El Cid the Mercenary: Rodrigo Díaz in Zaragoza's Pay and Valencia 1094

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Rodrigo Díaz was born around 1043 in Vivar, north of Burgos in Castile, the son of a minor noble. He rose with King Sancho II and in 1063 fought at Graus alongside the Muslim emir of Zaragoza against the Christian king of Aragon. Sancho made him armiger regis, the royal standard bearer, who ran marching order, supply and camps, and his victories earned him the name Campeador, master of the battlefield. When Sancho was killed besieging Zamora in 1072, the throne passed to his brother Alfonso VI, and Rodrigo lost his post to his rival García Ordóñez. The famous scene at Santa Gadea, where he forces Alfonso to swear his innocence, appears in no 12th century chronicle.

Exiled in 1081 after an unauthorized raid into Toledo, a vassal of Alfonso, Rodrigo was turned away by Barcelona and hired himself to Yusuf al-Mu'taman ibn Hud of Zaragoza. His mixed army of Castilians, Muladis, Berbers and Arabs called him al-sayyid, the lord, which became El Cid. After the Almoravids crushed Alfonso at Sagrajas in 1086, Rodrigo accepted the king's pardon but pursued his own aim, defeating Count Berenguer Ramon II and besieging Valencia from 1092 until it fell in May 1094. He ruled it with Muslim residents keeping property and faith, and died there in July 1099.

• In 1079, collecting tribute in Seville, he routed a Granadan army and briefly held García Ordóñez prisoner.
• He had military manuals by writers such as Frontinus read aloud in camp and used night raids, drums and feigned retreats.
• His son Diego died fighting the Almoravids in 1097, and his daughter Cristina's line produced a king of Navarre.
• His wife Jimena held Valencia for a few years before retreating to Burgos with his body.
• Legend says his corpse was strapped onto his horse Babieca to scatter the Almoravids, a story the Cantar de mio Cid helped turn into a crusader myth.