Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043 – 10 July 1099) was a Castilian knight and ruler in medieval Spain.
Fighting both with Christian and Muslim armies during his lifetime, he earned the Arabic honorific as-Sayyid ("the Lord" or "the Master"), which would evolve into El Çid, and the Spanish honorific El Campeador ("the Champion").
He was born in Vivar, a village near the city of Burgos.
2011
As the head of his loyal knights, he came to dominate the Levante of the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the 11th century.
He reclaimed the Taifa of Valencia from Muslim control for a brief period during the Reconquista, ruling the principality as its Lordship of Valencia from 17 June 1094 until his death in 1099.
His wife, Jimena Díaz, inherited the city and maintained it until 1102 when it was reconquered by the Moors.
Díaz de Vivar became well known for his service in the armies of both Christian and Muslim rulers.
After his death, El Cid became Spain's celebrated national hero and the protagonist of the most significant medieval Spanish epic poem, El Cantar de mio Cid, which presents him as the ideal medieval knight: strong, valiant, loyal, just, and pious.
There are various theories on his family history, which remains uncertain; however, he was the grandfather of García Ramírez de Pamplona, King of Navarre, the first son of his daughter Cristina Rodríguez.
To this day, El Cid remains a popular Spanish folk hero and national icon, with his life and deeds remembered in popular culture.
Rodrigo Díaz was recognized with the honorary title of "Campeador" during his lifetime, as is evidenced by a document that he signed in 1098, which he signed in the Latinized expression, ego Rudericus Campidoctor.
The title "Campeador" thus comes from the Latin Campidoctor, literally meaning "Teacher of the Field", but translatable as "Master of the Battlefield".
Arabic sources from the late 11th century and early 12th century call him الكنبيطور (al-Kanbīṭūr), القنبيطور (al-Qanbīṭūr), also preceded by Rudrīq or Ludrīq, which are Arabized forms of his name and title.
The epithet of "El Cid" meant "the Lord", probably from the original Arabic (السَّيِّد), and was a title given to other Christian leaders.
It has been conjectured that Rodrigo Díaz received the honorific title and respectful treatment of contemporaries in Zaragoza because of his victories in the service of the King of the Taifa of Zaragoza between 1081 and 1086; however, he more likely received the epithet after his conquest of Valencia in 1094.
This title appears for the first time, as Meo Çidi, in the Poema de Almería, composed between 1147 and 1149.
The combination of "Cid Campeador" is documented from 1195 in Linaje de Rodrigo Díaz (The Lineage of Rodrigo Díaz) in Navarro-Aragonese which form part of the Liber regum written as mio Cit el Campiador; and in El Cantar de mio Cid.
Born a member of the minor nobility, El Cid was brought up at the court of Ferdinand the Great and served Ferdinand's son, Sancho II of León and Castile.
He rose to become the commander and royal standard-bearer (armiger regis) of Castile upon Sancho's ascension in 1065.
El Cid went on to lead the Castilian military campaigns against Sancho's brothers, Alfonso VI of León and García II of Galicia, as well as in the Muslim kingdoms in al-Andalus.
He became renowned for his military prowess in these campaigns, which helped expand the territory of the Crown of Castile at the expense of the Muslims and Sancho's brothers' kingdoms.
When conspirators murdered Sancho in 1072, El Cid found himself in a difficult situation.
Since Sancho was childless, the throne passed to his brother Alfonso, whom El Cid had helped remove from power.
Although El Cid continued to serve the sovereign, he lost his ranking in the new court, which treated him suspiciously and kept him at arm's length.
Finally, in 1081, he was exiled.
El Cid found work fighting for the Muslim rulers of Zaragoza, whom he defended from its traditional enemy, Aragon.
While in exile, he regained his reputation as a strategist and formidable military leader.
He was repeatedly victorious in battle against the Muslim rulers of Lérida and their Christian allies, as well as against a large Christian army under King Sancho Ramírez of Aragon.
In 1086, an expeditionary army of North African Almoravids inflicted a severe defeat to Castile, compelling Alfonso to overcome the resentment he harboured against El Cid.
The terms for El Cid's return to Christian service must have been attractive enough since El Cid soon found himself fighting for his former lord.
Over the next several years, however, El Cid set his sights on the kingdom-city of Valencia, operating more or less independently of Alfonso, while politically supporting the Banu Hud and other Muslim dynasties opposed to the Almoravids.
He gradually increased his control over Valencia; the Islamic ruler, Yahya al-Qadir, became his tributary in 1092.
When the Almoravids instigated an uprising that resulted in the death of Al-Cádir, El Cid responded by laying siege to the city.
Valencia finally fell in 1094, and El Cid established an independent principality on the Mediterranean coast of Iberia.
He ruled over a pluralistic society with the popular support of Christians and Muslims alike.
El Cid's final years were spent fighting the Almoravid Berbers.
He inflicted upon them their first major defeat in 1094, on the plains of Caurte, outside Valencia, and continued opposing them until his death.
Although El Cid remained undefeated in Valencia, Diego Rodríguez, his only son and heir, died fighting against the Almoravids in the service of Alfonso in 1097.
After El Cid's death in 1099, his wife, Jimena Díaz, succeeded him as ruler of Valencia, but she was eventually forced to surrender the principality to the Almoravids in 1102.
The name El Cid is a modern Spanish denomination composed of the article el meaning "the" and Cid, which derives from the Old Castilian loan word Çid borrowed from the dialectal Arabic word سيد sîdi or sayyid, which means "lord" or "master".
