it could hold out. And he says that the 
 cafiz of wheat was valued at eleven maravedis, and the cafiz of 
 barley at seven maravedis, and that of pulse or other grain at 
 six ; and the arroba of honey at fifteen dineros ; and the arroba 
 of carobs the third of a maravedi, and the arroba of onions 
 two-thirds of a maravedi, and the arroba of cheese two mara- 
 vedis and a half, and the measure of oil which the Moors call ma-
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BITAR. 335 
 
 ran, a maravedi, and the quintal of figs five maravedis, and the 
 pound of mutton six dineros of silver, and the pound of beef four. 
 These maravedis were silver ones, for no other money was current 
 among them. The Moors who dwelt in the suburbs carried all the 
 best of their goods into the city, and the rest they buried. And 
 when the Cid was certain that the Almoravides were not coming, 
 he returned again to lodge in the garden, and gave order to spoil 
 the suburbs, save that of Alcudia, because the inhabitants of that 
 had received him without resistance : and the Moors fled into the 
 city with their wives and children. And when the Christians be- 
 gan to plunder the suburbs they of the town came out and plun- 
 dered also those houses which were nearest unto the walls, so that 
 everything was carried away and nothing but the timbers left : and 
 then the Christians took that to build them lodgments in the 
 camp ; and when the Moors saw this they eame out, and carried 
 away what timber they could into the city. And the Christians 
 pulled down all the houses, save only such as could be defended 
 with arrows, and these which they dared not pull down they set 
 fire to by night. And when all the houses had been levelled they 
 began to dig in the foundations, and they found great wealth there, 
 and store of garments, and hoards of wheat ; and when the Cid 
 saw this he ordered them to dig everywhere, so that nothing might 
 be lost. And when all had been dug up the Cid drew nearer to 
 the city, and girt it round about, and there was fighting every day 
 at the barriers, for the Moors came out and fought hand to hand, 
 and many a sword-stroke was given and many a push with the 
 spear. While the Moors were thus beleaguered came letters from 
 the Captain of the Almoravides, saying that he had not turned 
 back to Algezira de Xucar for fear, nor for cowardice, neither as 
 one who fled, but for lack of food, and also by reason of the waters ; 
 and that it was his set purpose at all events to succour them and 
 deliver them from the oppression which they endured, and he was 
 preparing to do this with all diligence. And he bade them take 
 courage, and maintain the city. And when the Moors of Valencia 
 heard these letters they took heart, and joined with the sons of 
 Aboegib, and their resolve was that they would be firm and main- 
 tain the city. And they said that Abeniaf had made the Almora- 
 vides retreat, because he had told them that there was discord in 
 the town. And Abeniaf kept great watch, having a great guard to 
 secure him, least the people should attempt aught against him. 
 And the price of all things in Valencia was doubled. 
 
 XVI. Then the Cid drew nearer to the walls, so that no man
 
 336 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 could either enter in or issue out, but whosoever attempted it was 
 either slain or taken. And he gave orders to till all the lands 
 which lay round about Alcudia, for this was now become a great 
 place, even like a city, and the Moors who dwelt there were safe ; 
 and tents and shops were made there for all kinds of merchandize, 
 and merchants came there safely from all parts to buy and to sell, 
 so that they who dwelt there were greatly enriched. And justice 
 was administered to all full righteously, so that there was none 
 who could complain of the Cid nor of his Almoxarife, nor of any 
 of his people ; and the Moors were judged by their own law, and 
 were not vexed, and he took from them only a tenth. Now came 
 true tidings from Denia that the Almoravides had returned into 
 their own country, and that there was no hope of succour at their 
 hands. And when they of Valencia heard this they were greatly 
 troubled. And they who held the Castles round about came hum- 
 bly to the Cid, to place their love upon him, and besought him 
 that he would accept tribute from them, and have them under his 
 protection ; and he gave orders that they might travel the roads in 
 peace : and in this manner his rents increased, so that he had 
 plenty to give. And he sent to them who held the Castles, bidding 
 them provide him with cross-bow men, and foot soldiers, to fight 
 against the city ; and there was none who dared disobey his bid- 
 ding, and they sent him cross-bow men and foot-men in great 
 numbers, with their arms and provisions. Thus was Valencia left 
 desolate, and forsaken by all the Moorish people ; and it was 
 attacked every day, and none could enter in, neither could any 
 come out ; and they were sore distressed, and the waves of death 
 compassed them round about. 
 
 XVII. Then was there a Moor in the city who was a learned 
 man and a wise, and he went upon the highest tower, and made a 
 lamentation, and the words with which he lamented he put in 
 writing, and it was rendered afterwards from the Arabic into the 
 Castilian tongue, and the lamentation which he made was this : 
 
 Valencia ! Valencia ! trouble is come upon thee, and thou art 
 in the hour of death ; and if peradventure thou shouldst escape, 
 it will be a wonder to all that shall behold thee. 
 
 But if ever God hath shown mercy to any place, let him be 
 pleased to show mercy unto thee ; for thy name was joy, and all 
 Moors delighted in thee and took their pleasure in thee. 
 
 And if it should please God utterly to destroy thee now, it will 
 be for thy great sins, and for the great presumption which thou 
 hadst in thy pride.
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 337 
 
 The four corner stones whereon thou art founded would meet 
 together and lament for thee, if they could ! 
 
 Thy strong wall which is founded upon these four stones trem- 
 bles, and is about to fall, and hath lost all its strength. 
 
 Thy lofty and fair towers which were seen from far, and rejoiced 
 the hearts of the people, . . . little by little they are falling. 
 
 Thy white battlements which glittered afar off, have lost their 
 truth, with which they shone like the sunbeams. 
 
 Thy noble river Guadalaver, with all the other waters with which 
 thou hast been served so well, have left their channel, and now 
 they run where they should not. 
 
 Thy water courses, which were so clear and of such great profit 
 to so many, for lack of cleansing are choked with mud. 
 
 Thy pleasant gardens which were round about thee ; . . . the 
 ravenous wolf hath gnawn at the roots, and the trees can yield thee 
 no fruit. 
 
 Thy goodly fields, with so many and such fair flowers, wherein 
 thy people were wont to take their pastime, are all dried up. 
 
 Thy noble harbour, which was so great honour to thee, is de- 
 prived of all the nobleness which was wont to come into it for thy 
 sake. 
 
 The fire hath laid waste the lands of which thou wert called Mis- 
 tress, and the great smoke thereof reacheth thee. 
 
 There is no medicine for thy sore infirmity, and the physicians 
 despair of healing thee. 
 
 Valencia ! Valencia ! from a broken heart have I uttered all 
 these things which I have said of thee. 
 
 And this grief would I keep unto myself that none should know 
 it, if it were not needful that it should be known to all. 
 
 XVIII. Now all the trouble and distress which the men of Va- 
 lencia endured, pleased Abeniaf well, because they had forsaken 
 him and followed the sons of Aboegib ; and he said that it did not 
 behove a man to give advice unto those who would not listen to it, 
 and that if the people had hearkened to him they would not have 
 been brought to this misery ; and what evil they endured was be- 
 cause of the sons of Aboegib, who lacked wit to be well with any 
 one, or to do anything. These things Abeniaf said daily to all 
 who came to visit him : so that the people great as well as little 
 began to talk thereof, saying that Abeniaf spake truly. And the 
 Christians fought against them every day, and pressed them close, 
 and the price of food increased daily ; and they withdrew them- 
 selves from the love of the sons of Aboegib, and thought that they
 
 338 CHRONICLE OF THE C/D, 
 
 had been ill-advised to follow their counsel, and that because of 
 them all this evil was come upon them, and they held them for 
 fools. And the people cried out upon Abeniaf that he should for- 
 give them for having forsaken him, and that he should protect 
 them, and devise means for their deliverance from this great 
 trouble. And Abeniaf said that he would have nothing to do with 
 them more than as one of them; for if they were in trouble, so 
 was he : and what they stood in fear of, that did he fear also ; and 
 that he could not give counsel to men who were divided among 
 themselves ; and he said unto them that they must agree among 
 themselves, and be all of one mind to do one of these two things ; 
 . . . either to forsake the sons of Aboegib and their counsel, or to 
 stand by it. And when he should see that they no longer opposed 
 him with their evil counsels and the bad way in which they were 
 going on, that he would then take counsel for them in such guise 
 that they should be at peace ; for they knew how they had sped 
 so long as they let him direct them, and he trusted in God so to 
 speed as that they should have no war with the Cid, neither with 
 any other. And they made answer with one accord that they 
 would trust in him and obey him, and do all which he should com- 
 mand, for it had alway been well with them when they followed 
 his advice. 
 
 XIX. Then the men of Valencia made Abeniaf their Adelan- 
 tado, and promised to abide by his counsel ; howbeit this could 
 not lightly be done, for many of the people held with the others. 
 And when Abeniaf saw that they would have him for their chief, 
 he said that they should make a writing, and the chief persons of 
 the town confirm it with their names ; and the people accorded 
 that it should be so, and it was done accordingly. Then he made 
 offers to the Cid that they should pay him tribute, and took coun- 
 sel with him how to put the sons of Aboegib, and those who held 
 with them, out of the town ; and their counsel was, that the Cid 
 should draw nigh to the walls, and speak unto the men of the 
 town, saying, that so long as they followed after the ways of the 
 sons of Aboegib, he would never grant them his love ; and all 
 the evil which he did unto them was because of them, and l>ecause 
 they were guided by them and by their evil counsel. And if they 
 desired to speed well they should send away the sons of Aboegib, 
 and take Abeniaf to be their chief, and give ear unto him. And 
 the Cid came nigh unto the walls and said these things, and more- 
 over that he had great ruth for them, for he loved them well ; and 
 if they would do according to his words he would help them and
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 339 
 
 protect them, as he had been wont to do in the days of King 
 Yahia ; and he bade them look well to what they were doing, and 
 not suffer themselves to be brought to destruction. And Abeniaf 
 also said these things to those of his household and to all those 
 who talked with him, and asked of them why they would let them- 
 selves be brought to destruction by the counsel of foolish men and 
 unwise. And this he said so often that they thought it was truth, 
 and they besought him that as he was their Adelantado now, he 
 would devise means for their deliverance, and how they might live 
 in peace ; and he made answer that they were not to think he had 
 forgotten this, for he had laboured greatly with the Cid to obtain 
 his love for them, but the Cid had sworn that they should never 
 have his love till they had put the sons of Aboegib out of the 
 town ; when they had done that, he would do whatsoever they 
 should think good, but till they had done it there should be no 
 covenant between him and them. But when the men of the town 
 heard this they murmured greatly, and said that he demanded a 
 hard thing, and that it were better they should all die than do 
 this ; and they talked concerning this matter three days, being in 
 doubt what they should do. And when Abeniaf saw that the peo- 
 ple were thus at a stand, he took counsel privily with the Cid, and 
 with the knights, and the good men who were on his side, ho\v lie 
 might take them. And one of the chief persons of Abeniafs 
 household went out with a great company of horse and foot to 
 seize the sons of Aboegib ; and, they when they knew this, took 
 shelter in the house of an Alfaqui, that is to say, one learned in 
 the law, who was held in much honour by the Moors ; and in 
 this house, which was surrounded with an embattled wall, they 
 thought with the little company that they had with them, to defend 
 themselves, till the cry could go forth through the city, and their 
 friends come to their succour. And they who went to take them 
 set fire to the outer gates, and many of the baser sort gathered 
 together to see what the stir was. And they ascended the roof 
 and threw down tiles upon the assailants till they made them take 
 shelter under the eaves, and then the house was forced, and they 
 plundered all that they could find, and laid hands on the sons of 
 Aboegib and carried them to prison. All this was done before the 
 cry could go forth through the town ; and all the kinsmen of the 
 sons of Aboegib were taken also : they were kept that day in 
 prison, and when it was night they were taken to the Cid, to his 
 lodging in Alcudia, and delivered into his hands. 
 
 XX. On the morrow there was a great stir among the men of
 
 340 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 I 
 
 the town, and they were greatly troubled at this foul thing which 
 Abeniaf had done. But Abeniaf thinking that he should now have 
 his desire, and that all was done, took horse and rode forth with 
 all his company to the Bridge-end, to see Ruydiez the Cid. Anil 
 the Bishop, as he was called, of Albarrazin, came to meet him with 
 a great company of knights, being the chiefs of the company of the 
 Cid, and they did great honour unto him, thinking that he would 
 give them something. And they brought him to the lodging of 
 the Cid, which was in the Garden of the new town ; and the Cid 
 came out to meet him at the garden gate, and embraced him, and 
 made much of him. And the first thing which he said, was, to 
 ask him why he had not put on kingly garments, for King he was : 
 and he bade him take off the coif which he wore, for it was not 
 what beseemed him now, and made semblance as if he would 
 have held his stirrups. And they stood talking awhile. Now the 
 Cid thought that Abeniaf would not come to him with empty 
 hands, and looked that he should give him of the treasures and 
 jewels that he had taken from King Yahia whom he had slain ; 
 but when he saw that he brought nothing, then began the Cid to 
 talk of terms, and said unto him that if he desired to have his love, 
 and that there should be peace between them, he must divide with 
 him the rents of the town, as well what was collected within as 
 without, and that he would have his own Almoxarife to see to this 
 and collect his share. And Abeniaf made answer that it should be 
 so. And the Cid demanded of him his son as hostage, that he 
 might keep him in Juballa, for otherwise he said he could not be 
 secure. And Abeniaf agreed to this also ; so they parted for that 
 day, having appointed that they should meet on the morrow, and 
 confirm this covenant by writings so that it should be good. Then 
 Abeniaf returned into the city full sorrowful and taking great 
 thought ; and then he saw the foolishness that he had done in 
 sending away the Almoravides out of the land, and in putting his 
 trust in men of another law. And on the morrow the Cid sent 
 for him that he should come out and confirm the covenant ; but 
 Abeniaf sent him word that he would not give him his son, even 
 though he knew he should lose his head for refusing. And the 
 Cid sent him a letter with great threats, saying, that since he had 
 thus deceived him, there should never more be love between them, 
 nor would he ever believe aught which he should say. And then 
 the hatred between them waxed very great. And the Cid sent 
 unto that Moor who had taken the sons of Aboegib and bade him 
 leave the town, and go unto the Castle which was called Alcala ;
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BITAR. 341 
 
 and he obeyed and went thither, for he dared not do otherwise 
 than as the Cid commanded. And he did great honours to the 
 sons of Aboegib and to their kinsmen, and gave orders that they 
 should be provided with all things which they needed, and gave 
 them garments, and promised that he would be their great friend. 
 At this time three good men of Valencia died, who were the most 
 honourable of the town and of the most discretion, and Abeniaf 
 was left as Chief, for there was none to gainsay him. 
 
 XXI. And the Cid made war afresh upon the city as cruelly as 
 he could, and the price of bread was now three times as great as 
 it had been at the beginning; the load of wheat was worth an 
 hundred maravedis of silver, and the pound of flesh was a mararcili. 
 And the Cid drew nigh unto the walls, so as to fight hand to hand 
 with the townsmen. And Abeniaf waxed proud and despised the 
 people, and when any went to make complaint before him, and 
 ask justice at his hands, he dishonoured them, and they were evil 
 entreated by him. And he was like a King, retired apart, and 
 troubadours and gleemen and masters disported before him which 
 could do the best, and he took his pleasure. And they of the 
 town were in great misery, from the Christians who warred upon 
 them from without, and the famine whereof they died within. 
 Moreover Abeniaf oppressed them greatly, and he took unto him- 
 self all the goods of those who died, and he made all persons equal, 
 the good and the bad, and took from all all that he could ; and 
 those who gave him nothing he ordered to be tormented with 
 stripes, and cast into rigorous prisons, till he could get something 
 from them. And he had no respect neither for kinsman nor friend. 
 There was but one measure for all, and men cared nothing now for 
 their possessions, so that the sellers were many and the buyers none. 
 And with all these miseries the price of food became exceeding 
 great, for the cafiz of wheat was priced at ninety maravedis, and 
 that of barley at eighty, and that of painick * eighty and five, and 
 that of all pulse sixty, and the arroba of figs seven, and of honey 
 twenty, and of cheese eighteen, and of carobs sixteen, and of 
 Onions twelve, and the measure of oil twenty : flesh there was none, 
 neither of beast nor of anything else ; but if a beast died, the pound 
 was worth three maravedis. And they were so weak with hunger 
 that the Christians came to the walls and threw stones in with the 
 hand, and there was none who had strength to drive them back. 
 
 XXII. And the Cid having had it at heart to take the town, let 
 
 1 A grain resembling millet.
 
 342 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 make an engine, and placed it at one of the gates, and it did great 
 hurt both to the walls and within the town ; and the Moors made 
 other engines, with the which they brake that of the Cid. And 
 the Cid in his anger let make three engines, and placed them at 
 the three gates of the town, and they did marvellous great hurt. 
 And food waxed dearer every day, till at last dear nor cheap it 
 was not to be had, and there was a great mortality for famine ; and 
 they ate dogs and cats and mice. And they opened the vaults and 
 sewers of the town, and took out the stones of the grapes which 
 they had eaten, and washed them, and ate them. And they who 
 had horses fed upon them. And many men, and many women, 
 and many children watched when the gates were open, and went 
 out and gave themselves into the hands of the Christians, who slew 
 some, and took others, and sold them to the Moors in Alcudia ; 
 and the price of a Moor was a loaf and a pitcher of wine : and 
 when they gave them food and they took their fill, they died. 
 Them that were stronger they sold to merchants who came there 
 by sea from all parts. And the Moors of Alcudia, and of the 
 town which the Cid had made there, had plenty of all things, and 
 as great as was their abundance, even so great was the misery of 
 those in the town : and they spake the verse which sayeth, If I go 
 to the right the water will destroy me, and if I go to the left the 
 lion will kill me ; and if I turn back there is the fire. 
 
 XXIII. Now the Moors of Valencia being in this great misery 
 because of the siege which the Cid laid unto the town, Abeniaf 
 bethought him that he would send a messenger to the King of Za- 
 ragoza, and beseech him to come to his succour, even as he had 
 succoured the grandson of Alimaymon, when the Lord of Denia 
 and Tortosa came against him. And the good men of the town 
 took counsel whether they should say in these letters, To you the 
 King, or whether they should humble themselves before him and 
 call him Lord ; and they debated upon this for three days, and 
 agreed that they would call him Lord, that he might have the more 
 compassion upon them. And though Abeniaf was troubled at 
 heart at this determination, nevertheless he said in the letter as 
 they had appointed. And he called a Moor who spake the mixed 
 language, and instructed him how to get out of the city by night, 
 so that the Christians might not see him, and told him that when 
 he had given that letter to the King of Zaragoza, the King would 
 give him garments, and a horse, and a mule to ride on, and that 
 he himself would show favour unto him as long as he lived. So the 
 messenger departed with the letter. And the famine in the town
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 343 
 
 waxed greater, and food was not now bought by the cafix, neither 
 by \hfanega, but by ounces, or at most by the pound. And the 
 pound of wheat cost a maravedi and a half, and that of barley a 
 maravtdi, and that of painick a maravedi and a quarter, and of 
 pulse a maravedi. and of flax-seed three parts of a maravedi, and 
 of cheese three dineros, and of honey three, and of figs one ; and 
 the panilla of oil was eight dineros, and the pound of colewort 
 five, and the ounce of carobs three parts of a dinero, and the 
 ounce of onions the same, and the head of garlick the same ; and 
 a pound of beast's flesh was six maravedis, and grape-stones were 
 half a dinero the pound, and the skins of kine and of beasts five 
 dineros : the dinero was silver, for there was no money current 
 save silver and gold. 
 
 XXIV. When the King of Zaragoza saw the letter which Abeniaf 
 and the men of Valencia had sent him, he gave no heed to it, 
 neither cared he for the messenger, neither did he give him even 
 a draught of water for his reward. And the messenger waited for 
 his answer from day to day for three weeks, and he dared not de- 
 part without it for fear lest Abeniaf should slay him ; and he thought 
 also that some of the King's people would come out after him and 
 slay him upon the way : and he was urgent for his answer, and be- 
 gan at last to cry aloud at the gate of the King's house, so that 
 the King asked of what that messenger was making his complaint. 
 Then they told the King that he wanted his answer that he might 
 be gone. And the King wrote an answer and said, that this aid 
 which they besought of him he could not give till he had sent to 
 ask help of King Don Alfonso of Castile, for he could not else 
 venture to do battle with the Cid. And he exhorted them to de- 
 fend themselves the best they could while he procured horsemen 
 from King Don Alfonso to help them, and that they should from 
 time to time send him word how they went on. So the messenger 
 returned in great sorrow that he had sped no better, and that 
 nothing had been given him as Abeniaf had promised : and 
 this which the King of Zaragoza said was only delay, and meant 
 nothing. And the famine now waxed so great that there was n 
 food to sell, and many died of hunger. And many for great misery 
 went out to the Christians, recking not whether they should 
 made captive, or slain, for they thought it better to be slam than 
 to perish for lack of food. And Abeniaf searched all the houses 
 the town for food, and where he found any store, he left only wh; 
 would suffice for a fortnight and took the rest, saying that in t, 
 time the King of Zaragoza would come and relieve them, fc
 
 344 CHRONICLE OF THE CJD, 
 
 he only tarried to collect great store of food, that he might bring it 
 with him. This he said to keep the people quiet, and to encour- 
 age them. And of the food which he carried away, he took the 
 most part for himself and for his guards, and the rest he ordered 
 to be sold in such manner that none should buy more than would 
 suffice him for the day. And what he took he did not pay for, 
 and when the people demanded payment he put them off till an- 
 other day ; and he bade them not complain, for they would be 
 relieved from this misery, and then he would pay them well. And 
 they who had any food left buried it for fear, and for this reason 
 there was none to be bought, neither dear nor cheap. And they 
 who had nothing else, ate herbs, and leather, and electuaries from 
 the apothecaries which they bought at a great price, and the poor 
 ate the dead bodies. 
 
 XXV. Now Abeniaf had no hope of succour save only from the 
 King of Zaragoza, who had sent to bid him hold out ; and he sent 
 to him every night to tell him of the great misery which there was 
 in Valencia, and the King of Zaragoza returned for answer that 
 King Don Alfonso had sent him a great body of horsemen with 
 Garcia Ordonez, and would come himself after them ; and he 
 sent in this letter another letter written with his own hand, and 
 which was to be shown to the good men of the town, privily ; 
 and he said therein, with great oaths to confirm it, that he 
 would without fail come and deliver them, for it was a great grief 
 to him to think what they endured, and that this was as great 
 sorrow to him, as theirs could be. And certain of the King's 
 favourites wrote to Abeniaf also after the same manner, telling him 
 that he would surely come ; howbeit one of his favourites who had 
 compassion upon the men of Valencia sent a covert message to 
 warn them, saying, that the King of Zaragoza would build a tower 
 in Alcudia de Tudela ; the meaning of this was, that all the King 
 said, was only to put them off. Abeniaf did not understand it, 
 and sent to ask him what it was that he had said : but the other 
 made him no reply. Then the King of Zaragoza sent two messen- 
 gers to the Cid with jewels and rich presents, and besought him 
 that he would not distress the men of Valencia so greatly, and also 
 that he would let his messengers enter the town that they might 
 speak with Abeniaf. This the Cid would not permit ; howbeit they 
 found means to send in a letter, saying, Wit ye that I send to en- 
 treat the Cid that he will not do so great evil unto you, and I give 
 him jewels and rich presents that he may do my will in this, and I 
 believe that he will do it. But if he should not, 1 will gather to-
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 345 
 
 gather a great host, and drive him out of the land. Howbeit these 
 were but dissembling words, for the King of Zaragoza and the Cid 
 were friends and were of one accord, that the Cid should take 
 Valencia and give it the King, who should give him great treasures 
 in return. 
 
 XXVI. Then the Cid began to treat with a great Moor of the 
 town, named Abenmoxiz that he should rise up against Abeniaf, 
 and kill him or deliver him into his hands, and that he would make 
 him Lord over Valencia, and the country as far as Denia. And 
 Abenmoxiz took counsel with his friends, and they advised him 
 that he should do this ; but Abeniaf knew of their counsel, and 
 took them, and put them in prison, and gave them in charge to 
 two of his household in whom he had great trust. And Aben- 
 moxiz talked with his keepers, and told them all that he purposed 
 to do, and promised them, if they would release him, to reward 
 them greatly when he had succeeded, saying, that he undertook 
 this with the consent and advice of the King of Zaragoza ; so they 
 were persuaded and promised to join with him. And when it was 
 night Abenmoxiz and his friends and the two keepers agreed to 
 seize the Alcazar, which was the place wherein they were impris- 
 oned, and to beat the alarm, and raise a cry for the King of Zara- 
 goza : and they thought the men of the town would join with them, 
 and then they would go to the house of Abeniaf and lay hands on 
 him. And they did accordingly, and beat a drum, and sent a 
 crier upon the tower of the Mosque to bid all the people assemble 
 at the Alcazar. And when the people heard the drum and that 
 crier they were in great fear, and knew not what to think ; and 
 they assembled some to guard their own houses, other some to 
 guard the tower, till they knew what it was. And when Abeniaf 
 heard it, he was greatly dismayed, and he asked of all whom he 
 found at his gates, what the uproar was, and what this thing might 
 be. In short time all they who were on his side, both horse and 
 foot, assembled together, and then they knew what it was ; and he 
 bade them go to the Alcazar and take Abenmoxiz, and all that held 
 with him. Abenmoxiz this while was at the gate of the Alcazar 
 with his little company, thinking that the whole town would join 
 him ; and behold Abeniaf s company came up and charged him ; 
 and he thought to defend himself with the few that were with him, 
 but the most part fled, and he with four others were taken ; and 
 they led them with great shame to the house of Abeniaf, who sent 
 him to prison, and gave orders to smite off the heads of the others. 
 And Abeniaf sent to lay hands on all whom he suspected, mid took
 
 346 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 from them all that they had. And he sent messengers to the King 
 of Zaragoza to tell him what had chanced, and they took with them 
 Abenmoxiz prisoner, and they were charged to remain at Zaragoza. 
 and send him true tidings from thence. 
 
 XXVII. Now there was no food to be bought in the city, and 
 the people were in the waves of death : and men were seen to drop 
 and die in the streets, and the Place of the Alcazar round about the 
 walls thereof was full of graves, and there was no grave which had 
 fewer than ten bodies in it. As many as could fled out of the town, 
 and delivered themselves up to the Christians to be made prisoners. 
 The Cid thought that they who were the Chiefs within the walls, 
 thrust out the poor and feeble, that they might be able to hold out 
 longer ; and it troubled him, for he thought to take the town by 
 starving it, and he feared the coming of the Almoravides. Some- 
 times it troubled him, and at other times he seemed pleased that 
 the Moors should come out and give themselves prisoners to his 
 people. Now it befel that once, at such time as it seemed to please 
 him, some of the chief men of the town came out in this manner, 
 and counselled him that he should attack it, for they said the men 
 at arms were few, and weak for hunger, and that he might presently 
 win it : and the Cid took thought upon this matter and resolved to 
 do as they said ; and he gathered together his host and advanced 
 against the gate which is called Belfanhanes, that is to say, the ( into 
 of the Snake, and they drew nigh unto the wall. And all the peo- 
 ple of the town assembled, even all the force which was therein, 
 and threw down stones from the gate and from the wall, and shot 
 their arrows, so that neither stone nor arrow fell in vain ; and the 
 Cid and they who had advanced with him went into a bath which was 
 near the wall, to be under cover from the arrows. And Abeniafs 
 company opened the gate and sallied out, seeing that the stones 
 and arrows from the wall had hurt many, and made the Christians 
 draw back ; and the Cid and they who were with him remained in 
 the bath, being shut up there, for they could not go out by the 
 door whereat they had entered, and they broke through the wall 
 on the other side, and the Cid escaped that way, being thus put to 
 rout. Then he thought himself ill-advised in having attacked the 
 town, and in putting himself into a place from whence he had es- 
 caped with such great danger and he held that the worst war 
 which he could make upon the men of Valencia was to let them 
 die of hunger. So he ordered proclamation to be made so loud 
 that all the Moors upon the walls could hear, bidding all who had 
 come out from the town to return into it, or he would burn as many
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 347 
 
 as he should find ; and saying also that he would slay all who came 
 out from that time forth. Nevertheless they continued to let them- 
 selves down from the walls, and the Christians took them without 
 liis knowledge. But as many as he found he burnt alive before 
 the walls, so that the Moors could see them ; in one day he burnt 
 eighteen, and cast others alive to the dogs, who tore them in pieces. 
 They who could hide any sent them away by sea and by land to be 
 sold ; the most whom they sent were young men and girls, for others 
 they would not take ; and many virgins they kept for themselves. 
 And if they knew that any who came out had left kinsmen or friends 
 in the town who would give anything for them, they tortured them 
 before the walls, or hung them from the towers of the Mosques 
 which were without the city, and stoned them ; and when they in 
 the town saw this they gave ransom for them, that they might be 
 permitted to dwell in Alcudia with the Moors who were in peace 
 with the Cid. This continued for two months, till there were only 
 four beasts left in the town, and one was a mule of Abeniaf's, and 
 another was a horse of his son's ; and the people were so wasted 
 that there were but few who had strength to mount the wall. 
 
 XXVIII. The company of Abeniaf and of his kinsmen de- 
 spaired now of holding out, and of the help of the King of Zarago- 
 za, or of the Almoravides, and they desired rather to die than en- 
 dure this misery. And the good men of the city, as many as were 
 left, went to an Alfaqui, who was a good man, and one who was 
 held in great esteem, and besought him to give them counsel, for 
 he saw their great distress, and how they were out of all hope of 
 succour ; and they besought him that he would go to Abeniaf, and 
 know of him what he thought to do, or what hope he had, that he 
 let them all perish thus. The Alfaqui gave ear to them, and said 
 that if they would all hold together, and be of one heart, and show 
 great anger at having been brought to this misery, he would do all 
 he could to relieve them ; and they promised to do whatever he 
 should advise. Now Abeniaf knew of the talk which the good men 
 of the town had had with the Alfaqui, and understood that it was 
 because of the great misery which they endured ; and he thought 
 in his heart that he would humble himself, and do whatever his 
 people should think good. And the Alfaqui thought that happy 
 man was his dole now that the people had committed themselves 
 to his guidage, and he went to Abeniaf and communed with him, 
 and their accord was to give up all hope of succour. And Abeniaf 
 put himself in the hands of the Alfaqui, that he should go be- 
 tween him and the Cid and the people of Valencia, and make the
 
 348 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 best terms for them that he could, seeing that they could no longer 
 hold out, and maintain the town. 
 
 XXIX. Here the history relates that at this time Martin Pelaez 
 the Asturian came with a convoy of laden beasts, carrying provis- 
 ions to the host of the Cid ; and as he passed near the town the 
 Moors sallied out in great numbers against him ; but he, though he 
 had few with him, defended the convoy right well, and did great 
 hurt to the Moors, slaying many of them, and drove them into the 
 town. This Martin Pelaez who is here spoken of, did the Cid 
 make a right good knight, of a coward, as ye shall hear. When 
 the Cid first began to lay siege to the city of Valencia, this Martin 
 Pelaez came unto him ; he was a knight, a native of Santillana in 
 Asturias, a hidalgo, great of body and strong of limb, a well-made 
 man and of goodly semblance, but withal a right coward at heart, 
 which he had shown in many places when he was among feats of 
 arms. And the Cid was sorry when he came unto him, though he 
 would not let him perceive this ; for he knew he was not fit to be 
 of his company. Howbeit he thought that since he was come he 
 would make him brave whether he would or not. And when the 
 Cid began to war upon the town, and sent parties against it twice 
 and thrice a day, as ye have heard, for the Cid was alway upon 
 the alert, there was fighting and tourneying every day. One day 
 it fell out that the Cid and his kinsmen and friends and vassals 
 were engaged in a great encounter, and this Martin Pelaez was 
 well armed ; and when he saw that the Moors and Christians were 
 at it, he fled and betook himself to his lodging, and there hid him- 
 self till the Cid returned to dinner. And the Cid saw what Mar- 
 tin Pelaez did, and when he had conquered the Moors he returned 
 to his lodging to dinner. Now it was the custom of the Cid to 
 eat at a high table, seated on his bench, at the head. And Don 
 Alvar Fanez, and Pero Bermudez, and other precious knights, ate 
 in another part, at high tables, full honourably, and none other 
 knights whatsoever dared take their seats with them, unless they 
 were such as deserved to be there ; and the others who were not 
 so approved in arms ate upon eslrajos, at tables with cushions. 
 This was the order in the house of the Cid, and every one knew 
 the place where he was to sit at meat, and every one strove all he 
 could to gain the honour of sitting to eat at the table of Don Alvar 
 Fanez and his companions, by strenuously behaving himself in all 
 feats of arms ; and thus the honour of the Cid was advanced. 
 This Martin Pelaez, thinking that none had seen his badness, 
 washed his hands in turn with the other knights, and would have
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 349 
 
 taken his place among them. And the Cid went unto him, and 
 took him by the hand and said, You are not such a one as deserves 
 to sit with these, for they are worth more than you or than me ; 
 but I will have you with me : and he seated him with himself at 
 table. And he, for lack of understanding, thought that the Cid 
 did this to honour him above all the others. On the morrow the 
 Cid and his company rode towards Valencia, and the Moors came 
 out to the tourney ; and Martin Pelaez went out well armed, and 
 was among the foremost who charged the Moors, and when he 
 was in among them he turned the reins, and went back to his lodg- 
 ing; and the Cid took heed to all that he did, and saw that 
 though he had done badly he had done better than the first day. 
 And when the Cid had driven the Moors into the town he returned 
 to his lodging, and as he sat down to meat he took this Martin 
 Pelaez by the hand, and seated him with himself, and bade him 
 eat with him in the same dish, for he had deserved more that day 
 than he had the first. And the knight gave heed to that saying 
 and was abashed ; howbeit he did as the Cid commanded him : 
 and after he had dined he went to his lodging and began to think 
 upon what the Cid had said unto him, and perceived that he had 
 seen all the baseness which he had done ; and then he understood 
 that for this cause he would not let him sit at board with the other 
 knights who were precious in arms, but had seated him with him- 
 self, more to affront him than to do him honour, for there were 
 other knights there better than he, and he did not show them that 
 honour. Then resolved he in his' heart to do better than he had 
 done heretofore. Another day the Cid and his company and 
 Martin Pelaez rode toward Valencia, and the Moors came out to 
 the tourney full resolutely, and Martin Pelaez was among the first, 
 and charged them right boldly; and he smote down and slew 
 presently a good knight, and he lost there all the bad fear which 
 he had had, and was that day one of the best knights there : and 
 as long as the tourney lasted there he remained, smiting and slay- 
 ing and overthrowing the Moors, till they were driven within the 
 gates, in such manner that the Moors marvelled at him, and 
 asked where that Devil came from, for they had never seen him 
 before. And the Cid was in a place where he could see all that 
 was going on, and he gave good heed to him, and had great pleas- 
 ure in beholding him, to see how well he had forgotten the great 
 fear which he was wont to have. And when the Moors were shut 
 up within the town, the Cid and all his people returned to their 
 lodging, and Martin Pelaez full leisurely and quietly went to his
 
 i50 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 lodging also, like a good knight. And when -it was the hour of 
 eating the Cid waited for Martin Pelaez, and when he came, and 
 they had washed, the Cid took him by the hand and said, My 
 friend, you are not such a one as deserves to sit with me from 
 henceforth, but sit you here with Don Alvar Fanez, and with these 
 other good knights, for the good feats which you have done this 
 day have made you a companion for them ; and from that day 
 forward he was placed in the company of the good. And the his- 
 tory said that from that day forward this knight Martin Pelaez was 
 a right good one, and a right valiant, and a right precious, in all 
 places where he chanced among feats of arms, and he lived alway 
 with the Cid, and served him right well and truly. And the his- 
 tory saith, that after the Cid had won the city of Valencia, on the 
 day when they conquered and discomfited the King of Seville, 
 this Martin Pelaez was so good a one, that setting aside the body 
 of the Cid himself, there was no such good knight there, nor one 
 who bore such part, as well in the battle as in the pursuit. And 
 so great was the mortality which he made among the Moors that 
 day, that when he returned from the business the sleeves of his 
 mail were clotted with blood, up to the elbow ; insomuch that for 
 what he did that day his name is written in this history, that it 
 may never die. And when the Cid saw him come in that guise, 
 he did him great honour, such as he never had done to any knight 
 before that day, and from thenceforward gave him a place in all his 
 actions and in all his secrets, and he was his great friend. In this 
 knight Martin Pelaez was fulfilled the example which saith, that he 
 who be take th himself to a good tree, hath good shade, and he 
 who serves a good Lord winneth good guerdon ; for by reason of 
 the good service which he did the Cid, he came to such good 
 state that he was spoken of as ye have heard : for the Cid knew 
 how to make a good knight, as a good groom knows how to make 
 a good horse. The history now leaves to speak of him, and re- 
 turns to the accord of the Alfaqui and Abeniaf, which they pro- 
 pounded unto the Cid. 
 
 XXX. This Alfaqui sent his messengers to an Almoxarife of the 
 Cid whose name was Abdalla Adiz, who was a good man and one 
 whom the Cid loved, and who never left him after he had obtained 
 his favour. And when Abdalla Adiz heard that they wished to 
 propose terms, he spake with the Cid upon this matter, and the 
 Cid bade him enter the town, and speak with them, and know of 
 them what they would have. And he went into the town, and 
 spake with them as the Cid had commanded, and came out again,
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 351 
 
 and reported unto him what they had said, till he had made terms 
 between them. Abeniaf sent three good men with him to confirm 
 the terms which were made, and the covenant was after this man- 
 ner, that they of Valencia should send messengers to the King of 
 Zaragoza, and to AH Abenaxa who was Adelantado of the Almora- 
 vides and Lord of Murcia, beseeching them to succour them within 
 fifteen days ; and if within that time they were not succoured they 
 should then give up the city to the Cid. with such conditions, that 
 Abeniaf should remain mighty in the town, as he had been before, 
 his person being secure and all that he had, and his wives, and his 
 children, and that he should remain Veedor, that is to say, Over- 
 seer, of all the rents of the town, he and the Almoxarife of the 
 Cid, and a Moor who was called Musa should be Guazil of the 
 town : this Musa had looked after the affairs of the Cid in the time 
 of King Yahia, and never forsook him after the death of the King 
 his Lord ; and the Cid made him Alcayde of a Castle, and alway 
 found him loyal, and at his service, and for this reason trusted he 
 in him so as to make him Guazil, who should keep the keys of the 
 town, with a guard of Almocadenes, and of Christian footmen of 
 Almogavares who had been born in the land of the Moors. And 
 it was appointed that the Cid should dwell in Juballa, in the town 
 which he had made, and that he should alter none of their privi- 
 leges, nor of their customs, nor the rents which they paid, nor their 
 money. 
 
 XXXI. Presently on the morrow they sent five good men as 
 messengers to the King of Zaragoza, and as many more to Murcia ; 
 and it had been covenanted that neither of these messengers 
 should take with him more than fifty maravedis for his journey, 
 aud that they should go by sea as far as Denia, in a ship of the 
 Christians, and from thence by land. These messengers embarked 
 with their company on board that ship, and the Cid sent orders to 
 the master thereof not to sail till he came ; and the Cid came 
 himself in his own body and bade them search the messengers to 
 see if they took with them more than had been agreed ; and he 
 found upon them great riches in gold and in silver and in pearls 
 and in precious stones ; part was their own, and part belonged to 
 other merchants in the city, who thought to send it to Murcia, not 
 being minded to abide in Valencia : and he took it all, leaving 
 them no more than fifty maravedis each, according to the cove- 
 nant. This was the price of food on the day when these messen- 
 gers departed : the pound of wheat was three maravedis, and the 
 pound of barley one and a half, and the pound of painick three,
 
 352 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 saving a quarter ; the ounce of cheese three dineros, and the ounce 
 of hemp seed four, and the pound of colewort one maravedi and 
 two dineros of silver, and the pound of neat-skin one maravedi. 
 In the whole town there was only one mule of Abeniafs, and one 
 horse : another horse which belonged to a Moor he sold to a 
 butcher for three hundred and eighty doblas of gold, bargaining 
 that he should have ten pounds of the flesh. And the butcher sold 
 the flesh of that horse at ten maravedis the short pound, and after- 
 wards at twelve, and the head for twenty doblas of gold. 
 
 XXXII. The Moors of Valencia were now something comforted, 
 for they weened that they should receive help, and the Christians 
 did not now war upon them ; nevertheless they kept guard, and 
 went the rounds, as before, and waited for the day appointed, as 
 one who looked to be released from prison. And for this reason 
 men began to bring out the food which they had hidden, and to 
 sell of it, and thus they went on till the time expired, and the 
 messengers were not returned. And Abeniaf besought them that 
 they would wait yet three days more, but they made answer that 
 they would not, for they could bear it no longer. And the Cid 
 sent unto them bidding them yield up the town, as they had cove- 
 nanted to do ; and he swore with great oaths, that if they delayed 
 a single hour after the time was expired, he would not keep the 
 terms which he had made, and moreover that he would slay the 
 hostages ; nevertheless they let a day pass over and above the term. 
 And then they who made the covenant with the Cid went out unto 
 him and besought him to come and receive the town, but the Cid 
 said wrathfully to them that he was not bound to keep the terms, 
 seeing they had let the time appointed pass ; and they yielded 
 themselves into his hands that he should do with them according 
 to his pleasure ; then he was moved to compassion, and had pity 
 upon them. And Abeniaf and other good men came out, and the 
 writings were made and were confirmed on both sides, by the 
 Chiefs of the Christians and of the Moors, and the gates were 
 opened at the hour of noon, upon Thursday the last day of June, 
 after the feast of St. John, which the Moors call Alhazaro. And 
 when the gate was opened Abeniaf was there within, with a great 
 company round about him, both of his own people and of those of 
 the town ; and the Christians as they entered ascended the walls 
 and towers. And Abeniaf asked why so many went up, for it was 
 not in the terms ; but they would not cease for that, and they took 
 possession of all, little to his liking.
 
 RODKIGO DIAZ DE BITAR. 353 
 
 BOOK VII. 
 
 I. AND all the people of the town gathered together, like men 
 risen from their graves, . . yea, like the dead when the trumpet 
 shall sound for the day of judgment, and men shall come out of 
 their graves and be gathered together before the Majesty of God. 
 And hucksters came from Alcudia and brought bread and pulse to 
 sell, and others of the town went out to Alcudia to buy food ; and 
 they who were poor, and had not wherewith to buy, plucked of 
 the herbs of the field and ate them, and they held themselves rich 
 because they could go out when they would, and enter in again with- 
 out fear. And such as were wise among them abstained from tak- 
 ing much food, fearing what would happen, and they took it little 
 by little till they had gotten strength ; all they who took their fill 
 died, and the mortality among them was so great that all the fields 
 were full of graves. 
 
 II. On the following day after the Christians had taken posses- 
 sion of the town, the Cid entered it with a great company, and he 
 ascended the highest tower of the wall, and beheld all the city ; 
 and the Moors came unto him, and kissed his hand, saying he was 
 welcome. And the Cid did great honour unto them. And then 
 he gave order that all the windows of the towers which looked in 
 upon the town should be closed up, that the Christians might not 
 see what the Moors did in their houses ; and the Moors thanked 
 him for this greatly. And he commanded and requested the 
 Christians that they should show great honour to the Moors, and 
 respect them, and greet them when they met : and the Moors 
 thanked the Cid greatly for the honour which the Christians did 
 them, saying that they had never seen so good a man, nor one so 
 honourable, nor one who had his people under such obedience. 
 
 III. Now Abeniaf thought to have the love of the Cid ; and 
 calling to mind the wrath with which he had formerly been re- 
 ceived, because he had not taken a gift with him, he took now 
 great riches which he had taken from those who sold bread for so 
 great a price during the siege of Valencia, and this he carried to 
 the Cid as a present. Among those who had sold it were some
 
 354 CHRONICLE OF THE CW, 
 
 men from the Islands of Majorca, and he took from them all that 
 they had. This the Cid knew, and he would not accept his gifts. 
 And the Cid caused proclamation to be made in the town and 
 throughout the whole district thereof, that the honourable men and 
 knights and castellans should assemble together in the garden of 
 Villa Nueva, where the Cid at that time sojourned. And when 
 they were all assembled, he went out unto them, to a place which 
 was made ready with carpets and with mats, and he made them 
 take their seats before him full honourably, and began to speak 
 unto them saying, I am a man who have never possessed a king- 
 dom, neither I nor any man of my lineage. But the day when I 
 first beheld this city I was well pleased therewith, and coveted it 
 that I might be its Lord : and I besought the Lord our God that 
 he would give it me. See now what his power is, for the day when 
 I sat down before Juballa I had no more than four loaves of bread, 
 and now by God's mercy I have won Valencia. And if I adminis- 
 ter right and justice here God will let me enjoy it, but if I do evil, 
 and demean myself proudly and wrongfully, I know that he will 
 take it away. Now then let every one go to his own lands, and 
 possess them even as he was wont to have and to hold them. 
 He who shall find his field, or his vineyard, or his garden, desert, 
 let him incontinently enter thereon ; and he who shall find his 
 husbanded, let him pay him that hath cultivated it the cost of his 
 labour, and of the seed which he hath sown therein, and remain 
 with his heritage, according to the law of the Moors. Moreover I 
 have given order that they who collect my dues take from you no 
 more than the tenth, because so it is appointed by the custom of 
 the Moors, and it is what ye been been wont to pay. And I 
 have resolved in my heart to hear your complaints two days in the 
 week, on the Monday and the Thursday ; but if causes should arise 
 which require haste, come to me when ye will and I will give judg- 
 ment, for I do not retire with women to sing and to drink, as your 
 Ix>rds have done, so that ye could obtain no justice, but will my- 
 self see to these things, and watch over ye as friend over his friend, 
 and kinsman over his kinsman. And I will be Cadi and Guazil, 
 and when dispute happens among ye I will decide it. When he 
 had said these things they all replied that they prayed God to pre- 
 serve him through long and happy years, and four of the most 
 honourable among them rose and kissed his hands, and the Cid 
 bade them take their seats again. 
 
 . IV. Then the Cid spake unto them and said, It is told me that 
 Abeniaf hath done much evil, and committed great wrong toward
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAK. 355 
 
 some of ye, in that he hath taken great riches from ye to present 
 them to me, saying, that this he did because ye sold food for a 
 great price during the siege. But 1 will accept of no such gift ; 
 for if I were minded to have your riches, I could take them, and 
 need not ask them neither from him nor from any other ; but thing 
 so unseemly as to take that which is his from any one, without just 
 cause, I will not do. They who have gotten wealth thus, God hath 
 given it them ; let them go to Abeniaf, and take back what he 
 hath forced from them, for I will order him to restore the whole. 
 Then he said, Ye see the riches which I took from the messengers 
 who went to Murcia ; it is mine by right, for I took it in war 
 because they brake the covenant which they had made, and would 
 have deceived me : nevertheless I will restore it to the uttermost 
 farthing, that nothing thereof shall be lost. And ye shall do hom- 
 age to me that ye will not withdraw yourselves, but will abide here, 
 and do my bidding in all things, and never depart from the cov- 
 enant which ye make with me ; for I love ye, and am grieved to 
 think of the great evil and misery which ye endured from the great 
 famine, and of the mortality which there was. And if ye had done 
 that before which ye have done now, ye would not have been 
 brought to these sufferings and have bought the cafiz of wheat at 
 a thousand maravedis ; but I trust in God to bring it to one mara- 
 vedi. Be ye now secure in your lands, and till your fields, and 
 rear cattle ; for I have given order to my men that they offer ye no 
 wrong, neither enter into the town to buy nor to sell ; but that they 
 carry on all their dealings in Alcudia, and this I do that ye may 
 receive no displeasure. Moreover I command them not to take 
 any captive into the town, but if this should be done, lay ye hands 
 on the captive and set him free, without fear, and if any one should 
 resist, kill him and fear not. I myself will not enter your city nor 
 dwell therein, but I will build me a place beside the Bridge of 
 Alcantara, where I may go and disport myself at times, and repair 
 when it is needful. When he had said these things he bade them 
 go their way. 
 
 V. Well pleased were the Moors when they departed from him, 
 and they marvelled at the greatness of his promises, and they set 
 their hearts at rest, and put away the fear which they had had, 
 thinking all their troubles were over ; for in all the promises which 
 the Cid had made unto them, they believed that he spake truth ; 
 but he said these things only to quiet them, and to make them 
 come to what he wished, even as came to pass. And when he 
 had done, he sent his Almoxarife, Abdalla Adiz, to the Custom
 
 3*6 CHROXICLF. OF THE CID, 
 
 House, and made him appoint men to collect the rents of the 
 town for him, which was done accordingly. And when the Cid 
 had given order concerning his own affairs at his pleasure, the 
 Moors would fain have entered again into possession of their heri- 
 tages as he told them ; but they found it all otherwise, for of all 
 the fields which the Christians had husbanded, they would not 
 yield up one ; albeit they let them enter upon such as were left 
 waste : some said that the Cid had given them the lands that 
 year, instead of their pay, and other some that they rented 
 them and had paid rent for the year. So the Moors seeing this, 
 waited till Thursday, when the Cid was to hear complaints, as he 
 had said unto them. When Thursday came all the honourable 
 men went to the Garden, but the Cid sent to say unto them that 
 he could not come out that day, because of other causes which he 
 had to determine ; and he desired that they would go their way 
 for that time, and come again on the Monday : this was to show 
 his mastery. And when it was Monday they assembled again in 
 the Garden, and the Cid came out to them, and took his seat upon 
 the estrado, and the Moors made their complaint. And when he 
 had heard them, he began to make similitudes, and offer reasons 
 which were not like those which he had spoken the first day, for 
 he said to them, I ask of ye, whether it is well that I should be 
 left without men ? for if I were without them, I should be like unto 
 one who hath lost his right arm, or to a bird that hath no wings, 
 or to one who should do battle and hath neither spear nor sword. 
 The first thing which I have to look to is to the well-being of un- 
 people, that they may live in wealth and honour, so that they may 
 be able to serve me, and defend my honour : for since it has 
 pleased God to give me the city of Valencia, I will not that there 
 be any other Lord here than me. Therefore I say unto you and 
 command you, if you would be well with me, and would that I 
 should show favour unto you, that ye see how to deliver that traitor 
 Abeniaf into my hands. Ye all know the great treason which he 
 committed upon King Yahia, his Lord and yours, how he slew him, 
 and the misery which he brought upon you in the siege ; and since 
 it is not fitting that a traitor who hath slain his Lord should live 
 among you, and that his treason should be confounded with your 
 loyalty, see to the obeyment of my command. 
 
 VI. When the honourable Moors heard this they were dismayed ; 
 verily they knew that he spake truth touching the death of the 
 King, but it troubled them that he departed from the promise 
 which he had made ; and they made answer that they would take
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR, 357 
 
 counsel concerning what he had said, and then reply. Then five 
 of the best and most honourable among them withdrew, and went 
 to Abdalla Adiz, and said unto him, Aread us thy read now the 
 best and truest that thou canst, for thou art of our law, and oughtest 
 to do this ; and the reason why we ask counsel of thee is this. 
 The Cid promised us many things, and now behold he says nothing 
 to us of what he said before, but moveth other new reasons, at 
 which great dismay hath seized us. And because thou better 
 knowest his ways, tell us now what is his pleasure, for albeit we 
 might wish to do otherwise, this is not a time wherein anything 
 but what he shall command can be done. When the Almoxarife 
 heard this he made answer, Good men, it is easy to understand 
 what he would have, and to do what should be done. We all 
 know the great treason which Abeniaf committed against ye all in 
 killing your Lord the King : for albeit at that time ye felt the bur- 
 den of the Christians, yet was it nothing so great as after he had 
 killed him, neither did ye suffer such misery. And since God 
 hath brought him who was the cause to this state, see now by all 
 means how ye may deliver him into the hands of the Cid. And 
 fear not, neither take thought for the rest ; for though the Cid may 
 do his pleasure in some things, better is it to have him for Lord, 
 than this traitor who hath brought so much evil upon ye. More- 
 over the things of this world soon pass away, and my heart tells 
 me that we shall ere long come out of the bondage of the Cid, and 
 of the Christians, for the Cid is well nigh at the full of his days, 
 and we who remain alive after his death, shall then be masters of 
 our city. When the good men heard what he said, they thanked 
 him much, and held themselves to be well advised, and said that 
 they would do willingly what he bade them : and they returned 
 forthwith to the Cid, and said unto him that they would fulfil his 
 commandment. Incontinently did the good men dispeed them- 
 selves of the Cid, and they went into the city, and gathered to- 
 gether a great posse of armed men, and went to the place where 
 Abeniaf dwelt ; and they assaulted the house and brake the doors, 
 and entered in and laid hands on him, and his son, and all his 
 company, and carried them before the Cid. And the Cid ordered 
 Abeniaf to be cast into prison, and all those who had taken counsel 
 with him for the death of King Yahia. 
 
 VII. When this was done, the Cid said unto the good men, 
 Now that ye have fulfilled my bidding, I hold it good to show 
 favour unto you in that which ye yourselves shall understand to be 
 fitting for me to grant. Say therefore what ye would have, and
 
 358 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 I will do that which I think behoveth me: but in this manner, 
 that my dwelling place be within the city of Valencia, in the 
 Alcazar, and that my Christian men have all the fortresses in the 
 city. And when the good men heard this, they were greatly 
 troubled ; howbeit they dissembled the sorrow which they re- 
 sented, and said unto him, Sir Cid, order it as you think good, 
 and we consent thereto. Then said he unto them that he would 
 observe towards them all the uses and customs of their law, and 
 that he would have the power, and be Lord of all ; and they 
 should till their fields and feed their flocks and herds, and give 
 him his tenth, and he would take no more. When the Moors 
 heard this they were well pleased, and since they were to remain 
 in the town, and in their houses and their inheritances, and with 
 their uses and customs, and that their Mosques were to be left 
 them, they held themselves not to be badly off. Then they asked 
 the Cid to let their Guazil be the same as he had first appointed, and 
 that he would give them for their Cadi the Alfaqui Alhagi, and let 
 him appoint whom he would to assist him in distributing justice to 
 the Moors ; and thus he himself would be relieved of the weari- 
 someness of hearing them, save only when any great occasion 
 might befall. This Alhagi was he who made the lamentation for 
 Valencia, as ye have heard ; and when the Cid was peaceably 
 established in Valencia, he was converted, and the Cid made him 
 a Christian. And the Cid granted this which they required, and 
 they kissed his hand, and returned into the town. Nine months 
 did the Cid hold Valencia besieged, and at the end of that time 
 it fell into his power, and he obtained possession of the walls, as 
 ye have heard. And one month he was practising with the Moors 
 that he might keep them quiet, till Abeniaf was delivered into his 
 hands ; and thus ten months were fulfilled, and they were fulfilled 
 on Thursday the last day of June, in the year of the era one thou- 
 sand one hundred and thirty and one, which was in the year one 
 thousand ninety and three of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. And when the Cid had finished all his dealings with the 
 Moors, on this day he took horse with all his company in good 
 array, his banner being carried before him, and his arms behind : 
 and in this guise, with great rejoicings, he entered the city of 
 Valencia. And he alighted at the Alcazar, and gave order to 
 lodge all his men round about it, and he bade them plant his 
 banner upon the highest tower of the Alcazar. Glad was the 
 Campeador, and all they who were with him, when they saw his 
 banner planted in that place. And from that day forth was the Cid
 
 RUDRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 359 
 
 possessed of all the Castles and fortresses which were in the king- 
 dom of Valencia, and established in what God had given him, and 
 he and all his people rejoiced. 
 
 VIII. On the morrow the Cid sent Abeniaf to Juballa, and they 
 gave him great tortures till he was at the point of death ; and they 
 kept him there two days, and then brought him to Valencia to the 
 Garden of the Cid, and the Cid gave order that he should write 
 with his own hand an account of all that he had. And he did 
 this, and wrote down the carcanets, and rings, and costly garments, 
 and rich apparel which he had, and also many other precious 
 household things, and the debts which were due unto him. This 
 the Cid did that he might see if all was there which Abeniaf had 
 taken when he slew the King his Master ; and the writing was 
 read before the Cid. And the Cid sent for certain Moors who 
 were good and honourable men, and made Abeniaf be brought 
 before him, and demanded of him if he had nothing more than 
 what was there written down ; and he answered that he had not : 
 and he bade him swear this before the Moors, and Abeniaf swore 
 accordingly. Then the Cid sent privily to make search in all the 
 houses of the friends of Abeniaf, swearing unto them, that if they 
 had anything of his and denied it, and it should afterwards be 
 discovered, he would put them to death, and moreover take from 
 them all that they had. And they when they heard this, partly in 
 the fear of the Cid, and partly that they might find favour with 
 him, brought each of them great riches, saying, Sir, Abeniaf gave 
 us this in keeping, that if it might be saved he might share it with 
 us. And he gave order to search and dig in the houses of Abe- 
 niaf, and they found great treasure there in gold and in silver, and 
 in pearls, and in precious stones, all which a servant discovered 
 unto them. And when the Cid saw it all before him it pleased 
 him much, and he called for the Moors before whom Abeniaf had 
 taken the oath, and he took his seat upon the estrado full nobly, 
 and there in the presence of Christians and Moors he ordered 
 Abeniaf and all the other prisoners to be brought forth. And he 
 bade that Alfaqui whom he had made Cadi, and the other good 
 men, judge by what death he who had slain his Lord deserved to 
 die, according to their law, and who moreover was perjured, for he 
 had sworn that he possessed nothing more than what he had set 
 down in the writing ; and the Cadi and the other Moors said that 
 according to their law, he and his accomplices should be stoned : 
 This, they said, we find in our law, but you will do as you think 
 good. Nevertheless we ask mercy of you for his son, who is but
 
 360 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 a child ; may it please you to set him free, for he hath no fault in 
 what his father hath done. And the Cid answered, that for the 
 love of them he pardoned the child, but that he should depart 
 from the city, for he would not have the son of a traitor dwell 
 therein. And he commanded them that they should stone Abe- 
 niaf and all them who had taken counsel with him for the death 
 of the King, according as they had given sentence. Then the 
 honourable Moors rose and kissed his feet and his hands for the 
 mercy which he had shown to the son of Abeniaf; and they took out 
 Abeniaf to stone him, and other twenty and two with him. And 
 the Cid bade them come again to him on the morrow, and he 
 would appoint what should be the manner of his dwelling among 
 them. 
 
 IX. That night the Cid spake with Alvar Fanez and with Pero 
 Bermudez, and all them who were of his council, and they resolved 
 in what manner they would live among the Moors. And on the 
 morrow the honourable Moors of Valencia assembled together in 
 the Alcazar as they had been commanded to do, and the Cid took 
 his seat upon the estrado, and all the honourable men round about 
 him, and he spake unto them after this manner : Good men of the 
 Aljama of Valencia, ye know how I served and defended King 
 Yahia your Lord, and ye also, until his death. And I had great 
 sorrow for him, and strove to revenge him, as ye know, and en- 
 dured great hardships in winning Valencia. And since God hath 
 thought it good that I should be Lord thereof, I will have it for 
 myself, and for those who have holpen me to win it, saving the 
 sovereignty of King Don Alfonso of Castile, my Lord, whom 
 God preserve for his service long and happy years. Ye are 
 all now in my power, to do with ye whatever I will, both with 
 your persons and your riches, and your wives and your children ; 
 but I will not do thus. And I hold it good that the honoiuable 
 men among ye who have alway been loyal, remain in the city 
 in their dwellings and with all their family : and that none 
 among ye keep more than one beast, which shall be a mule, 
 and that ye do not use arms, neither have them in your pos- 
 session, except when it is needful and I shall give command. 
 And all the rest of the people shall go out of the town and 
 dwell in the suburb of Alcudia, where I was wont to be. Ye shall 
 have two Mosques, one in the city and one in the suburb ; and ye 
 shall have your Alfaquis and follow your own law ; and ye shall 
 have your Cadiz, and your Guazil, as I have appointed ; and ye 
 shall have your inheritances, and pay me the tenth of the fruits
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAK. 361 
 
 thereof as your service ; and the power of justice shall be mine, 
 and I will order such money to be coined as I shall think good. 
 Do ye therefore who are minded to abide with me in the land, 
 abide : and let those who are not, go, in God's name, and good 
 luck with them, but they shall take only their own persons, and I 
 will give command to see them escorted in safety. When the 
 Moors of Valencia heard this they were full sorrowful : howbeit it 
 was now a time when they could do no otherwise than as he com- 
 manded. And incontinently they began to go out of the city with 
 their wives and children, all except those whom the Cid had com- 
 manded to abide there ; and as the Moors went out the Christians 
 who dwelt in Alcudia entered in. And the history saith, that so 
 great was the multitude which departed, that they were two whole- 
 days in going out. Great was the joy of the Cid and his people 
 that day, and from thenceforward he was called My Cid the Cam- 
 peador, Lord of Valencia. 
 
 X. Now was it bruited abroad throughout all lands, how the 
 Cid Ruydiez had won the noble city of Valencia. And when Ali 
 Abenaxa the Adelantado of the Almoravides knew it, he sent his 
 son-in-law the King of Seville to besiege him in Valencia, and gave 
 him thirty thousand men at arms. And this King came in great 
 haste to Valencia, and besieged the Cid therein. And the Cid 
 made ready with all his people, and went out to fight him. And 
 the battle was nigh unto Valencia, beside the garden which is called 
 the Garden of Villa Nueva ; and it was a good battle, and at 
 length he of the good fortune conquered ; and the pursuit contin- 
 ued as far as Xativa ; even so far did the Christians pursue them, 
 smiting and slaying. And at the passage of the Xucar there might 
 you have seen confusion, and there the Moors without liking it drank 
 plenty of water. They say that fifteen thousand Moors died in the 
 river ; and the King of Seville fled with three great blows. This 
 day did Martin Pelaez the Asturian approve himself a right good 
 one : there was no knight so good that day in arms as he, nor who 
 bore away such honour. And when the pursuit was ended the Cid 
 'returned to the field of battle, and ordered the spoils of the field 
 and of the tents to be collected. Be it known that this was a prof- 
 itable day's work. Every foot soldier shared a hundred marks of 
 silver that day. And the Cid returned full honourably to Valencia. 
 Great was the joy of the Christians in the Cid Ruydiez, he who 
 was born in a good hour. His beard was grown, and continued 
 to grow a great length. My Cid said of his chin, For the love of 
 King Don Alfonso, who hath banished me from his land, no scis-
 
 362 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 sors shall come upon it, nor shall a hair be cut away, and Moors 
 and Christians shall talk of it. 
 
 XL That night the Cid took counsel with Alvar Fanez, who 
 departed not from his side, and with the other honourable men 
 who were of his counsel, concerning what should be done : for 
 now that his people were all rich, he feared lest they should return 
 into their own country, for my Cid saw that if they might go they 
 would. And Minaya advised him that he should cause proclama- 
 tion to be made through the city, that no man should depart with- 
 out permission of the Cid, and if any one went who had not dis- 
 peeded himself and kissed his hand, if he were overtaken he 
 should lose all that he had, and moreover be fixed upon a stake. 
 And that they might be the more certain, he said unto Minaya 
 that he would take account of all the people who were with him, 
 both horsemen and foot, and Pero Bermudez and Martin Antoline/ 
 made the roll ; and there were found a thousand knights of line- 
 age, and five hundred and fifty other horsemen, and of foot soldiers 
 four thousand, besides boys and others ; thus many were the peo- 
 ple of my Cid, he of Bivar. And his heart rejoiced, and he smiled 
 and said, Thanks be to God, Minaya, and to Holy Mary Mother ! 
 ... we had a smaller company when we left the house of 
 Bivar ! 
 
 XII. At this time there came a crowned one from the parts of 
 the East, that is to say, one who was shaven and shorn ; his name 
 was the Bishop Don Hieronymo, a full learned man and a wise, 
 and one who was mighty both on horseback and a-foot : and he 
 came inquiring for the Cid, wishing that he might see himself 
 with the Moors in the field, for if he could once have his fill of 
 smiting and slaying them, Christians should never lament him. 
 And when the Cid knew this it pleased him in his heart, and he 
 took horse and went to visit him, and rejoiced greatly that he was 
 come ; and he resolved to make Valencia a bishopric and give it 
 to this good Christian. And they took counsel, and it was that on 
 the morrow the Bishop and his clergy should turn the Mosques 
 into Churches, wherein they might sing masses, and sacrifice the 
 body of Jesus Christ. And rents were appointed for the table of 
 the Bishop and for his Canons, and for all the clergy in the city of 
 Valencia. And nine parish Churches were made. And the great- 
 est was called St. Pedro's, and another was called St. Mary of the 
 Virtues. This was near the Alcazar, and there the Cid went often- 
 est to hear service. After this manner the Cid ordered his city 
 that it should be a Bishopric, for the honour of the Catholic faith.
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 363 
 
 God! how joyful was all Christendom that there was a Lord 
 Bishop in the land of Valencia ! 
 
 XIII. Now the Cid bethought him of Dona Ximena his wife, 
 and of his daughters Dona Elvira and Dona Sol, whom he had left 
 in the Monastery of St. Pedro de Cardena; and he called, for 
 Alvar Fanez and Martin Antolinez of Burgos, and spake with them, 
 and besought them that they would go to Castile, to King Don 
 Alfonso his Lord, and take him a present from the riches which 
 God had given them ; and the present should be a hundred horses, 
 saddled and bridled ; and that they would kiss the King's hand 
 for him, and beseech him to send him his wife Dona Ximena, and 
 his daughters, and that they would tell the King all the mercy 
 which God had shown him, and how he was at his service with 
 Valencia and with all that he had. Moreover he bade them take 
 a thousand marks of silver to the Monastery of St. Pedro de Car- 
 dena, and give them to the abbot, and thirty marks of gold for his 
 wife and daughters, that they might prepare themselves and come 
 in honourable guise. And he ordered three hundred marks of 
 gold to be given them, and three hundred marks of silver, to re- 
 deem the chests full of sand which he had pledged in Burgos to 
 the Jews ; and he bade them ask Rachel and Vidas to forgive him 
 the deceit of the sand, for he had done it because of his great 
 need : and he said, You, Martin Antolinez, were aiding and abet- 
 ting herein, but praised be the name of the Lord for ever, he hath 
 let me quit myself truly ; tell them that they shall have more profit 
 than they asked. And he bade them each take with him his whole 
 company, that they might be better advised and accompanied, and 
 that Dona Ximena might come with the greater honour : and the 
 company was this : two hundred knights who were of Don Alvar 
 Fanez, and fifty of Martin Antolinez : and he ordered money to be 
 given them for their disbursement, and for all things needful, in 
 abundance. 
 
 XIV. Alvar Fanez and Martin Antolinez went their way, and 
 they found the King in the city of Palencia. When they arrived 
 he was coming from mass, and seeing this goodly company of 
 horsemen he stopped in the church porch, and asked who they 
 were. And it was told him that they were people of the Cid, who 
 came to him with a full great present. And Alvar Fanez and Mar- 
 tin Antolinez alighted, and came to the King, and kissed his hand : 
 and he received them right well, and said. What tidings bring ye 
 me of the Cid, my true vassal, the most honourable knight that 
 ever was knighted in Castile ? NVell was Minaya pleased when he
 
 364 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 heard this, and he said, A boon, Sir King Don Alfonso, for the 
 love of your Maker ! My Cid sendeth to kiss your hands and your 
 feet, as his natural Lord, at whose service he is, and from whom 
 he expecteth much bounty and good. You banished him from the 
 land ; but though in another's country, he hath only done you ser- 
 vice. Five pitched battles hath he won since that time, some with 
 Moors and some with bad Christians ; and he hath taken Xerica, 
 and Ondra, and Almenar, and Monviedro which is a bigger place, 
 and Cebola also, and Castrejon, and Pena Cadiella which is a strong 
 eminence, and with all the right noble city of Valencia, for the 
 honour of the faith of Jesus Christ, and of you our Lord and King ; 
 and he hath made it a Bishopric, and made the honourable Don 
 Hieronymo Bishop thereof with his own hand. And behold here 
 are a hundred horses of the spoils which he hath won ; they are 
 great and swift, and all are bridled and saddled, and he kisseth 
 your hand and beseecheth you as his natural Lord to receive them. 
 When the King heard this he was greatly astonished, and he lifted 
 up his right hand and blessed himself, and said, As St. Isidro shall 
 keep me, I rejoice in the good fortune of the Cid, and receive his 
 gift full willingly. But though this pleased the King it did not 
 please Garci Ordonez, and he said, It seemeth there is not a man 
 left in the land of the Moors, that the Cid can thus do his pleas 4 
 ure ! And the King said unto him, Hold thy peace, for in all things 
 he serves me better than thou. Then Alvar Fafiez kissed the 
 King's hand again, and said, Sir, the Cid beseecheth you of your 
 bounty that he may have his wife Dona Ximena and his two daugh- 
 ters, that they may go to Valencia unto him, from the Monastery 
 where he left them, for it is many days since he saw them, and if 
 it please you this would rejoice him. And the King made answer. 
 It pleases me well, and I will give them a guard throughout my 
 dominions, that they may be conducted honourably to the border : 
 when they have passed it, the Campeador himself will look to them. 
 And he said, Hear me ! all those whom I have disseized of their 
 inheritances for following the Campeador, I restore again to the 
 possession thereof, and all those who desire to serve him I freely 
 licence : let them go in the grace of God. Moreover the King 
 said, I grant him Valencia and all that he hath won and shall win 
 hereafter, that he be called Lord thereof, and that he hold it of no 
 other Lordship save of me, who am his liege Lord. Alvar Fane/, 
 and Martin Antolinez kissed his hand for this in the Cid's name. 
 And the King called a porter, who should go with them, bearing a 
 writing from the King, that all things needful should be given unto
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE RfV'AR. 365 
 
 them so long as they were in his lands. Then Alvar Fanez and 
 Martin Antolinez dispeeded themselves of the King, and took their 
 way towards Burgos. 
 
 XV. When they reached Burgos they sent for Rachel and for 
 Vidas, and demanded from them the chests, and paid unto them 
 the three hundred marks of gold and the three hundred of silver 
 as the Cid had commanded, and they besought them to forgive 
 the Cid the deceit of the chests, for it was done because of his 
 great necessity. And they said they heartily forgave him, and held 
 themselves well paid ; and they prayed God to grant him long life 
 and good health, and to give him power to advance Christendom, 
 and put down Pagandom. And when it was known through the 
 city of Burgos the goodness and the gentleness which the Cid 
 had shown to these merchants in redeeming from them the chests 
 full of sand and earth and stones, the people held it for a great 
 wonder, and there was not a place in all Burgos where they did 
 not talk of the gentleness and loyalty of the Cid ; and they be- 
 sought blessings upon him, and prayed that he and his people might 
 be advanced in honour. When they had done this, they went to 
 the Monastery of St. Pedro de Cardena, and the porter of the King 
 went with them, and gave order everywhere that everything which 
 they wanted should be given them. If they were well received, 
 and if there was great joy in St. Pedro de Cardena over th*m, it is 
 not a thing to ask, for Dona Ximena and her daughters were like 
 people beside themselves with the great joy which they had, and 
 they came running out on foot to meet them, weeping plenteously for 
 great joy. And Alvar Fanez and Martin Antolinez, when they saw 
 them coming, leaped off their horses, and went to them, and Minaya 
 embraced Dona Ximena and both his cousins, Dona Elvira and 
 Dona Sol, and so great was the rejoicing which they made together 
 that no man can tell it you. And when this great joy was some- 
 what abated, Dona Ximena asked how the Cid fared, for since he 
 had parted from her she had heard no news of him. And Alvar 
 Fanez said he had left him safe and sound in Valencia ; and he 
 bade her and her daughters thank God for the great favour that 
 he had shown him, for he had won sundry castles from the Moors, 
 and the noble city of Valencia, whither he was now come to carry 
 her and her daughters, for the Cid had sent for them, and when 
 he should see them his heart's desire would be accomplished. 
 When Dona Ximena and her daughters heard this, they set their 
 knees to the ground, and lifted up their hands and thanked God 
 for the favour he had shown to the Cid, and to them with him, in
 
 366 CHRONICLE or ?'///: cm, 
 
 giving him the Lordship of Valencia. While they were preparing 
 for the journey, Alvar Fanez sent three knights to the Cid to tell 
 him how they had sped with the King, and of the great favour 
 which they had found at his hands, and how he only tarried now 
 to equip Dona Ximena, that she might come full honourably. 
 That good one Minaya then began to deck them out for the jour- 
 ney with the best trappings which could be found in Burgos : right 
 noble garments did he provide for them, and a great company of 
 damsels, and good palfreys, and great mules, which were not bad 
 ones. And he gave the Abbot the thousand marks of silver which 
 the Cid had sent for the Monastery, with which to discharge all 
 the debt that Dona Ximena and his daughters had contracted. 
 Great was the stir throughout all that land of the honour of the 
 Cid, and of the licence which the King gave to as many as should 
 choose to join him ; and for this reason full sixty knights came to 
 St. Pedro de Cardena, and a great number of squires on foot. Don 
 Alvar Fanez was well pleased to see them, and he promised them 
 that he would obtain the Cid's grace for them, and would befriend 
 them all he could. Grat dole did the Abbot make when they 
 departed ; and he said, As God shall help you, Minaya, kiss 
 the hand of the Campeador for me. This Monastery will never 
 forget him, to pray for him every day in the year. The Cid will 
 always prosper more and more. Minaya promised to do this, and 
 dispeeded himself, and they went their way. Five days they trav- 
 elled, and then they came to Medina Celi ; and alway the porter 
 of the King was with them, and made all that they wanted be given 
 unto them, even as the King had commanded. 
 
 XVI. Now the three knights whom Alvar Fanez had sent, came 
 to the Cid and delivered their message. When my Cid heard it 
 his heart rejoiced and he was glad, and he spake with his mouth 
 and said, He who sends good messengers looks for good tidings. 
 Blessed be the name of God, since King Don Alfonso rejoices 
 in my good fortune. And he called for Muno Gustios, and 
 Pero Bermudez, and the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and bade 
 them take a hundred knights lest there should be need to fight, 
 and go to Molina, to Abencano, who was his friend and vassal, 
 and bid him take another hundred knights, and go with them 
 to Medina Celi as fast as they could go. There, said he, ye 
 will . find Alvar Fanez and my wife and daughters ; bring them 
 to me with great honour : I will remain here in Valencia which 
 has cost me so much ; great folly would it be if I were to leave 
 .it; I will remain in it } for I hold it for my heritage. And they
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BfVAR. 367 
 
 did as he commanded them. And when they came to Molina, 
 Abencano received them right well, and did them great honour ; 
 and though the Cid had bidden him take only one hundred horse, 
 he took two. On the morrow they went to horse : they crossed 
 the mountains which are great and wild, and they passed Mata de 
 Toranz without fear, and they thought to come through the valley 
 of Arbuxedo. There was good look out kept in Medina, and Alvar 
 Fanez sent two knights to know who they were. They made no 
 tarriance in doing this, for they had it at heart ; one tarried with 
 them, and the other returned, and said it was the host of the Cam- 
 peador with Pero Bermudez, and Muno Gustios, and the Bishop 
 Hieronymo, and the Alcayaz Abencano. This instant, said Minaya, 
 let us to horse ; incontinently this was done, for they would make 
 no delay. And they rode upon goodly horses with bells at their 
 poitrals and trappings of sandal silk, and they had their shields 
 round their necks, and lances with streamers in their hands. Oh, 
 how Alvar Fanez went out from Castile with these ladies ! They 
 who pricked forward, couched their spears and then raised them, 
 and great joy was there by Salon where they met. The others 
 humbled themselves to Minaya : when Abencano came up he kissed 
 him on the shoulder, for such was his custom. In a good day, 
 Minaya, said he, do you bring these ladies, the wife and daughters 
 of the Cid, whom we all honour. Whatever ill we may wish him 
 we can do him none ; . . in peace or in war he will have our wealth, 
 and he must be a fool who does not acknowledge this truth. Al- 
 var Fanez smiled and told him he -should lose nothing by this ser- 
 vice which he had done the Cid ; and now, said he, let us go rest, 
 for the supper is ready. Abencano said he was well pleased to 
 partake it, and that within three days he would return him the en- 
 tertainment twofold. Then they entered Medina, and Minaya 
 served them ; all were full glad of the service which they had 
 undertaken, and the King's porter paid for all. The night is 
 gone, morning is come, mass is said, and they go to horse. They 
 left Medina and passed the river Salon, and pricked up Arbuxuelo, 
 and they crossed the plain of Torancio. That good Christian the 
 Bishop Don Hieronymo, night and day here guarded the ladies ; 
 on a goodly horse he rode, and they went between him and Alvar 
 Fanez. They came to Molina and they were lodged in a good and 
 rich house, and Abencano the Moor waited on them. Nothing 
 did they want which they could wish to have : he even had all their 
 beasts new shod, and for Minaya and the ladies, Lord ! how he 
 honoured them ! On the morrow they left Molina, and the Moor
 
 368 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 went with them. When they were within three leagues of Valencia, 
 news of their coming was brought to the Cid. Glad was the Cid, 
 never was he more joyful, never had he such joy, for tidings were 
 come to him of what he loved best. Two hundred knights did he 
 order out to meet them, others he bade to keep the Alcazar, and the 
 other high towers, and all the gates and entrances. And he com- 
 manded that they should bring him Bavieca. 1 It was but a short 
 time since he had won this horse ; my Cid, he who girt on sword 
 in a happy hour, did not yet know if he was a good goer, and if 
 he stopped well. The Bishop Don Hieronymo, he pricked for- 
 ward and entered the city. He left his horse and went to the 
 Church, and collected all the clergy ; they put on their surplices, 
 and with crosses of silver went out to meet the ladies, and that 
 good one Minaya. He who was born in happy hour made no tar- 
 riance ; they saddled him Bavieca, and threw his trappings on. 
 My Cid wore light armour, and his surcoat over it : long was his 
 beard. He went out upon this horse, and ran a career with him ; 
 Bavieca was the name of the horse, and when he was running all 
 marvelled at him : from that day Bavieca was famous all over Spain. 
 At the end of the course my Cid alighted and went toward his wife 
 and his daughters. Who can tell the joy that was made at their 
 meeting? They fell at his feet, and their joy was such that they 
 could not speak. And he raised them up and embraced them, 
 and kissed them many times, weeping for joy that he saw them 
 alive. Hear what he said who was born in happy hour ! You 
 dear and honoured wife, and ye my daughters, my heart and my 
 soul ; enter with me into Valencia ; . . this is the inheritance which 
 I have won for you. While they were thus rejoicing the Bishop 
 Don Hieronymo came with the procession. Dona Ximena brought 
 good relics and other sacred things, which she gave to ennoble 
 the new church of Valencia. In this guise they entered the city. 
 Who can tell the rejoicings that were made that day, throwing at 
 the board, and killing bulls ! My Cid led them to the Alcazar, 
 and took them up upon the highest tower thereof, and there they 
 looked around and beheld Valencia, how it lay before them, and 
 the great Garden with its thick shade, and the sea on the other 
 side ; and they lifted up their hands to thank God. Great honour 
 did the Cid do to Abencano the Lord of Molina, for all the service 
 which he had done to Dona Ximena. Then said Abencano, This, 
 
 1 This is the first mention of this famous horse in the Poem : an old history 
 to which Berganza often refers as beginning with King Fruela, says Bayieca was 
 won in the battle with the King of Seville, which may well agree with the Poem.
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE RITAR. 369 
 
 Sir, I was bound to do, for since I have been your vassal I have 
 alway been respected, and defended from all my enemies, and 
 maintained in good estate ; how then should I do otherwise than 
 serve you ? If I did not, I should lack understanding. And the 
 Cid thanked him for what he had done, and what he had said, and 
 promised also to show favour unto him. And Abencano took his 
 leave and returned to Molina. 
 
 XVII. The winter is passed, and March is coming in. Three 
 months Dona Ximena had been in Valencia, when tidings came to 
 the Cid from beyond sea, that King Yucef, the son of the Mirama- 
 molin, who dwelt in Morocco, was coming to lay siege unto Valen- 
 cia with fifty thousand men. When the Cid heard this he gave 
 command to store all his Castles, and had them well repaired. 
 And he had the walls of the city prepared, and stored it well with 
 food and with all things needful for war, and gathered together a 
 great power of Christians and of the Moors of his seignory. 
 Hardly had he done this before he heard that Yucef was near at 
 hand, and coming as fast as he could come. Then the Cid assem- 
 bled together the Christians in the Alcazar, and when they were 
 assembled, he rose upon his feet, and said, Friends and kinsmen 
 and vassals, praised be God and holy Mary Mother, all the good 
 which I have in the world I have here in Valencia; with hard 
 labour I won the city, and hold it for my heritage, and for nothing 
 less than death will I leave it. My daughters and my wife shall 
 see me fight, . . . they shall see with their own eyes our manner 
 of living in this land, and how we get our bread. We will go out 
 against the Moors and give them battle, and God who hath thus 
 far shown favour unto us will still continue to be our helper. 
 When they heard this they cried out with one accord that they 
 would do his bidding, and go out with him and fight under his 
 banner, for certain they were that by his good fortune the Moors 
 would be overthrown. 
 
 XVIII. On the morrow the Cid took Dona Ximena by the hand, 
 and her daughters with her, and made them go up upon the high- 
 est tower of the Alcazar, and they looked toward the sea and saw 
 the great power of the Moors, how they came on and drew nigh, 
 and began to pitch their tents round about Valencia, beating their 
 tambours and with great uproar. And Ximena's heart failed her, 
 and she asked the Cid if peradventure God would deliver him 
 from these enemies. Fear not, honoured woman, said he ; you 
 are but lately arrived, and they come to bring you a present, which 
 shall help marry your daughters. Fear not, for you shall see me
 
 370 CI1ROXICI.E O/' THE (7/\ 
 
 fight by the help of God and holy Mary Mother ; my heart kin- 
 dles because you are here ! the more Moors the more gain. The 
 tambours sounded now with a great alarum, and the sun was 
 shining . . . Cheer up, said my Cid ; . . this is a glorious day. 
 But Ximena was seized with such fear as if her heart would have- 
 broken ; she and her daughters had never been in such fear since 
 the day that they were born. Then the good Cid Campeadoi 
 stroked his beard and said, Fear not, all this is for your good. 
 Before fifteen days are over, if it please God, those tambours shall 
 be laid before you, and shall be sounded for your pleasure, and 
 then they shall be given to the Bishop Don Hieronymo, that he 
 may hang them up in the Church of St. Mary, Mother of God. 
 This vow the Cid Campeador made. Now the Moors began to 
 enter the gardens which were round about the town, and the 
 watchmen saw them and struck the bell. My Cid looked back 
 and saw Alvar Salvadores beside him, and he said, Go now, take 
 two hundred horse, and sally upon yonder Moors who are entering 
 the gardens ; let Dona Ximena and her daughters see the good 
 will you have to serve them. Down went Alvar Salvadores in great 
 haste, and ordered a bell to be rung which was a signal for two 
 hundred knights to make ready ; for the history saith, that the Cid, 
 by reason that he was alway in war, had appointed such signals for 
 his people, that they knew when one hundred were called for, and 
 when two, and so forth. Presently they were ready at the place 
 of meeting, and the gate was opened which was nearest the gar- 
 dens where the Moors had entered, without order ; and they fell 
 fiercely upon them, smiting and slaying. Great was the pleasure 
 of the Cid at seeing how well they behaved themselves. And 
 Dona Ximena and her daughters stood trembling, like women who 
 had never seen such things before ; and when the Cid saw it he 
 made them seat themselves, so as no longer to behold it. Great 
 liking had the Bishop Don Hieronymo to see how bravely they 
 fought. Alvar Salvadores and his companions bestirred themselves 
 so well that they drove the enemy to their tents, making great 
 mortality among them, and then they turned back, whereat my C'id 
 was well pleased ; but Alvar Salvadores went on, hacking and hew- 
 ing all before him, for he thought the ladies were looking on, and 
 he pressed forward so far, that being without succour he was taken. 
 The others returned to the city, falling back in brave order till they 
 were out of reach of the enemy : and they had done no little in 
 that exploit, for they slew above two hundred and fifty Moors. 
 When my Cid saw that they who eat his bread were returned, he
 
 ROD RICO DIAZ DE BH'AR. 371 
 
 went down from the tower, and received them right well, and 
 praised them for what they had done like good knights : howbeit 
 he was full sorrowful for Alvar Salvadores that he should be in the 
 hands of the Moors, but he trusted in God that he should deliver 
 him on the morrow. 
 
 XIX. And the Cid assembled his chief captains and knights and 
 people, and said unto them, Kinsmen and friends and vassals, hear 
 me : to-day has been a good day, and to-morrow shall be a better. 
 Be you all armed and ready in the dark of the morning ; mass 
 shall be said, and the Bishop Don Hieronymo will give us absolu- 
 tion, and then we will to horse, and out and smite them in the 
 name of the Creator and of the Apostle Santiago. It is fitter 
 that we should live than that they should gather in the fruits of 
 this land. But let us take counsel in what manner we may go 
 forth, so as to receive least hurt, for they are a mighty power, and 
 we can only defeat them by great mastery in war. When Alvar 
 Fanez Minaya heard this he answered and said, Praised be God 
 and your good fortune, you have achieved greater things than this, 
 and I trust in (rod's mercy that you will achieve this also. Give 
 me three hundred horse, and we will go out when the first cock 
 crows, and put ourselves in ambush in the valley of Albuhera ; and 
 when you have joined battle we will issue out and fall upon them 
 on the other side, and on one side or the other God will help us. 
 Well was the Cid pleased with this counsel, and he said that it 
 should be so ; and he bade them feed their horses in time and sup 
 early, and as soon as it was cock<-crow come to the Church of St. 
 Pedro, and hear mass, and shrive themselves, and communicate, 
 and then take horse in the name of the Trinity, that the soul of 
 him who should die in the business might go without let to God. 
 
 XX. Day is gone, and night is come. At cock-crow they all 
 assembled together in the Church of St. Pedro, and the Bishop 
 Don Hieronymo sung mass, and they were shriven and assoyled, 
 and howselled. Great was the absolution which the Bishop gave 
 them : He who shall die, said he, fighting face forward, I will take 
 his sins, and God shall have his soul. Then said he, A boon, Cid 
 Don Rodrigo; I have sung mass to you this morning: let me 
 have the giving the first wounds in this battle ! and the Cid granted 
 him this boon in the name of God. Then being all ready they 
 went out through the gate which is called the Gate of the Snake, 
 for the greatest power of the Moors was on that side, leaving good 
 men to guard the gates. Alvar Fanez and his company were 
 already gone forth, and had laid their ambush. Four thousand,
 
 372 CHROXICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 lacking thirty, were they who went out with my ('id, with a good 
 will, to attack fifty thousand. They went through all the narrow 
 places, and bad passes, and leaving the ambush on the left, struck 
 to the right hand, so as to get the Moors between them and 
 the town. And the Cid put his battles in good array, and bade 
 Pero Bermudez bear his banner. When the Moors saw this they 
 were greatly amazed ; and they harnessed themselves in great 
 haste, and came out of their tents. Then the Cid bade his ban- 
 ner move on, and the Bishop Don Hieronymo pricked forward 
 with his company, and laid on with such guise, that the hosts were 
 soon mingled together. Then might you have seen many a 
 horse running about the field with the saddle under his belly, and 
 many a horseman in evil plight upon the ground. Great was the 
 smiting and slaying in short time ; but by reason that the Moors 
 were so great a number, they bore hard upon the Christians, and 
 were in the hour of overcoming them. And the Cid began to en- 
 courage them with a loud voice, shouting God and Santiago ! 
 And Alvar Fanez at this time issued out from ambush, and fell 
 upon them, on the side which was nearest the sea ; and the 
 Moors thought that a great power had arrived to the Cid's suc- 
 cour, and they were dismayed and began to fly. And the Cid 
 and his people pursued, punishing them in a bad way. If we 
 should wish to tell you how every one behaved himself in this 
 battle, it is a thing which could not be done, for all did so well 
 that no man can relate their feats. And the Cid Ruydiez did so 
 well, and made such mortality among the Moors, that the blood 
 ran from his wrist to his elbow ! great pleasure had he in his horse 
 Bavieca that day, to find himself so well mounted. And in the 
 pursuit he came up to King Yucef, and smote him three times : 
 but the King escaped from under the sword, for the horse of the 
 Cid passed on in his course, and when he turned, the King being 
 on a fleet horse was far off, so that he might not be overtaken ; 
 and he got into a Castle called Guyera, for so far did the Chris- 
 tians pursue them, smiting and slaying, and giving them no respite, 
 so that hardly fifteen thousand escaped of fifty that they were. 
 They who were in the ships, when they saw this great overthrow, 
 fled to Denia. 
 
 XXI. Then the Cid and his people returned to the field and 
 began to plunder the tents. And the spoil was so great that there 
 was no end to the riches, in gold and in silver, and in horses and 
 arms, so that men knew not what to leave and what to take. And 
 they found one tent which had been King YucePs; never man-
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BtVAR. 373 
 
 saw so noble a thing as that tent was ; and there were great 
 riches therein, and there also did they find Alvar Salvadores, who 
 had been made prisoner the yesterday, as ye have heard. Greatly 
 did the Cid rejoice when he saw him alive and sound, and he 
 ordered his chains to be taken off : and then he left Alvar Fanez 
 to look to the spoil, and went into Valencia with a hundred 
 knights. His wrinkled brow was seen, for he had taken off his 
 helmet, and in this manner he entered, upon Bavieca, sword in 
 hand. Great joy had Dona Ximena and her daughters who were 
 awaiting him, when they saw him come riding in ; and he stopped 
 when he came to them, and said, Great honour have I won for 
 you, while you kept Valencia this day ! God and the Saints have 
 sent us goodly gain, upon your coming. Look, with a bloody- 
 sword, and a horse all sweat, this is the way that we conquer the 
 Moors ! Pray God that I may live yet awhile for your sakes, and 
 you shall enter into great honour, and they shall kiss your hands. 
 Then my Cid alighted when he had said this, and the ladies knelt 
 down before him, and kissed his hand, and wished him long life. 
 Then they entered the Palace with him, and took their seats upon 
 the precious benches. Wife Dona Ximena, said he, these damsels 
 who have served you so well, I will give in marriage to these my 
 vassals, and to every one of them two hundred marks of silver, that 
 it may be known in Castile what they have got by their services. 
 Your daughters' marriage will come in time. And they all rose 
 and kissed his hand ; and great was the joy in the Palace, and it 
 was done according as the Cid had said. 
 
 XXII. Alvar Fanez this while was in the field writing and taking 
 account of the spoil : but the tents and arms and precious gar- 
 ments were so many that they cannot be told, and the horses were 
 beyond all reckoning; they ran about the field, and there was 
 nobody to take them, and the Moors of the land got something 
 by that great overthrow. Nevertheless so many horses were taken 
 that the Campeador had to his share of the good ones a thousand 
 and five hundred. Well might the others have good store when 
 he had so many. And my Cid won in this battle from King Yucef, 
 his good sword Tizona, which is to say, the firebrand. The tent 
 of the King of Morocco, which was supported by two pillars 
 wrought with gold, he gave order not to be touched, for he would 
 send it to Alfonso the Castilian. The Bishop Don Hieronymo, that 
 perfect one with the shaven crown, he had his fill in that battle, 
 fighting with both hands ; no one could tell how many he slew. 
 Great booty came to him, and moreover the Cid sent him the
 
 374 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 tithe of his fifth. Glad were the Christian folk in Valencia for the 
 great booty which they had gotten, and glad was Dona Xirnena 
 and her daughters, and glad were all those ladies who were married. 
 
 XXIII. King Yucef, after the pursuit was given over, and he saw 
 that he might come forth from the Castle, fled to Denia, and em- 
 barked in his ships, and returned to Morocco. And thinking every 
 day how badly he had sped, and how he had been conquered by 
 so few, and how many of his people he had lost, he fell sick and 
 died. But before he died he besought his brother, who was called 
 Bucar, that for the tie there was between them, he would take- 
 vengeance for the dishonour which he had received from the ('id 
 Campeador before Valencia ; and Bucar promised to do this, and 
 swore also upon the Koran, which is the book of their law. And 
 accordingly he came afterwards across the sea, with nine and 
 twenty Kings, as shall be related when the time comes. 
 
 XXIV. Then the Cid sent Alvar Fanez and Pero Bermudez with 
 a present to King Alfonso his Lord. And the present which he 
 sent was two hundred horses saddled and bridled, with each a 
 sword hanging from the saddle-bow : and also the noble tent which 
 he had won from King Yucef of Morocco. This present he gave, 
 because the King had sent him his wife and daughters when he asked 
 for them, and because of the honour which he had done them, and 
 that the King might not speak ill of him who commanded in Valen- 
 cia. Alvar Fanez and Pero Bermudez went their way towards 
 Castile, over sierras and mountains and waters ; and they asked 
 where the King was, and it was told them that he was at Valladolid, 
 and thither they went. And when they drew nigh unto the city, they 
 sent to let him know of their coming, and to ask of him whether he 
 thought it good for them to come into the city unto him, or if he 
 would come out to them, for they were a great company, and the 
 present a full great one, which he would see better without, than in 
 the town. And the King thought this best, and he went to horse, 
 and bade all the hidalgos who were with him do the like. Now the 
 Infantes of Carrion were there, Diego Gonzalez, and Ferrando Gon- 
 zalez, the sons of Count Don Gonzalo. And they found the com- 
 pany of the Cid about half a league from the town, and when the 
 King saw how many they were, he blessed himself, for they seemed 
 like a host. And Minaya and Pero Bermudez pricked on when 
 they saw him, and came before him, and alighted, and knelt down, 
 and kissed the ground and kissed both his feet : and he bade them 
 rise and mount their horses, and would not hear them till they had 
 mounted, and taken their places one at his right hand, and the
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 375 
 
 other at his left. And they said, Sir, the Cid commends himself 
 to your grace as his liege Lord, and thanks you greatly for having 
 sent him with such honour his wife and daughters. And know, 
 Sir, that since they arrived, he hath achieved a great victory over 
 the Moors, and their King Yucef of Morocco, the Miramamolin, 
 who besieged him in Valencia with fifty thousand men. And he 
 went out against them, and smote them, and hath sent you these 
 two hundred horses from his fifth. Then Alvar Fanez gave order 
 that the horses should be led forward. And this was the manner 
 in which they came. The two hundred horses came first, and 
 every one was led by a child, and every one had a sword hanging 
 from the saddle, on the left side ; and after them came the pages 
 of all the knights in company, carrying their spears, and then the com- 
 pany, and after them an hundred couple with spears in rest. And 
 when they had all passed by, the King blessed himself again, and 
 he laughed and said that never had so goodly a present been sent 
 before to King of Spain by his vassal. And Alvar Fanez said more- 
 over, Sir, he hath sent you a tent, the noblest that ever man saw, 
 which he won in this battle : and the King gave order that the 
 tent should be spread, and he alighted and went into it, he and all 
 his people, and he was greatly pleased ; and they all said that they 
 had never seen so noble a tent as this ; and the King said he had 
 won many from the Moors, but never such as this. But albeit 
 that all the others were well pleased, Count Don Garcia was not 
 so ; and he and ten of his lineage talked apart, and said that this 
 which the Cid had done was to their shame, for they hated the Cid 
 in their hearts. And King Don Alfonso said, Thanks be to God 
 and to Sir Saint Isidro of Leon, these horses may do me good ser- 
 vice ; and he gave three of them to Minaya, and Pero Bermudez, 
 and bade them choose, and he ordered food and clothing to be 
 given them while they remained, and said that he would give them 
 complete armour when they returned, such as was fit for them to 
 appear in before my Cid. And they were lodged, and all things 
 that were needful provided for them and their people. 
 ' XXV. When the Infantes of Carrion, Diego Gonzalez and Fer- 
 rando Gonzalez, saw the noble present, which the Cid had sent 
 unto the King, and heard how his riches and power daily increased, 
 and thought what his wealth must needs be when he had given 
 those horses out of the fifth of one battle, and moreover that he 
 was Lord of Valencia : they spake one with the other, and agreed, 
 that if the Cid would give them his daughters to wife, they should 
 be well married, and become rich and honourable. And they
 
 376 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 agreed together that they would talk with the King in private upon 
 this matter. And they went presently to him, and said, Sir, we 
 beseech you of your bounty to help us in a thing which will be to 
 your honour ; for we are your vassals, and the richer we are the 
 better able shall we be to serve you. And the King asked of them 
 what it was they would have, and they then told him their desire. 
 And the King thought upon it awhile, and then came to them, 
 and said, Infantes, this thing which you ask lies not in me, but in 
 the Cid ; for it is in his power to marry his daughters, and perad- 
 venture he will not do it as yet. Nevertheless that ye may not fail 
 for want of my help, I will send to tell him what ye wish. Then 
 they kissed his hand for this favour. And the King sent for Alvar 
 Fanez and Pero Bermudez, and went apart with them, and praised 
 the Cid, and thanked him for the good will which he had to do 
 him service, and said that he had great desire to see him. Say to 
 him, he said, that I beseech him to come and meet me, for I would 
 speak with him concerning something which is to his good and 
 honour. Diego and Ferrando, the Infantes of Carrion, have said 
 unto me that they would fain wed with his daughters, if it seemeth 
 good to him ; and methinks this would be a good marriage. When 
 Alvar Fanez and Pero Bermudez heard this, they answered the 
 King, and said, Certain we are, Sir, that neither in this, nor in any- 
 thing else will the Cid do aught but what you, Sir, shall command 
 or advise. When ye have your meeting ye will agree concerning 
 it as is best. Then they kissed his hand, and took their leave. 
 
 XXVI. On the morrow the messengers of the Cid departed from 
 Valladolid, and took their way towards Valencia ; and when the 
 Cid knew that they were nigh at hand he went out to meet them, 
 and when he saw them he waxed joyful ; and he embraced them, 
 and asked what tiding of his Lord Alfonso. And they told him how 
 they had sped, and how greatly the King loved him ; and when 
 we departed, said they, he bade us beseech you to come and meet 
 him anywhere where you will appoint, for he desireth to speak with 
 you, concerning the marriage of your daughters with the Infantes 
 of Carrion, if it should please you so to bestow them : now by 
 what the King said it seemeth unto us that this marriage pleaseth 
 him. And when the Cid heard this he became thoughtful, and he 
 said to them after awhile, What think ye of this marriage? And 
 they answered him, Even as it shall please you. And he said to 
 them, I was banished from my own country, and was dishonoured, 
 and with hard labour gained I what I have got ; and now I stand 
 in the King's favour, and he asketh of me my daughters for the
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 377 
 
 Infantes of Carrion. They are of high blood and full orgullous, 
 and I have no liking to this match ; but if our Lord the King ad- 
 viseth it we can do no otherwise : we will talk of this, and God 
 send it for the best. So they entered Valencia, and the Cid spake 
 with Dona Ximena touching this matter, and when she heard it it 
 did not please her ; nevertheless she said, if the King thought it 
 good they could do no otherwise. Then the Cid gave order to 
 write letters to the King, saying, that he would meet the King as 
 he commanded, and whatever the King wished that he would do. 
 And he sealed the letters well, and sent two knights with them. 
 And when the King saw the letters he was well pleased, and sent 
 others to say that the time of their meeting should be three weeks 
 after he received these letters, and the place appointed was upon 
 the Tagus, which is a great river. 
 
 XXVII. Now began they to prepare on both sides for this meet- 
 ing. He who should relate to you the great preparations, and the 
 great nobleness which were made for the nonce, would have much 
 to recount. Who ever saw in Castile so many a precious mule, 
 and so many a good-going palfrey, and so many great horses, and 
 so many goodly streamers set upon goodly spears, and shields 
 adorned with gold and with silver, and mantles, and skins, and 
 rich sendals of Adria ? The King sent great store of food to the 
 banks of the Tagus, where the place of meeting was appointed. 
 Glad were the Infantes of Carrion, and richly did they bedight 
 themselves ; some things they paid for, and some they went in 
 debt for : great was their company, and with the King there were 
 many Leonese and Galegos, and Castilians out of number. My 
 Cid the Campeador made no tarriance in Valencia; he made 
 ready for the meeting : there was many a great mule, and many a 
 palfrey, and many a good horse, and many a goodly suit of arms, 
 cloaks, and mantles both of cloth and of peltry ; . . great and 
 little are all clad in colours. Alvar Fanez Minaya, and Pero Ber- 
 mudez, and Martin Munoz, and Martin Antolinez that worthy Bur- 
 galese, and the Bishop Don Hieronymo that good one with the 
 Shaven crown, and Alvar Alvarez, and Alvar Salvadores, and Muno 
 Gustios that knight of prowess, and Galind Garcia of Arragon ; all 
 these and all the others made ready to go with the Cid. But he 
 bade Alvar Salvadores and Galind Garcia and all those who were 
 under them, remain and look with heart and soul to the safety of 
 Valencia, and not open the gates of the Alcazar neither by day nor 
 by night, for his wife and daughters were there, in whom he had 
 his heart and soul, and the other ladies with them ; he like a good
 
 378 CHRONICLE OF THE CW, 
 
 husband gave order that not one of them should stir out of the 
 Alcazar till he returned. Then they left Valencia and pricked on 
 more than apace ; more than a thousand knights, all ready for 
 war, were in this company. All those great horses that paced so 
 well and were so soft of foot, my Cid won ; they were not given 
 to him. 
 
 XXVIII. King Don Alfonso arrived first by one day at the place 
 of meeting, and when he heard that the Cid was at hand, he went 
 out with all his honourable men, more than a long league to meet 
 him. When he who was born in a good hour had his eye upon 
 the King, he bade his company halt, and with fifteen of the knights 
 whom he loved best he alighted, and put his hands and his knees 
 to the ground, and took the herbs of the field between his teeth, 
 as if he would have eaten them, weeping for great joy ; . . thus 
 did he know how to humble himself before Alfonso his Lord ; and 
 in this manner he approached his feet and would have kissed them. 
 And the King drew back and said, The hand, Cid Campeador, not 
 the foot ! And the Cid drew nigh upon his knees and besought 
 grace, saying, In this guise grant me your love, so that all present 
 may hear. And the King said that he forgave him, and granted 
 him his love with his heart and soul. And the Cid kissed both his 
 hands, being still upon his knees ; and the king embraced him, 
 and gave him the kiss of peace. Well pleased were all they \vh<> 
 beheld this, save only Alvar Diez and Garcia Ordonez, for they did 
 not love the Cid. Then went they all toward the town, the King 
 and the Cid talking together by the way. And the Cid asked the 
 King to eat with him, and the King answered, Not so, for ye are 
 not prepared ; we arrived yesterday, and ye but now. Eat you 
 and your company therefore with me, for we have made ready. 
 To-day, Cid Campeador, you are my guest, and to-morrow we will 
 do as pleases you. Now came the Infantes of Carrion up and 
 humbled themselves before the Cid, and he received them well, 
 and they promised to do him service. And the company of the 
 Cid came up and kissed the King's hand. So they alighted and 
 went to meat ; and the King said unto the Cid that he should eat 
 with him at his table ; howbeit he would not. And when the 
 King saw that he would not take his seat with him, he ordered a 
 high table to be placed for the Cid and for Count Don Gonzalo, 
 the father of the Infantes of Carrion. All the while that they ate 
 the King could never look enough at the Cid, and he marvelled 
 greatly at his beard, that it had grown to such length. And when 
 they had eaten they were merry, and took their pleasure. And on
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE RIVAR. 379 
 
 the morrow the King and all they who went with him to this meet- 
 ing, ate with the Cid, and so well did he prepare for them that all 
 were full joyful, and agreed in one thing, that they had not eaten 
 better for three years. There was not a man there who did not 
 eat upon silver, and the King and the chief persons ate upon 
 dishes and trenchers of gold. And when the Infantes saw this 
 they had the marriage more at heart than before. 
 
 XXIX. On the morrow as soon as it was day, the Bishop Don 
 Hieronymo sung mass before the King, in the oratory of the Cid ; 
 and when it was over, the King said before all who were there 
 assembled, Counts and Infanzones and knights, Hear what I shall 
 say unto the Cid. Cid Ruydiez, the reason wherefore I sent for 
 you to this meeting was twofold ; first, that I might see you, which 
 I greatly desired, for I love you much because of the many and 
 great services which you have done me, albeit that at one time I 
 was wroth against you and banished you from the land. But you 
 so demeaned yourself that you never did me disservice, but con- 
 trariwise great service both to God and to me, and have won Va- 
 lencia, and enlarged Christendom, wherefore I am bound to show 
 favour unto you and to love you alway. The second reason was, 
 that I might ask you for your two daughters Dona Elvira and Dona 
 Sol, that you would give them in marriage to the Infantes of Car- 
 rion, for this methinks would be a fit marriage, and to your honour 
 and good. When the Cid heard this, he was in a manner bound 
 to consent, having them thus demanded from him ; and he an- 
 swered and said, Sir, my daughters are of tender years, and if it 
 might please you, they are yet too young for marriage. I do not 
 say this as if the Infantes of Carrion were not worthy to match 
 with them, and with better than they. And the King bade him 
 make no excuse, saying, that he should esteem himself well served 
 if he gave his consent. Then the Cid said, Sir, I begat them, and 
 you give them in marriage, both I and they are yours, . . give 
 them to whom you please, and I am pleased therewith. When the 
 King heard this he was well pleased, and he bade the Infantes kiss 
 the hand of the Cid Campeador, and incontinently they changed 
 swords before the King, and they did homage to him, as sons-in- 
 law to their father-in-law. Then the King turned to the Cid, and 
 said, I thank thee, Ruydiez, that thou hast given me thy daughters 
 for the Infantes of Carrion ; and here I give them to the Infantes 
 to be their brides ; I give them and not you, and I pray God that 
 it may please him, and that you also may have great joy herein. 
 The Infantes I put into your hands ; they will go with you, and I
 
 380 CHRONICLE OF THE CW, 
 
 shall return from hence, and I order that three hundred marks of 
 silver be given to them for their marriage, and they and your 
 daughters will all be your children. 
 
 XXX. Eight days this meeting lasted ; the one day they dined 
 with the King, and the other with the Cid. Then was it appointed 
 that on the morrow at sunrise every one should depart to his own 
 home. My Cid then began to give to every one who would take 
 his gifts, many a great mule, and many a good palfrey, and many 
 a rich garment, . . every one had what he asked, . . he said no 
 to none. Threescore horses did my Cid give away in gifts ; well 
 pleased were all they who went to that meeting. And now they 
 were about to separate, for it was night. The King took the 
 Infantes by the hand, and delivered them into the power of my 
 Cid the Campeador, . . See here your sons : from this day, Cam- 
 peador, you will know what to make of them. And the Cid an- 
 swered, Sir, may it please you, seeing it is you who have made 
 this marriage for my daughters, to appoint some one to whom I 
 may deliver them, and who may give them, as from your hand, to 
 the Infantes. And the King called for Alvar Fanez Minaya, and 
 said, You are sib to the damsels : I command you, when you come 
 to Valencia, to take them with your own hands, and give them to 
 the Infantes, as I should do if that I were there present : and be 
 you the brides' father. Then said the Cid, Sir, you must accept 
 something from me at this meeting. I bring for you twenty pal- 
 freys, these that are gaily trapped, and thirty horses fleet of foot, 
 these that are well caparisoned, . . take them, and I kiss your 
 hand. Greatly have you bound me, said King Don Alfonso : I 
 receive this gift, and God and all Saints grant that it may well be 
 requited ; if I live you shall have something from me. Then my 
 Cid sprung up upon his horse Bavieca, and he said, Here I say be- 
 fore my Lord the King, that if any will go with me to the wedding, 
 I think they will get something by it ! and he besought the King 
 that he would let as many go with him as were so minded ; and 
 the King licensed them accordingly. And when they were about 
 to part, the company that went with the Cid was greater than that 
 which returned with the King. And the Cid kissed the King's 
 hand and dispeeded himself with his favour, and the King returned 
 to Castile. 
 
 XXXI. My Cid went his way towards Valencia, and he ap- 
 pointed Pero Bermudez and Muno Gustios, than whom there 
 were no better two in all his household, to keep company with the 
 Infantes of Carrion and be their guard, and he bade them spy out
 
 RODKIGO DIAZ DE RIVAR. 381 
 
 what their conditions were ; and this they soon found out. The 
 Count Don Suero Gonzalez went with the Infantes ; he was their 
 father's brother, and had been their Ayo and bred them up, and 
 badly had he trained them, for he was a man of great words, good 
 of tongue, and of nothing else good ; and full scornful and orgul- 
 lous had he made them, so that the Cid was little pleased with 
 them, and would willingly have broken off the marriage ; but he 
 could not, seeing that the King had made it. And when they 
 reached Valencia, the Cid lodged the Infantes in the suburb of 
 Alcudia, where he had formerly lodged himself; and all the com- 
 pany who were come to the marriage were quartered with them. 
 And he went to the Alcazar. 
 
 XXXII. On the morrow the Cid mounted his horse and rode 
 into Alcudia, and brought the Infantes his sons-in-law from thence 
 with him into the city to the Alcazar, that they might see their 
 brides Dona Elvira and Dona Sol. Dona Ximena had her daugh- 
 ters ready to receive them in full noble garments, for since mid- 
 night they had done nothing but prink and prank themselves. 
 Full richly was the Alcazar set out that day, with hangings both above 
 and below, purple and samite, and rich cloth. The Cid entered 
 between the Infantes, and all that noble company went in after 
 them ; and they went into the chief hall of the Alcazar, where 
 Dona Ximena was with her daughters ; and when they saw the Cid 
 and the Infantes, they rose up and welcomed them right well. 
 And the Cid took his seat upon his bench with one of the Infantes 
 on one side of him, and one on the other, and the other honour- 
 able men seated themselves on the estrados, each in the place 
 where he ought to be, and which belonged to him ; and they re- 
 mained awhile silent. Then the Cid rose and called for Alvar 
 Fanez and said, Thou knowest what my Lord the King com- 
 manded ; fulfil now his bidding, . . take thy cousins, and deliver 
 them to the Infantes, for it is the King who gives them in marriage, 
 and not I. And Alvar Fanez arose and took the damsels one in 
 each hand, and delivered them to the Infantes, saying, Diego Gon- 
 zalez, and Ferrando Gonzalez, I deliver unto you these damsels, 
 the daughters of the Cid Campeador, by command of King Don 
 Alfonso my Lord, even as he commanded. Receive you them as 
 your equal helpmates, as the law of Christ enjoineth. And the 
 infantes took each his bride by the hand, and went to the Cid and 
 kissed his. hand, and the same did they to their mother Dofia 
 Ximena Gomez : and the Bishop Don Hieronymo espoused them, 
 and they exchanged rings. When this was done, the Cid went
 
 1$2 C}lRONTCf.E OF THE CfD, 
 
 and seated himself on the estrado with the ladies, he and Dona 
 Ximena in the middle, and beside him he placed Dona Elvira his 
 eldest daughter, and by her, her spouse the Infante Diego Gon- 
 zalez ; and Dona Sol was seated on the other side, by her mother, 
 and the Infante Ferrando by her. And when they had solaced 
 themselves awhile, the Cid said that now they would go eat, and 
 that the marriage should be performed on the morrow, and he 
 besought and commanded the Bishop Don Hieronymo to perform 
 it in such a manner that no cost should be spared, but that every- 
 thing should be done so completely, that they who came from 
 Castile to this wedding might alway have something to tell of. 
 
 XXXIII. On the morrow they went to the Church of St. Mary, 
 and there the Bishop Don Hieronymo sat awaiting them, and he 
 blessed them all four at the altar. Who can tell the great noble- 
 ness which the Cid displayed at that wedding, the feasts and the 
 bull-fights, and the throwing at the target, and the throwing canes, 
 and how many joculars were there, and all the sports which are 
 proper at such weddings? As soon as they came out of Church 
 they took horse and rode to the Glera ; three times did the Cid 
 change his horse that day ; seven targets were set up on the 
 morrow, and before they went to dinner all seven were broken. 
 Fifteen days did the feasts at this wedding continue ; then all 
 they who had come there to do honour to the Cid took leave of 
 him and of the Infantes. Who can tell the great and noble gifts 
 which the Cid gave to them, both to great and little, each accord- 
 ing to his quality, vessels of gold and silver, rich cloth, cloaks, furs. 
 horses, and money beyond all reckoning, so that all were well 
 pleased. And when it was told in Castile with what gifts they 
 who had been to the wedding were returned, many were they who 
 repented that they had not gone there.
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE B1VAR. 383 
 
 BOOK VIII. 
 
 I. Now the history relateth that Gilbert, a sage who wrote the 
 history of the Moorish Kings who reigned in Africa, saith, that 
 Bucar remembering the oath which he had made to his brother 
 King Yucef, how he would take vengeance for him for the dis- 
 honour which he had -received from the Cid Ruydiez before 
 Valencia, ordered proclamation to be made throughout all the 
 dominions of his father, and gathered together so great a power 
 of Moors, that among the Captains of his host there were twenty 
 and nine Kings ; this he could well do, for his father was Mira- 
 mamolin, which is as much as to say Emperor. And when he 
 had gathered together this mighty host, he entered into his ships 
 and crossed the sea, and came unto the port of Valencia, and what 
 there befel him with the Cid the history shall relate in due time. 
 
 II. Two years after their marriage did the Infantes of Carrion 
 sojourn in Valencia in peace and pleasure, to their own great con- 
 tentment, and their uncle Suero Gonzalez with them ; and at the 
 end of those two years, there came to pass a great misadventure, 
 by reason of which they fell out with the Cid, in whom there was 
 no fault. There was a lion in the house of the Cid who had 
 grown a large one, and a strong, and was full nimble : three men 
 had the keeping of this lion, and they kept him in a den which 
 was in a court yard, high up in the palace ; and when they cleansed 
 the court they were wont to shut him up in his den, and afterward 
 to open the door that he might come out and eat : the Cid kept 
 him for his pastime, that he might take pleasure with him when he 
 was minded so to do. Now it was the custom of the Cid to dine 
 every day with his company, and after he had dined, he was wont 
 to sleep awhile upon his seat. And one day when he had dined 
 there came a man and told him that a great fleet was arrived in 
 the port of Valencia, wherein there was a great power of the Moors, 
 whom King Bucar had brought over, the son of the Miramamolin 
 of Morocco. And when the Cid heard this, his heart rejoiced and 
 he was glad, for it was nigh three years since he had had a battle 
 with the Moors. Incontinently he ordered a signal to be made
 
 384 CHRONIClJ-i OF THE C/D, 
 
 that all the honourable men who were in the city should assemble 
 together. And when they were all assembled in the Alcazar and 
 his sons-in-law with them, the Cid told them the news, and took 
 counsel with them in what manner they should go out against this 
 great power of the Moors. And when they had taken counsel the 
 Cid went to sleep upon his seat, and the Infantes and the others 
 sat playing at tables and chess. Now at this time the men who 
 were keepers of the lion were cleaning the court, and when they 
 heard the cry that the Moors were coming, they opened the den, 
 and came down into the palace where the Cid was, and left the 
 door of the court open. And when the lion had ate his meat and 
 saw that the door was open he went out of the court and came 
 down into the palace, even into the hall where they all were ; and 
 when they who v/ere there saw him, there was a great stir among 
 them ; but the Infantes of Carrion showed greater cowardice than 
 all the rest. Ferrando Gonzalez having no shame, neither for the 
 Cid nor for the others who were present, crept under the seat 
 whereon the Cid was sleeping, and in his haste he burst his mantle 
 and his doublet also at the shoulders. And Diego Gonzalez, the 
 other, ran to a postern door, crying, I shall never see Carrion again ! 
 This door opened upon a court-yard where there was a wine-press, 
 and he jumped out, and by reason of the great height could not 
 keep on his feet, but fell among the lees and denied himself there- 
 with. And all the others who were in the hall wrapt their cloaks 
 around their arms, and stood round about the seat whereon the 
 Cid was sleeping, that they might defend him. The noise which 
 they made awakened the Cid, and he saw the lion coming towards 
 him, and he lifted up his hand and said, What is this? .... 
 and the lion hearing his voice stood still ; and he rose up and took 
 him by the mane as if he had been a gentle mastiff, and led him 
 back to the court where he was before, and ordered his keepers 
 to look better to him for the time to come. And when he had 
 done this he returned to the hall and took his seat again ; and all 
 they who beheld it were greatly astonished. 
 
 III. After some time Ferrando Gonzalez crept from under the 
 seat where he had hidden himself, and he came out with a pale 
 face, not having yet lost his fear, and his brother Diego got from 
 among the lees : and when they who were present saw them in this 
 plight you never saw such sport as they made ; but my Cid for- 
 bade their laughter. And Diego went out to wash himself and 
 change his garments, and he sent to call his brother forth, and they 
 took counsel together in secret, and said to each other, Lo now,
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIV'AK. 385 
 
 what great dishonour this Ruydiez our father-in-law hath done 
 us, for he let this lion loose for the nonce, to put us to shame. 
 But in an evil day were we born if we do not revenge this upon his 
 daughters. Badly were we matched with them, and now for the 
 after-feast he hath made this mockery of us ! But we must keep 
 secret this which we bear in mind, and not let him wit that 
 we are wrath against him, for otherwise he would not let us depart 
 from hence, neither give us our wives to take with us, and he 
 would take from us the swords Colada and Tizona which he gave 
 us. ... We will therefore turn this thing into merriment before 
 him and his people, to the end that they may not suspect what we 
 have at heart. While they were thus devising their uncle Suero 
 Gonzalez came in, and they told him of their intent. And he 
 counselled them to keep their wrath secret, as they said, till this 
 stir of the Moors from beyond sea was over, and then they should 
 demand their wives of the Cid that they might take them to their 
 own country ; This, said he, the Cid can have no reason to deny, 
 neither for detaining ye longer with him ; and when ye are got 
 away far out of his land, then may ye do what ye will with his 
 daughters, and ill will ye do if ye know not how to revenge your- 
 selves ; so shall ye remove the dishonour from yourselves, and cast 
 it upon him and his children. This wicked counsel did Suero 
 Gonzalez give unto his nephews, which he might have well excused 
 giving, and then both he and they would not have come off so 
 badly as the history will in due season relate. 
 
 IV. After Suero Gonzalez and 'his nephews had taken this evil 
 counsel together, they went to their lodging, and on the morrow 
 they went to the Alcazar and came to the Cid where he was pre- 
 paring for business. And when they drew nigh, the Cid rose and 
 welcomed them right well, and they carried a good countenance 
 towards him, and made sport of what had happened about the 
 lion. And the Cid began to give order in what array they should 
 go out to battle. While they were in this discourse, a great cry 
 was heard in the town and a great tumult, and this was because 
 King Bucar was come with his great power into the place which 
 is called the Campo del Quarto, which is a league from Valencia, 
 and there he was pitching his tents ; and when this was done the 
 camp made a mighty show, for the history saith that there were 
 full five thousand pavilions, besides common tents. And when the 
 Cid heard this, he took both his sons-in-law and Suero Gonzalez 
 with them, and went upon the highest tower of the Alcazar, anc 
 showed them the great power which King Bucar of Morocco had
 
 386 CHRONICLE OF THE CW, 
 
 Brought; and when he beheld this great power he began to laugh 
 and was exceeding glad : but Suero Gonzalez and his nephews 
 were in great fear : howbeit they would not let it be seen. And 
 when they came down from the tower the Cid went foremost, and 
 they tarried behind and said, If we go into this battle we shall 
 never return to Carrion. Now it so chanced that Muno Gustios 
 heard them, and he told it to the Cid, and it grieved the Cid at 
 heart ; but he presently made sport of it, and turned to his sons- 
 in-law, and said, You my sons shall remain in Valencia and guard 
 the town, and we who are used to this business will go out to bat- 
 tle ; and they when they heard this were ashamed, for they weened 
 that some one had overheard what they said ; and they made an- 
 swer, God forefend, Cid, that we should abide in Valencia ! we will 
 go with you to the work, and protect your body as if we were your 
 sons, and you were the Count Don Gonzalo Gomez our father. 
 And the Cid was well pleased hearing them say this. 
 
 V. While they were thus saying, word was brought to the Cid 
 that there was a messenger from King Bucar at the gate of the 
 town, who would fain speak with him. The name of this Moor 
 was Ximen de Algezira, and the Cid gave order that he should be 
 admitted. Now the history saith, God had given such grace to 
 my Cid that never Moor beheld his face without having great fear 
 of him ; and this Ximen began to gaze upon his countenance, and 
 said nothing, for he could not speak. And so great was the fear 
 which came upon him that the Cid perceived it, and bade him take 
 courage and deliver the bidding of his Lord, without fear or shame, 
 for he was a messenger. And when the Moor heard this he laid 
 aside his fear, and recovered heart, and delivered his bidding fully, 
 after this wise. Sir Cid Campeador, King Bucar my Lord hath 
 sent me to thee saying, great wrong hast thou done him in holding 
 Valencia against him, which belonged to his forefathers ; and more- 
 over thou hast discomfited his brother King Yucef. And now he 
 is come against thee with twenty and nine Kings, to take vengeance 
 for his brother, and to win Valencia from thee in spite of thee and 
 of all who are with thee. Nevertheless, King Bucar saith, that 
 inasmuch as he hath heard that thou art a wise man and of good 
 understanding, he will show favour unto thee, and let thee leave 
 Valencia with all the lands thereof, and go into Castile, and take 
 with thee all that is thine. And if thou wilt not do this he 
 sends to say that he will fight against Valencia, and take thee 
 and thy wife and thy daughters, and torment thee grievously, in 
 such manner that all Christians who shall hear tell of it shall
 
 RODRTGO DIAZ DP. BIVAU. 387 
 
 talk thereof for evermore. This is the bidding of my Lord King 
 Bucar. 
 
 VI. When the Cid heard this, notwithstanding he was wroth at 
 heart, he would not manifest it, but made answer in few words and 
 said, Go tell thy Lord King Bucar I will not give him up Valencia : 
 great labour did I endure in winning it, and to no man am I be- 
 holden for it in the world, save only to my Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 to my kinsmen and friends and vassals who aided me to win it. 
 Tell him that I am not a man to be besieged, and when he does 
 not expect it I will give him battle in the field ; and would that 
 even as he has brought with him twenty and nine Kings, so he had 
 brought all the Moors of all Pagandom, for with the mercy of God 
 in which I trust, I should think to conquer them all. Bear this 
 answer to your Lord, and come here no more with messages, 
 neither on this account nor on any other. When Ximen de Alge- 
 zira, the Moorish messenger, heard this, he left Valencia, and went 
 unto his Lord and told him before the twenty and nine Kings all 
 that the Cid had said. And they were astonished at the brave 
 words of the Cid, for they did not think that he would have re- 
 sisted, so great was their power, neither did they ween that he 
 would so soon come out to battle. And they began to give order 
 to set their siege round about Valencia, as the history, and as Gil- 
 bert also relateth. This King Bucar and his brother King Yucef 
 were kinsmen of Alimaymon, who had been King of Toledo and 
 Valencia, and this was the reason why Bucar said that Valencia had 
 belonged to his forefathers. 
 
 VII. No sooner had Ximen, the messenger of King Bucar, left 
 the city, than the Cid ordered the bell to be struck, at the sound 
 of which all the men at arms in Valencia were to gather together. 
 Incontinently they all assembled before the Cid, and he told them 
 all to be ready full early on the morrow to go out and give battle 
 to the Moors. And they made answer with one accord that they 
 \vere well pleased to do this, for they trusted in God and in his 
 good fortune that they should overcome them. On the morrow 
 therefore at the first cock-crow, they confessed and communicated, 
 as was their custom, and before the morning brake they went forth 
 from Valencia. And when they had got through the narrow passes 
 among the gardens, the Cid set his army in array. The van he 
 gave to Alvar Fanez Minaya, and to Pero Bermudez who bore his 
 banner ; and he gave them five hundred horsemen, and a thousand 
 and five hundred men a-foot. In the right wing was that honour- 
 able one with the shaven crown, Don Hieronymo the Bishop, with
 
 388 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 the like number both of horse and foot ; and in the left Martin 
 Antolinez of Burgos and Alvar Salvadores, with as many more. 
 The Cid came in the rear with a thousand horsemen all in coats of 
 mail, and two thousand five hundred men a-foot. And in this 
 array they proceeded till they came in sight of the Moors. As soon 
 as the Cid saw their tents he ordered his men to slacken their 
 pace, and got upon his horse Bavieca, and put himself in the front 
 before all his army, and his sons-in-law the Infantes of Carrion ad- 
 vanced themselves with him. Then the Bishop Don Hieronymo 
 came to the Cid and said, This day have I said the mass of the 
 Holy Trinity before you. I left my own country and came to seek 
 you, for the desire I had to kill some Moors, and to do honour to 
 my order and to my own hands. Now would I be the foremost in 
 this business ; I have my pennon and my armorial bearing, and 
 will employ them by God's help, that my heart may rejoice. And 
 my Cid, if you do not for the love of me grant this I will go my 
 ways from you. But the Cid bade him do his pleasure, saying that 
 it would please him also. And then the great multitude of the 
 Moors began to come out of their tents, and they formed their 
 battle in haste, and came against the Christians, with the sound of 
 trumpets and tambours, and with a great uproar ; and as they 
 came out upon the alarm, not expecting that the Cid would come 
 against them so soon, they did not advance in order as King Bucar 
 had commanded. And when the Cid saw this, he ordered his 
 banner to be advanced, and bade his people lay on manfully. The 
 Bishop Don Hieronymo he pricked forward ; two Moors he slew 
 with the two first thrusts of the lance ; the haft broke, and he laid 
 hand on his sword. God, . . how well the Bishop fought ! two 
 he slew with the lance, and five with the sword ; the Moors came 
 round about him and laid on loads of blows, but they could not 
 pierce his arms. He who was born in happy hour had his eyes 
 upon him, and he took his shield and placed it before him, and 
 lowered his lance, and gave Bavieca the spur, that good horse. 
 With heart and soul he went at them, and made his way into their 
 first battle ; seven the Campeador smote down, and four he slew. 
 In short time they joined battle in such sort that many were slain 
 and many overthrown, on one side and on the other, and so great 
 was the din of strokes and of tambours that none could hear what 
 another said ; and they smote away cruelly, without rest or respite. 
 VIII. Now it came to pass in this battle that the Infante Diego 
 Gonzalez encountered a Moor of Africa who was of great stature 
 and full valiant withal, and this Moor came fiercely against him ;
 
 KODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 3S9 
 
 and when the Infante saw how fiercely he was coming, he turned 
 his back and fled. No one beheld this but Felez Munoz the 
 nephew of the Cid, who was a squire ; he set himself against the 
 Moor with his lance under his arm, and gave him such a thrust, in 
 the breast, that the streamer of the lance came out all red with 
 blood between his shoulders, and he downed with the dead man 
 and took his horse by the bridle, and began to call the Infante 
 Diego Gonzalez. When the Infante heard himself called by his 
 name he turned his head to see who called him, and when he saw 
 that it was his cousin Felez Munoz, he turned and awaited him. 
 And Felez Munoz said, Take this horse, cousin Diego Gonzalez, 
 and say that you killed the Moor ; nobody shall ever know other- 
 wise from me, unless you give just cause. While they were talking 
 the Cid came up, after another Moorish knight, whom he reached 
 just as he came up to them, and smote him with his sword upon 
 the head, so that he split it down to the teeth. When Felez 
 Munoz saw the Cid, he said, Sir, your son-in-law Don Diego 
 Gonzalez hath great desire to serve and help you in this day's 
 work, and he hath just slain a Moor from whom he hath won this 
 horse : and this pleased the Cid much, for he weened that it was 
 true. And then they all three advanced themselves toward the 
 midst of the battle, giving great strokes, and smiting and slaying. 
 Who can tell how marvellously the Bishop Don Hieronymo behaved 
 himself in this battle, and how well all the rest behaved, each in 
 his way, and above all, the Cid-Campeador, as the greatest and 
 best of all '. nevertheless the power of the Moors was so great that 
 they could not drive them to flight, and the business was upon the 
 balance even till the hour of nones. Many were the Christians 
 who died that day among the foot soldiers ; and the dead, Moors 
 and Christians together, were so many, that the horses could scant 
 move among their bodies. But after the hour of nones the Cid and 
 his people smote the Moors so sorely that they could no longer 
 stand against them, and it pleased God and the good fortune of 
 the Cid that they turned their backs ; and the Christians followed, 
 hewing them down, and smiting and slaying: and they tarried 
 not to lay hands on those whom they felled, but went on in pur- 
 suit as fast as they could. Then might you have seen cords 
 broken, and stakes plucked up as the Christians came to the tents ; 
 my Cid's people drove King Bucar's through their camp, and 
 many an arm with its sleeve-mail was lopt off, and many a head 
 with it* helmet fell to the ground ; and horses ran about on all 
 sides without riders. Seven full miles did the pursuit continue.
 
 390 CHRONICLE OF THE CW, 
 
 And while they were thus following their flight the Cid set eyes 
 upon King Bucar, and made at him to strike him with the sword, 
 and trie Moorish King knew him when he saw him coming. Turn 
 this way, Bucar, cried the Campeador, you who came from beyond 
 sea, to see the Cid with the long beard. We must greet each 
 other and cut out a friendship ! God confound such friendship. 
 cried King Bucar, and turned his bridle, and began to fly towards 
 the sea, and the Cid after him, having great desire to reach him. 
 But King Bucar had a good horse and a fresh, and the Cid went 
 spurring Bavieca who had had hard work that day, and he came 
 near his back ; and when they were nigh unto the ships, and the 
 Cid saw that he could not reach him, he darted his sword at him, 
 and struck him between the shoulders ; and King Bucar being 
 badly wounded rode into the sea, and got to a boat, and the Cid 
 alighted and picked up his sword. And his people came up, 
 hewing down the Moors before them, and the Moors in their fear 
 of death ran into the sea, so that twice as many died in the water 
 as in the battle : nevertheless so many were they who were slain 
 in the field, that they were thought to be seventeen thousand 
 persons and upward : but a greater number died in the sea. And 
 so many were they who were taken prisoner, that it was a wonder ; 
 and of the twenty and nine kings who came with King Bucar, 
 seventeen were slain. And when the Cid saw that of the Moors 
 some had gotten to the ships and the others were slain or taken, 
 he returned toward their tents. 
 
 IX. My Cid Ruydiez the Campeador returned from the slaugh- 
 ter ; the hood of his mail was thrown back and the coif upon his 
 head bore the marks of it. And when he saw his sons-in-law the 
 Infantes of Carrion, he rejoiced over them, and said to them to 
 do them honour, Come here, my sons, for by your help we have 
 conquered in this battle. Presently Alvar Fanez came up : the 
 shield which hung from his neck was all battered ; more than 
 twenty Moors had he slain, and the blood was running from his 
 wrist to his elbow. Thanks be to God, said he, and to the Father 
 who is on high, and to you, Cid, we have won the day. All these 
 spoils are yours and your vassals. Then they spoiled the field, 
 where they found great riches in gold, and in silver, and in pearls, 
 and in precious stones, and in sumptuous tents, and in horses, and 
 in oxen, which were so many that it was a wonder. The poor- 
 est man among the Christians was made full rich that day. So 
 great was the spoil that six hundred horses fell to the Cid as his 
 fifth, besides sumpter beasts and camels, and twelve hundred pris-
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 391 
 
 oners ; and of the other things which were taken no man can give 
 account, nor of the treasure which the Cid won that day in the 
 Campo del Quarto. God be praised ! said the Campeador . . .. 
 once I was poor, but now am I rich in lands and in possessions, 
 and in gold and in honour. And Moors and Christians both fear 
 me. Even in Morocco, among their Mosques, do they fear lest I 
 should set upon them some night. Let them fear it ! I shall not 
 go to seek them, but here I will be in Valencia, and by God's help 
 they shall pay me tribute. Great joy was made in Valencia for 
 this victory, and great was the joy of the Infantes of Carrion ; five 
 thousand marks came to them for their portion of the spoil. And 
 when they saw themselves so rich, they and their uncle Suero Gon- 
 zalez took counsel together, and confirmed the wicked resolution 
 which they had taken. 
 
 X. One day the companions of the Cid were talking before him 
 of this victory, and they were saying who were the young knights 
 that had demeaned themselves well in the battle and in the pur- 
 suit, and who had not ; but no mention was made of the Infantes ; 
 for though some there were who whispered to each other concerning 
 them, none would speak ill of them before the Cid. And the 
 Infantes saw this, and took counsel with their uncle, who ought 
 not to have given them the evil counsel that he did, and they de- 
 termined forthwith to put their wicked design in execution. So 
 they went before the Cid, and Ferran Gonzalez, having enjoined 
 silence, began to say thus. Cid, thou knowest well the good tie 
 which there is between thee and us, for we hold thee in the place of 
 a father, and thou didst receive us as thy sons on the day when thou 
 gavest us thy daughters to be our wives ; and from that day we 
 have alway abode with thee, and have alway endeavoured to do 
 that which was to thy service ; and if we have at any time failed 
 therein it hath not been wilfully, but for lack of better understand- 
 ing. Now inasmuch as it is long time since we departed from 
 Castile, from our father and from our mother, and because neither 
 we know how it fares with them, nor they how it fares with us, we 
 would now, if you and Dona Ximena should so think good, return 
 unto them, and take our wives with us : so shall our father and 
 our mother and our kinsmen see how honourably we are mated, 
 and how greatly to our profit, and our wives shall be put in posses- 
 sion of the towns which we have given them for their dower, and 
 shall see what is to be the inheritance of the children whom they 
 may have. And whensoever you shall call upon us, we will 
 ready to come and do you service. Then the Cid made answer,
 
 392 CHRONICLE OF THE CW, 
 
 weening that this was spoken without deceit, My sons, I am 
 troubled at what ye say, for when ye take away my daughters ye 
 take my very heart-strings : nevertheless it is fitting that ye do as 
 ye have said. Go when ye will, and I will give unto you such gifts 
 that it shall be known in Gallicia and in Castile and in Leon, with 
 what riches I have sent my sons-in-law home. 
 
 XL When the Cid had made this reply, he rose from his seat 
 and went to Dona Ximena his wife, and spake with her and with 
 Alvar Fanez, and told them what had passed with his sons-in-law, 
 and what answer he had given. Greatly was Dona Ximena troubled 
 at this, and Alvar Fanez also, that he had consented to what they 
 asked ; and she said, I do not think it is wisely done to let them 
 take our daughters from us, and carry them into another country ; 
 for these our sons-in-law are traitorous and false at heart, and if I 
 aread them right they will do some dishonour to our daughters, when 
 there will be none there to call them to account. And Alvar Fanez 
 was of the same mind ; but the Cid was displeased at this, and 
 marvelled greatly at what they said ; and he bade them speak no 
 more thereof, for God would not let it be so, . . neither were the 
 Infantes of such a race as that they should do this ; neither, quoth 
 he, would it come into their minds to do it, if only because our Lord 
 King Don Alfonso was he who made the marriage ; but if the 
 Devil should tempt them, and they should commit this wickedness, 
 dearly would it cost them ! 
 
 XII. So the Infantes of Carrion made ready for their departure, 
 and there was a great stir in Valencia. And the two sisters Dona 
 Elvira and Dona Sol, came and knelt before the Cid and before 
 Dona Ximena their mother, and said, You send us to the lands of 
 Carrion, and we must fulfil your command ; now then give us your 
 blessing, and let us have some of your people with us in Carrion, 
 we beseech you. And the Cid embraced them and kissed them, 
 and the mother kissed them and embraced them twice as much, 
 and they gave them their blessing, and their daughters kissed their 
 hands. And the Cid gave unto his sons-in-law great store of cloth 
 of gold, and of serge, and of wool, and an hundred horses bridled 
 and saddled, and an hundred mules with all their trappings, and 
 ten cups of gold, and an hundred vessels of silver, and six hundred 
 marks of silver in dishes and trenchers and other things. When 
 all this was done they took their departure and went out of Valencia, 
 and the Cid rode out a long league with them. He looked at the 
 birds, and the augury was bad, and he thought that these marriages 
 would not be without some evil. And his heart smote him, and he
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 393 
 
 began to think on what Dona Ximena had said, and to fear lest 
 evil should befall him from these sons-in-law, for the manner of 
 their speech was not as it was wont to be. Where art thou my 
 nephew, where art thou Felez Munoz? thou art the cousin of ray 
 daughters, said he, both in heart and in soul. Go with them even 
 unto Carrion, and see the possessions which are given them, and 
 come back with tidings thereof. And Felez Munoz said that he 
 would do this. And the Cid bade him salute the Moor Aben- 
 galvon in his name, with whom they should tarry a night at Molina, 
 and bid him do service unto his daughters, and his sons-in-law, 
 and accompany them as far as Medina ; and for all that he shall do, 
 said the Cid, I will give him good guerdon. And when the ladies 
 came to take their leave of their father the Cid, and of their mother 
 Dona Ximena, great were the lamentations on both sides, as if their 
 hearts had divined the evil which was to come ; and the Cid strove 
 to comfort them, saying, that he should alway think of them, and 
 would maintain them in good estate : and he gave them his bless- 
 ing and turned back toward Valencia, and they went their way 
 with their husbands, and that parting was like plucking the nail 
 from the flesh. 
 
 XIII. So the Infantes of Carrion went their way, by the Campo 
 del Quarto to Chiva, and to Bonilla, and to Requena, and to 
 Campo-Robres, and they took up their lodging at Villa Taxo. And 
 on the morrow they took the road to Amaja, and leaving it on the 
 right came to Adamuz, and passed by Colcha, and rested at Quin- 
 tana. And when Abengalvon knew that the daughters of the Cid 
 were coming, he went out joyfully from Molina to meet them, and 
 pitched tents for them in the field, and had food brought there in 
 abundance. God, how well he served them ! and on the morrow 
 the Moor gave full rich and noble gifts to the daughters of hi> 
 Lord the Cid, and to each of the Infantes he gave a goodly horse. 
 And he took horse himself and rode on with them, having two 
 hundred knights in his company. The crossed the mountains of 
 Luzon and passed Arbuxuelo, and came to Salon, and the Moor 
 lodged them in the place which is called Ansarera ; all this he did 
 for the love of the Cid Campeador. Now the Infantes seeing the 
 riches which this Moor had with him, took counsel together for 
 treason, and said, Lo, now if we could slay this Moor Abengalvon, 
 we should possess all these riches as safely as if we were in Car- 
 rion, and the Cid could never take vengeance. And a Moor who 
 understood the Latin of the country, heard them and knew what 
 they said, and he went to Abengalvon, and said unto him, Acatat,
 
 394 CHRONICLE OF THE CJD, 
 
 that is to say, Sire, take heed, for I heard the Infantes of Carrion 
 plotting to kill thee. Abengalvon the Moor was a bold Baron, 
 and when this was told him, he went with his two hundred men 
 before the Infantes, and what he said to them did not please them. 
 Infantes of Carrion, he said, tell me, what have I done ? I have 
 served ye without guile, and ye have taken counsel for my death. 
 If it were not for the sake of my Cid, never should you reach Car- 
 rion ! I would carry back his daughters to the loyal Campeador, 
 and so deal with you that it should be talked over the whole 
 world. But I leave ye for traitors as ye are. Dona Elvira and 
 Dona Sol, I go with your favour. God grant that this marriage 
 may please your father ! Having said this the good Moor returned 
 to Molina. 
 
 XIV. They went on by Valdespino, and by Parra, and Berrocal, 
 and Val de Endrinas, and they left Medina Celi on the right, and 
 crossed the plain of Barahona, and passed near Berlanga ; and they 
 crossed the Douro by a ford below the town, and rode on and 
 came into the Oak-wood of Corpes. The mountains were high, 
 and the trees thick and lofty, and there were wild beasts in that 
 place. And they came to a green lawn in the midst of that oak 
 forest, where there was a fountain of clear water, and there the 
 Infantes gave order that their tent should be pitched ; and they 
 passed the night there, making show of love to their wives, which 
 they badly fulfilled when the sun was risen, for this was the place 
 where they thought to put them to shame. Early in the morning 
 they ordered the sumpter beasts to be laden, and the tent struck. 
 and they sent all their company on, so that none remained with 
 them, neither man nor woman, but they and their wives were left 
 alone that they might disport with them at pleasure. And Dona 
 Elvira said to her husband, Why wouldst thou that we should re- 
 main alone in this place ? And he said, Hold thy peace, and thou 
 shalt see ! And the Infantes tore away the mantles from off their 
 wives, and the garments which they wore, save only their inner 
 garment, and they held them by the hair of their head with one 
 hand, and with the other took the girths of their horses. And the 
 women said, Don Diego and Don Ferrando, ye have strong swords 
 and of sharp edge ; the one is called Colada and the other Tizona ; 
 cut off our heads and we shall become martyrs ! But set not this 
 evil example upon us, for whatever shame ye do unto us shall be 
 to your own dishonour. But the Infantes heeded not what they 
 said, and beat them cruelly with the saddle-girths, and kicked 
 them with their spurs, so that their garments were torn and stained
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 395 
 
 with blood. Oh, if the Cid Campeador had come upon them at 
 that hour ! And the women cried out, and called upon God and 
 Holy Mary to have mercy upon them ; but the more they cried, 
 the more cruelly did those Infantes beat and kick them, till they 
 were covered with blood, and swooned away. Then the Infantes 
 took their mantles and their cloaks, and their furs of ermine and 
 other garments, and left them for dead, saying, Lie there, daugh- 
 ters of the Cid of Bivar, for it is not fitting that ye should be our 
 wives, nor that ye should have your dower in the lands of Carrion ! 
 We shall see how your father will avenge you, and we have now 
 avenged ourselves for the shame he did us with the Lion. And 
 they rode away as they said this, leaving them to the mountain 
 birds and to the beasts of the forest. Oh, if the Cid Campeador 
 had come upon them at that hour ! And the Infantes rode on, 
 glorying in what they had done, for they said that the daughters 
 of the Cid were worthy to be their harlots, but not their wives. 
 
 XV. When the Infantes, before they committed this great cruelty, 
 ordered their company to ride forward, Felez Munoz the nephew 
 of the Cid rode on with the rest : but this order nothing pleased 
 him, and he was troubled at heart, insomuch that he went aside 
 from his companions, and struck into the forest, and there waited 
 privily till he should see his cousins come, or learn what the In- 
 fantes had done to them. Presently he saw the Infantes, and 
 heard what they said to each other. Certes if they had espied him 
 he could not have escaped death v But they pricked on not seeing 
 him, and he rode back to the fountain, and there he found the 
 women lying senseless, and in such a plight as ye have heard. And 
 he made great lamentation over them, saying, Never can it please 
 God that ye my cousins should receive such dishonour ! God and 
 St. Mary give them who have done this an evil guerdon ! for ye 
 never deserved this, neither are ye of a race to deserve that this or 
 any other evil should betide ye ! By this time the women began 
 to come to themselves, but they could not speak for their hearts 
 were breaking. And Felez Munoz called out to them, Cousins ! 
 Cousins ! Dona Elvira ! Dona Sol ! for the love of God rouse your- 
 selves that we may get away before night comes, or the wild beasts 
 will devour us ! and they came to themselves and began to open 
 their eyes, and saw that he who spake to them was Felez Munoz : 
 and he said to them, For the love of God take heart and let us be 
 gone ; for the Infantes will soon seek for me, and if God do not 
 befriend us we shall all be slain. And Dona Sol said to him in her 
 great pain, Cousin, for all that oqr father hath deserved at your
 
 396 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 hands, give us water. Felez Munoz took his hat and filled it with 
 water and gave it to them. And he comforted them and bade 
 them take courage, and besought them to bear up. And he placed 
 them upon his horse, and covered them both with his cloak, and 
 led them through the oak forest, into the thickest part thereof, 
 and there he made a bed of leaves and of grass, and laid them on 
 it, and covered them with his cloak, and he sat down by them and 
 began to weep, for he knew not what he should do ; for he had 
 no food, and if he went to seek it, great danger was there because 
 they were wounded and bloody, that the wild beasts and the birds 
 of the mountain would attack them ; and on the other hand, 
 unless he went to his uncle the Cid, to tell him of this wickedness, 
 none other knew what had been done, and thus there would be no 
 vengeance taken. 
 
 XVI. While Felez Munoz was in this great trouble the Infantes 
 joined their company, and their spurs were bloody and their hands 
 also from the wounds which they had given their wives. And 
 when their people saw them in this plight, and that their wives 
 were not with them, they weened that some wickedness had been 
 done ; and all they who were of good heart and understanding 
 among them went apart to the number of an hundred, with one 
 who was named Pero Sanchez ; and he spake unto them, saying, 
 Friends, these Infantes have done a foul deed upon their wives, 
 the daughters of our Lord the Cid ; and they are our liege Indies, 
 for we did homage to them before their father, and accepted them 
 as such ; and the Cid made us knights that we should discharge 
 the duty which we owe to them. Now then, it behoveth us that 
 we arm ourselves, and demand of the Infantes what they have done 
 with our ladies, and require them at their hands. And if they will 
 not deliver them to us, then will we fight against them even to 
 death ; for thus shall we do right, and otherwise we shall be ill 
 spoken of, and not worthy to live in the world. This was the 
 counsel which Pero Sanchez gave, and they all held it good and 
 did accordingly. And the Infantes, when they saw them coming 
 and heard their demand, were greatly afraid, and they said, Go 
 to the fountain in the Oak-forest of Corpes, and there ye may find 
 them ; we left them safe and sound, and no harm have we done 
 unto them ; but we would not take them with us. Ill have ye done, 
 replied those knights, to forsake such wives, and the daughters of 
 such a father, and ill will ye fare for it ! And from henceforward, 
 we renounce all friendship with ye, and defy ye for the Cid, and 
 for ourselves, and for all his people. And the Infantes could not
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. ?. : 
 
 reply. And when they saw that the Infantes did not answer, they 
 said, Get ye gone for traitors and false caitiffs ; there is no way in 
 the world by which ye can escape from the enemies whom ye have 
 now made ! But for all this the Infantes made no reply, and went 
 their way. 
 
 XVII. Pero Sanchez and those other knights rode back to the 
 green lawn in the Oak-forest, where they had left the dames ; and 
 when they came to the fountain they saw that there was blood 
 round about, but the dames were not there ; and they were greatly 
 troubled, and knew not where to seek them. And they went about 
 the forest seeking them, calling them aloud and making great lam- 
 entation for the ill that had befallen, and also because they could 
 not find them. Now Felez Munoz and the women heard their 
 voices, and were in great fear, for they weened that it was the In- 
 fantes and their company, who were returned with intent to kill 
 them ; and in their great fear they remained still, and would fain 
 have been far from that place. So Pero Sanchez and they who 
 were with him went about seeking them in vain. Then spake up 
 a knight called Martin Ferrandez, who was a native of Burgos, say- 
 ing, Friends, it boots us to turn back from hence and follow after 
 the Infantes, and do battle with them, even unto death, because 
 of this wickedness which they have committed, rather than return 
 to the Cid ; for if we do not strive to take vengeance, we are not 
 worthy to appear before him. And if, peradventure, we cannot 
 come up with them upon the road, let us go before the King Don 
 Alfonso, and discover unto him 'this foul deed, and tell him the 
 truth thereof, to the intent that he may order justice to be done 
 for such a thing ; for certes, greatly will he be troubled when he 
 knoweth it, and greatly will he be incensed against them, inasmuch 
 as he it was who besought the Cid to give them his daughters to 
 wife. And we will not depart from the King's house, nor take 
 unto ourselves any other Lord till the Cid shall have obtained jus- 
 tice in this matter. And all those knights held this counsel to be 
 good and agreed to do so. And they took their way and followed 
 after the Infantes as fast as they could, taking no rest ; but the 
 Infantes had ridden away full speed, and they could not overtake 
 them. And when they saw this they went their way to King Don 
 Alfonso who was at Palencia, and they came before him and kisse< 
 his hands, and then with sorrowful hearts told him of the evil 
 which had befallen the Cid, in this dishonour done unto his daugh- 
 ters by the Infantes of Carrion. And when the King heard it he 
 was grievously offended, as one who had great part therein ; and
 
 398 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 he said unto them, It must needs be, that before many days we 
 shall receive tidings of this from the Cid Campeador, and then 
 upon his complaint we will enter into the business in such wise, 
 that every one shall have justice. Then Pero Sanchez and the 
 other knights kissed the King's hands for what he had said ; and 
 they abode in his court, waiting tidings from the Cid. 
 
 XVIII. When Felez Munoz saw that the voices which they 
 heard had ceased, he went after awhile to a village which was at 
 hand, to seek food for the dames and for himself; and in this 
 manner he kept them for seven days. And in that village he found 
 a good man, who was a husbandman, and who lived a godly life 
 with his wife and with his daughters ; and this good man knew the 
 Cid. Ruydiez, for the Cid had lodged in his house, and he had 
 heard tell of his great feats. And when Felez Munoz knew this 
 he took the man aside, seeing how good a man he was, and how 
 well he spake of the Cid, and told him what had befallen those 
 dames, and how he had hidden them in the wood. And when the 
 good man heard it he had great ruth for them, but he held himself 
 a happy man in that he could do them service ; and he took two 
 asses and went with Felez Munoz to the place where they were 
 hidden, and took with him his two sons, who were young men. 
 And when the dames saw them they marvelled who they might be, 
 and were ashamed and would have hidden themselves; but they 
 could not. And the good man bent his knees before them, weep- 
 ing, and said, Ladies, I am at the service of the Cid your father, 
 who hath, many times lodged in my house, and I served him the 
 best I could, and he alway was bountiful toward me. And now, 
 this. young man, who saith his name is Felez Munoz, hath told me 
 the great wrong and dishonour which your husbands, the Infantes 
 of Carrion, have done unto you. And when I heard it I was moved 
 to great sorrow, and for the great desire I have to do service to 
 the Cid and to you, I am come hither, to carry you, if you will be 
 so pleased, upon these beasts, to my house ; for you must not 
 remain in this wild forest, where the beasts would devour you. 
 And when you are there, I and my wife and my daughters will 
 serve you the best we can ; and you may then send this squire to 
 your father, and we will keep you secretly and well till your father 
 shall send for you ; this place is not fit for you, for you would die 
 of cold and hunger. When th$,gp.od man had said this, Dona 
 Sol turned to. -Dona JElvira and said,,$ister, the good man saith 
 well, and it is ..lietter that we should go with him than remain and 
 die here, for so shall we see the vengeance which I trust in God
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DR HIVAR. 399 
 
 our father will give us. So they gave thanks to God, and to that 
 good man. And he set them upon his beasts, and led them to the 
 village, when it was now night; and they entered his house 
 secretly, so that none knew of their coming save the good man 
 and his family, whom he charged that they should tell no man 
 thereof. And there his wife and his daughters ministered unto 
 them with pure good will. 
 
 XIX. Then these dames wrote a letter to their father the Cid, 
 which was a letter of credence, that he should believe the tidings 
 which Felez Munoz would deliver, and they wrote it with the blood 
 from their wounds. And Felez Munoz went his way toward Valen- 
 cia ; and when he came to Santesteban he spake with Diego Tellez, 
 who had been of the company of Alvar Fanez, and told him what 
 had befallen. He, so soon as he heard this great villany, took 
 beasts and seemly raiment, and went for those dames, and brought 
 them from the house of that good man to Santesteban, and did 
 them all honour that they could. They of Santesteban were 
 always gentle men ; and they comforted the daughters of the Cid, 
 and there they were healed of their hurts. In the meantime Felez 
 Munoz proceeded on his journey ; and it came to pass that he met 
 Alvar Fanez Minaya, and Pero Bermudez on the way, going to the 
 King with a present which the Cid had sent him ; and the present 
 was this, . . two hundred horses, from those which he had won in 
 the battle of Quarto from King Bucar, and an hundred Moorish 
 prisoners, and many good swords, and many rich saddles. And 
 as Alvar Fanez and Pero Bermudez rode on in talk, they thought 
 that it was he, and marvelled greatly ; and he when he drew nigh 
 began to tear his hair, and make great lamentation, so that they 
 were greatly amazed. And they alighted, asking him what it was. 
 And he related unto them all that had befallen. But when they 
 heard this, who can tell the lamentation which they made ? . And 
 they took counsel together what they should do, and their counsel 
 was this, . . that they should proceed to the King, and demand 
 justice at his hands in the name of the Cid, and that Felez Munoz 
 should proceed to Valencia. So he told them the name of the 
 good man with whom he had left the dames, and the place where 
 he dwelt, and also how he had spoken with Diego Tellez at San- 
 testeban, and then they parted. 
 
 : XX. Alvar Fanez and Pero Bermudez held on their way, and 
 eame to the King, whom they found in Valladolid. And he, re- 
 ceived them right well, and asked them for the Cid, and they 
 kissed his hand and said, Sir, the Cid commends himself to your
 
 400 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 grace ; he hath a good affair with King Bucar of Morocco, and 
 hath defeated him, and nine and twenty Kings who came with him, 
 in the field of Quarto, and great booty did he gain there in gold 
 and in silver, and in horses and tents and cattle ; and he hath 
 slain many and taken many prisoners. And in acknowledgment 
 of you as his natural Lord, he sends you two hundred horses, and 
 an hundred black Moors, and many rich saddles and precious 
 swords, beseeching you to accept them at his hand, in token of the 
 desire he hath to do service to God and to you, maintaining the 
 faith of Jesus Christ. And King Don Alfonso made answer and 
 said, that he took the present of the Cid with a right will, as of the 
 truest and most honourable vassal that ever Lord had : and he gave 
 order to his people to receive it, and bade Alvar Fanez and Pero 
 Bennudez seat themselves at his feet. After awhile Alvar Fanez 
 rose and said, Sir, when we departed from the Cid we left him in 
 great honour and prosperity ; but on our way we met a squire who 
 is his nephew, by name Felez Munoz, and he hath told us the evil 
 and the dishonour which both we and the Cid endure in the 
 villany which the Infantes of Carrion have committed upon his 
 daughters. You, Sir, know how great this villany hath been, and 
 how nearly it toucheth you, for the marriage was of your appoint- 
 ment, and I gave them by your command to the Infantes. Pero 
 Sanchez hath told you that the dames were dead, as he believed 
 them to be ; but we, Sir, know that they are yet alive, having been 
 grievously hurt and wounded with bridles and spurs, and stripped of 
 their garments, . . in which plight Felez Munoz found them. Certes 
 such a thing as this cannot please God in Heaven, and ought to 
 offend you who are a Lord here in your own realm. Now there- 
 fore we beseech you that you take justice for yourself, and give us 
 and the Cid ours. And let not the Cid be dishonoured in your 
 time, for blessed be God, he hath never been dishonoured yet, but 
 hath gone on alway advancing in honour since King Don Ferrando 
 your father knighted him in Coimbra. To this the King made 
 answer and said, God knoweth the trouble which I resent for this 
 dishonour which hath been done to the Cid, and the more I hear 
 of it the more doth it trouble me, and many reasons are there why 
 it should ; for my own sake, and for the sake of the Cid, and for 
 the sake of his daughters ; but since they are yet alive the evil is 
 not so great, for as they have wrongfully put to shame, nothing 
 meriting such a treatment, they may be rightfully avenged, as my 
 Cortes shall determine. Moreover it is a grief to me that my vas- 
 sals the Infantes of Carrion should have erred so badly and with
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIl'AR. 401 
 
 such cruelty ; but since it hath been so I cannot but do justice. I 
 hold it good therefore to summon them to my Cortes, which I will 
 assemble for this matter in Toledo, and the time assigned them 
 shall be three months from this day ; and do ye tell the Cid to 
 come there with such of his people as he shall think good. Glad 
 were Alvar Fanez and Pero Bermudez of this reply, and they kissed 
 his hand, and dispeeded themselves. And the king ordered mules 
 to be given them for the dames, with right noble saddles and trap- 
 pings of gold and cloth of gold and of wool, with menever and 
 gris. 
 
 XXI. Then Alvar Fanez and Pero Bermudez went their way, 
 and Pero Sanchez and his company departed with them. They 
 went up Val de Esgueva to Penafiel, and by Roa and Arrueco, and 
 they entered the Oak-forest of Corpes, and Pero Sanchez showed 
 the place beside the fountain where the villany had been com- 
 mitted ; and they made such lamentation there as if they had seen 
 the dames lie dead before them. Then rode they to the village 
 where the good man dwelt, and went to his dwelling, and good 
 guerdon did they give unto him for the service which he had done, 
 so that he was full well requited. And they took with them the two 
 sous and the two daughters of the good man, that they might rec- 
 ompense them for the good deeds of their father ; and the dames 
 gave them in marriage, and made them full rich, and held them 
 even as brothers and as sisters, because of the service which they 
 had received from them. When it was known at Santesteban that 
 Minaya was coming for his kinswomen, the men of that town wel- 
 comed him and his company, and they brought him in payment 
 the efurcion, that is to say, the supper-money, and it was full great. 
 But Minaya would not accept it at their hands, and he thanked 
 them and said, Thanks, men of Santesteban, for what ye have done, 
 and my Cid the Campeador will thank ye, as I do, and God will 
 give ye your guerdon. Then went they to visit their kinswomen, 
 and when they saw the dames, who can tell the great lamentation 
 which was made on both sides ? albeit that they rejoiced to see each 
 other. And Minaya said unto them, By God, cousins, He knoweth 
 the truth, and your father and mother know it also, . . I mis- 
 doubted this when you went away with those false ones ; and it 
 grieved me when your father said that he had given his consent 
 that ye should go, and your mother gainsaid it also ; but we could 
 not prevail, for he said he had consented. Howbeit, since ye are 
 alive, of evils let us be thankful for the least ; you have lost one 
 marriage, and may gain a better, and the day will come when we
 
 402 CHRONICLE OF THE (.'ID, 
 
 shall avenge ye. That night they rested at Santesteban, and on 
 the morrow they set forward and took the road towards Atienza, 
 and the men of Santesteban escorted them as far as the river 
 Damor, to do them pleasure. And they passed Alcoceba, and 
 went on to the King's Ford, and there took up their lodging at the 
 Casa de Berlanga. On the morrow they lodged at Medina Cell, 
 and from thence they went to Molina, and Abengalvon came out 
 with a right good will to welcome them, for love of the Cid, and 
 he did them all the honour that he could. And it was accorded 
 between them that the dames should rest there some days, because 
 of their weakness, and that they should send and let the Cid know 
 what had been done. 
 
 XXII. Then Pero Bermudez went on to Valencia, and Alvar 
 Fanez and the rest of his company abode with the dames in Molina. 
 And when Pero Bermudez arrived he found the Cid Ruydiez just 
 risen with his chivalry from dinner, and when the Cid saw him he 
 welcomed him right well ; howbeit he could not refrain from weep- 
 ing ; for before this Felez Mufios had told him all. And he stroked 
 his beard and said, Thanks be to Christ, the Lord of this world, by 
 this beard which no one hath ever cut, the Infantes of Carrion 
 shall not triumph in this ! And he began to take comfort, hear- 
 ing how King Don Alfonso had appointed the Cortes. And he 
 took Pero Bermudez by the hand and led him to Dona Ximena, 
 who wept greatly at seeing him, and said, Ah, Pero Bermudez. 
 what tidings bringest thou of my daughters ? And he comforted 
 her and said, Weep not, Lady, for I left them alive and well at 
 Molina, and Alvar Fanez with them ; by God's blessing you shall 
 have good vengeance for them ! Then the Cid seated himself 
 near his wife, and Pero Bermudez took his seat before them, and 
 told them all that he had done, and how the King had summoned 
 them to the Cortes at Toledo. And he said unto the Cid. My 
 uncle and Lord, I know not what to say, but ill is my luck that I 
 could not take vengeance before I returned here ; and certes, if I 
 could have found them I would have died, or have completed it : 
 but they when they had done this villany dared not appear before 
 the King, neither in his Court, and therefore he hath issued this 
 summons to them that they should come. Manifestly may it be 
 seen that the King well inclineth to give you justice, if you fail not 
 to demand it. Now then I beseech you tarry not, but let us to 
 horse and confront them and accuse them, for this is not a thing 
 to be done leisurely. And the Cid answered and said, Chafe not 
 thyself, Pero Bermudez. for the man who thinketh by chafing to
 
 KODRIGO DIAZ DE BIYAR. 403 
 
 expedite his business, leaveth off worse than he began. Be you cer- 
 tain, that if I die not I shall take vengeance upon those traitors, and 
 I trust in God not to die till I have taken it. Now therefore, give 
 me no more anger than I feel in my own heart, for Felez Munoz 
 hath given me enough. I thank my Lord King Don Alfonso for 
 the answer which he gave you, and for appointing the Cortes, and 
 in such guise will I appear there as shall gall them who wish ill to 
 me. God willing, we will take our departure in good time ! Do 
 you now return to Molina, and bring on my daughters, for I would 
 fain see them ; and I will talk with them that they may tell me the 
 whole truth of this thing, that I may know the whole when I go to 
 the court of the King to demand vengeance. 
 
 XXIII. Pero Bermudez returned the next day to Molina, where 
 Abengalvon had done great honour to the dames, and to Alvar 
 Faiiez, and all that were with him. And they departed from Mo- 
 lina, and Abengalvon with them, for he would not leave them till 
 he had brought them to Valencia to his Lord the Cid. And when 
 the Cid knew that they were drawing nigh he rode out two leagues 
 to meet them, and when they saw him they made great lamentation, 
 they and all his company, not only the Christians but the Moors 
 also who were in his service. But my Cid embraced his daughters 
 and kissed them both, and smiled and said, Ye are come, my 
 children, and God will heal you ! I accepted this marriage for 
 you, but I could do no other ; by God's pleasure ye shall be better 
 mated hereafter. And when they reached Valencia and went 
 into the Alcazar to their mother Dona Ximena, who can tell the 
 lamentation which was made by the mother over her daughters, and 
 the daughters with their mother, and by the women of their house- 
 hold. Three days did this great lamentation last. And the Cid 
 thanked Abengalvon, his vassal, for the honour which he had shown 
 to his children and their company, and promised to protect him 
 from all who should come against him. And Abengalvon returned 
 to Molina well pleased.
 
 104 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 BOOK IX. 
 
 I. MY Cid the Campeador made ready to appear at the Cortes 
 ,Jn Toledo, and he left the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and Martin 
 
 Pelaez the Asturian, to command in Valencia, and five hundred 
 knights with them, all hidalgos. And he spake with his daughters, 
 and commanded and besought them to tell him the whole truth, 
 how this matter had been, and not say the thing which was false ; 
 and they did accordingly, and related unto him all, even as it had 
 befallen them. And the Cid departed from Valencia, and with 
 him went Alvar Fanez Minaya with two hundred knights, and 
 Pero Bermudez with one hundred, and Martin Antolinez with fifty, 
 and Martin Fernandez with other fifty, and Felez Ferruz and Benito 
 Sanchez with fifty each ; . . these were five hundred knights. And 
 there went fifty with Martin Garcia and Martin Salvadores, and 
 fifty with Pero Gonsalvez and Martin Munoz, and Diego Sanchez 
 of Arlanza went with fifty, and Don Nuno, he who colonized Cu- 
 biella, and Alvar Bermudez he who colonized Osma, went with 
 forty, and Gonzalo Munoz of Orbaneja, and Muno Ravia, and 
 Yvanez Cornejo with sixty, and Muno Fernandez the Lord of 
 Monteforte, and Gomez Fernandez he who colonized Pampliega 
 with sixty ; and Don Garcia de Roa and Serrazin his brother, 
 Ix>rd of Aza, with ninety ; and Antolin Sanchez of Soria took with 
 him forty knights who were his children or his kin : . . nine hundred 
 knights were they in all. And there went with them five hundred 
 esquires on foot, all hidalgos, beside those who were bred in his 
 household, and beside other footmen, who were many in number. 
 All these went well clad in right good garments, and with good 
 horses, to serve the Cid both in the Cortes and in war. 
 
 II. King Don Alfonso made no delay, but sent out his letters 
 through Leon and Santiago, to the Portuguese and the Galicians, 
 and they of Carrion, and the Castilians, that he would hold a Cortes 
 in Toledo at the end of seven weeks, and that they who did not 
 appear should no longer be accounted his vassals. At this greatly 
 were the Infantes of Carrion troubled, for they feared the coming 
 of my Cid the Campeador. And they took counsel with their kin
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 405 
 
 and prayed the King that he would hold them excused from that 
 Cortes ; and the King made answer, that nothing but God should 
 excuse them from it, for the Campeador was coming to demand jus- 
 tice against them, and he, quoth the King, who will not appear, 
 shall quit my kingdoms. So when they saw that they must needs 
 appear, they took counsel with the Count Don Garcia, the enemy 
 of my Cid, who alway wished him ill, and they went with the 
 greatest company that they could assemble, thinking to dismay my 
 C id the Campeador. And they arrived before him. 
 
 III. When my Cid drew nigh unto Toledo, he sent Alvar Fanez 
 forward to kiss the King's hand, and let him wit that he should be 
 there that night. When the King heard this it rejoiced his heart, 
 and he took horse and went out with a great company to meet him 
 who was born in happy hour ; and there went with him his sons-in- 
 law, the Count Don Anrrich, and the Count Don Remond ; this 
 one was the father of the good Emperor. When they came in 
 sight, the Cid dismounted and fell to the ground, and would have 
 abased himself to honour his Lord, but the King cried out to him 
 and said, By St. Isidro this must not be to-day ! Mount, Cid, or 
 I shall not be well pleased ! I welcome you with heart and soul ; 
 . . and my heart is grieved for your grief. God send that the court 
 be honoured by you ! Amen, said my Cid the Campeador, and 
 he kissed his hand, and afterwards saluted him. And the Cid 
 said, I thank God that I see you, Sir ; and he humbled himself to 
 Count Don Anrrich, and Count Don Remond, and the others, and 
 said, God save all our friends, and'chiefly you, Sir ! my wife Dona 
 Ximena kisses your hand, and my daughters also, that this thing 
 which hath befallen us, may be found displeasing unto you. And 
 the King said, That will it be, unless God prevent. So they rode 
 toward Toledo. And the King saith unto him, I have ordered 
 you to be lodged in my Palaces of Galiana, that you may be near 
 me. And the Cid answered, Gramercy, Sir ! God grant you long 
 life and happy, but in your Palaces there is none who should be 
 lodged save you. When you hold your Cortes let it be in those 
 Palaces of Galiana, for there is better room there than in the Al- 
 cazar. I will not cross the Tagus to-night, but will pass the night 
 in St. Servans on this side, and hold a vigil there. To-morrow I 
 will enter the city, and be in the court before dinner. The King 
 said that it pleased him well, and he returned into Toledo. And 
 the Cid went into the Church of St. Servans, and ordered candles 
 to be placed upon the altar, for he would keep a vigil there ; and 
 there he remained with Minaya and the other good ones, praying
 
 406 
 
 to the Lord, and talking in private. The tents of his company 
 were pitched upon the hills round about. Any one who beheld 
 them might well have said, that it looked like a great host. 
 
 IV. When the King entered the city, he bade his seneschal 
 Benito Perez, make ready the Palaces of Galiana for the next day, 
 when the Cortes should begin ; and he fitted the great Palace 
 after this manner. He placed estrados with carpets upon the 
 ground, and hung the walls with cloth of gold. And in the highest 
 place he placed the royal chair in which the King should sit ; it 
 was a right noble chair and a rich, which he had won in Toledo, 
 and which had belonged to the Kings thereof; and round about it 
 right noble estrados were placed for the Counts and honourable 
 men who were come to the Cortes. Now the Cid knew how they 
 were fitting up the Palaces of Galiana, and he called for a squire, 
 who was a young man, one whom he had brought up and in whom 
 he had great trust ; he was an hidalgo, and hight Ferran Alfonso : 
 and the Cid bade him take his ivory seat which he had won in 
 Valencia, and which had belonged to the Kings thereof, and place 
 it in the Palace, in the best place, near the seat of the King ; and 
 that none might hurt or do dishonour unto it, he gave him a hun- 
 dred squires, all hidalgos, to go with him, and ordered them not to 
 leave it till he should come there the next day. So when they 
 had dined, they made the seat be taken up, and went with it to the 
 Palaces of Galiana, and placed it near the seat of the King, as the 
 Cid had commanded ; and all that day and night they remained 
 there guarding the ivory seat, till the Cid should come and take 
 his place thereon ; every one having his sword hung from his 
 neck. This was a right noble seat, and of subtle work, so that 
 whoso beheld it would say it was the seat of a good man, and that 
 it became such a one as the Cid. It was covered with cloth of 
 gold, underneath which was a cushion. 
 
 V. On the morrow, after the King had heard mass, he went 
 into the Palace of Galiana, where the Cortes was to assemble, and 
 the Infantes of Carrion and the other Counts and Ricos-omes with 
 him, save the Cid who was not yet come ; and when they who did 
 not love the Cid beheld his ivory seat, they began to make mock 
 of it. And Count Garcia said to the King, I beseech your Grace, 
 tell me, for whom that couch is spread beside your seat : for what 
 dame is it made ready ; will she come drest in the almexia . . or 
 with white alquinales on her head, or after what fashion will she be 
 apparelled ? Sir, a seat like that is fit for none but your Grace : 
 give order to take it for yourself, or that it be removed. When
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 407 
 
 Ferran Alfonso, who was there to guard the ivory seat heard this, 
 he answered and said, Count, you talk full foolishly, and speak ill 
 of one against whom it behoves you not to talk. He who is to sit 
 upon this seat is better than you, or than all your lineage ; and he 
 hath ever appeared a man to all his enemies, not like a woman as 
 you say. If you deny this I will lay hands upon you, and make 
 you acknowledge it before my Lord the King Don Alfonso who is 
 here present. And I am of such a race that you cannot acquit your- 
 self by saying I am not your peer, and the vantage of half your 
 arms I give you ! At these words was the King greatly troubled, 
 and the Counts also, and all the honourable men who were there 
 present. And Count Garcia who was an angry man, wrapt his 
 mantle under his arm, and would have struck Ferran Alfonso, 
 saying, Let me get at the boy who dares me ! And Ferran Alfonso 
 laid hand upon his sword and came forward to meet him, saying, 
 that if it were not for the King, he would punish him thereright for 
 the folly which he had uttered. But the King seeing that these 
 words went on from bad to worse, put them asunder that farther 
 evil might not happen, and he said, None of ye have reason to 
 speak thus of the seat of the Cid ; he won it like a good knight 
 and a valiant, as he is. There is not a King in the world who 
 deserves this seat better than my vassal the Cid, and the better 
 and more honourable he is, the more am I honoured through him. 
 This seat he won in Valencia, where it had belonged to the Kings 
 thereof ; and much gold and silver, and many precious stones hath 
 he won ; and many a battle hath he won both against Christians 
 and Moors ; and of all the spoil which he hath won, he hath alway 
 sent me part, and great presents and full rich, such as never other 
 vassal sent to his Lord ; and this he hath done in acknowledgment 
 that I am his Lord. Ye who are talking here against him, which 
 of/ ye hath ever sent me such gifts as he ? If any one be envious, 
 let him achieve such feats as he hath done, and I will seat him 
 with myself to do him honour. 
 
 VI. Now the Cid had performed his vigil in the Church of 
 St. Servan, matins and primes were said, and mass performed; 
 and then he made ready to go to the Cortes, and with him went 
 Alvar Fanez Minaya, whom he called his right arm, and Pero 
 Bermudez, and Muno Gustios, and Martin Antolinez that doughty 
 Burgalese, and Alvar Alvarez, and Alvar Salvadores, and Martin 
 Munoz, and Felez Munoz the Cid's nephew, and Malanda who was 
 a learned man, and Galin Garciez the good one of Arragon : the* 
 and others made ready to go with him, being an hundred of the
 
 408 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 best of his company. They wore velmezes under their harness, 
 that they might be able to bear it, and then their mail, which was 
 as bright as the sun : over this they had ermine or other skins, 
 laced tight that the armour might not be seen, and under their 
 cloaks, their swords which were sweet and sharp. He who was 
 born in happy hour made no tarriance ; he drew on his legs hose 
 of fine cloth, and put on over them shoes which were richly worked. 
 A shirt of ranzal he wore which was as white as the sun ; all the 
 fastenings were wrought with gold and silver : over this a brial of 
 gold tissue ; and over this a red skin with points of gold. My Cid 
 the Campeador alway wore it. On his head he had a coif of 
 scarlet wrought with gold, which was made that none might clip 
 the hair of the good Cid. His was a long beard, and he bound it 
 with a cord. And he bade Alvar Fanez and Pero Bermudez as- 
 semble their companions, and when he saw them he said, If the 
 Infantes of Carrion should seek a quarrel, where I have a hundred 
 such as these I may be well without fear ! And he said, Let us 
 mount no\v and go to the Cortes. We go to make one defiance, 
 and peradventure it may be two or three, through the folly of 
 those who may stir against us. Ye will be ready to aid me, saying 
 and doing as I shall call upon ye, alway saving the honour and 
 authority of King Don Alfonso out Lord ; see now that none of ye 
 say or do ought amiss, for it would be unseemly. Then called 
 he for his horse, and bestrode it, and rode to the Cortes. 
 
 VII. My Cid and his company alighted at the gate of the Pal- 
 aces of Galiana, and he and his people went in gravely, he in the 
 midst and his hundred knights round about him. When he who 
 was born in happy hour entered, the good King Don Alfonso rose 
 up, and the Counts Don Anrrich and Don Remond did the like, 
 and so did all the others, save the curly-headed one of Granon, 
 and they who were on the side of the Infantes of Carrion. All 
 the others received him with great honour, and he said unto the 
 King, Sir, where do you bid me sit with these my kinsmen and 
 friends who are come with me ? And the King made answer, Cid, 
 you are such a one, and have passed your time so well to this day. 
 that if you would listen to me and be commanded by me, I should 
 hold it good that you took your seat with me ; for he who hath 
 conquered Kings, ought to be seated with Kings. But the Cid 
 answered, That, Sir, would not please God, but I will be at your 
 feet : for by the favour of the King your father Don Ferrando was 
 1 made, his creature and the creature of your brother King Don 
 Sancho am I, and it behoveth not that he who receiveth bounty
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 409 
 
 should sit with him who dispenseth it. And the King answered, 
 Since you will not sit with me, sit on your ivory seat, for you won 
 it like a good man ; and from this day I order that none except 
 King or Prelate sit with you, for you have conquered so many 
 high-bora men, and so many Kings, both Christians and Moors, 
 that for this reason there is none who is your peer, or ought to be 
 seated with you. Sit therefore like a King and Lord upon your 
 ivory seat. Then the Cid kissed the King's hand, and thanked 
 him for what he had said, and for the honour which he had done 
 him ; and he took his seat, and his hundred knights seated them- 
 selves round about him. All who were in the Cortes sat looking 
 at my Cid and at his long beard which he had bound with a cord ; 
 but the Infantes of Carrion could not look upon him for shame. 
 
 VIII. When they were all seated the King gave command that 
 they should be silent ; and when the Cid saw that they were all 
 still, he rose and spake after this manner. Sir King Don Alfonso, 
 I beseech you of your mercy that you would hear me, and give 
 command that I should be heard, and that you would suffer none 
 to interrupt me, for I am not a man of speech, neither know I how 
 to set forth my words, and if they interrupt me I shall be worse. 
 Moreover, Sir, give command that none be bold enough to utter 
 unseemly words, nor be insolent towards me, lest we should come 
 to strife in your presence. Then King Don Alfonso rose and said, 
 Hear me, as God shall help you ! Since I have been King I have 
 held only two Cortes, one in Burgos, and one in Carrion. This 
 third I have assembled here in Toledo for the love of the Cid, 
 that he may demand justice against the Infantes of Carrion for the 
 wrongs which we all know. The Counts Don Anrrich and Don 
 Remond shall be Alcaldes in this cause ; and these other Counts 
 who are not on either side, give ye all good heed, for ye are to 
 take cognizance that the right may be decreed. And I give order, 
 and forbid any one to speak without my command, or to utter 
 ought insolent against the Cid; and I swear by St. Isidro, that 
 whosoever shall disturb the Cortes shall lose my love and be ban- 
 ished from the kingdom. I am on the side of him who shall be 
 found to have the right. Then those Counts who were appointed 
 Alcaldes were sworn upon the Holy Gospels, that they would judge 
 between the Cid and the Infantes of Carrion, rightly and truly, 
 according to the law of Castile and Leon. 
 
 IX. When this was done the King bade the Cid make his de 
 mand ; and the Cid rose and said, Sir, there is no reison for making 
 long speeches here, which would detain the Cortes. I demand of
 
 410 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 the Infantes of Carrion, before you, two swords which I gave into 
 their keeping ; the one is Colada and the other Tizona. I won 
 them like a man, and gave them to the keeping of the Infantes 
 that they might honour my daughters with them, and serve you. 
 When they left my daughters in the Oak- forest of Corpes they 
 chose to have nothing to do with me, and renounced my love ; let 
 them therefore give me back the swords, seeing that they are no 
 longer my sons-in-law. Then the King commanded the Alcaldes 
 to judge upon this demand according as they should find the right ; 
 and they took counsel and judged, that the swords should be re- 
 stored unto the Cid. And Count Don Garcia said they would talk 
 concerning it ; and the Infantes of Carrion talked apart with those 
 who were on their side, and they thought that they were well off; 
 for that the Cid would demand nothing more of them, but would 
 leave the Cortes when he had recovered the swords. So they 
 brought the swords Colada and Tizona, and delivered them to the 
 King. The King drew the swords, and the whole Court shone 
 with their brightness : their hilts were of solid gold ; all the good 
 men of the Cortes marvelled at them. And the Cid rose and re- 
 ceived them, and kissed the King's hand, and went back to his 
 ivory seat ; and he took the swords in his hand and looked at 
 them ; they could not change them, for the Cid knew them well, 
 and his whole frame rejoiced, and he smiled from his heart. And 
 he laid them upon his lap and said, Ah, my swords, Colada and 
 Tizona, truly may I say of you, that you are the best swords in 
 Spain ; and I won you, for I did not get you either by buying or 
 by barter. I gave ye in keeping to the Infantes of Carrion that 
 they might do honour to my daughters with ye. But ye were not 
 for them ! they kept ye hungry, and did not feed ye with flesh as 
 ye were wont to be fed. Well it is for you that ye have escaped 
 that thraldom and are come again to my hands, and happy man 
 am I to recover you. Then Alvar Fanez rose and kissed the hand 
 of the Cid, and said, I beseech you give Colada into my keeping 
 while this Cortes shall last, that I may defend you therewith : and 
 the Cid gave it him and said, take it, it hath changed its master 
 for the better. And Pero Bermudez rose and made the same 
 demand for the sword Tizona, and the Cid gave it him in like 
 manner. Then the Cid laid hand upon his beard as he was wont 
 to do, and the Infantes of Carrion and they who were of their side 
 thought that he meant to disturb the Cortes, and they were greatly 
 afraid ; but he sat still like a man of good understanding, for he 
 was not one who did things lightly.
 
 RODJIIGO DIAZ. DE BIVAR. 4H 
 
 X. Then the Cid rose and said, Thanks be to God and to you, 
 Sir King, I have recovered my swords Colada and Tizona. I have 
 now another demand against the Infantes of Carrion. King Don 
 Alfonso, you well know that it was your pleasure to bid me meet 
 you at Requena, and I went there in obedience to your command. 
 And you asked of me my daughters in marriage for the Infantes, 
 and I did not refuse, in that I would not disobey your command ; 
 and you bade me deliver them to my kinsman here Don Alvar 
 Fanez, and he gave them to the Infantes to be their wives, and 
 the blessing was given them in the church of St. Mary, according 
 to the law of Rome. You, Sir, gave them in marriage, not I ; and 
 you did it for good, not for evil ; but what they did was after an- 
 other wise. And though they are of great blood and honourable, 
 yet would I not have given my daughters to them, unless in obe- 
 dience to your command ; and this, Sir, you well know, for so I 
 said unto you. I gave them, when they took my daughters from 
 Valencia, horses and mules, and cups and vessels of fine gold, and 
 much wrought silver, and many noble garments, and other gifts, 
 three thousand marks of silver in all, thinking that I gave it to 
 my daughters whom I loved. Now, Sir, since they have cast my 
 daughters off. and hold themselves to have been dishonoured in 
 marrying them, give command that they restore unto me this which 
 is my own, or that they show cause why they should not. Then 
 might you have seen the Infantes of Carrion in great chafing. And 
 Count Don Remond called upon them to speak ; and they said, 
 \Ve gave his swords to the Cid Campeador, that he might ask 
 nothing more of us, if it please the King. But the King said that 
 they must answer to the demand. And they asked to consult to- 
 gether concerning it ; and the King bade them take counsel and 
 make answer incontinently. So they went apart, and with them 
 eleven Counts and Ricos-omes who were on their side, but no 
 right or reason could they find for opposing this demand which 
 the Cid had made. Howbeit Count Don Garcia spake for them 
 and said, Sir, this which the Cid demands back from them, it is 
 true that he gave it, but they have expended it in your service : 
 we hold therefore that they are not bound to make restitution of 
 it, seeing how it hath been expended. Nevertheless if you hold it 
 to be lawful that they should restore this money, give order that 
 time be given them to make the payment, and they will go to 
 Carrion, their inheritance, and there discharge the demand as you 
 shall decree. When the Count had thus said he sat down. And 
 the Cid arose and said, Sir, if the Infantes of Carrion have expended
 
 412 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 aught in your service, it toucheth not me. You and the Alcaldes 
 whom you have appointed have heard them admit that I gave them 
 this treasure, and this excuse which they set up ; I pray you let 
 judgment be given whether they are bound to pay it or not. Then 
 King Don Alfonso answered and said, If the Infantes of Carrion 
 have expended aught in my service, I am bound to repay it, for 
 the Cid must not lose what is his own : and he bade the Alcaldes 
 consult together and judge according to what they should find 
 right. And the Alcaldes having taken counsel gave judgment, that 
 seeing the Infantes acknowledged the Cid had given them this 
 treasure with his daughters, and they had abandoned them they 
 must needs make restitution in the Cortes of the King there-right : 
 and the King confirmed this sentence, and the Cid rose and kissed 
 the King's hand. Greatly were the Infantes of Carrion troubled at 
 this sentence, and they besought the King that he would obtain 
 time for them from the Cid, in which to make their payment ; and 
 the King besought him to grant them fifteen days, after this man- 
 ner, that they should not depart from the Court till they had made 
 the payment, and that they should plight homage for the observ- 
 ance of this. And the Cid granted what the King desired, and 
 they plighted homage accordingly in the hands of the King. Then 
 made they their account with the King, and it was found that what 
 they had expended for his service was two hundred marks of silver, 
 and the King said that he would repay this, so that there remained 
 for them two thousand and eight hundred to pay. Who can tell 
 the trouble in which the Infantes were, to pay this treasure to the 
 Cid, they and all their kindred and friends, for it was full hard for 
 them to accomplish. And they took up upon trust horses and 
 mules and wrought silver, and other precious things, and as they 
 could get them, delivered them over to the Cid. Then might you 
 have seen many a good-going horse brought there, and many a 
 good mule, and many a good palfrey, and many a good sword 
 with its mountings. And they sent to Carrion to their father and 
 mother to help them, for they were in great trouble ; and they 
 raised for them all they could, so that they made up the sum with- 
 in the time appointed. And then they thought that the matter 
 was at an end, and that nothing more would be demanded from 
 them. 
 
 XI. After this payment had been made the Cortes assembled 
 again, and the King and all the honourable men being each in his 
 place, the Cid rose from his ivory seat, and said, Sir, praise be to 
 God and your favour, I have recovered my swords, and my treas-
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 413 
 
 ure ; now then I pray you let this other demand be heard which I 
 have to make against the Infantes. Full hard it is for me to make 
 it, though I have it rooted in my heart ! I say then, let them make 
 answer before you, and tell why it was that they besought you to 
 marry them with my daughters, and why they took them away from me 
 from Valencia, when they had it in heart to dishonour me, and to 
 strike them, and leave them as they were left, in the Oak-forest of 
 Corpes ? Look, Sir, what dishonour they did them ! they stripped 
 them of the garments which they had not given them, as if they had 
 been bad women, and the children of a bad father. With less than 
 mortal defiance I shall not let them go ! ... How had I deserved 
 this, Infantes, at your hands ? I gave you my daughters to take with 
 you from Valencia ; with great honour and great treasures gave I 
 them unto you ; . . Dogs and Traitors, . . ye took them from Va- 
 lencia when ye did not love them, and with your bridles ye smote, 
 and with your spurs ye spurned and wounded them, and ye left 
 them alone in the Oak-forest, to the wild beasts, and to the birds 
 of the mountain ! King Don Alfonso, they neither remembered 
 God, nor you, nor me, nor their own good fortune ! And here 
 was fulfilled the saying of the wise man, that harder it is for those 
 who have no understanding to bear with good than with evil. 
 Praise be to God and to your grace, such a one am I, and such 
 favour hath God shown me, from the day when I first had horse 
 and arms, until now, that not only the Infantes of Carrion, but 
 saving yourself, Sir, there is not a King in Christendom who might 
 not think himself honoured in marrying with either of my daugh- 
 ters, . . how much more then these traitors ! . . . I beseech you 
 give me justice upon them for the evil and dishonour which they 
 have done me ! And if you and your Cortes will not right me, 
 through the mercy of God and my own good cause, I will take it 
 myself, for the offence which they have committed against God 
 and the faith, and the truth which they promised and vowed to 
 their wives. I will pull them down from the honour in which they 
 now are ; better men than they have I conquered and made pris- 
 oners ere now ! and with your licence, Sir, to Carrion will I follow 
 them, even to their inheritance, and there will I besiege them, and 
 take them by the throat, and carry them prisoners to Valencia to 
 my daughters, and there make them do penance for the crime 
 which they have committed, and feed them with the food which 
 they deserve. If I do not perform this, call me a flat traitor. 
 When the King heard this he rose up and said, that it might be 
 seen how he was offended in this thing. Certes, Cid Ruydiez
 
 414 CHROX1CI.E OF THE CID, 
 
 Campeador, I asked your daughters of you for the Infantes of 
 Carrion, because, as they well know, they besought me to do so, I 
 never having thought thereof. It well seemeth now that they were 
 not pleased with this marriage which I made at their request, and 
 great part of the dishonour which they have done you, toucheth 
 me. But seeing ye are here in my presence, it is not fitting 
 that you make your demand in any other manner than through 
 my Cortes; do you therefore accuse them, and let them acquit 
 themselves if they can before my Alcaldes, who will pass sentence 
 according to what is right. And the Cid kissed the King's hand, 
 and returned to his place upon the ivory seat. 
 
 XII. Then the Cid arose and said, God prosper you, Sir, in life, 
 and honour, and estate, since you have compassion for me and for 
 the dishonour which my daughters have received. And he turned 
 towards the Infantes of Carrion, and said, Ferrando Gonzalez and 
 Diego Gonzalez, I say that ye are false traitors for leaving your 
 wives as ye left them in the Oak-forest ; and here before the King 
 I attaint you as false traitors, and defy you, and will produce your 
 peers who shall prove it upon you, and slay you or thrust you out of 
 the lists, or make you confess it in your throats. And they were 
 silent. And the King said, that seeing they were there present. 
 they should make answer to what the Cid had said. Then Fer- 
 rando Gonzalez the elder arose and said, Sir, we are your subjects, 
 of your kingdom of Castile, and of the best hidalgos therein, sons 
 of the Count Don Gonzalo Gonzalez ; and we hold that men of 
 such station as ourselves were not well married with the daughters 
 of Ruydiez of Bivar. And for this reason we forsook them, be- 
 cause they come not of blood fit for our wives, for one lineage is 
 above another. Touching what he says, that we forsook them, he 
 saith truly ; and we hold that in so doing we did nothing wrong, 
 for they were not worthy to be our wives, and we are more to be 
 esteemed for having left them, than we were while they were 
 wedded with us. Now then, Sir, there is no reason why we should 
 do battle upon this matter with any one. And Diego Gonzalez 
 his brother arose and said, You know, Sir, what perfect men we 
 are in our lineage, and it did not befit us to be married with the 
 daughters of such a one as Ruydiez ; and when he had said this 
 he held his peace and sat down. Then Count Don Garcia rose 
 and said, Come away, Infantes, and let us leave the Cid sitting 
 like a bridegroom in his ivory chair : . . he lets his beard grow and 
 thinks to frighten us with it ! . . The Campeador put up his hand 
 to his beard, and said, What hast thou to do with my beard, Count?
 
 m\ 
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIl'AK. 
 
 Thanks be to God, it is long because it hath been kept for 
 pleasure : never son of woman hath taken me by it ; never son of 
 Moor or of Christian hath plucked it, as I did yours in your castle 
 of Cabra, Count, when I took your castle of Cabra, and took you 
 by the beard ; there was not a boy of the host but had his pull at 
 it, what I plucked then is not yet methinks grown even ! . . And 
 the Count cried out again, Come away, Infantes, and leave him ! 
 Let him go back to Rio de Ovierna, to his own country, and set 
 up his mills, and take toll as he used to do ! . . he is not your peer 
 that you should strive with him. At this the knights of the Cid 
 looked at each other with fierce eyes and wrathful countenances ; 
 but none of them dared speak till the Cid bade them, because of 
 the command which he had given. 
 
 XIII. When the Cid saw that none of his people made answer 
 he turned to Pero Bermudez artti said, Speak, Pero Mudo, what 
 art thou silent for ? He called him Mudo, which is to say, Dumb-ee, 
 because he snaffled and stuttered when he began to speak ; and 
 Pero Bermudez was wroth that he should be so called before all that 
 assembly. And he said, I tell you what, Cid, you always call me 
 Dumb-ee in Court, and you know I cannot help my words ; but 
 when anything is to be done, it shall not fail for me. And in his 
 anger he forgot what the Cid had said to him and to the others 
 that they should make no broil before the King. And he gathered 
 up his cloak under his arm and went up to the eleven Counts who 
 were against the Cid, to Count Garcia, and when he was nigh him 
 he clenched his fist, and gave him a blow which brought him to 
 the ground. Then was the whole Cortes in an uproar by reason 
 of that blow, and many swords were drawn, and on one side the 
 cry was Cabra and Granon, and on the other side it was Valencia 
 and Bivar ; but the strife was in such sort that the Counts in short 
 time voided the Palace. King Don Alfonso meantime cried out 
 aloud, forbidding them to fight before him, and charging them to 
 look to his honour ; and the Cid then strove what he could to 
 quiet his people, saying to the King, Sir, you saw that I could 
 bear it no longer, being thus maltreated in your presence ; it 
 it had not been before you, well would I have had him punished. 
 Then the King sent to call those Counts who had been driven out : 
 and they came again to the Palace, though they fain would not. 
 complaining of the dishonour which they had received. And tin- 
 King said unto them that they should defend themselves with 
 courtesy and reason, and not revile the Cid, who was not a man 
 to be reviled ; and he said that he would defend as far as he could
 
 416 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 the rights of both parties. Then they took their seats on the 
 estrados as before. 
 
 XIV. And Pero Bermudez rose and said to Count Garcia, Foul 
 mouth, in which God hath put no truth, thou hast dared let thy 
 tongue loose to speak of the Cid's beard. His is a praiseworthy 
 beard, and an honourable one, and one that is greatly feared, and 
 that never hath been dishonoured, nor overcome ! and if you 
 please, you may remember when he fought against you in Cabra, 
 hundred to hundred, he threw you from your horse, and took thee 
 by the beard, and made thee and thy knights prisoners, and carried 
 thee prisoner away across a packsaddle ; and his knights pulled 
 thy beard for thee, and I who stand here had a good handful of 
 it : how then shall a beard that hath been pulled speak against one 
 that hath alway been honourable ! If you deny this, I will fight 
 you upon this quarrel before th* King our Lord. Then Count 
 Suero Gonzalez rose in great haste and said, Nephews, go you 
 away and leave these rascally companions : if they are for fighting, 
 we will give them their fill of that, if our Lord the King should 
 think good so to command ; that shall not fail for us, though they 
 are not our peers. Then Don Alvar Fanez Minaya arose and said, 
 Hold thy peace, Count Suero Gonzalez ! you have been to break- 
 fast before you said your prayers, and your words are more like a 
 drunkard's than one who is in his senses. Your kinsmen like those 
 of the Cid ! ... if it were not out of reverence to my Lord the 
 King, I would teach you never to talk again in this way. And 
 then the King saw that these words were going on to worse, and 
 moreover that they were nothing to the business ; and he com- 
 manded them to be silent, and said, I will determine this business 
 of the defiance with the Alcaldes, as shall be found right ; and I 
 will not have these disputes carried on before me, lest you should 
 raise another uproar in my presence. 
 
 XV. Then the King arose and called to the Alcaldes, and went 
 apart with them into a chamber, and the Cid and all the others 
 remained in the Hall. And when the King and the Alcaldes had 
 taken counsel together concerning what was right in this matter, 
 they came out from the chamber, and the King went and seated 
 himself in his chair, and the Alcaldes each in his place, and they 
 commanded all persons to be silent and hear the sentence which 
 the King should give. Then the King spake thus : I have taken 
 counsel with these Counts whom I appointed to be Alcaldes in this 
 cause between the Cid and the Infantes of Carrion, and with other 
 honourable and learned men : and this is the sentence which I
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAK. 417 
 
 give ; that both the Infantes and Count Suero Gonzalez their 
 fosterer and uncle, forasmuch as it is given me to understand that 
 he was the adviser and abettor in the dishonour which they did 
 unto the daughters of the Cid, shall do battle with such three of 
 the Cid's people as it may please him to appoint, and thereby 
 acquit themselves if they can. When the King had given this 
 sentence, the Cid rose and kissed his hand and said, May God 
 have you, Sir, in his holy keeping long and happy years, seeing 
 you have judged justly, as a righteous King and our natural Lord. 
 I receive your sentence ; and now do I perceive that it is your 
 pleasure to show favour unto me, and to advance mine honour, 
 and for this reason I shall ever be at your service. Then Pero 
 Bermudez rose up and went to the Cid and said, A boon, Sir ! I 
 beseech you let me be one of those who shall do battle on your 
 part, for such a one do I hold myself to be, and this which they 
 have done is so foul a thing, that I trust in God to take vengeance 
 for it. And the Cid made answer that he was well pleased it 
 should be so, and that he should do battle with Ferrando Gon- 
 zalez the eldest ; and upon that Pero Bermudez kissed his hand. 
 Then Martin Antolinez of Burgos rose and besought the Cid that 
 he might be another, and the Cid granted his desire, and said that 
 he should do battle with Diego Gonzalez the younger brother. 
 And then Muno Gustioz of Linquella rose and besought the Cid 
 that he might be the third, and the Cid granted it, and appointed 
 him to do battle with Count Suero Gonzalez. And when the Cid 
 had appointed his three champions, the King gave command that 
 the combat should be performed on the morrow ; but the Infantes 
 were not prepared to fight so soon, and they besought him of his 
 favour that he would let them go to Carrion, and that they would 
 come prepared for the battle. And the King would not allow this 
 time which they requested ; howbeit the Counts Don Anrrich and 
 Don Remond his sons-in-law, and Count Don Nuno, spake with 
 him, and besought him of his grace that he would allow them three 
 weeks ; and the King at their entreaty granted it with the pleasure 
 of the Cid. 
 
 XVI. Now when all this had been appointed, as ye have heard, 
 and while they were all in the court, there came unto the Palace 
 messengers from the Kings of Arragon and of Navarre, who brought 
 letters to King Don Alfonso, and to the Cid Campeador, wherein 
 those Kings sent to ask the daughters of the Cid in marriage, the 
 one for the Infante Don Sancho of Arragon, the other for the In- 
 fante Garcia Ramirez of Navarre. And when they came before
 
 418 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 the King, they bent their knees and gave him the letters, and de- 
 livered their message ; the like did they to the Cid. Much were 
 the King and the Cid also pleased at this news, and the King said 
 unto him, What say you to this? And the Cid answered, I and 
 my daughters are at your disposal, do you with us as you shall 
 think good. And the King said, I hold it good that they wed with 
 these Infantes, and that from henceforward they be Queens and 
 ladies ; and that for the dishonour which they have received, they 
 now receive this honour. And the Cid rose and kissed the hands 
 of the King, and all his knights did the like. These messengers 
 hight, he of Arragon Ynigo Ximenez, and he of Navarre Ochoa 
 Perez. And the King gave order that his letters of consent to 
 these marriages should be given, and the Cid did the like. And 
 those knights did homage before the King, that in three months 
 from that day the Infantes of Arragon and Navarre should come 
 to Valencia, to the Cid, to be wedded to his daughters. Great 
 joy had the companions of the Cid that these marriages were ap- 
 pointed, seeing how their honour was increased ; and contrariwise, 
 great was the sorrow of the Infantes of Carrion and their friends, 
 because it was to their confusion and great shame. And King 
 Don Alfonso said aloud unto the Cid before them all, Praised be 
 the name of God because it hath pleased him that the dishonour 
 which was done to me and to you in your daughters, should thus 
 be turned into honour : for they were the wives of the sons of 
 Counts, and now shall they be the wives of the sons of Kings, and 
 Queens hereafter. Great was the pleasure of the Cid and his 
 company at these words of the King, for before they had sorrow, 
 and now it was turned into joy. And the Infantes went away from 
 the Palace full sadly, and went to their lodging, and prepared to 
 go to Carrion that they might make ready for the combat, which 
 was to be in three weeks from that time. 
 
 XVII. Then the Cid said unto the King, Sir, I have appointed 
 those who are to do battle with the Infantes and their uncle for 
 the enmity and treason which they committed against me and my 
 daughters ; and now, Sir, as there is nothing more for me to do 
 here, I will leave them in your hand, knowing that you will not 
 suffer them to receive any displeasure or wrong soever, and that 
 you will defend their right. And if it please you I would fain re- 
 turn to Valencia, where I have left my wife and daughters, and my 
 other companions ; for I would not that the Moors should rise up 
 against me during my absence, thinking peradventure that I have 
 not sped so well in this matter as I have done, praised be God
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DP. P,I]'AR. 419 
 
 and you. And moreover I have to make ready for these marriages 
 which you have now appointed. And the King bade him go when 
 he pleased, and good fortune with him, and said that he would 
 protect his knights and maintain his right in all things. Then the 
 Cid kissed the King's hand for this which he had said, and com- 
 mended the knights to his keeping. And the King called for 
 Count Don Remond his son-in-law, and gave the knights of the 
 Cid to his charge, and bade them not depart from him ; and then 
 the King rose and returned to the Alcazar. 
 
 XVIII. Then the Cid took off his coif of ranzal, which was as 
 white as the sun, and he loosed his beard, and took it out of the 
 cord with which it was bound. All they who were there could 
 not be satisfied with looking at him. And the Counts Don Anrrich 
 and Don Remond came up to him, and he embraced them, and 
 thanked them and the other good men who had been Alcaldes in 
 this business, for maintaining his right ; and he promised to do for 
 them in requital whatever they might require ; and he besought 
 them to accept part of his treasures. And they thanked him for 
 his offer, but said that it was not seemly. Howbeit he sent great 
 presents to each of them, and some accepted them and some did 
 not. Who can tell how nobly the Cid distributed his treasure be- 
 fore he departed ! And he forgave the King the two hundred 
 marks which should have been paid on account of the Infantes. 
 And to the knights who had come from Arragon and Navarre con- 
 cerning the marriages, he gave - many horses, and money in gold, 
 and sent them with great honour into their own country. 
 
 XIX. On the morrow the Cid went to take leave of the King, 
 and the King went some way out of the town with him, and all 
 the good men who were in the court also, to do him honour as lie 
 deserved. And when he was about to dispeed himself of the King 
 they brought him his precious horse Bavieca, and he turned to the 
 King and said, Sir, I should depart ill from hence if I took with 
 me so good a horse as my Bavieca, and did not leave him for you, 
 for such horse as this is fit for you and for no other master : and 
 that you may see what he is, I will do before you what it is long 
 since I have done except in the battles which I have had with my 
 enemies. Then he mounted his horse, with his ermine housings, 
 and gave him the spur. Who can tell the goodness of the horse 
 Bavieca, and of the Cid who rode him? And as the Cid was doing 
 this the horse brake one of his reins, yet he came and stopped be- 
 fore the King as easily as if both the reins had been whole. Greatly 
 did the King and all they who were with him marvel at this, saying
 
 420 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 that they had never seen or heard of so good a horse as that. And 
 the Cid besought the King that he would be pleased to take the 
 horse, but the King answered, God forbid that I should take him ! 
 . . rather would I give you a better if I had one, for he is better 
 bestowed on you than on me or any other, for upon that horse you 
 have done honour to yourself, and to us, and to all Christendom, 
 by the good feats which you have achieved. Let him go as mine, 
 and I will take him when I please. Then the Cid kissed the 
 King's hand and dispeeded himself, and the King embraced him 
 and returned to Toledo. 
 
 XX. Now when the Cid had taken leave of the King and of the 
 other honourable men and Counts, and Ricos-omes who were with 
 him, Pero Bermudez and Martin Antolinez and Muno Gustioz went 
 on yet awhile with him : and he counselled them how to demean 
 themselves so as to clear him of the shame which had been done 
 him, and to be held for good knights themselves and to take ven- 
 geance for King Don Alfonso, and for him, and for themselves, that 
 he might receive good tiding from them in Valencia. And they 
 took his counsel well, as they afterwards manifested when there 
 was occasion. But Martin Antolinez made answer, Why do you say 
 this, Sir? we have undertaken the business and we shall go through 
 it : and they said unto him, God have you in his guidance, Sir, and 
 be you sure and certain, that by the mercy and help of God we shall 
 so demean ourselves as to come to you without shame. But if for 
 our sins it should betide otherwise, never more shall we appear 
 before you dead or living, . . for slain we may be, but never van- 
 quished. Then he bade them return to the King, praying to God 
 to have them in his keeping, and assist them in fulfilling their 
 demand, as he knew that their cause was right.
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 42 i 
 
 BOOK X. 
 
 I. Now King Alfonso misdoubted the Infantes of Carrion that 
 they would not appear at the time appointed, and therefore he 
 said that he would go to Carrion, and the battle should be fought 
 there. And he took with him the Counts whom he had appointed 
 Alcaldes, and Pero Bermudez and Martin Antolinez, and Muno 
 Gustioz went with the Count Don Remond, to whose charge the 
 King had given them. And on the third day after the Cid de- 
 parted from Toledo, the King set forth for Carrion ; but it so 
 chanced that he fell sick upon the road, and could not arrive within 
 the three weeks, so that the term was enlarged to five. And when 
 the King's health was restored he proceeded and reached Carrion, 
 and gave order that the combat should be performed, and appointed 
 the day, and named the plain of Carrion for the place thereof. 
 And the Infantes came there with a great company of all their 
 friends and kindred, for their kinsmen were many and powerful ; 
 and they all came with one accord, that if before the battle they 
 could find any cause they would kill the knights of the Cid : never- 
 theless, though they had determined upon this they dared not put 
 it in effect, because they stood in fear of the King. 
 
 II. And when the night came, of which the morrow was appointed 
 for the combat, they on one side and on the other kept vigil in the 
 Churches, each in that Church to which he had the most devotion. 
 Night is passed away, and the dawn is now breaking ; and at day- 
 break a great multitude was assembled in the field, and many Ricos- 
 omes came there for the pleasure which they would have in seeing 
 this battle, and the King sent and commanded the champions to 
 make ready. Moreover he made the two Counts his sons-in-law, 
 Don Anrrich and Don Remond, and the other Counts and their 
 people, arm themselves and keep the field, that the kinsmen of the 
 Infantes might not make a tumult there. Who can tell the great 
 dole and sorrow of Count Gonzalo Gonzalez for his sons the Infan- 
 tes of Carrion, because they had to do battle this day ! and in the 
 fulness of his heart he cursed the day and the hour in which he 
 was born, for his heart divined the sorrow which he was to have
 
 422 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 for his children. Great was the multitude which was assembled 
 from all Spain to behold this battle. And there in the field near 
 the lists the champions of the Cid armed themselves on one side, 
 and the Infantes on the other. And Count Don Remond armed 
 the knights of the Cid, and instructed them how to do their devoir, 
 and Count Garci Ordonez helped arm the Infantes of Carrion and 
 their uncle Suero Gonzalez, and they sent to ask the King of his 
 favour that he would give command that the swords Colada and 
 Tizona should not be used in that combat. But the King would 
 not, and he answered that each must take the best sword and the 
 best arms that he could, save only that the one should not have 
 more than the other. Greatly were they troubled at this reply, 
 and greatly did they fear those good swords, and repent that they 
 had taken them to the Cortes of Toledo. And from that hour the 
 Infantes and Suero Gonzalez bewrayed in their countenances that 
 they thought ill of what they had done, and happy men would they 
 have thought themselves if they had not committed that great vil- 
 lany, and he if he had not counselled it ; and gladly would they 
 have given all that they had in Carrion so it could now have been 
 undone. 
 
 III. And the King went to the place where the Infantes were 
 arming, and said unto them, If ye feared these swords ye should 
 have said so in the Cortes of Toledo, for that was the place, and not 
 this ; . . there is now nothing to be done but to defend yourselves 
 stoutly, as ye have need against those with whom ye have to do. 
 Then went he to the knights of the Cid, whom he found armed ; 
 and they kissed his hand and said unto him, Sir, the Cid hath left 
 us in your hand, and we beseech you see that no wrong be done 
 us in this place, where the Infantes of Carrion have their party ; 
 and by God's mercy we will do ourselves right upon them. And 
 the King bade them have no fear for that. Then their horses were 
 brought, and they crossed the saddles, and mounted, with their 
 shields hanging from the neck ; and they took their spears, each 
 of which had its streamer, and with many good men round about 
 they went to the lists ; and on the other side the Infantes and 
 Count Suero Gonzalez came up with a great company of their 
 friends and kinsmen and vassals. And the King said with a loud 
 voice, Hear what I say, Infantes of Carrion ! . . this combat I would 
 have had waged in Toledo, but ye said that ye were not ready to 
 perform it there, and therefore I am come to this which is your 
 native place, and have brought the knights of the Cid with me. 
 They are come here under my safeguard. Let not therefore you
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 423 
 
 nor your kinsmen deceive yourselves, thinking to overpower them 
 by tumult, or in any other way than by fair combat ; for whosoever 
 shall begin a tumult, I have given my people orders to cut him in 
 pieces upon the spot, and no inquiry shall be made touching the 
 death of him who shall so have offended. Full sorrowful were the 
 Infantes of Carrion for this command which the King had given. 
 And the King appointed twelve knights who were hidalgos to be 
 true-men, and place the combatants in the lists, and show them 
 the bounds at what point they were to win or to be vanquished, 
 and to divide the sun between them. And he went with a wand 
 in his hand, and saw them placed on both sides ; then he went 
 out of the lists, and gave command that the people should fall back, 
 and not approach within seven spears-length of the lines of the 
 lists. 
 
 IV. Now were the six combatants left alone in the lists, and 
 each of them knew now with whom he had to do battle. And they 
 laced their helmets, and put shield upon the arm, and laid lance 
 in rest. And the knights of my Cid advanced against the Infantes 
 of Carrion, and they on their part against the champions of the 
 Campeador. Each bent down with his face to the saddle-bow, 
 and gave his horse the spur. And they met all six with such a 
 shock, that they who looked on expected to see them all fall dead. 
 Pero Bermudez and Ferrando Gonzalez encountered, and the 
 shield of Pero Bermudez was pierced, but the spear passed through 
 on one side, and hurt him not, and brake in two places ; and he 
 sat firm in his seat. One blow he received, but he gave another ; 
 he drove his lance through Ferrando's shield, at his breast, so that 
 nothing availed him. Ferrando's breast-plate was threefold ; two 
 plates the spear went clean through, and drove the third in before, 
 with the velmez and the shirt, into the breast, near his heart ; . . 
 and the girth and the poitral of his horse burst, and he and the 
 saddle went together over the horse's heels, and the spear in him, 
 and all thought him dead. Howbeit Ferrando Gonzalez rose, and 
 the blood began to run out of his mouth, and Pero Bermudez drew 
 his sword and went against him ; but when he saw the sword Ti- 
 zona over him, before he received a blow from it, he cried out 
 that he confessed himself conquered, and that what Pero Bermudez 
 had said against him was true. And when Pero Bermudez heard 
 this he stood still, and the twelve true-men came up and heard his 
 confession, and pronounced him vanquished. This Ferrando did 
 thinking to save his life ; but the wound which he had got was mortal. 
 
 V. Martin Antolinez and Diego Gonzalez brake their lances o
 
 424 CHRONICLE OF THE CW, 
 
 each other, and laid hand upon their swords. Martin Antolinez 
 drew forth Colada, the brightness of which flashed over the whole 
 field, for it was a marvellous sword ; and in their strife he dealt 
 him a back-handed blow which sheared off the crown of his helmet, 
 and cut away hood and coif, and the hair of his head and the skin 
 also : this stroke he dealt him with the precious Colada. And 
 Diego Gonzalez was sorely dismayed therewith, and though he had 
 his own sword in his hand he could not for very fear make use of 
 it, but he turned his horse and fled : and Martin Antolinez went 
 after him, and dealt him another with the flat part of the sword, 
 for he missed him with the edge, and the Infante began to cry out 
 aloud, Great God, help me and save me from that sword ! And 
 he rode away as fast as he could, and Martin Antolinez called out 
 after him, Get out, Don Traitor ! and drove him out of the lists, 
 and remained conqueror. 
 
 VI." Muno Gustioz and Suero Gonzalez dealt each other such 
 strokes with their spears as it was marvellous to behold. And 
 Suero Gonzalez being a right hardy knight and a strong, and of 
 great courage, struck the shield of Muno Gustioz and pierced it 
 through and through ; but the stroke was given aslant, so that it 
 passed on and touched him not. Muno Gustioz lost his stirrups 
 with that stroke, but he presently recovered them and dealt him 
 such a stroke in return that it went clean through the midst of the 
 shield, and through all his armour, and came out between his ribs, 
 missing the heart ; then laying hand on him he wrenched him out 
 of the saddle, and threw him down as he drew the spear out of his 
 body ; and the point of the spear and the haft and the streamer all 
 came out red. Then all the beholders thought that he was stricken 
 to death. And Muno Gustioz turned to smite again. But when 
 Gonzalo Ansures his father saw this, he cried out aloud for great 
 ruth which he had for his son, and said, For God's sake do not 
 strike him again, for he is vanquished. And Muno Gustioz, like a 
 man of good understanding, asked the true-men whether he were 
 to be held as conquered for what his father said, and they said not, 
 unless he confirmed it with his own mouth. And Muno Gustioz 
 turned again to Suero Gonzalez where he lay wounded, and lifted 
 his spear against him, and Suero Gonzalez cried out, Strike me 
 not, for I am vanquished. And the judges said it was enough, and 
 that the combat was at an end. 
 
 VII. Then the King entered the lists, and many good knights 
 and hidalgos with him, and he called the twelve true-men, and 
 asked them if the knights of the Cid had aught more to do to
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 435 
 
 prove their accusation : and they made answer that the knights of 
 the Cid had won the field and done their devoir ; and all the hidal- 
 gos who were there present made answer, that they said true. And 
 King Don Alfonso lifted up his voice and said, Hear me, all ye 
 who are here present : inasmuch as the knights of the Cid have 
 conquered, they have won the cause; and the twelve true-men 
 made answer, that what the King said was the truth, and all the 
 people said the same. And the King gave command to break up 
 the lists, and gave sentence that the Infantes of Carrion and their 
 uncle Suero Gonzalez were notorious traitors, and ordered his 
 seneschal to take their arms and horses. And from that day forth 
 their lineage never held up its head, nor was of any worth in Castile ; 
 and they and their uncle fled away, having been thus vanquished 
 and put to shame. And thus it was that Carrion fell to the King 
 after the days of Gonzalo Gonzalez, the father of the Infantes. 
 Great was their shame, and the like or worse betide him who 
 abuseth fair lady, and then leaveth her. 
 
 VIII. Then the King went to meat, and he took the knights of 
 the Cid with him ; and great was the multitude which followed 
 after them, praising the good feat which they had achieved. And 
 the King gave them great gifts, and sent them away by night, and 
 with a good guard to protect them till they should be in safety : and 
 they took their leave of the King, and travelled by night and day, 
 and came to Valencia. When the Cid knew that they drew nigh, 
 he went out to meet them, and did them great honour. Who can 
 tell the great joy which he made over them ? And they told him 
 all even as it had come to pass, and how the King had declared 
 the Infantes of Carrion and their uncle to be notorious traitors. 
 Great was the joy of the Cid at these tidings, and he lifted up his 
 hands to Heaven and blest the name of God because of the ven- 
 geance which he had given him for the great dishonour which he 
 had received. And he took with him Martin Antolinez and Pero 
 Bermudez and Muno Gustioz, and went to Dona Ximena and her 
 daughters, and said to them, Blessed be the name of God, now 
 are you and your daughters avenged ! and he made the knights 
 recount the whole unto them, even as it had come to pass. Great 
 was the joy of Dona Ximena and her daughters, and they bent 
 their knees to the ground, and praised the name of Jesus Christ, 
 because he had given them this vengeance for the dishonour which 
 they had received ; and Dona Elvira and Dona Sol embraced those 
 knights many times, and would fain have kissed their hands and 
 their feet, And the Cid said unto Dona Ximena, Now may you
 
 426 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 without let marry your daughters with the Infantes of Arragon and 
 Navarre, and I trust in God that they will be well and honourably 
 married, better than they were at first. Eight days did the great 
 rejoicings endure which the Cid made in Valencia, for the ven- 
 geance which God had given him upon the Infantes of Carrion, 
 and their uncle Suero Gonzalez, the aider and abettor in the villany 
 which they had committed. 
 
 IX. Now it came to pass after this, that the great Soldan of 
 Persia, having heard of the great goodness of the Cid, and of his 
 great feats in arms, and how he had never been vanquished by 
 mortal man, and how he had conquered many Kings, Moor and 
 Christian, and had won the noble city of Valencia, and had de- 
 feated King Bucar Lord of Africa and Morocco, and twenty-nine 
 Kings with him, all these things made him greatly desirous of his 
 love. And holding him to be one of the noble men of the world, 
 he sent messengers to him with great gifts, which will be recounted 
 hereafter, and with them he sent one of his kinsmen, a full hon- 
 ourable man, with letters of great love. When this kinsman reached 
 the port of Valencia, he sent word to the Cid that he was arrived 
 there with a message from the Great Soldan of Persia, who had 
 sent a present by him ; and when the Cid knew this he was well 
 pleased. And in the morning the Cid took horse, and went out 
 with all his company, all nobly attired, and his knights rode before 
 him with their lances erect. And when they had gone about a 
 league they met the messenger of the Soldan coming to Valencia : 
 and when he beheld them in what order they came, he understood 
 what a noble man the Cid Campeador was. And when he drew 
 nigh, the Cid stopped his horse Bavieca, and waited to receive 
 him. And when the messenger came before the Cid and beheld 
 him, all his flesh began to tremble, and he marvelled greatly that 
 his flesh should tremble thus ; and his voice failed him, so that he 
 could not bring forth a word. And the Cid said that he was wel- 
 come, and went towards him to embrace him but the Moor made 
 him no reply, being amazed. And when he had somewhat recov- 
 ered and could speak, he would have kissed the Cid's hand, but 
 the Cid would not give it him : and he thought this was done for 
 haughtiness, but they made him understand that it was to do him 
 honour ; then was he greatly rejoiced, and he said, I humble my- 
 self before thee, O Cid, who art the fortunate, the best Christian, 
 and the most honourable that hath girded on sword or bestrode 
 horse these thousand years. The Great Soldan of Persia, my Ix>rd, 
 hearing of thy great fame and renown, and of the great virtue
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 427 
 
 which is in thee, hath sent me to salute thee and receive thee as 
 his friend, even as his best friend, the one whom he loveth and 
 prizeth best. And he hath sent a present by me who am of his 
 lineage, and beseecheth thee to receive it as from a friend. And 
 the Cid made answer that he thanked him greatly. 
 
 X. Then the Cid bade his people make way that the sumpter 
 beasts which carried the present might pass, and also the strange 
 animals which the Soldan had sent, the like whereof were not in 
 that land. And when they were passed he and his company re- 
 turned towards the town, and the messenger with him. And 
 whensoever the messenger spake to the Cid, it came into his mind 
 how his voice had failed and his flesh trembled when he beheld 
 him ; and he marvelled thereat, and would fain have asked the Cid 
 why it should be. And when they entered Valencia, great was the 
 crowd which assembled to see the sumpter beasts, and the strange 
 animals, for they had never seen such before, and they marvelled 
 at them. And the Cid gave order that the beasts should be taken 
 care of, and he went to the Alcazar and took the Moor with him ; 
 and when they came to Dona Ximena the Moor humbled himself 
 before her and her daughters, and would have kissed her hand, 
 but she would not give it him. Then he commanded that the 
 camels and other beasts of burthen should be unloaded in their 
 presence, and he began to open the packages and display the 
 noble things which were contained therein. And he laid before 
 them great store of gold and of money, which came in leathern 
 bags, each having its lock; and wrought silver in dishes and 
 trenchers and basins, and pots for preparing food ; all these of fine 
 silver and full cunningly wrought, the weight whereof was ten 
 thousand marks. Then he brought out five cups of gold, in each 
 of which were ten marks of gold, with many precious stones set 
 therein, and three silver barrels, which were full of pearls and of 
 precious stones. Moreover he presented unto him many pieces 
 of cloth of gold, and of silk, of those which are made in Tartan . 
 and in the land of Calabria. And moreover, a pound of myrrh 
 and of balsam, in little caskets of gold ; this was a precious thing, 
 for with this ointment they were wont to anoint the bodies of the 
 Kings when they departed, to the end that they might not corrupt, 
 neither the earth consume them : and with this was the body of 
 the Cid embalmed after his death. Moreover he presented unto 
 him a chess board, which was one of the noble ones in the world : 
 it was of ivory riveted with gold, and with many precious stones 
 round about it ; and the men were of gold and silver, and the
 
 428 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 squares also were richly wrought with stones of many virtues. 
 This was a full rich, and great and noble present, so that no man 
 could tell the price thereof. 
 
 XI. When the Moor had produced all these things before the 
 Cid, he said unto him, All this, Sir, with the animals which thou 
 hast seen, my Lord the Soldan of Persia hath sent unto thee, be- 
 cause of the great fame which he hath heard of thy goodness and 
 loyalty ; and, Sir, he beseecheth thee to accept it for the love of 
 him. And the Cid thanked him, taking great pleasure therein, 
 and said that he would fain do him greater honour than he had 
 ever yet done to any one. And then he embraced him in the 
 name of the Soldan, and said, that if he were a Christian he would 
 give him the kiss of peace ; and he asked whether among those 
 things there was aught which had belonged to the person of the 
 Soldan, that if so he might kiss it in his honour, and in token that 
 if he were there present, he would kiss him on the shoulder, accord- 
 ing to the custom of the Moors, for he knew that his Lord was 
 one of the noblest men in all Pagandom. When the kinsman of 
 the Soldan heard this he was greatly rejoiced because of the great 
 courtesy with which the Cid had spoken, and he perceived how 
 noble a man he was. And he said unto him, Sir Cid, if you were 
 present before my Lord the Soldan, he would do you full great 
 honour, and would give you the head of his horse to eat, accord- 
 ing to the custom of our country ; but seeing that this is not the 
 custom of this country, I give you my living horse, which is one of 
 the best horses of Syria ; and do you give order that he be taken 
 in honour of my Lord the Soldan, and he will be better than his 
 head would be boiled. And I kiss your hand, Sir Ruydiez, and 
 hold myself more honoured and a happier man than ever I have 
 been heretofore. And the Cid accepted the horse, and gave con- 
 sent to the Moor that he should kiss his hand. And then he called 
 for his Almoxarife, and bade him take with him this kinsman of 
 the Soldan, and lodge him in the Garden of Villa Nueva, and do 
 him even such honour and service as he would to himself. 
 
 XII. Great was the honour which the Almoxarife of the Cid 
 Ruydiez did unto the kinsman of the Soldan, and he served him 
 even as he would have served his Lord the Cid. And when they 
 had disported and taken solace together, the kinsman of the Sol- 
 dan asked him concerning the Cid, what manner of man he was. 
 And the Almoxarife answered that he was the man in the world 
 who had the bravest heart, and the best knight at arms, and the 
 man who best, maintained his law ; and in the word which he hath
 
 RODKIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 429 
 
 promised he never fails ; and he is the man in the world who is 
 the best friend to his friend, and to his enemy he is the mortallest 
 foe among all Christians ; and to the vanquished he is full of mercy 
 and compassion ; and full thoughtful and wise in whatsoever thing 
 he doeth ; and his countenance is such that no man seeth him for 
 the first time without conceiving great fear. And this, said the 
 Almoxarife, I have many times witnessed, for when any messengers 
 of the Moors come before him, they are so abashed that they know 
 not where they are. When the messenger of the Soldan heard 
 this he called to mind how it had been with him, and he said unto 
 the Almoxarife, that as they were both of one law he besought him 
 to keep secret what he should say, and he would tell him what had 
 befallen him himself. And the Almoxarife said that he would do 
 as he desired. And with that he began to say that he marvelled 
 greatly at what he had heard, for even as he had now told him that 
 it happened unto other messengers, even so had he himself found 
 it the first time that he had seen the Cid ; for so great was the fear 
 which he conceived at the sight of his countenance, that for long 
 time he had no power of speech ; and according to his thinking, 
 this could only proceed from the grace of God towards the Cid, 
 that none of his enemies might ever behold his face without fear. 
 When the kinsman of the Soldan had said this, the Almoxarife per- 
 ceived that he was a wary man, and one of good understanding ; 
 and he began to talk with him, and asked him whether he would 
 tell him what he should ask, and the messenger replied that he 
 would. Then the Almoxarife asked' of him if he knew what was 
 the reason which had moved his Lord the Soldan to send so great 
 a present to the Cid Campeador, and why he desired to have his 
 love when he was so far away, beyond sea. Now the messenger 
 of the Soldan conceived that the Almoxarife sought to know the 
 state of the lands beyond sea, and he feared that this had been 
 asked of him by command of the Cid ; and he made answer, that 
 so great was the renown of the Cid, and the report which they had 
 heard in the lands beyond sea of his great feats in arms, that it 
 had moved the Soldan to send him that present and desire his 
 love. But when the Almoxarife heard this, he said that he could 
 not believe that this had been the reason, but that some other in- 
 tention had moved him. And when the messenger perceived that 
 the Almoxarife understood him, and that he desired to know the 
 whole of the matter, he said that he would tell him, but he besought 
 him to keep it secret. And the Almoxarife promised to do this. 
 Then he told him that the land beyond sea was in such state that
 
 430 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 they weened it would be lost, and that the Christians would win it, 
 so great a Crusade had gone forth against it from Germany, and 
 from France, and from Lombardy, and Sicily, and Calabria, and 
 Ireland, and England, which had won the city of Antioch, and now 
 lay before Jerusalem. And my Lord the Great Soldan of Persia, 
 hearing of the great nobleness of the Cid, and thinking that he 
 would pass over also, was moved to send him this present to gain 
 his love, that if peradventure he should pass there he might be his 
 friend. And when the Almoxarife of the Cid heard this, he said 
 that of a truth he believed it. 
 
 XIII. While yet that messenger of the Soldan of Persia abode 
 in Valencia, tidings came to the Cid that the Infantes of Arragon 
 and Navarre were coming to celebrate their marriage with his 
 daughters, according as it had been appointed at the Cortes of 
 Toledo. He of Navarre hight Don Ramiro, and he was the son 
 of King Don Sancho, him who was slain at Rueda ; and he mar- 
 ried with Dona Elvira, the elder : and the Infante of Arragon who 
 married Dona Sol, the younger, hight Don Sancho, and was the son 
 of King Don Pedro. This King Don Pedro was he whom the Cid 
 Ruydiez conquered and made prisoner, as the history hath related ; 
 but calling to mind the great courtesy which the Cid had shown in 
 releasing him from prison, and how he had ordered all his own to 
 be restored unto him, and moreover the great worth and the great 
 goodness of the Cid, and the great feats which he had performed, 
 he held it good that his son should match with his daughter, to 
 the end that the race of so good a man might be preserved in 
 Arragon. Howbeit it was not his fortune to have a son by Dona 
 Sol, for he died before he came to the throne, and left no issue. 
 When the Cid knew that the Infantes were coming, he and all his 
 people went out six leagues to meet them, all gallantly attired both 
 for court and for war ; and he ordered his tents to be pitched in 
 a fair meadow, and there he awaited till they came up. And the 
 first day the Infante Don Sancho of Arragon came up, and they 
 waited for the Infante Don Ramiro ; and when they were all met 
 they proceeded to Valencia. And the Bishop Don Hieronymo 
 came out to meet them with a procession, full honourably. Great 
 were the rejoicings which were made in Valencia because of the 
 coming of the Infantes, for eight days before the marriage began. 
 And the Cid gave order that they should be lodged in the Garden 
 of Villa Nueva, and supplied with all things in abundance. 
 
 XIV. When eight days were overpast the Bishop Don Hieronymo 
 married the Infantes of Arragon and Navarre to the daughters of
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 431 
 
 the Cid in this manner : the Infante Don Ramiro of Navarre to 
 Dona Elvira, and the Infante Don Sancho of Arragon to Dona Sol. 
 And on the day after they had been espoused they received the 
 blessing in the great church of St. Peter, as is commanded by the 
 law of Jesus Christ, and the Bishop said mass. Who can tell 
 the great rejoicings which were made at those marriages, and the 
 great nobleness thereof ? Certes there would be much to tell ; for 
 during eight days that they lasted, there was feasting every day, 
 full honourably and plentifully, where all persons did eat out of 
 silver ; and many bulls were killed every day, and many of those 
 wild beasts which the Soldan sent ; and many sports were devised, 
 and many garments and saddles and noble trappings were given to 
 the j oculars. And the Moors also exhibited their sports and 
 rejoicings, after such divers manners, that men knew not which to 
 go to first. So great was the multitude which was there assembled, 
 that they were counted at eight thousand hidalgos. And when 
 the marriage was concluded, the Cid took his sons-in-law and led 
 them by the hand to Dona Ximena, and showed them all the 
 noble things which the Soldan had sent him ; and they when they 
 beheld such great treasures and such noble things were greatly 
 astonished, and said that they did not think there had been a man 
 in Spain so rich as the Cid, nor who possessed such things. And 
 as they were marvelling from whence such riches could have come, 
 both of gold and silver, and of precious stones and pearls, the Cid 
 embraced them and said, My sons, this and all that I have is for 
 you and for your wives, and I will give unto you the noblest and 
 most precious things that ever were given with women for their 
 dowry : for I will give you the half of all that you see here, and 
 the other half I and Dona Ximena will keep so long as we live, 
 and after our death all shall be yours ; and my days are now well 
 nigh full. Then the Infantes made answer, that they prayed God 
 to grant him life for many and happy years yet, and that they 
 thanked him greatly, and held him as their father ; and that they 
 would ever have respect to his honour and be at his service, hold- 
 ing themselves honoured by the tie that there was between them. 
 Three months these Infantes abode with the Cid in Valencia, in 
 great pleasure. And then they dispeeded themselves of the Cid 
 and of their mother-in-law Dona Ximena, and took each his wife 
 and returned into their own lands with great riches and honour. 
 And the Cid gave them great treasures, even as he had promised, 
 and gave them certain of those strange beasts which the Soldan 
 had sent. And he rode out with them twelve leagues. And when
 
 432 CHRONICLE OF THE CW, 
 
 they took leave of each other there was not a knight of all those 
 who came with the Infantes to whom the Cid did not give some- 
 thing, horse, or mule, or garments, or money, so that all were well 
 pleased ; and he gave his daughters his blessing, and commended 
 them to God, and then he returned to Valencia, and they went to 
 their own country. 
 
 XV. After the Cid had seen his sons-in-law depart, he sent for 
 the messenger of the Soldan, and gave him many of the rare things 
 of his country to carry unto his Lord. And he gave him a sword 
 which had the device of the Soldan wrought in gold, and a coat of 
 mail and sleeve armour, and a noble gipion which was wrought of 
 knots ; and his letters of reply, which were full of great assurances 
 of friendship. Much was the messenger of the Soldan pleased 
 with the Cid for the great honour which he had shown him, and 
 much was he pleased also at seeing how honourably the marriage 
 of his daughters had been celebrated. So he departed and went 
 to the port, and embarked on board his ship, and went to his Lord 
 the Soldan. 
 
 XVI. After this the Cid abode in Valencia, and he laboured a 
 full year in settling all the Castles of the Moors who were subject 
 unto him in peace, and in settling the Moors of Valencia well with 
 the Christians ; and this he did so that their tribute was well paid 
 from this time till his death. And all the land from Tortosa to 
 Origuela was under his command. And from this time he abode 
 in peace in Valencia ; and laboured alway to serve God and to in- 
 crease the Catholic faith, and to make amends for the faults he 
 had committed towards God, for he weened that his days now 
 would be but few. And it came to pass one day, the Cid having 
 risen from sleep and being in his Alcazar, there came before him 
 an Alfaqui whom he had made Alcalde of the Moors ; his name 
 was Alfaraxi, and he it was who made the lamentation for Valencia, 
 as is recorded in this history. This Alfaqui had served the Cid 
 well in his office of Alcalde over the Moors of Valencia : for he 
 kept them in peace, and made them pay their tribute well, being 
 a discreet man and of great prudence, so that for this and for his 
 speech he might have been taken for a Christian ; and for this 
 reason the Cid loved him and put great trust in him. And when 
 the Cid saw him he asked him what he would have ; and he like 
 a prudent man bent his knees before him, and began to kiss his 
 hand, and said, Sir Cid Ruydiez, blessed be the name of Jesus 
 Christ who hath brought you to this state that you are Lord of 
 Valencia, one of the best and noblest cities in Spain. What I
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 433 
 
 would have is this. Sir, my forefathers were of this city, and I am 
 a native hereof; and when I was a little lad the Christians took 
 me captive, and I learnt their tongue among them, and then my 
 will was to be a Christian, and to abide there in the land of the 
 Christians ; but my father and mother being rich persons, released 
 me. And God showed me such favour, and gave me such under- 
 standing and so subtle, that I learnt all the learning of the Moors, 
 and was one of the most honourable and best Alfaquis that ever 
 was in Valencia till this time, and of the richest, as you know, Sir ; 
 and you in your bounty made me Alcalde, and gave me your 
 authority over the Moors, of which peradventure I was not worthy. 
 And now, Sir, thinking in my heart concerning the law in which I 
 have lived, I find that I have led a life of great error, and that all 
 which Mahommed the great deceiver gave to the Moors for their 
 law, is deceit : and therefore, Sir, I turn me to the faith of Jesus 
 Christ, and will be a Christian and believe in the Catholic faith. 
 And I beseech you of your bounty give order that I may be bap- 
 tized in the name of the Holy Trinity, and give me what name you 
 will. And from this time forward I will live the life of a Christian, 
 and fulfil what is written in the Gospel, and forsake wife and chil- 
 dren and kin, and all that there is in the world, and serve God, 
 and believe in his faith and holy law, as far as the weakness of my 
 body can bear. When the Cid Ruydiez heard this he began to smile 
 for very pleasure ; and he rose up and took Alfaraxi with him to 
 Dona Ximena, and said, Here is our Alcalde, who will be a Chris- 
 tian, and our brother in the faith of Jesus Christ : I beseech you 
 therefore give order to provide all things that may be needful. 
 When Dona Ximena heard this she rejoiced greatly, and gave order 
 that all things should be full nobly prepared. And on the morrow 
 the Bishop Don Hieronymo baptized him, and they gave him the 
 name of Gil Diaz : and his godfathers were Don Alvar Fanez, and 
 Pero Bermudez, and Martin Antolinez of Burgos; and Dona 
 Ximena, with other honourable dames, were his godmothers. And 
 from that time forward Gil Diaz was in such favour with the < 
 that he trusted all his affairs to his hands, and he knew so well 
 how to demean himself, both towards him and all those of his 
 company, that they all heartily loved him.
 
 434 CHRONICLE OF THE CW, 
 
 BOOK XI. 
 
 I. IT is written in the history which Abenalfarax, the nephew of 
 Gil Diaz, composed in Valencia, that for five years the Cid Ruy- 
 diez remained Lord thereof in peace, and in all that time he 
 sought to do nothing but to serve God, and to keep the Moors 
 quiet who were under his dominion ; so that Moors and Christians 
 dwelt together in such accord, that it seemed as if they had alway 
 been united ; and they all loved and served the Cid with such good 
 will that it was marvellous. And when these five years were over 
 tidings were spread far and near, which reached Valencia, that 
 King Bucar the Miramamolin of Morocco, holding himself dis- 
 graced because the Cid Campeador had conquered him in the field 
 of Quarto near unto Valencia, where he had slain or made prison- 
 ers all his people, and driven Him into the sea, and made spoil of 
 all the treasures which he had brought with him ; . . King Bucar 
 calling these things to mind, had gone himself and stirred up the 
 whole Paganism of Barbary, even as far as Monies Claros, to cross 
 the sea again, and avenge himself if he could ; and he had as- 
 sembled so great a power that no man could devise their numbers. 
 When the Cid heard these tidings he was troubled at heart ; how- 
 beit he dissembled this, so that no person knew what he was 
 minded to do ; and thus the matter remained for some days. And 
 when he saw that the news came thicker and faster, and that it was 
 altogether certain that King Bucar was coming over sea against 
 him, he sent and bade all the Moors of Valencia assemble together 
 in his presence, and when they were all assembled he said unto 
 them, Good men of the Aljama, ye well know that from the day 
 wherein I became Lord of Valencia, ye have alway been protected 
 and defended, and have passed your time well and peaceably in 
 your houses and heritages, none troubling you nor doing you wrong ; 
 neither have I who am you Lord ever done aught unto you that 
 was against right. And now true tidings are come to me that King 
 Bucar of Morocco is arrived from beyond sea, with a mighty power 
 of Moors, and that he is coming against me to take from me this 
 city which I won with so great labour. Now therefore, seeing it i ;
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DR BTVAR. 435 
 
 so, I hold it good and command that ye quit the town, both ye 
 and your sons, and your women, and go into the suburb of Alcudia 
 and the other suburbs, to dwell there with the other Moors, till we 
 shall see the end of this business between me and King Bucar. 
 Then the Moors, albeit they were loth, obeyed his command ; and 
 when they were all gone out of the city, so that none remained, he 
 held himself safer than he had done before. 
 
 U. Now after the Moors were all gone out of the city, it came 
 *o pass in the middle of the night that the Cid was lying in his bed, 
 devising how he might withstand this coming of King Bucar, for 
 Abenalfarax saith that when he was alone in his palace his thoughts 
 were of nothing else. And when it was midnight there came a 
 great light into the palace, and a great odour, marvellous sweet. 
 And as he was marvelling what it might be, there appeared before 
 him a man as white as snow ; he was in the likeness of an old man, 
 with grey hair and crisp, and he carried certain keys in his hand ; 
 and before the Cid could speak to him he said, Sleepest thou, 
 Rodrigo, or what art thou doing? And the Cid made answer, 
 What man art thou who askest me ? And he said, I am St. Peter 
 the Prince of the Apostles, who come unto thee with more urgent 
 tidings than those for which thou art taking thought concerning 
 King Bucar, and it is, that thou art to leave this world, and go to 
 that which hath no end ; and this will be in thirty days. Hut God 
 will show favour unto thee, so that thy people shall discomfit King 
 Bucar, and thou, being dead, shalt win this battle for the honour 
 of thy body ; this will be with the help of Santiago, whom God 
 will send to the business : but do thou strive to make atonement 
 for thy sins, and so thou shalt be saved. All this Jesus Christ vouch- 
 safeth thee for the love of me, and for the reverence which thou 
 hast alway shown to my Church in the Monastery of Cardena. 
 When the Cid Campeador heard this he had great pleasure at 
 heart, and he let himself fall out of bed upon the earth, that he 
 might kiss the feet of the Apostle St. Peter : but the Apostle said, 
 Strive not to do this, for thou canst not touch me ; but be sure 
 that all this which I have told thee will come to pass. And when 
 the blessed Apostle had said this he disappeared, and the palace 
 remained full of a sweeter and more delightful odour than heart of 
 man can conceive. And the Cid Ruydiez remained greatly com- 
 forted by what St. Peter had said to him, and as certain that all 
 this would come to pass, at if it were already over. 
 
 Ill Early on the morrow he sent to call all his honourable mei 
 to the Alcazar; and when they were all assembled before him,
 
 436 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 he began to say unto them, weeping the while, Friends and kins- 
 men and true vassals and honourable men, many of ye must well 
 remember when King Don Alfonso our Lord twice banished me 
 from his land, and most of ye for the love which ye bore me 
 followed me into banishment and have guarded me ever since. 
 And God hath shown such mercy to you and to me, that we have 
 won many battles against Moors and Christians ; those which 
 were against Christians, God knows, were more through their fault 
 than my will, for they strove to set themselves against the good 
 fortune which God had given me, and to oppose his service, help- 
 ing the enemies of the faith. Moreover we won this city in which 
 we dwell, which is not under the dominion of any man in the 
 world save only of my Lord the King Don Alfonso, and that rather 
 by reason of our natural allegiance than of anything else. And 
 now I would have ye know the state in which this body of mine 
 now is ; for be ye certain that I am in the latter days of my life, 
 and that thirty days hence will be my last. Of this I am well 
 assured ; for, for these seven nights past I have seen visions. I 
 have seen my father Diego Laynez, and Diego Rodriguez my son ; 
 and every time they say to me, You have tarried long here, let us 
 go now among the people who endure for ever. Now notwith- 
 standing man ought not to put his trust in these things, nor in such 
 visions, I know this by other means to be certain, for Sir St. Peter 
 hath appeared to me this night, when I was awake and not sleeping, 
 and he told me that when these thirty days were over, I should 
 pass away from this world. Now ye know for certain that King 
 Bucar is coming against us, and they say that thirty and six Moor- 
 ish Kings are coming with him ; and since he bringeth so great a 
 power of Moors, and I have to depart so soon, how can ye defend 
 Valencia ! But be ye certain, that by the mercy of God I shall 
 counsel ye so, that ye shall conquer King Bucar in the field, and 
 win great praise and honour from him, and Dona Ximena, and ye 
 and all that ye have, go hence in safety ; how ye are to do all this 
 I will tell ye hereafter, before I depart. 
 
 IV. After the Cid had said this he sickened of the malady of 
 which he died. And the day before his weakness waxed great, he 
 ordered the gates of the town to be shut, and went to the Church 
 of St. Peter ; and there the Bishop Don Hieronymo being present, 
 and all the clergy who were in Valencia, and the knights and hon- 
 ourable men and honourable dames, as many as the Church could 
 hold, the Cid Ruydiez stood up, and made a full noble preaching, 
 showing that no man whatsoever, however honourable or fortunate
 
 ROD RIG O DIAZ DE BIVAR. 437 
 
 they may be in this world, can escape death ; to which, said he, I 
 am now full near : and since ye know that this body of mine hath 
 never yet been conquered, nor put to shame, I beseech ye let not 
 this befall it at the end, for the good fortune of man is only accom- 
 plished at his end. How this is to be done, and what ye all have 
 to do, I will leave in the hands of the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and 
 Alvar Fanez, and Pero Bermudez. And when he had said this he 
 placed himself at the feet of the Bishop, and there before all the 
 people made a general confession of all his sins, and all the faults 
 which he had committed against our Lord Jesus Christ. And the 
 Bishop appointed him his penance, and assoyled him of his sins. 
 Then he arose and took leave of the people, weeping plenteously, 
 and returned to the Alcazar, and betook himself to his bed, and 
 never rose from it again; and every day he waxed weaker and 
 weaker, till seven days only remained of the time appointed. 
 Then he called for the caskets of gold in which was the balsam 
 and the myrrh which the Soldan of Persia had sent him ; and when 
 these were put before him he bade them bring him the golden 
 cup, of which he was wont to drink ; and he took of that balsam 
 and of that myrrh as much as a little spoonful, and mingled it in 
 the cup with rose-water, and drank of it ; and for the seven days 
 which he lived he neither ate nor drank aught else than a little of 
 that myrrh and balsam mingled with water. And every day after 
 he did this, his body and his countenance appeared fairer and 
 fresher than before, and his voice clearer, though he waxed weaker 
 and weaker daily, so that he could not move in his bed. 
 
 V. On the twenty-ninth day, being the day before he departed, 
 he called for Dona Ximena, and for the Bishop Don Hieronymo, 
 and Don Alvar Fanez Minaya, and Pero Bermudez, and his trusty 
 Gil Diaz ; and when they were all five before him, he began to 
 direct them what they should do after his death ; and he said to 
 them, Ye know that King Bucar will presently be here to besiege 
 this city, with seven and thirty Kings whom he bringeth with him, 
 and with a mighty power of Moors. Now therefere the first thing 
 which ye do after I have departed, wash my body with rose-water 
 many times and well, as blessed be the name of God it is washed 
 within and made pure of all uncleanness to receive His Holy Body 
 to-morrow, which will be my last day. And when it has been well 
 washed and made clean, ye shall dry it well, and anoint it witl 
 this myrrh and balsam, from these golden caskets, from head ' 
 foot, so that every part shall be anointed, till none be left, 
 you my Sister Dona Ximena, and your women, see that ye utte
 
 438 CHROXICLE OF THE CfD, 
 
 cries, neither make any lamentation for me, that the Moors may 
 not know of my death. And when the day shall come in which 
 King Bucar arrives, order all the people of Valencia to go upon 
 the walls, and sound your trumpets and tambours, and make the 
 greatest rejoicings that ye can. And when ye would set out for 
 Castile, let all the people know in secret, that they make them- 
 selves ready, and take with them all that they have, so that none 
 of the Moors in the suburb may know thereof ; for certes ye can- 
 not keep the city, neither abide therein after my death. And see 
 ye that sumpter beasts be laden with all that there is in Valencia, 
 so that nothing which can profit may be left. And this I leave 
 especially to your charge, Gil Diaz. Then saddle ye my horse 
 Bavieca, and arm him well ; and ye shall apparel my body full 
 seemlily, and place me upon the horse, and fasten and tie me 
 thereon so that it cannot fall : and fasten my sword Tizona in my 
 hand. And let the Bishop Don Hieronymo go on one side of me, 
 and my trusty Gil Diaz on the other, and he shall lead my horse. 
 You, Pero Bermudez, shall bear my banner, as you were wont to 
 bear it ; and you, Alvar Fanez, my cousin, gather your company to- 
 gether, and put the host in order as you are wont to do. And go 
 ye forth and fight with King Bucar ; for be ye certain and doubt 
 not that ye shall win this battle ; God hath granted me this. And 
 when ye have won the fight, and the Moors are discomfited, ye 
 may spoil the field at pleasure. Ye will find great riches. What 
 ye are afterwards to do I will tell ye to-morrow, when I make my 
 testament. 
 
 VI. Early on the morrow the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and 
 Alvar Fanez, and Pero Bermudez, and Martin Antolinez, came to 
 the Cid. Gil Diaz and Dona Ximena were ahvay with him ; and 
 the Cid began to make his- testament. And the first thing which 
 he directed, after commending his soul to God, was, that his body 
 should be buried in the Church of St. Pedro de Cardena, where it 
 now lies ; and he bequeathed unto that Monastery many good in- 
 heritances, so that that place is at this day the richer and more 
 honourable. Then he left to all his company and household ac- 
 cording to the desert of every one. To all the knights who had 
 served him since he went out of his own country, he gave great 
 wealth in abundance. And to the other knights who had not 
 served him so long, to some a thousand marks of silver, to others 
 two, and some there were to whom he bequeathed three, according 
 who they were. Moreover, to the squires who were hidalgos, to 
 some five hundred, and others there were who had a thousand
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BfVAR. 439 
 
 and five hundred. And he bade them, when they arrived at St. 
 Pedro de Cardena, give clothing to four thousand poor, to each a 
 skirt of escanforte and a mantle. And he bequeathed to Dona 
 Ximena all that he had in the world that she might live honoura- 
 bly for the remainder of her days in the Monastery de St. Pedro 
 de Cardena ; and he commanded Gil Diaz to remain with her and 
 serve her well all the days of her life. And he left it in charge to 
 the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and Dona Ximena his wife, and Don 
 Alvar Fanez, and Pero Bermudez, and Felez Munoz, his nephews, 
 that they should see. all this fulfilled. And he commanded Alvar 
 Fanez and Pero Bermudez, when they had conquered King Bucar, 
 to proceed forthwith into Castile and fulfil all that he had enjoined. 
 
 This was at the hour of sexts. Then the Cid Ruydiez, the Cam- 
 peador of Bivar, bade the Bishop Don Hieronymo give him the 
 body of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and he received it with 
 great devotion, on his knees, and weeping before them all. Then 
 he sat up in his bed and called upon God and St. Peter, and began 
 to pray, saying, Lord Jesus Christ, thine is the power and the king- 
 dom, and thou art above all Kings and all nations, and all Kings 
 are at thy command. I beseech thee therefore pardon me my 
 sins, and let my soul enter into the light which hath no end. And 
 when the Cid Ruydiez had said this, this noble Baron yielded up 
 his soul, which was pure and without spot, to God, on that Sunday 
 which is called Quinquagesima, being the twenty and ninth of May, 
 in the year of our Lord one thousand and ninety and nine, and in 
 the seventy and third year of his' life. After he had thus made his 
 end they washed his body twice with warm water, and a third time 
 with rose-water, and then they anointed and embalmed it as he 
 had commanded. And then all the honourable men, and all the 
 clergy who were in Valencia, assembled and carried it to the Church 
 of St. Mary of the Virtues, which is near the Alcazar, and there 
 they kept their vigil, and said prayer and performed masses as was 
 meet for so honourable a man. 
 
 VII. Three days after the Cid had departed King Bucai 
 into the port of Valencia, and landed with all his power, which was 
 so great that there is not a man in the world who could give i 
 count of the Moors whom he brought. And there came with h 
 thirty and six Kings, and one Moorish Queen, who was a neg 
 and she brought with her two hundred horsewomen, all negre 
 like herself, all having their hair shorn save a tuft on the top, ai 
 this was in token that they came as if upon a pilgrimage, and 
 obtain the remission of their sins ; and they were all armed in
 
 440 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 coats of mail, and with Turkish bows. King Bucar ordered his 
 tents to be pitched round about Valencia, and Abenalfarax who 
 wrote this history in Arabic, saith, that there were full fifteen thou- 
 sand tents ; and he bade that Moorish negress with her archers to 
 take their station near the city. And on the morrow they began 
 to attack the city, and they fought against it three days strenu- 
 ously ; and the Moors received great loss, for they came blindly 
 up to the walls and were slain there. And the Christians defended 
 themselves right well, and every time that they went upon the 
 walls, they sounded trumpets and tambours, and made great rejoic- 
 ing, as the Cid had commanded. This continued for eight clays 
 or nine, till the companions of the Cid had made ready everything 
 for their departure, as he had commanded. And King Bucar and 
 his people thought that the Cid dared not come out against them, 
 and they were the more encouraged, and began to think of making 
 bastilles and engines wherewith to combat the city, for certes they 
 weened that the Cid Ruydiez dared not come out against them, 
 seeing that he tarried so long. 
 
 VIII. All this while the company of the Cid were preparing all 
 things to go into Castile, as he had commanded before his death ; 
 and his trusty Gil Diaz did nothing else but labour at this. And 
 the body of the Cid was prepared after this manner : first it was 
 embalmed and anointed as the history hath already recounted, 
 and the virtue of the balsam and myrrh was such that the flesh 
 remained firm and fair, having its natural colour, and his counte- 
 nance as it was wont to be, and the eyes open, and his long beard 
 in order, so that there was not a man who would have thought 
 him dead if he had seen him and not known it. And on the sec- 
 ond day after he had departed, Gil Diaz placed the body upon a 
 right noble saddle, and this saddle with the body upon it he put 
 upon a frame ; and he dressed the body in a gambax ' of fine sen- 
 dal, next the skin. And he took two boards and fitted them to 
 the body, one to the breast and the other to the shoulders ; these 
 were so hollowed out and fitted that they met at the sides and 
 under the arms, and the hind one came up to the pole, and the 
 other up to the beard ; and these boards were fastened into the 
 saddle, so that the body could not move. All this was done by 
 the morning of the twelfth day ; and all that day the people of the 
 Cid were busied in making ready their arms, and in loading beasts 
 with all that they had, so that they left nothing of any price in the 
 
 1 A kind of shirt.
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 441 
 
 whole city of Valencia, save only the empty houses. When it was 
 midnight they took the body of the Cid, fastened to the saddle as 
 it was, and placed it upon his horse Bavieca, and fastened the sad- 
 dle well : and the body sat so upright and well that it seemed as if 
 he was alive. And it had on painted hose of black and white, so 
 cunningly painted that no man who saw them would have thought 
 but that they were grieves and cuishes, unless he had laid his hand 
 upon them ; and they put on it a surcoat of green sendal, having 
 his arms blazoned thereon, and a helmet of parchment, which was 
 cunningly painted that every one might have believed it to be iron ; 
 and his shield was hung round his neck, and they placed the sword 
 Tizona in his hand, and they raised his arm, and fastened it up so 
 subtilly that it was a marvel to see how upright he held the sword. 
 And the Bishop Don Hieronymo went on one side of him, and the 
 trusty Gil Diaz on the other, and he led the horse Bavieca, as the 
 Cid had commanded him. And when all this had been made 
 ready, they went out from Valencia at midnight, through the gate 
 of Roseros, which is towards Castile. Pero Bermudez went first 
 with the banner of the Cid, and with him five hundred knights who 
 guarded it, all well appointed. And after these came all the bag- 
 gage. Then came the body of the Cid with an hundred knights, 
 all chosen men, and behind them Dona Ximena with all her com- 
 pany, and six hundred knights in the rear. All these went out so 
 silently, and with such a measured pace, that it seemed as if there 
 were only a score. And by the time that they had all gone out it 
 was broad day. 
 
 IX. Now Alvar Fanez Minaya had set the host in order, and 
 while the Bishop Don Hieronymo and Gil Diaz led away the body 
 of the Cid, and Dona Ximena, and the baggage, he fell upon the 
 Moors. First he attacked the tents of that Moorish Queen the 
 Negress, who lay nearest to the city ; and this onset was so sud- 
 den, that they killed full a hundred and fifty Moors before they had 
 time to take arms or go to horse. But that Moorish Negress was 
 so skilful in drawing the Turkish bow, that it was held for a mar- 
 vel, and it is said that they called her in Arabic Nugueymat Turya, 
 which is to say, the Star of the Archers. And she was the first 
 that got on horseback, and with some fifty that were with her, did 
 some hurt to the company of the Cid ; but in fine they slew her, 
 and her people fled to the camp. And so great was the uproar 
 and confusion, that few there were who took arms, but instead 
 thereof they turned their backs and fled toward the sea. And 
 when King Bucar and his Kings saw this, they were astonished.
 
 442 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 And it seemed to them that there came against them on the part 
 of the Christians full seventy thousand knights, all as white as 
 snow ; and before them a knight of great stature upon a white 
 horse with a bloody cross, who bore in one hand a white banner, 
 and in the other a sword which seemed to be of fire, and he made 
 a great mortality among the Moors who were flying. And King 
 Bucar and the other Kings were so greatly dismayed that they 
 never checked the reins till they had ridden into the sea ; and the 
 company of the Cid rode after them, smiting and slaying and giv- 
 ing them no respite ; and they smote down so many that it was 
 marvellous, for the Moors did not turn their heads to defend them- 
 selves. And when they came to the sea, so great was the press 
 among them to get to the ships, that more than ten thousand died 
 in the water. And of the six and thirty Kings, twenty and two 
 were slain. And King Bucar and they who escaped with him 
 hoisted sails and went their way, and never more turned their 
 heads. Then Alvar Fanez and his people when they had discom- 
 fited the Moors, spoiled the field, and the spoil thereof was so 
 great that they could not carry it away. And they loaded camels 
 and horses with the noblest things which they found, and went 
 after the Bishop Don Hieronymo and Gil Diaz, who with the body 
 of the Cid, and Dona Ximena, and the baggage, had gone on till 
 they were clear of the host, and then waited for those who were 
 gone against the Moors. And so great was the spoil of that day, 
 that there was no end to it ; and they took up gold, and silver, and 
 other precious things as they rode through the camp, so that the 
 poorest man among the Christians, horsemen, or on foot, became 
 rich with what he won that day. And when they were all met 
 together, they took the road toward Castile ; and they halted that 
 night in a village which is called Siete Aguas, this is to say, the 
 Seven Waters, which is nine leagues from Valencia. 
 
 X. Abenalfarax, he who wrote this history in Arabic, saith, that 
 the day when the company of the Cid went out from Valencia, 
 and discomfited King Bucar and the six and thirty Kings who were 
 with him, the Moors of Alcudia and of the suburbs thought that he 
 went out alive, because they saw him on horseback, sword in hand ; 
 but when they saw that he went towards Castile, and that none of 
 his company returned into the town, they were astonished. And 
 all that day they remained in such amaze, that they neither dared 
 go into the tents which King Bucar's host had left, nor enter into 
 the town, thinking that the Cid did this for some device ; and all 
 night they remained in the same doubt, so that they dared not go
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BTVAR. 443 
 
 out from the suburbs. When it was morning they looked towards 
 the town, and heard no noise there ; and Abenalfarax then took 
 horse, and taking a man with him, went toward the town, and 
 found all the gates thereof shut, till he came to that through which 
 the company of the Cid had gone forth ; and he went into the city 
 and traversed the greater part thereof, and found no man therein, 
 and he was greatly amazed. Then he went out and called aloud 
 to the Moors of the suburbs, and told them that the city was 
 deserted by the Christians ; and they were more amazed than De- 
 fore : nevertheless they did not yet dare either to go out to the 
 camp or to enter into the town, and in this doubt they remained 
 till it was midday. And when they saw that no person appeared 
 on any side, Abenalfarax returned again into the town, and there 
 went with him a great company of the best Moors ; and they went 
 into the Alcazar, and looked through all the halls and chambers, 
 and they found neither man nor living thing ; but they saw written 
 upon a wall in Arabic characters by Gil Diaz, how the Cid Ruy- 
 diez was dead, and that they had carried him away in that manner 
 to conquer King Bucar, and also to the end that none might 
 oppose their going. And when the Moors saw this they rejoiced 
 and were exceeding glad, and they opened the gates of the town, 
 and sent to tell these tidings to those in the suburbs. And they 
 came with their wives and children into the town, each to the 
 house which had been his before the Cid won it. And from that 
 day Valencia remained in the power of the Moors till it was won 
 by King Don Jayme of Arragon; he who is called the Conqueror, 
 which was an hundred and seventy years. But though King Don 
 Jayme won it, it is alway called Valencia del Cid. On the morrow 
 they went into the tents of King Bucar and found there many 
 arms : but the tents were deserted, save only that they found cer- 
 tain women who had hid themselves, and who told them of the de- 
 feat of King Bucar. And the dead were so many that they could 
 scarcely make way among them. And they went on through this 
 great mortality to the por', and there they saw no ships, but so many 
 Moors lying dead that tongue of man cannot tell their numbers ; 
 and they began to gather up the spoils of the field, which were 
 tents, and horses, and camels, and buffaloes, and flocks, and gol 
 and silver, and garments, and store of provisions, out o 
 ber, so that they had wherewith to suffice the city of Valencia ft 
 two years, and to sell to their neighbours also : and they were 
 rich from that time. 
 
 XI. When the company of the Cid departed from the
 
 444 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 Aguas, they held their way by short journeys to Salvacanete. And 
 the Cid went alway upon his horse Bavieca, as they had brought 
 him out from Valencia, save only that he wore no arms, but was 
 clad in right noble garments ; and all who saw him upon the way 
 would have thought that he was alive, if they had not heard the 
 truth. And whenever they halted they took the body off, fastened 
 to the saddle as it was, and set it upon that frame which Gil Diaz 
 had made, and when they went forward again, they placed it in 
 like manner upon the horse Bavieca. And when they reached 
 Salvacanete, the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and Dona Ximena, and 
 Alvar Fafiez, and the other honourable men, sent their letters to all 
 the kinsmen and friends of the Cid Ruydiez, bidding them come 
 and do honour to his funeral ; and they sent letters also to his sons- 
 in-law, the Infantes of Arragon and Navarre, and to King Don 
 Alfonso. And they moved on from Salvacanete and came to Osma, 
 and then Alvar Fafiez asked of Dona Ximena if they should not 
 put the body of the Cid into a coffin covered with purple and with 
 nails of gold ; but she would not, for she said that while his coun- 
 tenance remained so fresh and comely, and his eyes so fair, his 
 body should never be placed in a coffin, and that her children 
 should see the face of their father ; and they thought that she 
 said well, so the body was left as it was. And at the end of fifteen 
 days the Infante of Arragon arrived, with Dona Sol his wife, and 
 they brought with them an hundred armed knights, all having their 
 shields reversed hanging from the saddle bow, and all in grey 
 cloaks, with the hoods rent. And Dona Sol came clad in linsey- 
 woolsey, she and all her women, for they thought that mourning 
 was to be made for the Cid. But when they came within half a 
 league of Osma, they saw the banner of the Cid coming on, and 
 all his company full featly apparelled. And when they drew nigh 
 they perceived that they were weeping, but they made no wailing ; 
 and when they saw him upon his horse Bavieca, according as ye 
 have heard, they were greatly amazed. But so great was the 
 sorrow of the Infante that he and all his company began to lament 
 aloud. And Dona Sol, when she beheld her father, took off her 
 tire, and threw it upon the ground and began to tear her hair, 
 which was like threads of gold. But Dona Ximena held her hand 
 and said, Daughter, you do ill, in that you break the command 
 of your father, who laid his curse upon all who should make lamen- 
 tation for him. Then Dona Sol kissed the hand of the Cid and of 
 her mother, and put on her tire again, saying, Lady mother, I have 
 committed no fault in this, forasmuch as I knew not the command
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE RIl'AK. 445 
 
 of my father. And then they turned back to Osma, and great 
 was the multitude whom they found there assembled from all parts 
 to see the Cid, having heard in what manner he was brought, for 
 they held it to be a strange thing ; and in truth it was, for in no 
 history do we find that with the body of a dead man hath there 
 been done a thing so noble and strange as this. Then they 
 moved on from Osma, and came to Santesteban de Gormaz. And 
 there after few days the King of Navarre came with the Queen 
 Doiia Elvira his wife ; and they brought with them two hundred 
 knights ; howbeit their shields were not reversed, for they had 
 heard that no mourning was to be made for the Cid. And when 
 they were within half a league of Santesteban, the company of the 
 Cid went out to meet them, as they had the Infante of Arragon ; 
 and they made no other lamentation, save that they wept with Dona 
 Elvira; and when she came up to the body of her father she 
 kissed his hand, and the hand of Dona Ximena her mother. And 
 greatly did they marvel when they saw the body of the Cid Ruydiez 
 how fair it was, for he seemed rather alive than dead. And they 
 moved on from Santesteban, towards San Pedro de Cardena. 
 Great was the concourse of people to see the Cid Ruydiez coming 
 in that guise. They came from Rioja, and from all Castile, and 
 from all the country round about, and when they saw him their 
 wonder was the greater, and hardly could they be pursuaded that 
 he was dead. 
 
 XII. At this time King Don Alfonso abode in Toledo, and 
 when the letters came unto him ' saying how the Cid Campeador 
 was departed, and after what manner he had discomfited King 
 Bucar, and how they had brought him in this goodly manner upon 
 his horse Bavieca, he set out from Toledo, taking long journeys 
 till he came to San Pedro de Cardena, to do honour to the Cid at 
 his funeral. The day when he drew nigh the Infante of Arragon 
 and the King of Navarre went out to meet him, and they took 
 the body of the Cid with them on horseback, as far as the Monas- 
 tery of San Christoval de Ybeas, which is a league from Cardena ; 
 and they went, the King of Navarre on one side of the body, and 
 the Infante of Arragon on the other. And when King Don Alfonso 
 saw so great a company and in such goodly array, and the Cid 
 Ruydiez so nobly clad and upon his horse Bavieca, he was greatly 
 astonished. Then Alvar Fanez and the other good men kissed 
 his hand in the name of the Cid. And the King beheld his coun- 
 tenance, and seeing it so fresh and comely, and his eyes so bright 
 and fair, and so even and open that he seemed alive, he marvelled
 
 446 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 greatly. But when they told him that for seven days he had drank 
 of the myrrh and balsam, and had neither ate nor drank of aught 
 else, and how he had afterwards been anointed and embalmed, he 
 did not then hold it for so great a wonder, for he had heard that 
 in the land of Kgypt they were wont to do thus with their Kings. 
 When they had all returned to the Monastery they took the Cid 
 from off his horse, and set the body upon the frame, as they were 
 wont to do, and placed it before the altar. Many were the honours 
 which King Don Alfonso did to the Cid in masses and vigils, and 
 other holy services, such as are fitting for the body and soul of one 
 who is departed. Moreover he did great honour to the King of 
 Navarre, and to the Infante of Arragon, ordering that all things 
 which were needful should be given to them and their companies. 
 
 XIII. On the third day after the coming of King Don Alfonso, 
 they would have interred the body of the Cid, but when the King 
 heard what Dona Ximena had said, that while it was so fair and 
 comely it should not be laid in a coffin, he held that what she said 
 was good. And he sent for the ivory chair which had been carried 
 to the Cortes of Toledo, and gave order that it should be placed 
 on the right of the altar of St. Peter ; and he laid a cloth of gold 
 upon it, and upon that placed a cushion covered with a right noble 
 tartan, and he ordered a graven tabernacle to be made over the 
 chair, richly wrought with azure and gold, having thereon the 
 blazonry of the Kings of Castile and Leon, and the King of Navarre, 
 and the Infante of Arragon, and of the Cid Ruydiez the Campea- 
 dor. And he himself, and the King of Navarre and the Infante of 
 Arragon, and the Bishop Don Hieronymo, to do honour to the 
 Cid, helped to take his body from between the two boards, in 
 which it had been fastened at Valencia. And when they had taken 
 it out, the body was so firm that it bent not on either side, and 
 the flesh so firm and comely, that it seemed as if he were yet alive. 
 And the King thought that what they purported to do and had 
 thus begun, might full well be effected. And they clad the body 
 in a full noble tartari, and in cloth of purple, which the Soldan of 
 Persia had sent him, and put him on hose of the same, and set 
 him in his ivory chair ; and in his left hand they placed his sword 
 Tizona in its scabbard, and the strings of his mantle in his right. 
 And in this fashion the body of the Cid remained there ten years 
 and more, till it was taken thence, as the history will relate anon. 
 And when his garments waxed old, other good ones were put on. 
 
 XIV. King Don Alfonso, and the sons-in-law of the Cid, King 
 Don Ramiro of Navarre, and the Infante Don Sancho of Arragon,
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 447 
 
 with all their companies, and all the other honourable men, abode 
 three weeks in St. Pedro de Cardena, doing honour to the Cid. 
 And the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and the other Bishops who came 
 with King Don Alfonso, said every day their masses, and accom- 
 panied the body of the Cid there where it was placed, and sprin- 
 kled holy water upon it, and incensed it, as is the custom to do 
 over a grave. And after three weeks they who were there assem- 
 bled began to break up, and depart to their own houses. And of 
 the company of the Cid, some went with the King of Navarre, and 
 other some with the Infante of Arragon ; but the greater number, 
 and the most honourable among them, betook themselves to King 
 Don Alfonso, whose' natural subjects they were. And Dona Ximena 
 and her companions abode in San Pedro de Cardena, and Gil 
 Diaz with her, as the Cid had commanded in his testament. And 
 the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and Alvar Fanez Minaya, and Pero 
 Bermudez, remained there also till they had fulfilled all that the 
 Cid Ruydiez had commanded in his testament to be done. 
 
 XV. Gil Diaz did his best endeavour to fulfil all that his Lord 
 the Cid Ruydiez had commanded him, and to serve Dona Ximena 
 and her companions truly and faithfully ; and this he did so well, 
 that she was well pleased with his faithfulness. And Dona Ximena 
 fulfilled all that the Cid had commanded her ; and every day she 
 had masses performed for his soul, and appointed many vigils, and 
 gave great alms for the soul of the Cid and of his family. And 
 this was the life which she led, doing good wherever it was needful 
 for the love of God ; and she was alway by the body of the Cid, 
 save only at meal times and at night, for then they would not per- 
 mit her to tarry there, save only when vigils were kept in honour 
 of him. Moreover Gil Diaz took great delight in tending the horse 
 Bavieca, so that there were few days in which he did not lead him 
 to water, and bring him back with his own hand. And from the 
 day in which the dead body of the Cid was taken off his back, 
 never man was suffered to bestride that horse, but he was alway 
 led when they took him to water, and when they brought him back. 
 \nd Gil Diaz thought it fitting that the race of that good 
 should be continued, and he bought two mares for him the good 
 liest that could be found, and when they were with foal, he 
 that they were well taken care of, and they brought forth the one 
 a male colt and the other a female ; and from these the race 
 this good horse was kept up in Castile, so that there were aft 
 wards many good and precious horses of his race, and peiadven- 
 ture are at this day. And this good horse lived two years and a
 
 448 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 half after the death of his master the Cid, and then he died also, 
 having lived, according to the history, full forty years. And Gil 
 Diaz buried him before the gate of the Monastery, in the public 
 place, on the right hand ; and he planted two elms upon the grave, 
 the one at his head and the other at his feet, and these elms grew 
 and became great trees, and are yet to be seen before the gate of 
 the Monastery. And Gil Diaz gave order that when he died they 
 should bury him by that good horse Bavieca, whom he had loved 
 so well. 
 
 XVI. Four years after the Cid had departed that noble lady 
 Dona Ximena departed also, she who had been the wife of that 
 noble baron the Cid Ruydiez, the Campeador. At that time Don 
 Garcia Tellez was Abbot of the Monastery, a right noble monk, 
 and a great hidalgo. And the Abbot and Gil Diaz sent for the 
 daughters of the Cid and Dona Ximena to come and honour their 
 mother at her funeral, and to inherit what she had left. Dona 
 Sol, who was the younger, came first, because Arragon is nearer 
 than Navarre, and also because she was a widow ; for the Infante 
 Don Sancho, her husband, had departed three years after the 
 death of the Cid, and had left no child. King Don Ramiro soon 
 arrived with the other dame, Queen Dona Elvira his wife, and he 
 brought with him a great company in honour of his wife's mother, 
 and also the Bishop of Pamplona, to do honour to her funeral ; 
 and the Infante Don Garcia Ramirez, their son, came with them, 
 being a child of four years old. Moreover there came friends and 
 kinsmen from all parts. And when they were all assembled they 
 buried the body of Dona Ximena at the feet of the ivory chair on 
 which the Cid was seated ; and the Bishop of Pamplona said mass, 
 and the Abbot Don Garcia Tellez officiated. And they tarried 
 there seven days, singing many masses, and doing much good for 
 her soul's sake. And in that time the Bishop Don Hieronymo 
 arrived, who abode with King Don Alfonso, and he came to do 
 honour to the body of Dona Ximena ; for so soon as he heard 
 that she was departed, he set off taking long journeys every day. 
 And when the seven days were over, King Don Ramiro and Queen 
 Dona Elvira his wife, and her sister Dona Sol, set apart rents for 
 the soul of Dona Ximena, and they appointed that Gil Diaz should 
 have them for his life, and that then they should go to the Mon- 
 astery for ever : and they ordained certain anniversaries for the 
 souls of the Cid and of Dona Ximena. After this was done they 
 divided between them what Dona Ximena had left, which was 
 a great treasure in gold and in silver, and in costly garments ; . .
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 449 
 
 the one half Queen Dona Elvira took, and Dona Sol the other. 
 And when they had thus divided it, Dona Sol said that all which 
 she had in the world should be for her nephew the Infante Don 
 Garcia Ramirez, and with the good will of Queen Elvira his 
 mother, she adopted him then to be her son, and she took him 
 with her to Arragon, to the lands which had been given her in 
 dower, and bred him up till he became a young man ; and after 
 the death of his father he was made King of Navarre, as may be 
 seen in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Spain. And 
 when all these things were done they departed each to his own 
 home, and Gil Diaz remained, serving and doing honour to the 
 bodies of his master the Cid and Dona Ximena his mistress. 
 
 XVII. Now Don Garcia Tellez the Abbot, and the trusty Gil 
 Diaz, were wont every year to make a great festival on the day of 
 the Cid's departure, and on that anniversary they gave food and 
 clothing to the poor, who came from all parts round about. And 
 it came to pass when they made the seventh anniversary, that a 
 great multitude assembled as they were wont to do, and many 
 Moors and Jews came to see the strange manner of the Cid's body. 
 And it was the custom of the Abbot Don Garcia Tellez, when they 
 made that anniversary, to make a right noble sermon to the peo- 
 ple : and because the multitude which had assembled was so great 
 that the Church could not hold them, they went out into the open 
 place before the Monastery, and he preached unto them there. 
 And while he was preaching there , remained a Jew in the Church, 
 who stopped before the body of the Cid, looking at him to see how 
 nobly he was there seated, having his countenance so fair and comely, 
 and his long beard in such goodly order, and his sword Tizona in 
 its scabbard in his left hand, and the strings of his mantle in his 
 right, even in such manner as King Don Alfonso had left him, 
 save only that the garments had been changed, it being now seven 
 years since the body had remained there in that ivory chair. Now 
 there was not a man in the Church save this Jew, for all the others 
 were hearing the preachment which the Abbot made. And when 
 this Jew perceived that he was alone, he began to think within 
 himself and say, This is the body of that Ruydiez the Cid, whom 
 they say no man in the world ever took by the beard while he 
 lived. ... I will take him by the beard now, and see what he can 
 do to me. And with that he put forth his hand to pull the beard 
 of the Cid ; . . but before his hand could reach it, God, who would 
 not suffer this thing to be done, sent his spirit into the body, and 
 the Cid let the strings of his mantle go from his right hand, and
 
 450 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 laid hand on his sword Tizona, and drew it a full palm's length 
 out of the scabbard. And when the Jew saw this, he fell upon his 
 back for great fear, and began to cry out so loudly, that all they 
 who were without the Church heard him, and the Abbot broke off 
 his preachment and went into the Church to see what it might be. 
 And when they came they found this Jew lying upon his back 
 before the ivory chair, like one dead, for he had ceased to cry 
 out, and had swooned away. And then the Abbot Don Garcia 
 Tellez looked at the body of the Cid, and saw that his right hand 
 was upon the hilt of the sword, and that he had drawn it out a full 
 palm's length ; and he was greatly amazed. And he called for 
 holy water, and threw it in the face of the Jew, and with that the 
 Jew came to himself. Then the Abbot asked him what all this 
 had been, and he told him the whole truth ; and he knelt down 
 upon his knees before the Abbot, and besought him of his mercy 
 that he would make a Christian of him, because of this great 
 miracle which he had seen, and baptize him in the name of Jesus 
 Christ, for he would live and die in his faith, holding all other to 
 be but error. And the Abbot baptized him in the name of the 
 Holy Trinity, and gave him to name Diego Gil. And all who 
 were there present were greatly amazed, and they made a great 
 outcry and great rejoicings to God for this miracle, and for the 
 power which he had shown through the body of the Cid in this 
 manner : for it was plain that what the Jew said was verily and 
 indeed true, because the posture of the Cid was changed. And 
 from that day forward Diego Gil remained in the Monastery as 
 long as he lived, doing service to the body of the Cid. 
 
 XVIII. After that day the body of the Cid remained in the same 
 posture, for they never took his hand off the sword, nor changed 
 his garments more, and thus it remained three years longer, till it 
 had been there ten years in all. And then the nose began to 
 change colour. And when the Abbot Don Garcia Tellez and Gil 
 Diaz saw this, they weened that it was no longer fitting for the 
 body to remain in that manner. And three Bishops from the 
 neighbouring provinces met there, and with many masses and 
 vigils, and great honour they interred the body after this manner. 
 They dug a vault before the altar, beside the grave of Dona Ximena, 
 and vaulted it over with a high arch, and there they placed the 
 body of the Cid seated as it was in the ivory chair, and in his gar- 
 ments, and with the sword in his hand, and they hung up his shield 
 and his banner upon the walls. 
 
 XIX. After the body of the noble Cid Campeador had been
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 451 
 
 thus honourably interred, Gil Diaz his trusty servant abode still in 
 the Monastery of St. Pedro de Cardena, doing service to the graves 
 of the Cid and Dona Ximena, and making their anniversaries, and 
 celebrating masses, and giving great alms to the poor both in food 
 and clothing, for the good of their souls ; and in this manner he lived 
 while Don Garcia Tellez was Abbot, and two others after him, and 
 then he died. And his deportment had alway been such in that 
 Monastery, that all there were his friends, and lamented greatly at 
 his death because he had led so devout and good a life, and served 
 so trustily at the graves of his master and mistress. And at the 
 time of his death he gave order that they should lay his body beside 
 the good horse Bavieca whom he had loved so well, in the grave 
 which he had made there for himself while he was living. And 
 Diego Gil remained in his place, doing the same service which he 
 had done, till he departed also. And the history saith that though 
 Gil Diaz was good, Diego Gil was even better. 
 
 XX. Eighty and six years after the death of the Cid Campeador, 
 that is to say, in the year of the Era 1223, which is the year of the 
 Incarnation 1185, it came to pass, that there was war between the 
 Kings of Leon and Navarre on the one part, and the King of Cas- 
 tile on the other, notwithstanding this King Don Sancho of Navarre 
 was uncle to the King of Castile, being his mother's brother. And 
 this King Don Sancho entered into the lands of his nephew King 
 Don Alfonso of Castile, and advanced as far as Burgos, and with 
 his sword he struck a great stroke into the elm tree which is before 
 the Church of St. John at Burgos, in token that he had taken pos- 
 session of all that land ; and he carried away with him a great 
 booty in flocks and herds and beasts of the plough, and whatever 
 else he could find, and with all this booty went his way toward 
 Navarre. Now he had to pass nigh the Monastery of St. Pedro de 
 Cardena, where the body of the Cid Campeador lay. And at that 
 time the Abbot of the Monastery, whose name was Don Juan, 
 was a good man, and a hidalgo, and stricken in years ; and he 
 had been a doughty man in arms in his day. And when he saw 
 this great booty being driven out of Castile, he was sorely grieved 
 at the sight, and though he was now an old man, and it was long 
 since he had got on horseback, he went to horse now, and tool 
 ten monks with him, and bade the strongest among them take 
 down the banner of the Cid from the place where it was hung up, 
 and he went after King Don Sancho who was carrying away the 
 spoil. And the King when he saw him coming marvelled wha 
 banner this might be, for in those days there was no banner like
 
 452 CHRONICLE OF THE CW, 
 
 unto that borne by any man in all the kingdoms of Spain ; and 
 perceiving how few they were who came with it, he halted to see 
 what it might be. And the Abbot humbled himself before him 
 when he came up, and said, King Don Sancho of Navarre, I am 
 the abbot of this Monastery of St. Pedro de Cardena, wherein lies 
 the body of the Cid Campeador, your great grandfather ; and for 
 that reason presuming on your bounty and favour, I am come 
 hither with this banner, which was borne before him in his battles, 
 to beseech you that you would leave this booty for the honour of 
 this banner and of the body of the Cid. And when King Don 
 Sancho heard this, he marvelled at the great courage of the man, 
 that he should thus without fear ask of him to restore his booty. 
 And he said unto him after awhile, Good man, I know you not : 
 but for what you have said I will give back the booty, for which 
 there are many reasons. For I am of the lineage of the Cid, as 
 you say, and my father King Don Garcia being the son of Dona 
 Elvira his daughter, this is the first reason ; and the second is for 
 the honour of his body which lies in your Monastery ; and the 
 third is in reverence to this his banner, which never was defeated. 
 And if none of these were of any avail, yet ought I to restore it 
 were it only for this, that if he were living there is none who could 
 drive away the spoils of Castile, he being so near. For the love 
 of God therefore, and of my forefather the Cid, I give it to him, 
 and to you, who have known so well how to ask it at my hands. 
 When the Abbot heard this he was as joyful as he could be, and 
 would have kissed the hand of King Don Sancho, but the King 
 would not suffer this because he was a priest of the mass. Then 
 the King ordered the spoil to be driven to the Monastery, and 
 went himself with it, and saw the banner hung up again in its 
 place, and abode there three weeks, till all that booty had been 
 restored to the persons from whom it was taken. And when this 
 was done he offered to the Monastery two hundred pieces of gold 
 for the soul of his forefather the Cid, and returned into his king- 
 dom of Navarre, and did no more evil at that time in the realm of 
 Castile. This good service the Cid Ruydiez did to Castile after 
 his death. 
 
 XXI. Moreover when the Miramamolin brought over from 
 Africa against King Don Alfonso, the eighth of that name, the 
 mightiest power of the misbelievers that had ever been brought 
 against Spain since the destruction of the Kings of the Goths, the 
 Cid Campeador remembered his country in that great danger. 
 For the night before the battle was fought at the Xavas de Tolosa,
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 453 
 
 in the dead of the night, a mighty sound was heard in the whole 
 city of Leon, as if it were the tramp of a great army passing 
 through. And it passed on to the Royal Monastery of St. Isidro, 
 and there was a great knocking at the gate thereof, and they called 
 to a priest who was keeping vigils in the Church, and told him, 
 that the Captains of the army whom he heard were the Cid Ruy- 
 diez, and Count Ferran Gonzalez, and that they came there to call 
 up King Don Ferrando the Great, who lay buried in that church, 
 that he might go with them to deliver Spain. And on the morrow 
 that great battle of the Navas de Tolosa was fought, wherein sixty 
 thousand of the misbelievers were slain, which was one of the 
 greatest and noblest battles ever won over the Moors. 
 
 XXII. The body of the Cid remained in the vault wherein it 
 had been placed as ye have heard, till the year of the Incarnation 
 1272, when King Don Alfonso the Wise, for the great reverence 
 which he bore the memory of the Cid his forefather, ordered a 
 coffin to be made for him, which was hewn out of two great 
 stones ; and in this the body of the Cid was laid, and they placed 
 it on that side where the Epistle is read ; and before it in a wooden 
 coffin, they laid the body of Dona Ximena. And round about the 
 stone coffin these verses were graven, in the Latin tongue, being, 
 according as it is said, composed by King Don Alfonso himself. 
 
 BELLIGER, INVICTUS, FAMOSUS MARTE TRIUMPHIS, 
 CLAUDITUR HOC TUMULO "MAGNUS DIDACI RODERICUS. 
 
 And upon his tomb he ordered these verses to be graven also : 
 
 QUANTUM ROMA POTENS BELLICIS EXTOLUTUR ACTIS, 
 VIVAX ARTHURUS FIT GLORIA QUANTUM BRITANNIS, 
 NOBILIS E CAROLO QUANTUM GAUDET FRANCIA MAGNO, 
 TANTUM IBERIA DURIS CID INVICTUS CLARET. 
 
 And upon the walls it was thus written. I who lie here interred 
 am the Cid Ruydiez, who conquered King Bucar with six and 
 thirty Kings of the Moors ; and of those six and thirty, twenty and 
 two died in the field. Before Valencia I conquered them, on 
 horseback, after I was dead being the seventy and second battle 
 which I won. I am he who won the swords Colada and Tizona. 
 God be praised, Amen. 
 
 XXIII The body of the Cid remained here till the year of the 
 Incarnation 1447, when the Abbot Don Pedro del Burgo ordered
 
 454 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 the old Church to be pulled down that a new one might be 
 built in its place. And then as all the sepulchres were removed, 
 that of the Cid was removed also, and they placed it in front of 
 the Sacristy, upon four stone lions. And in the year 1540 God 
 put it in the heart of the Abbot and Prior, Monks, and Convent of 
 the Monastery of St. Pedro de Cardena, for the glory of God, and 
 the honour of St. Peter and St. Paul and of the Cid and other good 
 knights who lay buried there, and for the devotion of the people, 
 to beautify the Great Chapel at the said Monastery with a rich 
 choir and stalls, and new altars, and goodly steps to lead up to 
 them. And as they were doing this they found that the tomb of 
 the blessed Cid, if they left it where it was, which was in front of 
 the door of the Sacristy, before the steps of the altar, it would 
 neither be seemly for the service of the altar, because it was in the 
 way thereof, nor for his dignity, by reason that they might stumble 
 against it ; . . moreover it was fallen somewhat to decay, and set 
 badly upon the stone lions which supported it ; and there were 
 other knights placed above him. Whereupon the Abbot, Prior, 
 Monks, and Convent resolved that they would translate his body, 
 and remove the other tombs to places convenient for them, hold- 
 ing that it was not meet that those who neither in their exploits 
 nor in holiness had equalled him in life, should have precedency 
 of him after death. And they were of accord that the day of this 
 translation should not be made public, knowing how great the 
 number would be of knights and other persons who would be de- 
 sirous of being at this festival, for which cause they doubted lest 
 some misadventure would betide of tumults and deaths, or scan- 
 dals, such as are wont to happen on such occasions ; they were 
 therefore minded to do this thing without giving knowledge thereof 
 to any but those who were in the Monastery, who were of many 
 nations and conditions, and who were enow to bear testimony 
 when it was done ; for there was no lack there besides the reli- 
 gious, of knights, squires, hidalgos, labourers, and folk of the city 
 and the district round about, and Biscayans and mountaineers, and 
 men of Burgundy and of France. 
 
 XXIV. So on Thursday, the eighth day of Epiphany, being the 
 thirteenth day of January in the year of our Lord 1541, and at the 
 hour of complines, the Abbot and Convent being assembled, to- 
 gether with serving-men and artificers who are called for this pur- 
 pose, they made that night wooden biers that the tomb might be 
 moved more easily and reverently, and with less danger. And on 
 the morrow, which was Friday, the fourteenth day of the said
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 455 
 
 month and year, the Convent having said primes and the mass of 
 Our Lady, according to custom, and the Abbot Fray Lope de 
 Frias, who was a native of Velorado, having confessed and said 
 mass, the doors of the Church being open, and the altar richly 
 dressed, and the bells ringing as they are wont to do upon great 
 festivals, at eight in the morning there assembled in the Church all 
 the brethren of the Monastery, nineteen in number, the other 
 fifteen being absent each in his avocation ; and there were present 
 with them Sancho de Ocana, Merino and Chief Justice of the 
 Monastery ; Juan de Rosales, Pedro de Ruseras, and Juan Ruyz, 
 squires of the house ; master Ochoa de Artiaga, a mason, with 
 his men; Andres de Carnica, and Domingo de Artiaga, master 
 Pablo and master Borgonon, stone-cutters, with their men ; and 
 master Juan, a smith, with his ; and all the other workmen and 
 serving-men and traders who were in the house. And the 
 Abbot being clad in rich vestments, and the ministers and ac- 
 olytes with him, with cross, candles, and torches burning, went 
 all in procession to Our Lady's altar, where the sacrament was 
 at that time kept, because of the repairs which were going on in 
 the Great Chapel; and all kneeling on their knees, and having 
 recited the Pater-noster and Ave-maria, the Abbot gave a sign, and 
 the Precentor of the Convent began in plain descant the antiphony 
 Salvator Mundi. And when the whole Convent had sung this, 
 the Abbot said the verse Ostende nobis, and the verse Post partum 
 virgo, and the prayer Omnipotent sempiterne Deus, qui es omnium 
 dubitantium certitude, and the prayer Deus qui salutis aterruz, 
 demanding the grace and favour of the Lord. When this was 
 done they returned in procession to the Great Chapel, before the 
 tomb of the blessed Cid, and then the choir began the anthem 
 Mirabilis Deus, saying it to the organ. And while this was sing- 
 ing in great accord, the workmen stood ready with their instru- 
 ments in hand, to lift off the upper stone of the coffin, because it 
 was well nigh impossible to remove the whole together, and also 
 because the Abbot, Prior, and Convent had resolved to see that 
 holy body and relics, by reason of the devotion which they bore 
 to the blessed Cid, and that they might bear testimony in what 
 manner he lay in that tomb, wherein he had been deposited sa 
 many years ago, as behoved them for the honour of the Cid and 
 the authority of the Monastery. 
 
 XXV. When the anthem was finished, the Abbot said the < 
 Exultabunt sancti in gloria, and the prayer Deus qui es tuorum 
 gloria servorum. And when all had said Amen, the Abbot him
 
 456 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 self, with a little bar of iron, began first to move the lid of the stone 
 coffin ; and then the workmen and others easily lifted it off upon 
 the bier, and thus the tomb was laid open and there appeared 
 within it a coffin of wood fastened down with gilt nails, the 
 hair of the coffin being entirely gone, and great part of the wood 
 decayed also. Within this coffin was the holy body, now well nigh 
 consumed, nothing but the bones remaining entire. On some of 
 the bones the flesh was still remaining, not discoloured, but with a 
 rosy colour, and the bones were of the same rosy colour, and the 
 flesh also which had fallen from them. The body was wrapt in a 
 sendal wrought after the Moorish fashion, with sword and spear 
 by its side, as tokens of knighthood. As soon as the coffin was 
 opened there issued forth a good odour, and comforting fragrance. 
 It appeared that no part of the body was wanting ; but this was 
 not narrowly examined, by reason of the reverence which they 
 bore it. After all this had been seen well and leisurely by all those 
 who were present, the Abbot and his ministers passed a clean 
 sheet under the coffin, and collecting into it all the bones and 
 holy dust, covered it with another sheet, and took it out, and laid 
 it upon the high altar, with candles and torches on each side : and 
 in this manner it remained there all day, till it was time to deposit 
 it in the tomb. And all this while the choristers sung to the organ, 
 and the organ responded. And when the body was laid upon the 
 altar, the Abbot said the verse Mirabilis Deus, and the prayer 
 Magnificet te Domine sanctorum tuorum beata solemnitas. And 
 when this was done he went and disrobed himself of his sacred 
 vestments. And the workmen went and removed the stone lions, 
 and placed them in the place where they were to be, and the 
 tomb upon them. And the Convent went to perform divine 
 service, which was celebrated that day at all the hours with a full 
 choir. And at the hour accustomed, after this was done, the 
 Abbot and the Convent invited all who were there present to be 
 their guests, giving a right solemn feast to all ; and the chief per- 
 sons dined with the Convent in the Refectory. And that same day 
 in the evening, after vespers, when it was about four o'clock, the 
 workmen had removed the stone lions, and placed the tomb upon 
 them, and laid the lid of the tomb hard by, and made all ready to 
 fasten it down, so soon as the holy body should be laid in it. And 
 at that time, the bells ringing again, and all being again assembled, 
 the Abbot having put on again his vestments, which were of white 
 brocade, and his ministers with him, went to the altar whereon 
 they had laid the holy body, which had been right nobly guarded
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 457 
 
 and accompanied. And the singers singing the while, he and his 
 ministers took it and laid it with great reverence in the tomb, all 
 seeing it when it was laid there, wrapt up and covered with the 
 sheets. And in the presence of all, the workmen put on the lid 
 and fastened it down. Then the Abbot began the Te Deum lau- 
 damus, and the singers continuing it, they went in procession to Our 
 Lady's Chapel, where the most holy sacrament then was, as ye 
 have heard. And the Abbot said the verse Benedicamus Patrem et 
 Filium cum Sancto Spiritu, and the prayer Dens ad quern digne 
 laudandum, and they all returned thanksgiving to the Lord. And 
 the Abbot and the ministers went into the Sacristy, and took off 
 their sacred vestments ; and then he returned and again invited 
 all who were there to a collation in the Refectory, which had been 
 prepared by the servants of the Monastery. And when this was 
 over they separated, each going with great content to his several 
 occupation, praising God. 
 
 XXVI. It was a thing of great consolation that there was not a 
 person in that Monastery, who did not all that day feel great joy 
 and delight in his soul. And there befell a thing of which many 
 took notice, and which ought not to be passed over in silence, and 
 it was this. There was a great want of rain in the land of Rioja 
 and Bureva, and the district of Cardena also was in want of water, 
 though not in such great need, for it was long since any rain had 
 fallen ; and it pleased God that on the aforesaid Thursday, the eve 
 of the translation, at the very hour when the Abbot and his people 
 began to prepare the bier, and make all things ready for opening 
 and removing the tomb, a soft and gentle rain began, such a rain 
 that to those who were out of doors it was nothing troublesome, 
 and to the country greatly profitable, and pleasant unto all ; and it 
 lasted all that night, and all the day following, till the holy business 
 of the translation was accomplished, and then it ceased. Now i 
 was found that this rain had fallen at the same time and in the same 
 manner, both in the country below Burgos, and also in Bureva al 
 that it rarely hath happened for rain to fall at one time in Ix 
 inces, because they are wont to have rain with different winds 
 seemeth therefore that this blessed knight, who while he 1 
 protected and defended that country with his person and his 
 beholding the service which was done him, and how he wa 
 membered, favoured it at that time ,n heaven with his 
 cession, by sending that thing whereof it had then most 
 which was water from heaven, in order that it might be made
 
 458 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 manifest that he never ceased to show favour to those who trusted 1 , 
 in him, and to that Monastery of St. Pedro de Cardena. And an; 
 account of this translation, and of all this which befell, was drawn up- 
 by the Abbot Fray Lope de Frias, and signed by all the brethrem 
 of the Monastery, and all the chief persons there present. 
 
 XXVII. Now albeit this translation of the body of the blessed' 
 Cid had been made with such honour and reverence, they were 
 many who murmured against it ; and Don Pero Fernandez de 
 Velasco, Duke of Frias, who was then Constable of Castile, and 
 the Municipality of Burgos, sent advice thereof to the Emperor 
 Charles V. who was at that time in Flanders, beseeching him to 
 give order that the tomb of the Cid might be translated back to its 
 former place, and that of Dona Ximena also, which had been re- 
 moved into the Cloisters of the Monastery. Hereupon the Emperor 
 despatched letters to his Governor, Cardinal Juan, bidding him see 
 that the petition of the Constable and of the city of Burgos was 
 fulfilled, and the Cardinal in obedience thereunto despatched the 
 provision here following. 
 
 The King. 
 
 Venerable Abbot, Monks and Convent of St. Pedro de Car- 
 dena, know ye that we have ordered to be given, and do hereby 
 give our edict unto you, to the following tenor. The Council, Jus- 
 tice, and Regidores, Knights, Esquires, Artificers, and Good Men 
 of the City of Burgos, have made a memorial to us the King, show- 
 ing, that we well know the fame, nobleness, and exploits of the Cid r 
 which are notorious to all, from whose valour there redoundeth 
 honour to all Spain, and especially to that city whereof he was a 
 native, and where he had his origin and birth place ; and that one 
 of the principal things which they who pass through that city, both 
 natives of these kingdoms and strangers also, desire to see, is his 
 tomb and the place wherein he and his ancestors are interred, for 
 his greatness and the antiquity thereof : and that it is now some 
 thirty or forty days since ye, not having respect to this, neither 
 bearing in mind that the Cid is our progenitor, nor the possessions 
 which he left to your house, nor the authority that it is to the said 
 Monastery that he should there have been interred, have removed 
 and taken away his tomb from the middle of the Great Chapel, 
 where it had stood for more than four hundred years, and placed 
 it near a staircase, in a place unseemly, and unlike that where it 
 was placed heretofore, both in authority and honour. Moreover
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 459 
 
 ye have removed with him the tomb of Dona Ximena his wife, and 
 placed it in the Cloisters of the said Monastery, full differently 
 from where it was. The which that city, as well because it touch- 
 eth us as for her honour, doth greatly resent ; and albeit that as 
 soon as it was known the Corregidor and three of the Regidores 
 thereof went there to prevail with ye that ye should restore the 
 said bodies to the place where they were wont to be, ye would not 
 be persuaded ; whereof the said city holdeth itself greatly ag- 
 grieved ; and moreover it is a thing of bad example for Monasteries 
 and Religioners, who, seeing how lightly the tomb of so famous a 
 person hath been removed, may venture to remove and change any 
 monuments and memorials, whereby great evil would accrue to our 
 kingdoms. And the said City supplicateth and beseeching us of 
 our grace, that we would be pleased to give command that ye 
 should restore the bodies of the Cid and of his wife to the same 
 place and form as heretofore. And the Cid having been so signal 
 a person, and one from whom the Royal Crown of Castile hath 
 received such great and notable services, we marvel that ye should 
 have made this alteration in their tombs, and we command you if 
 it be so that their bodies or their tombs have been indeed removed, 
 as soon as ye receive this, to restore them to the same place, and 
 in the same form and manner as they were before ; and in case 
 they have not yet been removed, that ye do not move nor touch 
 them, neither now nor at any time to come. And having first com- 
 plied with this order, if ye have any cause or reason for making 
 this removal, ye are to send us an account thereof, and also how 
 ye have restored the said bodies and tombs to their former place 
 within forty days, to the end that we may give order to have 
 this matter inspected, and provide as shall be most convenient. 
 Done in Madrid, the 8th day of the Month of July, in the year 
 1541. Johannes Cardinalis, by command of his Majesty, Governor 
 in his name. 
 
 XXVIII. This provision having been notified unto them, the 
 Abbot and Monks made answer that they were ready to obey it, 
 and that he would go and give account to the Lord Governor of 
 what had been done. And the Abbot went accordingly to Court, 
 and informed the Cardinal Governor of the translation which had 
 been made ; and that the tomb of the Cid had been removed to 
 a place more decorous, and nearer the High Altar, and answering 
 the site where King Don Alfonso VI. had commanded him 1 
 placed in his ivory chair before he was first interred ; and when
 
 460 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 the vault had been made wherein he had lain many years. And 
 that the reason why the tomb had been moved was, that the pas- 
 sage from the Sacristy to the choir and to the High Altar might 
 be cleared; and that the reason why it had not been placed in 
 the middle of the Great Chapel, was, that if that place were 
 occupied, it seemed due to Queen Dona Sancha the foundress 
 of that House, or to King Don Ramiro, who had held that 
 place in the old Church. But notwithstanding all these rea- 
 sons which the Abbot alleged, the Cardinal ordered him to obey 
 the King's command. Hereupon the Abbot returned to the 
 Monastery and determined to place the tombs of the ("id and 
 of Dona Ximena in the middle of the Great Chapel, before it 
 should be known in Burgos that the translation was to take 
 place ; and accordingly when those persons who would fain 
 have been present made inquiry, they were told that the thing 
 was done. 
 
 XXIX. Now there have not been wanting over-curious persons 
 who, because the Monastery of Cardena is the first under the royal 
 patronage, by reason that it is a foundation of Queen Dona Sancha, 
 who is the first royal personage that ever founded a Monastery in 
 Spain, and because King Don Alfonso the Great re-edified it, and 
 Garci Ferrandez the Count of Castile restored it, have said, that 
 the Cid hath taken the place of these patrons. And when King 
 Carlos II. was in this Monastery in the year 1679, he asked whose 
 the tomb was which occupied the middle of the Great Chapel ; 
 and Fray Joseph del Hoyo, who was at that time Abbot, made 
 answer, Sir, it is the tomb of Rodrigo Diaz, the Cid Campeador. 
 Why then, said one of the Grandees, doth the Cid occupy the best 
 place, seeing that this Monastery is a royal foundation? Upon 
 this the Abbot made answer, that the Emperor Charles V. had 
 ordered the Abbot and Monks to place him in that place ; and 
 King Carlos II. said, The Cid was not a King, but he was one 
 who made Kings. And from that time till the present day the 
 tomb of the Cid hath remained in the same place, and that of 
 Dona Ximena beside it ; and with such veneration and respect are 
 they preserved, that they are alway covered and adorned with two 
 cloths, whereof the upper one is of silk, and on great festivals they 
 are adorned with one still more precious. 
 
 XXX. Many are the things which belonging to Ruydiez the Cid 
 Campeador, which are still preserved with that reverence which is 
 due to the memory of such a man. First, there are those good
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BIVAR. 461 
 
 swords Colada and Tizona, which the Cid won with his own hand. 
 Colada is a sword of full ancient make : it hath only a cross for its 
 hilt, and on one side are graven the words Si, Si . . . that is to say, 
 Yea, Yea : and on the other, No, No. And this sword is in the 
 Royal Armoury at Madrid. That good sword Tizona is in length 
 three quarters and a half, some little more, and three full fingers 
 wide by the hilt, lessening down to the point ; and in the hollow 
 of the sword, by the hilt, is this writing in Roman letters, Ave 
 Maria Gratia plena, Dominus, and on the other side, in the same 
 letters, I an Ti/ona, which was made in the era 1040, that is to 
 say, in the year 1002. This good sword is an heirloom in the 
 family of the Marquisses of Falces. The Infante Don Ramiro, 
 who was the Cid's son-in-law, inherited it, and from him it de- 
 scended to them. Moreover the two coffers which were given in 
 pledge to the Jews Rachel and Vidas are kept, the one in the 
 Church of St. Agueda at Burgos, where it is placed over the prin- 
 cipal door, in the inside, and the other is in the Monastery of 
 St. Pedro de Cardena, where it is hung up by two chains on the 
 left of the dome ; on the right and opposite to this coffer, is the 
 banner of the Cid, but the colour thereof cannot now be known, 
 for length of time and the dampness of the Church have clean 
 consumed it. In the middle is his shield hanging against the wall, 
 covered with skin, but now so changed that no blazonry or device 
 is to be seen. In the Sacristy there are the keys of the coffer, a 
 great round chest of satin wood,, the setting of the amethyst cup 
 which he used at table, and one of the caskets which the Soldan 
 of Persia sent with the myrrh and balsam ; this is of silver, and 
 gilt in the inside, and it is in two parts, the lid closing over the 
 other part ; its fashion is like that of the vessels in which the three 
 Kings of the East are represented, bringing their offerings to 
 Christ when he was newly born. On the upper part is graven the 
 image of our Redeemer holding the world in his hand, and on the 
 other the figure of a serpent marvellously contorted, peradventure 
 in token of the victory which Jesus achieved over the enemy ot 
 the human race. That noble chess-board, the men whereof were 
 of gold and silver, was also in the Monastery in the days of King 
 Don Alfonso the Wise, but it hath long since been lost, no man 
 knoweth how. Moreover there is in this Sacristy a precious stone 
 of great size, black and sparkling; no lapidary hath yet known its 
 name. The Convent have had an infant Jesus graven thereon, 
 with the emblem of the Passion, that it might be worthily em-
 
 462 CHRONICLE OF THE CID, 
 
 ployed. It is thought also that the great cross of crystal which is 
 set so well and wrought with such great cunning, is made of differ- 
 ent pieces of crystal which belonged to the Cid. But the most 
 precious relic of the Cid Ruydiez which is preserved and venerated 
 in this Monastery, is the cross which he wore upon his breast when 
 he went to battle ; it is of plain silver, in four equal parts, and 
 each part covered with three plates of gold, and in the flat part of 
 each five sockets set with precious stones of some size, and with 
 other white ones which are smaller ; of these little ones, some are 
 still left fastened in with filigrane. In the middle of the cross is a 
 raised part, after the manner of an artichoke, ending in white and 
 green enamel ; and it is said that in the hollow thereof are certain 
 relics, with a piece of the holy wood of the true cross. Verily, 
 that part of the writing which can still be read implieth this, for 
 thus much may at this day be discerned, . . CRUCIS SALVATOR * * 
 SANCTI PETRI * * PORTO. Of the four limbs of this cross the upper 
 one is wanting. King Don Alfonso, the last of that name, asked 
 for it, and had it made into a cross to wear himself when he went 
 to battle, because of the faith which he had that through it he 
 should obtain the victory : of the lower limb little more is left than 
 that to which the plates of silver and gold were fastened on. 
 From point to point this cross is little more than a quarter. 
 
 XXXI. There is no doubt that the soul of the blessed Cid rest- 
 eth and reigneth with the blessed in Heaven. And men of all 
 nations and at all times have come from all parts to see and rever- 
 ence his holy body and tomb, being led by the odour of his fame, 
 especially knights and soldiers, who when they have fallen upon their 
 knees to kiss his tomb, and scraped a little of the stone thereof to 
 bear away with them as a relic, and commended themselves to him, 
 have felt their hearts strengthened, and gone away in full trust that 
 they should speed the better in all battles into which they should 
 enter from that time with a good cause. By reason of this great 
 devotion, and the great virtues of my Cid, and the miracles which 
 were wrought by him, King Philip II. gave order to his ambassador 
 Don Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, to deal with the Court of Rome 
 concerning the canonization of this venerable knight Rodrigo Diaz. 
 Now Don Diego was a person of great learning, and moreover, one 
 of the descendants of the Cid ; and being greatly desirous that this 
 thing should be effected, he sent to the Monastery of St. Pedro de 
 Cardefia, and had papers and depositions sent from thence, and 
 made a memorial of the virtues and miracles of the Campeador,
 
 RODRIGO DIAZ DE BtVAR. 463 
 
 showing cause why this blessed knight should be canonized. But 
 before the matter could be proceeded in, the loss of Sienna took 
 place, whereupon he was fain to leave Rome ; and thus this pious 
 design could not be brought about. Nevertheless the Cid hath 
 alway been regarded with great reverence as an especial servant of 
 God ; and he is called the Blessed Cid, and the Venerable Rodrigo 
 Diaz. Certes, his soul resteth and reigneth with the blessed in 
 Heaven. Amen. 
 
 TH END.
 
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