This beautiful El Cid letter opener will be a reminder of the romance and intrigue of El Cid's life. Rodrigo (or Ruy) Díaz de Vivar (Vivar (Burgos) c. 1044–Valencia, 10 July 1099), known as El Cid Campeador, was a Castilian nobleman, then military and political leader who conquered and governed the city of Valencia. Rodrigo Díaz was educated in the royal court of Castile and became the alférez, or chief general, of Alfonso VI, fighting against the Moors in the early Reconquista. Later exiled by the king, El Cid left service in Castile and worked as a mercenary for other rulers, both Muslim and Christian.
"El Cid" is derived from the word al-sid in the Andalusian Arabic dialect (from the Arabic sayyid, "chief" or "lord," a title of respect), while the title El Campeador (the champion) was granted by his Christian admirers and derives from the Latin campi doctor. These titles reflected the great esteem El Cid had among both Moors and Christians, as well as his fighting ability; Henry Edwards Watts wrote that el campeador "[m]eans in Spanish something more special than 'champion'.... A campeador was a man who had fought and beaten the select fighting-man of the opposite side in the presence of the two armies."
The exact date of El Cid's birth is unknown, however, most historians believe that El Cid was born in the year of 1040, in Vivar (Bivar), a small town about six miles north of Burgos, the capital of Castile. Historical records show that El Cid's father was Diego Laínez, who was part of the minor nobility (infanzones) of Castile. Diego Laínez was a courtier, bureaucrat, and cavalryman who had fought in several battles. Despite the fact that El Cid's mother's family was aristocratic, in later years the peasants would consider him one of their own. However, his relatives were not major court officials: documents show that El Cid's paternal grandfather, Lain Calvo, only confirmed five documents of Ferdinand I's; his maternal grandfather, Rodrigo Alvarez, certified only two of Sancho II's; the Cid's own father confirmed only one. This seems to indicate that El Cid's family was not composed of major court officials.
Babieca was the steed of the Spanish military leader El Cid in the eleventh century. Several stories exist about the Cid and Babieca.
One well-known legend about the Cid describes how he acquired his famous war-horse, the white stallion Babieca (Bavieca). According to this story, Rodrigo's godfather, Pedro El Grande, was a monk at a Carthusian monastery. Pedro's coming-of-age gift to El Cid was his pick of a horse from an Andalusian herd. El Cid picked a horse that his godfather thought was a weak, poor choice, causing the monk to exclaim "Babieca!" (stupid!) Hence, it became the name of El Cid's horse. Another legend states that in a competition of battle to become King Sancho's "Campeador", or champion, a knight on horseback wished to challenge the Cid. The King wished a fair fight and gave the Cid his finest horse, Babieca, or Bavieca. This version says Bavieca was raised in the royal stables of Seville and was a highly trained and loyal war horse, not a foolish stallion. The name in this instance could suggest that the horse came from the Babia region in León, Spain.
In either case, Babieca became a great warhorse, famous to the Christians, feared by El Cid's enemies, and loved by the Cid, who allegedly requested that Babieca be buried with him in the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña (he wasn't). His name is mentioned in several tales and historical documents about El Cid, including "Cantar de Mío Cid" ("Song of the Cid"). Some say that after the Cid's death in combat, Babieca was never mounted again and died two years later at the age of forty.
El Cid was educated in the Castilian royal court, serving the prince and future king Sancho II, the son of King Ferdinand I (the Great). When Ferdinand died in 1065, Sancho continued his father's goal of enlarging his territory, conquering the Christian and the Moorish cities of Zamora and Badajoz.
By this time, the Cid was an adult. He had, in 1067, fought alongside Sancho against the Moorish stronghold of Zaragoza, making its emir al-Muqtadir a vassal of Sancho. In the spring of 1063, he fought in the Battle of Graus, where Ferdinand's half-brother, Ramiro I of Aragon, was laying siege to the Moorish town of Graus which was in Zaragozan lands. Al-Muqtadir, accompanied by Castilian troops including the Cid, fought against the Aragonese. The party would emerge victorious, Ramiro I was killed, and the Aragonese fled the field. One legend has said that during the conflict El Cid killed an Aragonese knight in single combat, giving him the honorific title of "El Cid Campeador".
Overall Length: 6 1/2" Overall Length: 6 1/2"
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El Cid Sword Pewter Hilt Letter Opener
