El Cid Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar ( circa 1043 – 1099 ) was a Castilian nobleman and military leader in medieval Spain . He was called El Cid ( " the Lord " ) by the Moors and El Campeador ( " the Champion " ) by Christians . He is the national hero of Spain . He was born in Vivar del Cid , a town near the city of Burgos . Born a member of the minor nobility , El Cid was brought up at the court of the Spanish Emperor Ferdinand the Great and served in the household of Prince Sancho . He rose to become commander and the royal standard - bearer ( " armiger regis " ) of Castile upon Sancho ' s ascension in 1065 . He went on to lead the Castilian military campaigns against Sancho ' s brothers , the rulers of the kingdoms of Leon and Galicia as well as against the Muslim kingdoms in Andalusia . He became famous for his military prowess in these campaigns and helped enlarge Castilian territory at the expense of the Muslims while driving Sancho ' s brothers from their thrones . This , however , ended up putting him in a difficult position when , in 1072 , Sancho died suddenly without issue , leaving his brother , Alfonso , as his only heir and ruler of the reunified empire . Although El Cid continued to serve the crown in the person of Alfonso , who was now Emperor of Spain , he lost his status in court and was held in suspicion . Finally , in 1081 , he was ordered into exile . Rodrigo Díaz found work fighting for the Muslim rulers of Zaragoza , whom he protected from the domination of Aragon and Barcelona , further bolstering his military record and reputation as a leader . He was also victorious in battles 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 , Alfonso was defeated by Almoravids from North Africa , and he overcame his antagonism to talk de Vivar into fighting for him again . Over the next several years 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 , al - Qadir , became his tributary in 1092 . However , the Almoravids instigated an uprising that resulted in the death of al - Qadir - he responded by laying siege to the city . Valencia finally fell in 1094 and El Cid established an independent principality in the eastern Mediterranean coast of Spain . He ruled over a pluralistic state with the popular support of both Christians and Muslims . The final years of El Cid were spent in fighting the Almoravid Berbers . He inflicted the first major defeat on them in 1094 in the plains of Caurte outside Valencia and continued resisting them until his death . Although El Cid himself remained undefeated in Valencia , he suffered a tragedy when his only son and heir , Diego Rodríguez , 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 had to surrender the principality to the Almoravids in 1102 . Long after his death , El Cid remains an idealised figure in Spain . He has been immortalized in plays , film , folk tales and songs . Title . The name " El Cid " ( ) is a modern Spanish denomination composed by the article " el " meaning " the " and " Cid " which comes from the Old Spanish loan word " Çid " from the dialectal Arabic word سيد " sîdi " or sayyid , which means " Lord " or " Master " . He could be so addressed by the Mozarab s or by the Arabs serving in his own ranks , and then its transliteration was adopted by the Christians , but no contemporary record referring to Rodrigo as " Cid " has been found . Arab sources use instead " Rudriq " , " Ludriq al - Kanbiyatur " or " al - Qanbiyatur " ( " Rodrigo el Campeador " ) . The cognomen " Campeador " given by his Christian countrymen derives from Latin " campi doctor " that means " battlefield master " . He probably gained it during the campaigns of King Sancho II of Castile against his brothers King Alfonso VI of León and King García II of Galicia . While there are no contemporary documents proving that he was addressed as " Cid " , there are many Christian and Arab records addressing him as " Campeador " , even autographs which prove that he used the cognomen himself . The whole combination " Cid Campeador " is first documented ca . 1195 in the Navarro - Aragonese " Linage de Rodric Díaz " included in the " Liber Regum " under the formula " mio Cid el Campeador " . Life and career . Origins . El Cid was born circa 1043 AD in Vivar , also known as Castillona de Bivar , a small town about six miles north of Burgos , the capital of Castile . His father , Diego Laínez , was a courtier , bureaucrat , and cavalry man 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 , confirmed only five documents of Ferdinand I ' s , his maternal grandfather , Rodrigo Alvarez , certified only two of Sancho II ' s , and El Cid ' s own father confirmed only one . Service under Sancho II . As a young man in 1057 , Rodrigo fought against the Moorish stronghold of Zaragoza , making its emir al - Muqtadir a vassal of Sancho . In the spring of 1063 , Rodrigo fought in the Battle of Graus , where Ferdinand ' s half - brother , Ramiro I of Aragon , was laying siege to the Moorish town of Cinca which was in Zaragozan lands . Al - Muqtadir , accompanied by Castilian troops including El 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 , thereby receiving the honorific title Campeador . When Ferdinand died , Sancho continued to enlarge his territory , conquering both Christian and the Moorish cities of Zamora and Badajoz . When Sancho learned that Alfonso was planning on overthrowing him in order to gain his territory , Sancho sent Cid to bring Alfonso back so that Sancho could speak to him . Service under Alfonso VI . Sancho was assassinated in 1072 , as the result of a pact between his brother Alfonso and his sister Urraca . Since Sancho died unmarried and childless , all of his power passed to his brother Alfonso . Almost immediately , Alfonso returned from exile in Toledo and took his seat as king of Castile and León . He was deeply suspected in Castile , probably correctly , of having been involved in Sancho ' s murder . According to the epic of El Cid , the Castilian nobility led by El Cid and a dozen " oath - helpers " forced Alfonso to swear publicly in front of Santa Gadea ( Saint Agatha ) Church in Burgos on holy relics multiple times that he did not participate in the plot to kill his brother . This is widely reported as truth , but contemporary documents on the lives of both Rodrigo Diaz and Alfonso VI of Castile and León do not mention any such event . Rodrigo ' s position as " armiger regis " was taken away and given to Rodrigo ' s enemy , Count García Ordóñez . In 1079 Rodrigo was sent by Alfonso VI to Seville to the court of al - Mutamid to collect the " parias " owed by that " taifa " to León – Castile . While he was there Granada , assisted by other Castilean knights , attacked Seville , and Rodrigo and his forces repulsed the Christian and Grenadine attackers at the Battle of Cabra , in the ( probably mistaken ) belief that he was defending the king ' s tributary . The Count García Ordóñez and the other Castilian leaders were taken captive and held for three days before being released . Exile . In the Battle of Cabra ( 1079 ) , El Cid rallied his troops and turned the battle into a rout of Emir Abdulallh of Granada and his ally García Ordóñez . However , El Cid ' s unauthorized expedition into Granada greatly angered Alfonso , and May 8 , 1080 , was the last time El Cid confirmed a document in King Alfonso ' s court . This is the generally given reason for El Cid ' s exile , although several others are plausible and may have been contributing factors : jealous nobles turning Alfonso against El Cid , Alfonso ' s own animosity towards El Cid and an accusation of pocketing some of the tribute from Seville . At first he went to Barcelona , where Ramón Berenguer II ( 1076 – 1082 ) and Berenguer Ramón II ( 1076 – 1097 ) refused his offer of service . Then he journeyed to the Taifa of Zaragoza where he received a warmer welcome . According to Moorish accounts : Andalusian Knight s found El Cid their foe ill , thirsty and exiled from the court of Alfonso , he was presented before the elderly Yusuf al - Mu ' taman ibn Hud and accepted command of the forces of the Taifa of Zaragoza as their Master . However , the exile was not the end of El Cid , either physically or as an important figure . In 1081 , El Cid , went on to offer his services to the Moorish king of the northeast Al - Andalus city of Zaragoza , Yusuf al - Mu ' taman ibn Hud , and served both him and his successor , Al - Mustain II . He was given the title " El Cid " ( " The Master " ) and served as a leading figure in a vibrant Moorish force consisting of Muladi s , Berbers , Arabs and Malians . In his " History of Medieval Spain " ( Cornell University Press , 1975 ) , Joseph F . O ' Callaghan writes : That kingdom was divided between al - Mutamin ( 1081 – 1085 ) who ruled Zaragoza proper , and his brother al - Mundhir , who ruled Lérida and Tortosa . El Cid entered al - Mutamin ' s service and successfully defended Zaragoza against the assaults of al - Mundhir , Sancho I of Aragón , and Ramón Berenguer II , whom he held captive briefly in 1082 . In 1084 , El Cid and the Moorish armies defeated Sancho of Aragon at the Battle of Morella near Tortosa . He was then troubled by the fierce conflicts between the Muladi s of Badajoz and the Arabs of Seville . In 1086 , the Almoravid invasion of the Iberian Peninsula through and around Gibraltar began . The Almoravids , Berber residents of present - day North Africa , led by Yusuf ibn Tashfin , were asked to help defend the divided Moors from Alfonso . El Cid had probably commanded a large Moorish force during the Battle of Sagrajas , which took place in 1086 , near the Taifa of Badajoz . The Almoravid and Andalusian Taifa s , including the armies of Badajoz , Málaga , Granada , Tortosa and Seville , defeated a combined army of León , Aragón and Castile . Recall from exile . Terrified after his crushing defeat , Alfonso recalled El Cid . It has been shown that El Cid was at court on July 1087 ; however , what happened after that is unclear . El Cid returned to Alfonso , but now he had his own plans . He only stayed a short while and then returned to Zaragoza . El Cid was content to let the Almoravid armies and the armies of Alfonso fight without his help , even when there was a chance that the armies of Almoravid might defeat Alfonso and take over all of Alfonso ' s lands . The reason El Cid did not want to fight was because he was hoping that both armies would become weak . That would make it easier for him to carry out his own plan which was to become ruler of the Kingdom of Valencia . Conquest of Valencia . Around this time , El Cid , with a combined Christian and Moorish army , began maneuvering in order to create his own fiefdom in the Moorish Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia . Several obstacles lay in his way . First was Berenguer Ramón II , who ruled nearby Barcelona . In May 1090 , El Cid defeated and captured Berenguer in the Battle of Tébar ( nowadays Pinar de Tévar , near Monroyo , Teruel ) . Berenguer was later released and his nephew Ramón Berenguer III married El Cid ' s youngest daughter Maria to ward against future conflicts . Along the way to Valencia , El Cid also conquered other towns , many of which were near Valencia , such as El Puig and Quart de Poblet . El Cid gradually came to have more influence on Valencia , then ruled by al - Qadir . In October 1092 an uprising occurred in Valencia inspired by the city ' s chief judge Ibn Jahhaf and the Almoravids . El Cid began a siege of Valencia . A December 1093 attempt to break the siege failed . By the time the siege ended in May 1094 , El Cid had carved out his own principality on the coast of the Mediterranean . Officially El Cid ruled in the name of Alfonso ; in reality , El Cid was fully independent . The city was both Christian and Muslim , and both Moors and Christians served in the army and as administrators . Death . El Cid and his wife Jimena Díaz lived peacefully in Valencia for five years until the Almoravids besieged the city . El Cid died June 10 , 1099 . His death was likely a result of the famine and deprivations caused by the siege . Valencia was captured by Masdali on May 5 , 1102 and it did not become a Christian city again for over 125 years . Jimena fled to Burgos , Castile , in 1101 . She rode into the town with her retinue and the body of El Cid . Originally buried in Castile in the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña , his body now lies at the center of Burgos Cathedral . After his demise , but still during the siege of Valencia , legend holds that Jimena ordered that the corpse of El Cid be fitted with his armor and set atop his horse Babieca , to bolster the morale of his troops . In several variations of the story , the dead Rodrigo and his knights win a thundering charge against Valencia ' s besiegers , resulting in a war - is - lost - but - battle - is - won catharsis for generations of Christian Spaniards to follow . It is believed that the legend originated shortly after Jimena entered Burgos , and that it is derived from the manner in which Jimena ' s procession rode into Burgos , i . e . alongside her deceased husband . Warrior and general . Battle tactics . During his campaigns , El Cid often ordered that books by classic Roman and Greek authors on military themes be read aloud to him and his troops , for both entertainment and inspiration before battle . El Cid ' s army had a novel approach to planning strategy as well , holding what might be called brainstorming sessions before each battle to discuss tactics . They frequently used unexpected strategies , engaging in what modern generals would call psychological warfare — waiting for the enemy to be paralyzed with terror and then attacking them suddenly ; distracting the enemy with a small group of soldiers , etc . ( El Cid used this distraction in capturing the town of Castejón as depicted in " Cantar de Mio Cid " ( " The Song of my Cid " ) . El Cid accepted or included suggestions from his troops . In " The Song " the man who served him as his closest adviser was his vassal and kinsman Álvar Fáñez " " Minaya " " ( meaning " " My brother " " , a compound word of Spanish possessive " Mi " ( My ) and " Anaia " , the basque word for " brother " ) , although the historical Álvar Fáñez remained in Castile with Alfonso VI . Taken together , these practices imply an educated and intelligent commander who was able to attract and inspire good subordinates , and who would have attracted considerable loyalty from his followers , including those who were not Christian . It is these qualities , coupled with El Cid ' s legendary martial abilities , which have fueled his reputation as an outstanding battlefield commander . Babieca . Babieca or Bavieca was El Cid ' s warhorse . Several stories exist about El Cid and Babieca . One well - known legend about El Cid describes how he acquired the stallion . 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 El Cid . The King wished a fair fight and gave El Cid his finest horse , Babieca , or Bavieca . This version says Babieca 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 the poem Carmen Campidoctoris , Babieca appears as a gift from " a barbarian " to El Cid , so its name could also be derived from " Barbieca " , or " horse of the barbarian " . Regardless , Babieca became a great warhorse , famous to the Christians , feared by El Cid ' s enemies , and loved by El Cid , who allegedly requested that Babieca be buried with him in the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña . His name is mentioned in several tales and historical documents about El Cid , including " The Lay of El Cid " . Swords . A weapon traditionally identified as El Cid ' s sword , Tizona , used to be displayed in the Army Museum ( Museo del Ejército ) in Toledo . In 1999 , a small sample of the blade underwent metallurgical analysis which confirmed that the blade was made in Moorish Córdoba in the eleventh century and contained amounts of Damascus steel . El Cid also had a sword called Colada . In the mid - 1930s the Spanish fascist leader , Francisco Franco , tried unsuccessfully to buy the sword . In 2007 the Autonomous Community of Castile and León bought the sword for 1 . 6 million Euros , and it is currently on display at the Museum of Burgos . Marriage and family . El Cid was married in July 1075 to Alfonso ' s kinswoman Jimena Díaz . The " Historia Roderici " calls her a daughter of a Count Diego of Oviedo , a person unknown to contemporary records , while later poetic sources name her father as an otherwise unknown Count Gomez de Gormaz . Tradition states that when El Cid first laid eyes on her , he was enamored of her great beauty . Together El Cid and Jimena had three children . Their daughters Cristina and María both married into royal families ; Cristina to Ramiro , Lord of Monzón , grandson of García Sánchez III of Navarre via an illegitimate son ; María , first ( it is said ) to a prince of Aragon ( presumably the son of Peter I ) and second to Ramón Berenguer III , count of Barcelona . El Cid ' s son Diego Rodríguez was killed while fighting against the invading Muslim Almoravids from North Africa at the Battle of Consuegra ( 1097 ) . El Cid ' s own marriage and those of his daughters raised his status by connecting him to the peninsular royalty ; even today , most European monarchs ( including the current King of Spain ) and many commoners of European ancestry descend from El Cid , through Cristina ' s son , King García Ramírez of Navarre and to a lesser extent via a granddaughter Jimena of Barcelona , who married into the Counts of Foix .